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Edinburgh Here They Come… With our help

26th June 202326th June 2023 by Site Admin

CAA young members Shannon Rewcroft and Jordan Langford are two creatives from Scarborough doing all they can to get their show, Build a Rocket by Christopher York to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August.

They have been offered a week’s run at Just the Tonic, a venue right in the heart of Edinburgh. I’ve seen the show at Wimbledon Theatre and it is a wonderful production with Shannon delivering a superb solo performance. A real tour de force! Shannon and Jordan are passionate about this production but here’s the snag,

Taking a show to Edinburgh is expensive and for young artists it becomes almost impossible financially without back up. So being determined not to let a little thing like money stand in their way, they are asking for our help.

Why go to the fringe? They first worked on the piece in 2022 for director Jordan Langford’s MA in Directing at Rose Bruford College. They fell in love with it and feel it is a truly special piece of writing. Having a fully-fledged one-woman show ready to go they were itching to share this story with as many audiences as they could. So they produced it themselves…not an easy task.

The play’s author Christopher York was also born in Scarborough. Working on something that’s set in their hometown, they felt so connected to the characters and the story. They also resonate with the struggles of the play. Yasmin (the central character of Build a Rocket) is defiant to triumph over adversity!

They want to take their bit of Scarborough to as many places as they can, the long-term aim is to have a production company on board so they can take a community production of Build a Rocket around Yorkshire and the UK. To achieve that aim, they need to get Build a Rocket on the map, get people seeing it, talking about it and excited about it. Where better than the biggest fringe festival in the world?

It is also a career-changing opportunity for them. Jordan graduated in October 2022 as a director and having a production up in Edinburgh in the first year of graduating would help his career go from strength to strength. Shannon has been acting since she graduated from Drama Studio London nine years ago but has never had the chance to perform a one-woman play, let alone one that is set in her hometown and lets her use her own voice. This would be an incredible opportunity for both of them.

What is the show about? Build a Rocket is a one-woman play following the defiant and inspiring story of Yasmin, a teenager from Scarborough whose life is not sandcastles, arcades, and donkey rides as she finds herself pregnant and alone in the world. The show follows her story for eighteen years until her son is coming of age. A unique and bold production, Build a Rocket tells an inspiring, whirlwind story while challenging commonly held perceptions of young motherhood.

Christopher York comments, “Teenage pregnancy is so demonized and we’re quick to blame teenagers. There was a girl I was at school with who had a child at 15. I was astounded at her resilience and that she went on to pass her GCSEs, go to college and university, get married, and raise a wonderful human being. She is a phenomenal person. We are still conservative about these topics. If we were more open and Scandinavian about how we tackled sex and sexual health, especially with young people, we may not have the statistics we do.

So far the project has been self-funded with anything Shannon and Jordan could scrape together, which hasn’t been much. All their set/costumes/props have come from charity shops or have been gifted to them or they have painted/created.

Money raised through fund raising will be used for:

Venue Fees, Festival Registration Fees, Brochure fees, Advertising and Marketing,
Accommodation, Travel, PRS License, Accessibility, Per Diems (basically, a posh way of saying money for the day, so we can eat whilst there!)

They currently won’t be taking a fee. If they get to the fringe and happen to make any profit on the tickets they will split that equally but they are not in this for the money, it’s pure passion that is fuelling their drive to get to Edinburgh and beyond.

So let’s help these valued members of our club realise their dream, really get behind them and chip in as much as we can.

The GoFundMe link can be found below.

Chris Hare

A New Book is Published!

2nd May 202329th August 2022 by Site Admin

Updated 25th April 2023 post book publication

CAA Member Tony Lidington’s book on the history of pierrot troupes and concert parties was published by Routledge at the end of September 2022.

This volume is the first authoritative historical textbook to look at the origins, development and evolution of seaside pierrot troupes and concert parties and their popular performance heritage.

It will provide, for the first time, a definition of the pierrot troupe and its evolution from the roots of European popular traditions such as the commedia dell’arte and minstrelsy, to links between music hall and contemporary popular culture. Tony Lidington will explore how pierrot troupes grew from a single idea into a major international cultural industry and how it boosted morale and national identity during the two World Wars, before sublimating into contemporary pop music and comedy. Tony’s continuing practice as research provides an experiential framework for the historical and ethnographic analysis of the form.

