Northampton Saints move 7 points clear at the top of the table after a precious 41-30 bonus point win against Saracens under the Friday night lights.
The Londoners arrived at Franklin’s Gardens fully loaded with international stars and were the bookies favourites after Saints’ Bristol wobble and Sarries’ demolition of Quins the week before.
However another imperious display from Player of the Match Fin Smith coupled with some outstanding performances throughout the team (take a bow Langdon, James and Sleighthome) saw Saints safely home against a late Sarries fightback.
Saints started the fastest, Alex Coles strolling over to finish off some persistent pressure on the Saracens line. Fin Smith converted, 7-0.
Things would get better for the home side James Ramm scoring despite a lengthy TMO check. Smith added the extras in front of the posts again. 14-0.
Smith was at it again a minute later, slotting a penalty to extend the lead to 17.
Saracens would then receive a gift off the restart, Theo McFarland charging down a kick to score. Owen Farrell added the two, 17-7.
Momentum swung to the visitors after a raft of penalties, Farrell once again making the most of it to bring the game back to a one-score game. 17-10.
Saints would have to work hard to make sure they went into the break ahead, Nick Tompkins amongst a number of Saracens players coming close to going over the whitewash.
Saracens hit back straight after the break, Farrell slotting another penalty from under the posts after the hosts were deemed to not roll away at the breakdown. 17-13.
James Ramm would score his second of the game after a nifty Saints breakaway, Smith added the extras. 24-13
Saracens were gifted their second try of the game, Ben Earl charging down another box kick to go in under the posts to the delight of the travelling support, Farrell converted 24-20.
Smith extended the lead back out to 7 points with a penalty before Tommy Freeman continued his fine scoring form notching Saints bonus-point try. 34-20.
The game would be put to bed when Saints extended their lead to 21 points, Ollie Sleightholme picking up a loose pass before racing away to score. Converted yet again. 41-20.
The visitors ended the game with a flurry of tries both coming from Alex Lewington, enough to rescue a try bonus, but would miss out on the losing bonus point with both kicks missed. 41-30
Northampton now look ahead to Munster in the round-of-16 of the Investec Champions Cup at the Gardens next weekend.
Northampton Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson says there is “no need for added motivation” as they welcome reigning Gallagher Premiership champions Saracens tonight (7:45 pm March 29).
He said: “It’s always a mental test, it was a mental test going to Bristol, going to Munster, going anywhere it’s a mental test.
“We talk about it when we play in Europe, we talk about it when we then play in the Prem it’s a big challenge to find out where you’re at.
“They are all big tests, and this one is a big one for us.”
Dowson believed that preparation wasn’t quite right after last week’s trip to Bristol but feels like Saracens is a good test to get back on track.
He said: “We need to see how we react to last week’s result as a group and also see where we are as a team.
“Moving into the run-in, I’m excited about that and you want to be challenged by the best teams and they are certainly one of those.”
Fraser Dingwall battles for the ball (Archive pic by Dave Ikin)
Fresh from his return from Six Nations duty with England, Fraser Dingwall was open about the need for a response from the team this week.
He said: “The nature of the loss on Friday is normally teams then give a response.
“You mentioned we are playing the reigning champions at home on Friday night and also it being the Saints Foundation game which is very important to us with the charity and everything they do.
“In terms of occasions, it doesn’t get much bigger for us.”
The centre also reflected on his time with England.
He said: “I look back on it really positively, especially in the early stages.
“Even when I wasn’t involved it was great to be part of a group trying to evolve and go to a different place than rugby and kick on.
“I am very honoured and very fortunate for the chance and be a part of the bigger picture.”
Dingwall also knows no love will be lost once that whistle goes at the Gardens on Friday night.
He said: “Once you come back to your club it becomes your focus.
“There won’t be any issues with who you are competing against but no doubt on game day you know who you are competing for.”
The Saints remain top of the domestic table despite a difficult 52-21 defeat away at Bristol Bears last time out.
Despite hopes that last week’s result was a blip, Dowson understands that his side can’t afford to get complacent in the run into the end of the season.
He said: “I don’t think it is ever a case of the players not trying or not believing in what we are doing.
