It’s been a special year here at York Theatre Royal, so we asked our CEO Paul Crewes to talk us through his highlights…
Paul Crewes, CEO of York Theatre Royal reflected: “It has been a wonderful year for us at the theatre. I think we have succeeded in presenting and producing a diverse range of theatrical experiences – from panto, dance, drama to film, music, cabaret and more and we have had so many highlights to choose from…
In Spring, we worked with Emma Rice on co-producing her adaptation of Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, with the world premiere here in March. York audiences absolutely loved the show before it went off on a fabulous tour across the UK. It now will be touring internationally.
We were then honoured to work with Academy Award winner Gary Oldman on a very special production of Krapp’s Last Tape. Gary started his professional career at YTR in 1979 ,so forty six years later he came full circle to make his return to York. This was an amazing opportunity for audiences, and people came from across the globe. Gary involved himself in the life of the theatre including spending time with young aspiring actors in our Youth Theatre!
In Summer we brought together hundreds of local people to produce another large-scale community production. His Last Report shone a light on the influential life and work of York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree. Hundreds of volunteers took part in the production – both on stage and off, including cast, choir, photography, marketing, costume, hair and make-up, technical and front of house.
Alongside this, with the support of funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Garfield Weston Foundation we also expanded our community outreach activities, working with many new partners, to put on a series of fun, free and inclusive activities and events connected to the Rowntree legacy.
Autumn saw us work with BAFTA-award winning Director Debbie Isitt on Military Wives – The Musical. This was such a special production, a brand-new musical inspired by the real-life story of the Military Wives choir. We were so lucky to have the support of local Military Wives choirs who shared their stories with us and who even performed here at the theatre before our show opened.
Alongside our produced work, York audiences also had the opportunity to see a wide array of shows from other theatres, companies and producers on our stage. In particular, our dance programme has grown with some incredible world-class performances on our stage- including London City Ballet, Ballet Black, Shobana Jeyasingh and Matthew Bourne.
As well as rounding the year off with our joyous panto Sleeping Beauty, we’ve also just had a fabulous win in the York Press Business Awards in the Creative Industries category and a national nomination for Theatre of the Year from The Stage – both of which are firsts for us and which we are incredibly proud of.
I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has come out and supported local theatre this year – without the support of York audiences we simply couldn’t make the work we do. Watch this space for some more incredible experiences in 2026!”
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