Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
Seated comfortably in the classy-looking Wentworth Edge bar, a glass of wine firmly ensconced in my hand, it was time for the first taste of the comedic menu, York Uni’s resident improv comedy troupe, The Shambles. Despite a few technical difficulties with the squealing microphone to begin with, The Shambles bounded onto the stage to rapturous applause. As the show relies on audience suggestions, if the energy in the audience is lacking, things can quickly fall flat. However, not tonight. In a boisterous mood, the audience shouted out suggestions quicker than they could be written down, feeling engaged as the talented Shamblers acted them out, developed them and before you knew it, were acting out the funeral of a donkey. Only once did they resort to a ‘Your mum’ joke, which may not have gone down so well with a less receptive audience. However, with their quick wit, acting abilities and likeable personas, The Shambles thoroughly impressed.
The Sketch Emporium, comprised of Tom Stokes, Heather Wilmot, Miranda Crowhurst, Daisy Bunyan and Ed Lewis-Smith, were very well-received, combining well-written sketches with perfectly judged performances. Particularly entertaining was the sketch in which fortune cookie predictions become personal, as well as the one involving a skipping rope and lemonade; Tom Stokes achieved the impressive feat of generating hysterical laughter in a scene with virtually no lines.
Stand-up comedy can be slightly hit-and-miss, as you may well know if you have visited any sort of open mic night. It is easy to misjudge an audience and have a set quickly descend into deathly silence. Thankfully there was no deathly silence here as the various stand-ups each brought their own brands of comedy, varied enough to not feel repetitive. John Rushton tackled the theme of science, talented enough to bring religion into the set without alienating the audience, though an expletive-filled rant against the Pope for his penchant for “f**king children” felt a little obvious. Ian Angell satisfied our guilty pleasure for bad puns, his understated performance letting the jokes do the talking. Whilst generating as many groans as laughs, he cheerfully observed that “the groans make it all worth it.” Freyja Winterson brought some much-needed female presence to the stand-up, successfully not falling into the trap of making her material gender-based, delighting and amusing with maths conspiracy theories.
A clean-shaven Adam Whybray produced an excellent set about OCD, both amusing and poignant at the same time, backed up by a friendly and engaging delivery. Lewis Gray’s theme was the environment, revelling in clever word-play which was made more effective by the dead-pan delivery and well-judged pauses. Next, Ben Reynolds’ cheeky demeanour and boundless energy carried his set along, bringing it close to home as he compared “men who do English and Drama” to women as both not understanding football. To finish the evening off was Robbie Birchall, who delivered polished and quirky one-liners, generating the most audience reaction and ending the festival on a high.
Laughing is most definitely the best form of exercise, and thanks to ComedySoc, I felt as if I’d cycled for miles. Look out Edinburgh, the York invasion begins this summer!
Definitely can't fault the comedy, but calling the seating arrangement that night "comfortable" is a gross injustice. They really cram those tiny chairs together, I had backache all through the next day from squeezing my shoulders in to accommodate those around, who were doing the same.
But yeah, the actual comedy itself was brilliant
I've been quoted as clean-shaved!
Day = made! Thank you! 
Pretty sure this article is about the event this term, whilst comment number 1 is about the one last term.
Timescale FAIL.
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