“It was more of a case of us not quite getting the preparation right, we haven’t done this block right.
“It’s that we don’t want to get it wrong again.”
15 James Ramm 14 Tommy Freeman 13 Burger Odendaal 12 Fraser Dingwall 11 Ollie Sleightholme 10 Fin Smith 9 Tom James
1 Emmanuel Iyogun 2 Curtis Langdon 3 Trevor Davison 4 Alex Moon 5 Alex Coles 6 Courtney Lawes (c) 7 Tom Pearson 8 Juarno Augustus
Replacements: 16 Sam Matavesi 17 Alex Waller 18 Ed Prowse 19 Temo Mayanavanua 20 Lewis Ludlam 21 Sam Graham 22 Archie McParland 23 Tom Litchfield
Hilary Scott reflects on Labour’s second by-election win in the early hours of February 16and how the media coverage really workswhen you cast your vote
Newly elected Labour MP for Wellingborough Gen Kitchen, and Helen Harrison, ousted MP Peter Bone’s girlfriend and Tory candidate who lost the party’s large majority
Election counts are a funny old job as a reporter. You know it’s going to be a very long night when a General Election is eventually called, ending with a ten minute adrenalin hit in the wee small hours – presuming there’s no dreaded re-count. When it’s a by-election, it’s the same, only with far more journalists in one place. This was how it panned out at the Wellingborough by-election in the early hours of February 16.
Your research and ability to remember numbers and faces is pretty important – nothing gets the adrenaline going like having to quote the percentage turnout at the last election (64.27% in 2019), the previous electorate size (80,765) and majority of the now ousted and somewhat notorious Peter Bone (18,540), while also looking for the faces of the candidates (11 of them in this case) who all show up to the count at different times.
While us local hacks largely have the generic leisure centre-based counting halls to ourselves on General Election night, save for a couple of agency stringers, a by-election sees ‘Network’ – the London-based national broadcasters – swarm out into the provinces.
It’s a mixture of getting multiple forms of communication done these days – no longer just getting some background colour for a piece that might be published in the next day’s paper or the next morning’s bulletin. The internet and social media have changed all that. You need candidate arrival quotes, pictures of ballot boxes coming in from various polling stations, pieces to camera every hour or more with ‘updates’, live two-ways with candidates or their team members, pre-records and Tiktoks and live blogs and Twitter (X) threads – not quote so much time for catching up with your fellow journos or campaigners you may not have seen since the last election.
The excellent Northants Telegraph team of four staff members, all of whom know the county and people better than anyone, were live blogging, Tweeting, writing online stories, getting quotes and pictures and liaising with contacts they’d built up over years. Likewise the independent Sarah Ward of subscription newsletter publication NNjournal was working her contacts and getting to the heart of Local Issues for Local People.
BBC Political editor Chris Mason and Sky’s Chief Political correspondent Jon Craig
BBC Political Editor Chris Mason and Sky’s John Craig were the big beasts up from the big smoke and the regional press have to jostle to ensure they are in the front of the scrum for the big reveal. Mason had to leave before the declaration of results as he was due on air first thing but Craig was there until the end, kicked out with the rest of us at 5am as the Kettering Leisure Village closed its doors with most reporters still editing and filing copy.
There’s a lot of camaraderie behind the scenes and at this count some disquiet about a ‘pen’ that had been set up for journalists to stand in, a bit like sports’ mixed zones, which one determined hack decided to test by simply walking out into the hall to interview party representatives as we usually do. Back in your pen woman! (the pen was then moved closer to the entrance but candidates were kept safe from us by the nylon straps and poles more commonly found in a Post Office queue. Phew.
A note: we get warned A LOT about where and when we can report. We are trained journalists do know how to cover a count. We abide by impartiality rules and know we can’t show the ballot papers (although let’s face it, they are all anonymous really) and we don’t detail anything about results until the Returning Officer (in this case High Sheriff Milan Shah) gets on the podium with the final tariff. We KNOW we can’t ‘do anything that interferes with the integrity of the poll‘. We’re not influencers, we’re trained journalists.
