Ripon residents are being given the opportunity to play a part in an innovative community project being created for the city’s first theatre festival.
At the Workhouse Museum on Allhallowgate between 11am-1.30pm today, would-be actors, scriptwriters, set designers and props handlers are invited to find out more.
The aim is to recruit people who would like to have a role in Jubilee at the Workhouse — a living history project by Fell Foss Theatre Company, under the direction of Mark Cronfield.
Participants will develop scripts with the museum’s volunteer research group alongside local writers and specialist script writer Simon Kirk of Time will Tell theatre company, long-time collaborators with English Heritage.
The finished production will reflect on previous royal celebrations in Ripon, such as Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, which was marked a year later, when the clock tower at the junction of Palace Road, North Street and Princess Road, was officially opened in front of a huge crowd.
Performances will take place on the final afternoon of the festival (Sunday June 26) when a promenade of colourful characters, will interact with the audience, as they make their way through the museum’s historic spaces.
The theatrical venture is being made possible through a collaboration between Ripon City Festival Trust and Ripon Museum Trust.
Festival co-director Katie Scott, said:
“This is our inaugural year and we are so pleased that we have been able to include this project in our plans.
“The festival aims to celebrate the unique city of Ripon through live performance and our ambition has always been to programme original and site-specific work alongside visiting companies. This is a creative and thought-provoking way to begin”.
Dr Laura Allan, community curator at Ripon Museum Trust, added:
“The historic spaces of the Workhouse Museum will be transformed into a stage with volunteers and the local community at the centre of the story. We are asking the local community to give it a go and get involved with this special jubilee performance”.
The festival runs from June 23 to 26, with a wide variety of performances from street theatre and puppetry to dance, storytelling and open-air Shakespeare
Tickets go on sale next month.
Families invited to enjoy the sights and sounds of Ripon
Seven of Ripon’s best-known locations are combining on Saturday March 12 to provide free entertainment and interactive fun for families.
The Sights and Sounds of Ripon programme, organised by Harrogate Borough Council, runs from 11am until 2pm at all venues.
It includes activities ranging from participation in a Victorian school lesson at the Workhouse Museum, to a visit to the bell tower at Ripon Cathedral.
Anyone interested in how fingerprints have been used to catch criminals can find out at the Prison and Police Museum, on St Marygate, where they can try fingerprinting themselves.
The cathedral will host singing, dancing, displays, craft activities and a bell tower tour.
At the nearby Courthouse Museum on Minster Road, visitors can see how the city’s criminals were brought to justice in bygone days.
In addition to the array of activities at the three heritage attractions run by Ripon Museum Trust, the cathedral, which celebrates its 1,350th anniversary this year, will host an exhibition featuring community services provided by 14 local organisations.
There be family crafts and games and performances from local choirs, Ripon City Morris Dancers and Betty Lupton’s Ladle Laikers.
The dancers and the Ladle Laikers will also be performing at the Workhouse Museum, along with singers and a ukulele band, while Punch and Judy shows will take place at 11.30am and 1.30pm.
The city council’s treasured items will be the focus of talks in the Mayor’s Parlour
At Ripon Town Hall, the city’s silverware and other treasures, collected over centuries, will be the focus of talks held on the hour from 11am in the Mayor’s parlour.
Those looking for some interactive entertainment will find it at Ripon Arts Hub on Allhallowgate, where they can view a working rehearsal by Ripon Youth Theatre between 11am and 12 noon and join in live Oliver! workshops at 12.15pm, 1pm and 1.45pm.
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The city’s library will hold storytime readings for 0-6 year-olds from 11am and there will be stories and activities for 7-11-year-olds between 12 noon a 12.45pm.
In addition to the daytime programme at the library, which will feature community information stalls, Ripon Poetry Festival will be staging a free to attend open mic night at 7.30pm, for which places need to be booked in advance.
Further programme details are available here.
Ripon Grammar School student Izzy Kirby has won a place at a leading musical theatre college.
The 16-year-old was among the youngest students to gain a place on the highly acclaimed three-year musical theatre course at SLP (Studios La Pointe) College in Leeds.
The course, equivalent to a higher education degree, usually attracts 18-year-olds who have already achieved a foundation course qualification in technique and performance.
Izzy, who will play the role of Babette in next month’s RGS production of Beauty and the Beast, has worked hard to reach the required entry level, beginning her training at The Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts in Darlington seven years ago.
For the past four years, she has attended Ripon’s Upstage Academy outside school and will play the starring role of Tracy in the performing arts school’s summer production of Hairspray.
