Make the most of the Easter holidays by enjoying one of these top ten shows in Yorkshire in April
Springtime Live
1 April
Great Yorkshire Showground
Tickets are on sale now for the hugely popular Springtime Live, which will celebrate the best of food, farming and countryside. Families can get up close to farm animals including rabbits, goats and sheep thanks to Ian’s Mobile Farm, which is based in Aberford near Leeds. There’s also Peppa Pig as well as Peter Rabbit who will be making his debut and both will be on stage throughout the day. Diggerland will also be at Springtime Live for the first time.
Firedance
1 April
City Hall, Sheffield
Strictly stars Karen Hauer, Gorka Marquez and their scintillating cast return with Firedance, featuring fresh flavours and super-charged choreography. Join the stars in a captivating dance off inspired by Romeo & Juliet, Moulin Rouge, Carmen, West Side Story and featuring an eclectic mix of Latin, Rock and Pop music from artists such as Camilla Cabello, Jason Derulo, Gregory Porter, Gypsy Kings, J.Lo, Marc Anthony and many more. With sizzling dancers, mesmerising fire specialists and a sensational live band, Firedance will ignite passion as we turn up the heat for 2023.
Paul Young
1 April
St George’s Hall
On Saturday 1 April music icon Paul Young brings his concert Behind The Lens to St George’s Hall. Paul Young broke into the big time 40 years ago when No Parlez went to number one and spawned iconic hits like Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home). More success followed with the number one album The Secret Of Association and the worldwide hit Everytime You Go Away, not forgetting an appearance at Live Aid and more. Now, on the 40th anniversary of No Parlez, he is releasing a new record and publishing his extraordinary memoir, both called Behind The Lens.
Leeds Young Film Festival
1-8 April
Various venues
At LYFF 2023 you can explore a world of cinema and movie related activities for the whole family. The films selected as part of their programme are often award winners in their own countries and the organisers want to share these with you at LYFF because they’re also really passionate about giving you the chance to see children’s lives from new places and in other cultures. One highlight is Harry Potter Day on 1 April, where they’d love to see you head to the Carriageworks in your best wizarding outfit.
Mirror Mirror
Until 1 October
Chatsworth
Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth is a new exhibition for 2023 in the house and garden, and reflects on 500 years of creativity and contemporary art at Chatsworth. Chatsworth has always been a centre for creativity, with successive generations of the Devonshire family commissioning art and design contemporary to their times. This exhibition will reflect on that history and introduces new works to the house and garden, continuing this legacy into the present day. Co-curated with writer, historian and curator, Glenn Adamson, the exhibition places contemporary works in direct relationship to the historic design at Chatsworth, creating unexpected connections with the house’s architecture, interiors, furniture, ceramics, as well as its essential materials of glass, stone, wood, and light.
Lindsey Mendick
6 April-3 September
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Lindsey Mendick’s solo exhibition will transform The Weston Gallery at YSP, taking the form of a multi-media installation that investigates dreams, Gothic stories, television and cultural experiences from the 1990s. Bringing the artist’s recurring anxiety dream to life, Where The Bodies Are Buried takes the form of a decaying house with dark secrets beneath the floorboards. Works will include ceramics and stained glass emerging from the floor as hands, feet and limbs, with a film playing across several screens creating a chorus for simultaneous viewing.
James Haskell
6 April
City Varieties, Leeds
This show charts James Haskell’s journey from his early days as mischievous schoolboy, through to his time as a professional rugby player, having played around the world including at Wasps, Northampton, Stade Francais, The Ricoh Black Rams and The Highlanders. There is no other player out there with more stories to tell than James.
Wicked
16 April
Alhambra Theatre
The West End and Broadway musical phenomenon, Wicked, tells the incredible untold story of the Witches of Oz, continues its open-ended run at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre, where it is now in its 17th year and already the 12th longest-running production in West End history – and now heads on a UK tour. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked imagines a beguiling backstory and future possibilities to the lives of L. Frank Baum’s beloved characters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reveals the decisions and events that shape the destinies of two unlikely university friends on their journey to becoming Glinda The Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
Magical Bones
21 April
City Varieties, Leeds
Following a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where he performed to packed houses, the hottest British talent from the magic scene, breakdancing magician and finalist of Britain’s Got Talent, Magical Bones, is set to embark on a national tour with his acclaimed unique high energy magic show, Soulful Magic. He brings a set of powerful illusions intertwined with great stories, beautiful music, lots of laughter and of course the coolest, breakdance moves.
Midge Ure
30 April
Grand Opera House, York
Following the overwhelming response to 2019’s ‘The 1980 Tour’, Midge Ure & Band Electronica return to the road in 2023 with the ‘Voice & Visions’ tour, celebrating 40 years since the release of Ultravox’s Rage In Eden and Quartet albums. At the start of 1981, Ultravox were laying their claim to be one of the defining acts of the 80s following the global success of hit ‘Vienna’. Heading back into the studio the same year invigorated, they recorded their second album with Ure as frontman, Rage in Eden, which hit the Top 5 in the UK album charts. Quartet, their third album with Ure, came in quick succession in 1982 with production from legendary Beatles producer George Martin. Continuing the band’s impressive chart run, it became their third Top 10 album, featuring four Top 20 singles including the anthem ‘Hymn’.