Of course, there are always rumours – early doors there was talk of a Labour landslide. Others said it was going to be too close to calls and a recount was on the cards. There was also a man in a giant hat and a white coat called Nick the Flying Brick claiming he was going to abolish gravity. Another bloke was walking about the counting hall with a creepy ventriloquist’s dummy. The far right candidates must have done a weeks’ worth of their step counts just bimbling around the hall for hours.
By the wee small hours there was talk of a Labour landslide again. Reform’s Richard Tice turned up and made a lot of clams about how their candidate, former Tory donor Ben Habib was going to annihilate the Tory vote – the Conservatives still beat them by almost 3,500 votes. Labour’s Gen Kitchen got over 13,000.
Tory Helen Harrison, Nick the Brick, Independents Kev Watts and Marion Turner-Hawes
Elections are performative for a lot of people. It gives them a misplaced sense of importance. They get a special entrance, a different queue, they’re allowed to hang out with people who might actually have power and influence now or in future. Journalists ask for their opinions and take their photos. They cease to be ‘normal’ folk for a while, even if they do, as Britain First’s Alex Merola found out, find fewer than 500 people cast their ballot for you. One candidate, the absent Ankit Love Jknpp Jay Mala Post-Mortem, got 18 votes. There’s an awful lot of hyperbole – ‘the people’ and ‘the public mood’ get quoted a lot, even though their only presence at the count is in the little pieces of white paper they stuck a cross in, which is the actual reason we’re all there.
Then there are the principled local candidates, independents like the former Green party candidate Marion Turner-Hawes and former Northants police office and parish councillor Kev Watts, along with the Green Party’s Bozeat-based Will Morris – who genuinely stick their heads above the parapet and endure the circus because they want to make a difference to the actual constituency. They hand over their £500 deposit knowing they probably won’t get it back (you need 5% of the overall vote to not ‘lose your deposit’).
Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins who campaigned for Wellingborough Labour candidate Gen Kitchen faces the cameras
They know it’s unlikely they will get anywhere near the Big Party candidates who may not even be from the area, but have been parachuted in to make a more general appeal to a wider electorate (see Ben Habib from the Reform Party, formerly the Brexit party, started by Farage after he dumped his UKIPers and to date with no electoral success.)
Reform’s Habib wasn’t even in the right town on the morning of the election, broadcasting from nearby Irthlingborough which is in a different constituency. But to listen to his gang of election supporters, you’d think he was the Second Coming, despite actually coming in third.
Perhaps surprising was the result for the Liberal Democrat candidate Ana Savage Gunn, a well-respected former local police officer who retrained in social care during the pandemic and who might usually expect to be at least in third place, but pushed into fourth with 1422 votes. The moderate Lib Dems might be expected to gain from the electorate’s dislike of the two major parties, but not here.
Will Morris from the Green party,Lib Dem Ana Savage Gunn and Labour’s Jen Kitchen
The unsung heroes of any election are the vote counters – those anonymous council and bank staff who you see flipping expertly through piles of ballot papers with those blue rubber thimbles at super speeds – clicking and stacking and shuffling each precious ballot, careful not to make a single error which could lead to an expensive and soul destroying recount.
Thankfully only one small recount was needed of a rogue box, at around 3am, when the PA system also needed fixing as we were all temporarily deafened by a loud blast of high-pitched feedback. Lots of standing around in our pens was followed by a rush to the stage as press and party supporters were released forward in turn for the result. The BBC, ITV and Sky were running live feeds from the hall, radio reporters were on hold to studios, the rest of us shooting and broadcasting on phones – instructions handed out as to who would be chasing the successful – and unsuccessful – candidates for reaction quotes and shots after the result. No longer the days of simply noting down the result with pen and paper now every scrap of life can be sent in real time.
In the end, we got our result at about 4am, we watched the relief for Labour’s Genevieve ‘Gen’ Kitchen, who had the added pressure of being the favourite in the run-up, even abandoning her honeymoon in Suffolk when Bone was ousted to start her campaign.