Here’s the link where more information can also be found:

https://www.routledge.com/Dont-Forget-The-Pierrots-The-Complete-History-of-British-Pierrot/Lidington/p/book/9780367489182

Barry Cryer 1935-2022

4th March 20222nd February 2022 by Site Admin

Barry with Kay Carman and CAA member and Tiller Girl Rosalie Kirkman

Our much loved Patron Barry Cryer passed away on 26th January 2022. He had presented his own hilarious show at the club only two months before.

Barry was born in Leeds on 23rd March 1935 to John Cryer an accountant and his wife Jean. Barry’s father died when he was just five years old. A Grammar School boy, Barry went on to study English Literature at Leeds University during which time he became a writer for Leeds based Proscenium Players.

After appearing in the university revue, Barry was offered a week’s work at the Leeds City Varieties Theatre, home of the Good Old Days and Barry left university to go into show business full time. After impressing impresario Vivian Van Damm, Barry Cryer began as the bottom billing act at the Windmill Theatre.

Barry suffered from eczema and was hospitalised eight times in twelve years. He was released from his Windmill Theatre contract and decided that a performing career was not ideal because of his skin condition, so focused on writing. Barry joined the cast of Expresso Bongo in 1957 in which he recorded the song ‘The Purple People Eater.’ Barry Cryer’s first writing credits were four sketches for the Jimmy Logan Show.

Barry became head writer with an occasional stage role for Danny La Rue’s London night club, where he was spotted by David Frost. This led to Barry joining the writing team on ‘A Degree of Frost’ which also included John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman. David Frost used Barry on several shows which established Barry as a top comedy writer by the 1970s.

Barry Cryer is shown serving wine in the iconic Four Yorkshiremen sketch in ‘At Last the 1948 Show.’ He enjoyed a long partnership with Graham Chapman. Together they wrote about 50 TV Shows including ‘Doctor In The House’ (1969-70) and several for Ronnie Corbett including ‘No, That’s Me Over Here’ (1968-70) and ‘The Prince of Denmark’ (1974). With other writers he contributed to ‘The Ronnie Corbett Show’ (1987) and ‘The Two Ronnies’ (1971-87).

Barry always preferred to write in partnership. His regular partner through the 1970s was John Junkin. Barry still enjoyed performing, appearing with Tim Brooke –Taylor and Junkin in the BBC Radio series ‘Hello Cheeky.’ He also appeared on TV in ‘The Steam Video Company’ and hosted the ITV comedy panel game ‘Joker’s Wild’ (1969-74). He went on to make cameo appearances with the Rutles and Kenny Everett.

Barry toured with Willie Rushton in ‘Two Old Farts in the Night’ and joined the popular long running BBC radio comedy programme ‘I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue ‘ which began in 1972 and is still running today. In 1995 he toured the UK with ‘Barry Cryer-the first Farewell Tour.’ He followed that up in 2008 touring with Colin Sell in ‘Barry Cryer-Still Alive.’ He was the subject of ‘This Is Your life’ in 1995 and was awarded the OBE in 2001 for services to comedy drama.

Barry married singer and dancer Theresa Donovan (known as Terry) in 1962. They had four children, three sons and a daughter and one grandchild. His contribution to British comedy was truly outstanding and those of us in the full house at the CAA who saw what must have been one of his last performances, will cherish the memory for always.

by Chris Hare

Revue of Barry’s recent appearance at the club on November 2nd 2021

CAA Patron BARRY CRYER On Stage at the Club

27th January 20224th November 2021 by Site Admin

WITH THE PASSING OF COMEDY GENIUS BARRY CRYER, THE CLUB HAS LOST A MARVELLOUS PATRON AND SUPPORTER.

Site Admin 27th Jan 2022

A WONDERFUL AFTERNOON at the club on the 2nd of November.

Barry Cryer entertained us all brilliantly together with his great pianist and friend, Colin Sell. The full house were swept away on a magical carpet of humour and enjoyment. The Hall rocked with laughter!

Barry Cryer is a true Showbiz STAR and LEGEND. A huge thanks to our PATRON BARRY CRYER!! All our love and thanks from

Kay, Chairman, and all of our Members.

Betty Crosskey Gets a Lift

17th May 2021 by Site Admin

During 2019 we invested in a major refurbishment for the club. Many members kindly and generously donated towards the cost.

Betty Crosskey was a major benefactor asking only in return that she would be the first to sample our new lift. Here is Betty in October 2019 doing just that. As Pam Cundell would say ‘Onwards and Upwards!’