Izzy, said:
“My first love is acting but I know that training as an all-round performer is crucial nowadays and a place at SLP will be a great grounding for a career in this industry.”
Her audition consisted of solo singing, dance classes and acting workshops.
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She was expecting to hear back two-weeks later, but received an email the next day offering her a place on the three-year diploma course.
Izzy, who is currently working towards her London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art grades 6, 7 and 8 acting qualifications, says her dream roles include Sophie in Mamma Mia, Velma in Chicago or the title role of Mary Poppins in the musical.
As well as receiving one-to-one singing lessons at SLP, she will have the opportunity to work with guest teachers, directors and choreographers.
Recent graduates have gone on to work in musicals including Wicked, Beautiful, The Lion King and Bat Out of Hell.
Alongside the tribute acts who played at Ripon’s summer season of free concerts, an emerging home-grown talent took centre stage.
The first performer at the Yorkshire Day Weekend of musical entertainment, was singer-songwriter Freddie Cleary, who has a growing fan base in the city and further afield.
The 20-year-old acoustic guitarist, who lives in Ripon, hopes for a recording contract one day and his rapidly-rising career has already seen him perform at high profile events including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Tour de Yorkshire.
Freddie Cleary busking at The Arcade in Ripon
The former pupil of Grewelthorpe Primary School and Bedale High, started playing music at the age of ten after being bought a second-hand guitar by his mother Karen, who is now his manager, administrator and roadie.
Freddie said:
“I used to be addicted to Playstation, but once I received my guitar I never played PS3 again!”
His first gig came at the age of 15 when he was asked to play at the Crown Inn in Grewelthorpe and then he started busking on the streets of Masham, Harrogate, Ripon and Robin Hood’s Bay.
Freddie, who has written his own songs – Mercy, My Everything, Perfect and Talk To Me – has used facilities at the Homefire Recording Co studio in Harrogate, added:
“I take my inspiration from artists such as Oasis, Ed Sheeran, Bryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen and the Stone Roses and it is my ambition to get my own recording contract one day.”
In the meantime, the young artist has another string to his bow, as an actor and member of Ripon Amateur Operatic Society (RAOS) where he started his acting career by successfully auditioning for one of the lead roles in the musical Cats.
He is also in the cast for the RAOS upcoming performances of Jesus Christ Superstar, which run from 7 to 16 October at the society’s Allhallowgate headquarters.
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His acting ability was noticed by a talent spotter and led to him being offered a role in Amazon Prime’s Green Fingers where he plays the part of a busker!
Freddie pointed out:
“It’s great, I can just be myself and while I enjoy acting, I think that playing the guitar, writing and singing my own songs, offers the best opportunities for me.”
Ripon student wins coveted National Youth Theatre place
Carys Peedell is following in the footsteps of leading British actors by winning a place on the National Youth Theatre summer course.
The Ripon Grammar School sixth form student will be treading the boards where the likes of Dame Helen Mirren, Daniel Craig and Orlando Bloom developed their acting talent.
Carys, 17, won the highly-prized place following a two-stage virtual audition.
As well as entitling her to become a member of the National Youth Theatre company until she is 25, attendance on the course will open the door to casting auditions and opportunities for productions up and down the country.
Carys Peedell plans a career in acting
Carys has dreamt of being a star of stage and screen from an early age.
She said:
“I’ve loved acting for as long as I can remember – when I was little, I would constantly dress up and make films with my sister.”
Being a quiet child, she was only offered minor parts in primary school productions but she confesses she wrote her own version of a play at nine years old to guarantee a leading role.
Through performing, Carys has conquered her shyness. She said:
“I found I could be loud and confident when playing someone else. People saw me in a different light and that’s when I decided I wanted to be an actor.”
The National Youth Theatre now beckons. She said:
“It’s an amazing opportunity and has been the launch pad for many successful acting careers.”
Carys, who studied acting, dance, singing and musical theatre with Upstage Academy in Ripon, achieved distinctions in all her London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art exams, including grade eights in solo acting, duo devising drama and group acting.
One of the highlights of her acting career so far has been, along with acting partner Alfie Davies, winning at the Harrogate Competitive Festival for Music, Speech and Drama last year.
A regular in Upstage Academy’s Harrogate theatre summer musicals, Carys most recently played the part of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde and is now preparing to film High School Musical, in which she is to play Sharpay Evans.
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She is also working on a production of Two by Jim Cartwright with a cast of keen Ripon Grammar School actors, to be performed at Ripon Grammar School on July 19.
Previous school roles include parts in Toy Story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Oliver and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for which she also won awards.