Conservative Helen Harrison make a rapid exit after the result
The Tory candidate Helen Harrison, completely unsupported by the national Conservative Party, had had to drag the ghost of her ‘boyfriend’ – the aforementioned disgraced former MP Peter Bone – around on the campaign. After losing the Tories enormous majority, she left the hall chased by the press in the glare of the TV cameras into the rainy early morning. The indignity of it all was visible on the faces of the old-school local Tory councillors (most of them apparently married to each other) who had at least turned up to support her.
The day after the successful result for Labour might have seen Gen Kitchen and husband Joe catch a lie-in, but no, the new member of parliament for Wellingborough had a press call at 11.30am and the following week saw her getting to grips with her new job, new office and a whole heap of urgent tasks for a patch that has been without an MP since Bone’s removal.
While the candidates disappeared into the 5am darkness, the hacks trying urgently to file final updates from the leisure centre were unceremoniously booted out into the rain to finish their reports in the nearest open fast-food restaurants which had working wifi. Some may have been lucky to get any sleep before having to cover the morning after the night before.
And this will all be happening again, in by-elections like Rochdale this week and possibly in Blackpool South, after yet another Tory MP was found to have misbehaved.
We are very much due a full General Election, the first since December 2019, (which was pre-Covid, pre-Partygate and cost-of-living crisis), when ALL candidates across the country will be going through the election night counts from leisure centres, just as they did in Wellingborough and Kingswood, Gloucestershire two weeks ago.
So even if you still feel confused and exhausted by the politics of the country, make sure you register to vote, and don’t forget your ID. It’s the only way to truly make your views on your community and the wider country count. Too many citizens of the world today don’t have that luxury.
Northampton’s iconic Derngate auditorium reached its 40th birthday last year and, as its anniversary season continues, the theatre is launching an online auction raising funds for the Derngate at 40 appeal.
Featuring some exciting lots, including hospitality and theatre experiences and signed sporting memorabilia, the auction will be open for bidding from Monday 5 to Monday 12 February.
Hibiscus
Kindly donated by businesses based in Northamptonshire and the wider region, there is an enticing range of items for which to bid. Highlights include Saints hospitality packages, golf days, tickets for Silverstone Interactive Museum with F1 Simulator, a Comedy Season Ticket, a pendant necklace from Michael Jones Jewellery, unique pieces of theatre artwork, and a hamper and tour from Warners Distillery, to name but a few.
The theatre’s unexpected temporary closure in autumn 2023, due to the discovery of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in parts of the foyer, disrupted some of the plans to mark this milestone year but now it is full steam ahead for the rest of the 40th season, with the auction forming an integral part of the Derngate at 40 fundraising activity.
Support for the Derngate at 40 appeal will help the theatre to continue to bring the best live performances from around the world and sustain the charity’s much-loved community and outreach projects. Additionally it will help Royal & Derngate provide a venue for future theatre-goers that is accessible to all and to regenerate the Derngate auditorium seating to give the best visitor experience.
The Derngate at 40 online auction is kindly supported and hosted by Auction Marketer. The auction link will go live from Monday 5 February at 10am. Royal & Derngate’s social media channels is featuring previews of the auction lots and more information about Derngate’s 40th anniversary can be found on the theatre’s website at www.royalandderngate.co.uk/derngate-40/
An anarchic, tender and ‘unfrogettable’ return from the Spymonkey team
“It’s tapdancing frogs Dad, why wouldn’t you want to go?” our 15-year-old, theatre-obsessed daughter chided. She’s been my reviewing sidekick for the last few months but was unavailable for The Frogs press night, and her father was to be my plus-one instead. He didn’t want to miss The Traitors on telly, but the lure of live theatre worked.
I was pretty sure we’d reviewed Spymonkey before – way back in February 2012 it turns out – and a lot has happened to the comedy quartet since. No longer a foursome, as revealed via the play-within-a-play, or ‘falling into the space between scenes.’
Jacoba Williams, Toby Park and Aitor Basauri – Spymonkey 2.0 All images by Manuel Harlan
Actors Toby Park and Aitor Basauri have been forced into a double act, as their former Spymonkey members Petra and Stephan were no longer around in real life. Petra had taken a gig in Vegas and yes, Stephan really did die.
