On Monday 20th May, staff from the Literature and Creative Writing programmes were delighted to celebrate with our third-year students, who have just finished studying for their degrees. We would like to wish all of our finishing students a hearty congratulations and fond farewell!

Continue reading “Third-Year Celebration Evening”

By Charlotte Crawshaw

Thursday 9^th May saw the opening of the York International Shakespeare Festival, kicking off with the fantastic performance of ‘All’s Well that Ends Well’ at the Friargate Theatre. Director Paul Burbage provided an interesting and modern take on the performance, in the note from Burbage  he said ‘with a little fine-tuning, a surprisingly contemporary voice emerges’ which he succeeded with.

            Even before the performance began the take on the performance was very interesting, as the players were introduced to the audience as people working on the set. It was really interesting to be able to see all of the players before the performance actually begun. The set itself was minimalist, yet impressive and immersive. The set consisted of two tables, which moved around the stage periodically as the scenes changed. The seating in the theatre draw the members of the audience in, making everyone feel involved in the performance.

Continue reading “All’s Well That Ends Well Review YISF @Friargate Theatre”

 

By Caroline Carlson and Charlotte Crawshaw

On May 9th 2019, York St John University kicked off the York International Shakespeare Festival with a Shakespeare Blogging workshop. University lecturer Saffron Vickers Walkling led the discussion on various blogging topics, tips, and websites and announced a unique opportunity for students to blog the upcoming festival. Thanks to Festival Director, Philip Parr of Parrabola, Students may attend most festival events for free if they review the event for the YSJ Words Matter blog. Simply turn up to the events at the pop-up Dogrose theatre and say ‘I’m here for Words Matter’ (with the exception of the Richard II film which is sold out), where Tom Straszewski has set aside a couple of tickets per performance. He’s also directed some of them. Likewise, for events at  Friargate (https://ridinglights.org/yisf/), there are review tickets for most productions. Call ahead to let them know you are coming: 01904 613000. For events at York Theatre Royal, email press officer Steve Pratt for a complimentary press ticket (subject to availability): steve.pratt@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk 

According to the festival website ‘the festival features exciting and adventurous artists both from around the world and from closer to home, with a focus on the Shakespeare of the North.’ Performances will be held from May 9th until 19th all over the city, in theatres, streets, parks, churches and wherever you would least expect. 

Visit their website at http://esfn.eu/festivals/york#full-gallery-anchor for more information.

General public tickets are available via https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/whats-on/ There are student discounts available.

Festival Shows include: All’s Well That Ends Well, Sonnet Walks, Feast, The Alchemist, Boris Rex, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Love Deadline (Desdemona), Be Not Afeard, Hamlet (An Experience), The Buds of Maybe, Outrageous Fortune, The Winter’s Tale, She Wolf, Into the Breach, Ten Things I Hate About Taming of the Shrew, Battle of the Bard

York Centre for Writing’s Beyond the Walls is an annual anthology celebrating York St John University’s Creative Writing students.

Lucy Pettigrew reviews this year’s launch event on 27th March 2019 as part of the York Literature Festival.

On the evening of the 27^th of March, it was time for the Beyond The Walls Student Showcase, organised by second-year students undertaking the Publishing, Production and Performance module. As soon as I walked into the SU coffee lounge I knew it was going to be an amazing night as it had been transformed into a cosy, welcoming place for the third-year and MA students to share their work with us. Props to the marketing team that was behind the set-up of the coffee lounge – the place looked amazing! Plus, there were free drinks which was a bonus! Continue reading “Beyond The Walls Showcase review by Lucy Pettigrew”