Review - 'Rocking Horse Winner'

Many thanks to Jean Richards, a Kirby resident and frequent HAC visitor, for the following review:

North Country Theatre returned to the Helmsley Arts Centre last night (Saturday) with their 2011 touring roduction of The Rocking Horse Winner.

Based on a short story of the same name by D.H. Lawrence, the play follows the fortunes of Paul, a child of uncaring spendthrift parents, whose rocking horse inexplicably gives him the names of winning horses. He makes a fortune, but loses his mind.

The story itself was not particularly gripping, though it may have more appeal if you fancy a flutter yourself. But Artistic Director Nobby Dimon brought his usual imagination and flair to a production which fairly raced along. In particular, he managed, with four actors, a sound track and a bit of projection, to create the excitement of a race meeting as we watched.

Veteran of seven previous North Country productions, Mark Cronfield, had the unenviable task of playing the boy Paul, which he did superbly, with support from other members of the company who have visited Helmsley before, Victoria Brazier (whom many will remember as the brilliant Princess Flavia in ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’) as his mother, Simon Kirk as his uncle, and Thomas Frere as the family gardener and placer of bets. Nobby himself made a welcome return to the stage as the psychiatrist who tried, unsuccessfully, to figure it all out.

In true NCT style, this was ‘a one night stand’, but you can still catch the production, which runs until December 10, at other theatres in the area. Dates and venues are on their website.

At the end of the performance, Nobby reminded the audience that the company had lost the whole of its Arts Council grant in the recent cuts, and so was more dependent than ever on ticket sales, and on supporters joining the Friends group, details of which can be found on the website. Please help to keep this great rural touring company in business.

Sneak preview: the 2012 production will be based on J.S. Fletcher’s Lighthouse on Shivering Sands. The story begins: “When Mordecai Chiddock came to join the lighthouse staff on Shivering Sand, Jezreel Cornish was taking his allowance of sleep, and Chiddock, being new to the place, did not know who it was he would meet when Cornish woke up. Otherwise, the boat which had brought him and a month's provisions over from the mainland would never have gone back without him……”.

Yorkshire arts groups lose lending service

A Yorkshire arts resource used by many amateur dramatic companies, choirs and orchestras has been earmarked for closure.

The Yorkshire Libraries and Information (YLI) Music and Drama Service on Balne Lane in Wakefield is due to close in March 2012.

The fate of its collection of scores and scripts will now be discussed at the YLI council meeting.

Critics fear many groups will close without the lending service.

Read more ..... (source).

Supporting Helmsley Library

Helmsley Arts Centre is keen to support Helmsley Library and Helmsley Town Council, which are seeking volunteers to help maintain library opening hours and develop new activities in the library space. NYCC Library Service's current proposal is to cut staffed opening hours at Helmsley from 19 hours to 15 per week.

Would you be willing to give a couple of hours per week of your time to help sustain this valuable and much loved amenity of the town?

There will be a meeting for potential library volunteers this Wednesday, 16 November, at 6pm at the Old Library Meeting Room in the Town Hall. Everyone is welcome.

You can register your interest in becoming a volunteer by email.

Welcome to our new Artistic Director!

In fact, welcome to Em Whitfield Brooks, the first holder of what is a new post, made possible by a Lottery Grant through Arts Council England. She begins her job later this month.

On Tuesday evening she met the Board of Trustees for the first time at their November meeting (seen here on the right with Margot Cairncross, Chairman of the Trustees)

Many of them she knew well, of course, because Em has been involved with the Centre for the last thirteen years, as a performer, theatre director and singer.

However, she brings to us a much wider experience of leading (and managing budgets for) arts projects large and small, in the north of England. She has particular expertise in working with community performance and arts education, involving people of all ages and abilities. For example, she is well known locally for her Community Opera productions for the Ryedale Festival. Elsewhere she has led and worked on projects in Durham, Scarborough, Leeds, Hull, Bridlington, York, Tyneside.....

Em is a freelance director, vocal teacher, workshop leader and published songwriter; she was a national trainer for the Sing Up Training Programme, running courses for teachers and singing leaders across the UK for four years; and has led corporate arts training courses internationally for organisations such as Marks & Spencer, HSBC, PwC and The Sage Gateshead. She recently returned from running workshops in Milan for the Map Consortium.

Em says, "I'm really looking forward to embarking on what will be a diverse and challenging role in a thriving organisation. I have particular areas to focus on, and will start planning for events and projects that will reach new audiences and participants, as well as continuing to entertain and nourish the Centre's core followers. There's lots that is already great about this place, and I am honoured to have been chosen to lead the artistic team. There never was a more important time for the arts to serve everyone in the community, and I cant wait to get started."

The appointment is initially for one year and is an important part of a two-year development project supported by Arts Council England. If we fulfill our first year objectives then we anticipate further lottery funding for the second. Thereafter, we'll be in a better position to sustain the post indefinitely.

The objectives are: to increase public involvement in the Centre through more effective marketing; to initiate and support Outreach projects and create new partnerships; to develop new activities and events for young people both at the Centre and in outlying areas; to support a programme that celebrates literature in all its forms; and to increase our income.

Quite a job! But Em is up for it, and has our full support.

'Doubt' at the Helmsley Arts Centre last night, an audience reaction

The Helmsley Arts Centre is very much Clap Trap Productions home theatre as several members of the company have acted and directed with the 1812 Theatre Company and members of the choir in 'Doubt' are in the youth theatre. As a result the audience was full of family and friends who thoroughly enjoyed their night out as these short vox pops illustrate:




Further information of the 'Doubt' tour, which ends at the Theatre Royal in York, can be found here.