That grief weaves its way through the chaotic retelling of Aristophanes’ ancient Greek comedy, which Spymonkey’s remaining members have been persuaded to stage by newcomer Jacoba Williams (whose multiple costumes and character changes are just amazing). She sweeps the old boys along with both gentle encouragement – they’ll be reviving ‘the first every comedy double act’ – and the scorn of her multiple monster parts, including a muscle-suited Heracles with his swinging chipolata and beans, and a multi-headed monster whose angry puncturing of her various faces is classic Spymonkey.
The Frogs, in summary, is a quest story. The preening half-God Dionysius (Park) and his slave Xanthias (Basauri) have to travel to Hades to bring back the recently dead playwright Euripides. Sent on their way by Heracles (Williams) who assumes they’ll be staying in hell for good, the duo meet various characters along the way, including the aforementioned tap-dancing and psychoactive frogs (played by a Northampton community cast).
The audience doesn’t have to know all the theatre-studies in-jokes, but it helps. Someone was laughing, very loudly, from the moment the first cagoule-clad frog appeared to the giant frog finale and, to be frank, it was a massive distraction for the rest of us.
The storytelling – reflective perhaps of the shattered confidence of the depleted theatre company – is manic. The search for dead Euripides in the ancient Greek is mirrored and morphed into Toby and Aitor’s search for much-mourned Stephan – processing grief right in your face and without apology. Forget breaking the fourth wall by talking to the audience – it also broke our hearts a little.
While straight-man Park and his effortlessly funny sidekick Basauri awaken their decades-old comic partnership, it’s Williams who adds the pace. She carries not only the enormous and frankly beautifully mad costumes (bravo Lucy Bradridge), but the contemporary reality of theatre. Is it enough to do jokes about asses and reference numerous old white blokes, when theatre – and the and the society it is supposed to reflect – has changed beyond recognition? (See also: giant moon/mirror as part of the set).
We thoroughly enjoyed the Frogs – yes, it’s bonkers, slightly meandering and not fully formed just yet – but my jaw ached from laughing and the tender sadness of lost friends and aging was palpable.
Please, stick the Traitors on to record and go and see this Made in Northampton co-production while you can. The Frogs runs until Saturday February 3 (with £10 tickets for the under 25s), before it transfers to The Kiln in London. For tickets visit Royal and Derngate Box office or call 01604 624811.
Northampton Saints qualify for the knockouts of the Champions Cup for the first time since 2016 with a 61-14 demolition of Aviron Bayonnais at the cinch stadium at Franklins Gardens on Friday night, writes James Logan.
The home faithful were treated to 11 tries with 9 of those coming for those in Green, Black and Gold making sure the Saints would stay top of Pool 3.
The Saints also made it eight wins in a row in all competitions which has been an informality of their recent past as director of rugby Phil Dowson is aware.
He said: “I think we have a group of lads that have been together through some tough experiences in the past.
“But it is looking like we are turning a corner and they’re taking ownership of the game plan and how they want to play and what they want to achieve.
“I think that’s powerful in terms of the group, who are very, very tight.
“I’m conscious we’ve won absolutely nothing, but we’ve put a run of games together when previously our main criticism was our consistency.”
Unlike their disappointing first 40 at Sandy Park last weekend, the Saints made no mistakes in making a quick start at the Gardens.
Tries from winger Tommy Freeman and flanker Tom Pearson put the home side 21-0 up just 20 minutes into the game, both trying to cement their names in the hat for England’s selection for the Six Nations next Wednesday.
Northampton would complete a half-hour bonus point as fan favourite Courtney Lawes latched onto the end of a lovely Fin Smith pass to find the gap and go over to score.
It would be a disappointing opening 40 for the travelling fans and that wouldn’t get any better as prop Tevita Tatafu would be yellow-carded following a high tackle on Sam Graham.
The home side would capitalise on the one-man advantage with both Curtis Langdon and Alex Waller adding tries just before the half-time break to extend the lead to 42.
The Saints would continue the second half in equally fast fashion, Tom Pearson charging down the left-hand touchline to secure his hat-trick, one of several players in Saints colours who will be wanting to play themselves into a Six Nations squad.
