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George Egg brings his latest show, Set Menu, to Ripon on Thursday (March 21) as the main dish in a crazy culinary evening to launch the 2024 Ripon Theatre Festival.
Festival director Katie Scott, told the Stray Ferret:
“We’re getting off to a good start with all tickets quickly snapped up for the show from George Egg – the comedian who cooks.
“This award-winning, multi-sell-out, international-touring performer presents a delightful evening’s cooking-with-laughs comprising the best bits from his previous acclaimed shows, plus a few new surprises.
“Over the past half-decade George has toured three shows (‘Anarchist Cook’, ‘DIY Chef’ and ‘Movable Feast’), he’s cooked over a thousand dishes, all of them in front of a live audience and none of them with a kitchen.”
Revisiting those unlikely environments armed with the chef’s skills he’s honed, he’ll show how to make food on a train with a laptop, in a shed with power tools and with hotel bedroom appliances. Plates of gourmet food prepared in the most unconventional of ways and with the opportunity to taste the results at the end.
Ms Scott, added:
“It’s time for the funniest recipes and the most delicious jokes. George has appeared and cooked on ‘Bake Off: An Extra Slice’ (Channel 4), ‘Steph’s Packed Lunch’
(Channel 4) and ‘This Morning’ (ITV).“He’s made food live on the radio too on ‘Loose Ends’ (BBC R4) a show which is now regularly co-hosts, you can hear him every Monday on Craig Charles’ (BBC 6 Music)
Show, and he’s even presented an episode of ‘The Food Programme’ (BBC R4).”
Full details of this year’s Ripon Theatre Festival will be announced at Thursday’s event which takes place at Ripon Arts Hub with refreshments courtesy of Valentino’s Ristorante. The evening is sponsored byGolden Frog Marketing.
The summer festival will take place from Tuesday 2 – Sunday 7 July with five days and six nights crammed with events and activity.
Tickets for seven events are already on sale, but audiences at the George Egg event will hear announcements about the full programme, including outdoor, free, and family events set to take place at a multitude of locations across the city. click here for full information about all events.
Image George Egg. Picture Ripon Theatre Festival
The 2023 Ripon Poetry Festival, which came to a close yesterday evening, proved a success with sell-out performances and a record entry for the annual poetry competition.
The final event, held at the Ripon Arts Hub on Allhallowgate, was an evening with theatre legend Barrie Rutter, the actor and director who founded Northern Broadsides to champion acting talent from the north.
This year’s 11-day festival also featured Internationally-famous children’s author Michael Rosen, who made a return to the city, having helped to launch the first Ripon Poetry Festival in 2017.
Festival curator Andy Cross told the Stray Ferret:
“It has been another tremendous year. We’ve had sell-out events from the outset and more than 300 entries for the poetry competition, which is a new record.”
Mr Croft (pictured above, centre) was among the panel of three judges that included Ripon Theatre Festival director Katie Scott and last year’s competition winner Simon Strickland (pictured left) who selected the poem, Newborn, written by Edmund Thomson Jones as the 2023 winning entry.
His entry, which was inspired by the birth of his daughter, now features alongside other entries in the 142-page festival anthology titled Creative Juices.
A separate anthology including entries from children, has also been published.
The festival, which is the biggest of its kind in Yorkshire saw performances from poets Hadley-James Hoyles, Alison Carr, Robert Powell and Sarah Wimbush.
In addition to workshops for children and adults there was open mic evening organised by Write-on Ripon and Ripon Writers Group.
A review of An Audience with Barrie Rutter is available here.
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Edinburgh Fringe debut for Ripon singer-songwriter
Next month’s Edinburgh Fringe will provide a high profile platform for Ripon singer-songwriter Alannah Creed to unveil a newly-created repertoire of original songs.
Her Fringe debut will see the 20-year-old classically-trained singer perform 12 songs written in collaboration with her mother and co-lyricist Kathryn Creed, a counsellor and hypnotherapist, who is also a Reiki master teacher and practitioner.
The duo have combined their musical and therapeutic skills to compose pieces designed to be in harmony with the healing power of nature.
Living close to the Studley Royal Deer Park, where they regularly walk Yorkshire terrier Katie, there is plenty in the natural environment to inspire them.
Alannah and Kathryn Creed with Yorkshire Terrier Katie
Alannah told the Stray Ferret:
“The songs, which I describe as classically inspired pop infused with electronica, draw on many different uplifting personal experiences, such as seeing the sun shining through trees and hearing the sound of birds singing.”
She added:
“I believe that music is a superpower for stress relief, enjoyment and healing and I want those who come to my concerts to feel happy, empowered, energised and renewed. “
Pianist Alannah, who also plays acoustic guitar, is currently an unsigned artist but has been working with producer Grant Henderson at Loom Studios in Birstall near Leeds, with the aim of releasing her work this autumn or in the spring of 2024.
Her 11 shows at Edinburgh Fringe will be staged in venue six at the Lauriston Halls complex and before heading to the Scottish capital, she will provide a sneak preview of her original works in the Harrogate Theatre Studio on the evening of July 21.
Alannah will also perform her repertoire in Ripon Arts Hub on Allhallowgate all 8pm on August 4, where tickets will be available on the door.
Those who go to see her in Edinburgh, Harrogate or Ripon, can expect dramatic performances as she is also an actor and dancer who trained in Contemporary Performance at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, before studying acting at the Stella Adler Academy in New York.
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