Scarborough Review August 2016

Page 48

48

Culture Column

Scarborough Review

August - Issue 36

A packed summer season at the YMCA Theatre Words and photos by Dave Barry Scarborough’s YMCA Theatre promises a varied and exciting programme for the summer, with eight shows playing over six weeks. The season kicked off on 25 July with a pantomime. Aladdin can be seen at 2pm each Monday until 29 August. It is being presented by a professional company, Styletrax Productions, who say it is filled with fun and all the usual antics associated with panto. Rock of Ages, an 80s-themed rock-based musical, is showing at 7.30pm every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday until 1 September. Performed by YMCA Productions, it features the music of Def Leppard, Foreigner, Twisted Sister, Reo Speedwagon and Poison. Musical Mashup, by the Rowlies Academy of Dance, contains excerpts from West End musicals including Les Miserables, Aladdin, Billy Elliott and Motown the Musical. It runs at 7.30pm every Saturday until 3 September. For comedy lovers, the theatre will host three nights of professional stand-up, on Fridays. Steve Day sets the ball rolling on 5 August.

Nathan Mundey as Drew and Chelsea Cooke as Sherrie

The full cast of Rock of Ages Described in the Guardian as “revelatory and very funny”, Steve is warm, witty and engaging while dealing with the dilemmas of being a deaf man in a hearing world. Comedian, songwriter, musician, actor and one-man band Duncan Oakley takes his imaginative, childlike and infectious humour to the YM on 19 August. On 2 September, lawyer turned comedian Andrew Watts’ posh-boy humour will “canter

like an apologetic tsunami”, according to a promoter. Tickets for the comedy nights cost £8 in advance and £10 on the door, for adults (under-16s £5). Voulez Vous, who have been singing Abba songs for 25 years, can be seen at the YM on Friday 12 August, at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £15. The Cloughton Rat Pack, featuring King Willy’s Big Band, make their YMCA debut on

Sam McCann as Lonny and Nicole Wade as Regina

Jamie Coles as Dennis, centre, with Josh EldridgeSmith, left, and Jakey Newton, who take turns to play Stacey Jaxx

Jack Maw as Jackieth, front, with, L-R, Rebecca Boag as Justice, Kelsi Hodgson as Hertz, Sam McNeill as Candi, Matthew Rhodes as Franz and Jasmine Towse as Justice

Friday 26 August, at 7.30pm. They have raised thousands of pounds for local charities. Tickets cost £12. n Tickets can be bought at the YMCA in St Thomas Street or by ringing 506750 or online.

Duncan Oakley

Fascinating insight into photographer’s work Words by Mark Vesey, photos by Peter Caton Award-winning Scarborough photographer Peter Caton gave a fascinating insight into his work, at a church hall in Newby. Peter has been travelling the world for 10 years, photographing humanitarian and environmental crises. Much of his work has been commissioned by organisations such as UNICEF, WWF, Oxfam, Save the Children, Greenpeace and the Red Cross. His pictures have been published in national newspapers and international magazines. The images shown at the presentation, at St Mark’s Church, mostly came from a trip to Chad in Central Africa, one of the poorest countries in the world, where a huge drought is causing crops to fail. Climate change is hitting Chad hard with erratic and exceptionally high temperatures and a lack of rainfall. The trip was hosted by Tearfund, founded by the Evangelical Alliance in 1968. It was designed to document the impact of climate change and tell the story of families who have been affected by the foodsecurity crisis in Niger, with a view to helping to find a way through it.

Peter said it is important to preserve the dignity of the person suffering shown in his photos. The high-quality format of the images and subtle lighting make the images feel almost three-dimensional. Observers can look people in the eye a continent away and feel a genuine connection with them. In one image, a mother with four children holds a small bowl of maize out towards the camera. This is their only food for the day, about a tablespoon each. Other images show the dry harshness of the surroundings and the withered crops. You may think the pictures would be upsetting but they are not; they transport you to another world

and reconnect you with bits of our planet and people that we will never have the privilege of meeting. Peter had to cope with 50-degree heat, contaminated water and the threat of attack or being taken hostage by extremist groups like Boko Haram. He said he could not let fear stop him from working and that this drives him on to show injustices in the world. When asked how he copes with seeing extreme poverty in comparison to western decadence, Peter was philosophical and said it is all about the luck of the draw and where you are born. Peter’s previous projects include climate

Peter Caton on a later trip to Africa, for an education project.

Jumana from Hillé Bar village near Dabkere, Chad, collects water. Her millet, which she grows to survive, has dried out and has stunted growth.

refugees in the Sundarbans region of India, environmental damage in the Brazilian Cerrado, leprosy in south Asia, blindness in India. n His website is at www.petercaton.co.uk.

Yasmin, 6, suffers from malnutrition due to a severe drought that has hit Chad due to climate change. She is holding a bowl with the few grams of wild seed she lives on per day.


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