Alex Waller took the home side past the half-century mark moments later going over from close range to add his second of the game and the Saint’s 8th try of the evening.
The visitors would eventually show what their about with a quick-fire double, winger Tom Spring and fullback Aurelien Florian Callandret both scoring to give the travelling support something to cheer about in the Midlands.
Although that wouldn’t come before replacement Tom James put the cherry on top of the cake with the Saint’s 9th and final try of the context.
Man of the match Tommy Freeman was influential throughout the game scoring as well as setting up tries and with the Six Nations around the corner this upturn in form couldn’t have come at a better time.
He said: “It’s always better when we are winning and winning as a team and we’re enjoying it.
“We’re putting our game on the pitch, and we are benefiting from it.”
With Steve Borthwick announcing his England squad on Wednesday, Freeman said he would love another shot at representing his country.
Freeman said: “I think my mindset going into Australia and previous camps was just to take it as it came.
“I felt like I was very young and had it all coming my way.
“Whereas now I think it’s not about just taking your chances but about staying within the mix and staying in the international frame.
“You don’t want to be just sitting on the fringes, which I felt like I was last time, I kind of want to stay right in the thick of it and hopefully stay.”
This win for Saints guaranteed them a place in this season’s Investec Champions Cup round of 16 for the first time in eight years.
With a further chance to have a home round of 16 ties confirmed if other results in pool 3 go their way this weekend.
Northampton Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson says the squad are excited for yet another big European game at the Gardens, but they will “need to fire on all cylinders” if they are to get a result.
The Saints have the chance to make it three wins out of three in this season’s Investec Champions Cup, welcoming Top 14 side Aviron Bayonnais, known as Bayonne, on Friday night (8pm, January 12).
Northampton Saints currently top the domestic table, but Dowson understands that this weekend’s opponents are not to be under-estimated.
He said: “It’s another massive challenge, so much quality in their group (Bayonnais) and we are looking forward to measuring up against them.
“They’ll be disappointed about where they are in the league considering the quality of their players they have in their group and at different times they’ve been unlucky.
“And they were unlucky again at the weekend against Bordeaux and they have some world-class talent, and we are going to be on our metal as they can change a game at the turn of a hat.”
The men in Green, Black and Gold currently sit top of pool 3 following back-to-back wins against Toulon and Glasgow, home and away respectively.
With a chance to qualify for the European knockouts for the first time since 2016, Northampton will need to rely on big players stepping up.
Northampton Saints and England back row Tom Pearson is just one player who has relished the opportunities since arriving in the Midlands from London Irish last summer.
He said: “Northampton’s been great in helping me, I just want to keep putting in good performances out on the pitch as the competition is very strong.
“There are a lot of good young players, so I need to continue to keep playing well, impress on the pitch and keep winning at Saints because it looks good if you are winning as a team.”
Northampton were impressive last weekend in their 42-36 win away at Exeter coming from 26 points down to the Chiefs, although they will need to make a better start than last week.
Dowson said: “It’s very hard to put your finger on a single thing.
“But you’ve got to credit Exeter on how they start and how they start frequently at home.
“We were aware of that, and we couldn’t deal with that.”
Dowson spoke openly about his side’s second-half performance crediting the character of those who came off the bench to make such a distinct impact.
He said: “It says a lot about the maturity and confidence of the players, and it sounds ridiculous, but the coaching team were quite relaxed.”
“At least a lot more relaxed than when we actually started to score tries.”
The home side will still be without a raft of players on Friday night, Lewis Ludlam, James Ramm and George Hendy amongst those still sidelined through injury, as announced by Dowson.
George Furbank captains the side from fullback in the third round of the tournament, with Tommy Freeman returning to the starting XV to join Furbank and last weekend’s hat-trick scorer Ollie Sleightholme in Saints’ back three.
Fraser Dingwall starts alongside Rory Hutchinson – who scored the match-winning try in Exeter – in Northampton’s midfield, while Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith both start in Saints’ half-backs. Saints welcome Bayonne to Northampton for the first time in the Club’s history.
Alex Waller returns from injury to start in the front row alongside hooker Curtis Langdon and tighthead prop Trevor Davison, with Temo Mayanavanua and Alex Coles packing down behind them in the second row.
Courtney Lawes – who claimed the Gallagher Premiership Player of the Month award for December earlier this week – returns to Saints’ starting line-up at blindside flanker against Bayonne, with Tom Pearson and Sam Graham also named in the back row (at openside flanker and No.8 respectively) to complete the starting XV.
Dowson opts for a 6-2 split on his bench this Friday, with the likes of Sam Matavesi, Emmanuel Iyogun, Juarno Augustus, Angus Scott-Young and Tom Litchfield all set to make an impact from amongst the replacements – while Tom James returns to the matchday squad following a suspension.
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS vs AVIRON BAYONNAIS Investec Champions Cup, Round 3 Friday 12 January, 2024 cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens Kick-off: 8pm
15 George Furbank (c) 14 Tommy Freeman 13 Fraser Dingwall 12 Rory Hutchinson 11 Ollie Sleightholme 10 Fin Smith 9 Alex Mitchell
1 Alex Waller 2 Curtis Langdon 3 Trevor Davison 4 Temo Mayanavanua 5 Alex Coles 6 Courtney Lawes 7 Tom Pearson 8 Sam Graham
Replacements: 16 Sam Matavesi 17 Emmanuel Iyogun 18 Elliot Millar Mills 19 Alex Moon 20 Juarno Augustus 21 Angus Scott-Young 22 Tom James 23 Tom Litchfield
Not available for selection: George Hendy, Paul Hill, Lewis Ludlam, Burger Odendaal, James Ramm and Tom Seabrook.
As we settled in to the first Sunday matinee we already knew that actor Joey Wilby, playing Snow White’s best friend, the chirpy Buttons-a-like Muddles, had been injured in rehearsals in the week running up to opening night. But in true ‘the show must go on’ form, trooper Joey was ready on stage just days later, despite a rush to hospital to have several stitches in his face.
Lauren Lane as Snow White with the Seven Dwarves. All photography by Pamela Raith
A declaration of interest from the off – one of our kids is in this year’s panto at Royal & Derngate, as one of the theatre’s Youth Ensemble. But blink and you’ll miss them, because the cast this year is inevitably larger than usual, being Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
The staging is incredible this year – with multiple proscenium arches, inset with windows and lights – allowing the fast set changes and cast scampering needed in this fast paced panto. We’ve got seven brilliant dwarves, a dame whose costumes almost deserve their own billing, an incredible troop of six multi-talented dancers plus rotating teams of 15 or more youngsters who take the show literally into the audience. It’s a joy to see so many performers back on stage after the scaled back misery of Covid. #SupportTheArts.
Big names on show include Ore Oduba (yes, him off Strictly, and BBC Newsround) as Prince Charming, and the apparently ageless Wendi Peters (eternally Coronation Street’s Cilla Battersby) as the Wicked Queen. And she looks a million dollars in that basque outfit, so Yas Wicked Queen indeed.
Even having to talk in time with the pre-recorded Magic Mirror, (appropriately camped up by Northampton’s own Alan Carr) doesn’t dent the energy of this wicked step-mother.
Our heroine Snow White (Lauren Lane) ably stays at the centre of the story as regular Northampton dame Bob Golding as Nurse Nellie vies for star of the show, alongside Marc Pickering’s Herman the henchman, who might just steal it.
You see, Herman has a dream, and by goodness does he get to act it out by the end of the show, with a magnificent musical act that raises the roof (thankfully still intact after R&D’s RAAC scare).
He has a dream – Marc Pickering as Herman the henchman (photo Pamela Raith)
There’s far fewer of the usual double-entendres and clever contemporary puns to keep the parents engaged than you might expect, and sometimes you feel the stars have to work hard to keep the audience engaged. It felt a bit flat in places but that could just be down the show bedding in at the start of its month-long run. Nevertheless, it’s lively Christmas show for all ages, with some amazing visuals and a truck load of puns.
You definitely get some bang for your buck, with 19 professionals, a live band in a box, 50-odd juniors, 16 scenes over two acts and a couple of whopping great musical numbers, alongside the usual audience participation – just don’t miss your cue!
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves runs at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate until Sunday December 31. For tickets and information, visit the Box Office or call 01604 624811.
Now that I think about it, even the address of the exhibition has a Gothic aftertaste: the Vulcan Works on Angel Square.
When things just fall into place like that… I’m not a superstitious person, or a religious person but sometimes you get the impression that occasionally great unseen templates line up and the cold light of some universal truth can shine through.
Welcome to Gothic Revival by Jarman award-winning digital artist David Panos. The Guardian newspaper loves it. I don’t want to come across like I’m in any way impressed by those London media types but that is pretty cool.
You push at the blackened glass of the door to Unit 9 and step out of the crisp winter air onto thick red carpeted stairs leading upwards into sounds and darkness.
You are in a large dimmed room dominated by two large pub-sized flat screens arranged side by side. A handful of chairs are arranged facing the screens and behind them on a short pillar rests a small box that looks like a prototype ghost trap which I investigate first.
It is an analogue monitor, presenting a array of subculture garments like a studded cuff or a scrap of fishnet in their own aquarium of light and energy. In one sense the threads of light forming the picture feel like antiquated technology, in another they feel as luminously timeless as a medieval engraving. It’s called Time Crystals and dates from 2016.
There is an archaeological energy to the items depicted (how did that fishnet get torn? what broke that cuff open?) that sets you up nicely for the sifting of Northamptonian sights and sounds that arrives on the main screens.
Dark rock covers band Raven Rust are rehearsing the ominous opening chords of Belalugosi Is Dead, the single from Northampton band Bauhaus that triggered the goth music movement in the last century and in turn lured Panos from London for his exploration of the gothic in this century.
On the other screen red robed choristers from All Saints Church rehearse hymns plucked from a library that dips even deeper into the past. Sometimes the soundtracks blend. Sometimes they interrupt each other precipitously. And then dialogue emerges. Father Oliver Coss describes the history of the town as digitised segments of its architecture twitch on the screen and then other voices describe a less glorious mundane present, traumatised by change.
Are we seeing a town living in the ruins of its own past, cursed with the inability to build anything but new ruins? It doesn’t feel like Panos is picking on Northampton, the scenes of boarded-up litter strewn shopping precincts are like a lot of places beyond London’s immediate gravitational pull.
What is solid in the real world becomes ephemeral in Gothic Revival but what is intangible or unnoticed in reality is revealed by these visual and audio snapshots of the town.
Some things are strikingly hopeful amidst the broken grandeur of pixelized archways and empty carrier bags tumble-weeding down Abington Street. You might think of the choir of All Saints as being one of the more culturally ancient institutions in the town and yet you are looking at as diverse a group of young people as you could find anywhere in Northampton. It sounds contrived but it is what it is. That is the choir.
Alongside that glimpse of a possible harmonious future inside the stone bones of the town’s past the camera pulls back to reveal Raven Rust in all their middle-aged pub rock glory, meticulously assembling their version of the Bauhaus classic. The face of the guitarist looks like he could be running a Primary School somewhere but his fingernails are painted glossy black. They capture a sense of ordinary people doing extraordinary things without fuss, for their own amusement as much as ours, and that feels so Northampton.
Gothic Revival really works for me. It is not a documentary nor a complete excavation of every contribution Northampton makes to the gothic tradition but as a piece of art it has the immediacy of a sampling of our present – a way of seeing ourselves that no other lens provides.
There is a question here for us as townsfolk. Has Panos captured some nuggets of truth about Northampton’s distinct character as a place? Is there something we could be leaning into effortlessly and celebrating as much as we do other aspects of our history and what goes on here? A town that bridges the yawning gap between boots and princesses must be sitting on a well-spring of goth.
Gothic Revival is the final part of NN Contemporary Art’s Sensing Place season which has seen the arts organisation staging exhibitions at various locations while its future home at 24 Guildhall is reconfigured. The new base will include gallery, studio and exhibition space as well as a reading room and opens next year.
