the uk city of culture. showcasing the brightest and the best of contemporary culture has brought us here to hull's cemetery for a circus performance with a difference. and continuing our celebration of difference, we meet matt fraser who will be putting his disability centre stage to play shakespeare's richard iii. i'm a deformed actor playing a deformed character for the first time in britain, which is extraordinary that it should be the first but it's exciting that i get to do it. we will meet the army of 2017 volunteers giving up their free time for culture. # there's a star man, waiting in the sky... and go on a trip down memory lane with a spiderfrom mars. hello, i'm anne—marie tasker, and i'm the arts and culture correspondent for the bbc here in hull, and this is kofi smiles. i'm the face of hull, chosen by the bbc with a mission, to bring you culture whenever and wherever it happens. today, we are taking it quite literally because we are not in a concert hall or in a theatre, we are here in a graveyard. it's a setting for a performance which is quite difficult to sum up in just a few words. it's part—circus acrobats, part—music, part—dance and it all takes place under the cover of darkness. areialists, acrobats, video artists, singers. coming together to tell the story of an ancient greek legend in a new way. depart explores the tragic love story of orpheus when he descends into the underworld and tries and fails to bring his dead wife, eurydice, back to life. the audience happens upon the action as they wander through hull's general cemetery. but trying to find the right trees, and battling the british weather has been challenging. performing outdoors definitely has its challenges like that. namely the weather. quite often you will find yourself quite drippy, and wet. it's also kind of really exciting in the outdoors because it's not often in the outdoors that you get the chance to perform in a tree, or under the stars. what's magical about it is that the audience is in the outside, in the wilderness with you, so that you get to share an experience a lot more than in a theatre where you are on stage and it seems very separate. the show is by the world—renowned australian company circa who only arrived to rehearse a few days before the first performance, and although this graveyard closed in the 19705, the choice of venue has caused some controversy. if you approach something with respect and with care, and if your intent is to help bring a community to this place, to improve this place and a great deal of nurture has been given to this site, then i think you are only doing good. the show premiered last summer, but for these performances, circa are working with one of hull's community choirs. more than 100 members of the freedom chorus have spent months rehearsing and add an ethereal soundtrack to the performance. it's not a venue that anybody knows is a venue, of course. of course, great respect will be paid because of where we are. well, it's getting dark now and everyone is here waiting for the event to start. i'm really excited. are you really excited? no, i'm a bit spooked, actually. shall we go and have a look anyway? let's go. don't look back. follow the torches. you are entering our play. walk in silence. it's friday night, walking around a graveyard, so i thought it was brilliant the way they brought out a different location for such a great event. a unique experience. i've only got one difficulty, how do you describe it to somebody that wasn't there? they were fantastic. absolutely fantastic. brilliant, fantastic. captivating. enthralling, absolutely brilliant. applause and after hull, the play moves from brighton to blackpool. depart is just one of hundreds of events taking part in hull during 2017. in fact, an event has been promised every day of the year. and when you make a promise like that, you are going to need a lot of people to help with the staging and that's where the hull 2017 volunteers come in. everyday people given up their free time to lend a hand. there are more than 2,000 of them, ranging in age from 16 up to sa. caroline has been to meet some of them. they are the blue—coated army, an army of volunteers from all backgrounds, ages, from all over the uk. from greeting people at events to performing as extras in plays, the 2017 volunteers are the engine that is helping to drive this year of culture in hull. in much the same way as the games makers did at the london olympics, hull's volunteers of the welcoming face of this city in its culture year. my name is sue. there's no way i was going to miss this year's volunteering. sue caught the bug at london 2012 and she was one of the original games makers. tonight, the blue jacket is being left at home. a green tabard is the uniform for this event in one of the city's public parks. sue and other volunteers have been collecting information on their audiences. all three of you from spain? we are finding in most of the activities we do there are people from all over the world coming. it's just incredible. has it surprised you? yes, it has. good evening. are you here to join the search for the seven eyes? well, you can't say the job of a volunteer isn't varied. at this one event alone, they have been directing all these people to where they need to be, collecting their data and some are even part of the performance itself. i'm grace. and i'm louise. we wanted to be city of culture volunteers because we couldn't resist being involved in such a fantastic opportunity. the toilets are downstairs on the ground floor. mum of two louise also works full—time as a teacher. she is squeezing in her volunteering shifts on evenings and weekends. when you put that jacket and it gives you license to strike up a conversation with absolutely anybody. even out of the uniform, i'm finding that i'm more likely to start a conversation with people who i don't know that i was before. 18—year—old grace has autism. volunteering for her is stepping completely out of our comfort zone, but today, she is helping out at a stress test for an upcoming theatre production. well, this is a rehearsal of a performance due to take place in a couple of weeks' time and it will involve live ands and require the audience to move around the performance space, so the volunteers are being used to put it to the test and make sure it works when it goes lives. it's been interesting to see how a theatre company works on its first show and it's been quite enjoyable. i wasn't as confident as before. talking to people, strangers, but i feel now i'm a lot more confident. i've seen already in the first few months that she has just flown in terms of her confidence. she is one of the welcoming faces of hull and for me, that's a gift that the city of culture has given to me, as a mum. i'm enid. i'mjason. at first, i didn't think we would be able to be involved. enid and jason have also thrown themselves out of their comfort zone to become volunteers. both are partially sighted. which is your favourite? some people see us as visually impaired and you are put in a corner, but we have been put out the front because it's nice. you feel more engaged with what is going on with this process in general, but it gives you a little insight in things that you thought you couldn't do which you can, with that support network going on in the background. i think we should give something back to our communities. and this has given people such a massive opportunity to do that. i think it's that it's absolutely wonderful that i have been given the opportunity. hopefully, at the end of the year, we will have a huge army of people then in a position to volunteer for all sorts of organisations and really lift the community life of the city. still to come: the city of culture goes global with celebrations in hull's twin city, freetown. we remember david bowie and the spiders from mars with the drummer, woody woodmansey. but first, here's my guide to some 2017 highlights and a little look ahead at what is to come. north atlantic flux took us on a four—dayjourney of musical discovery bringing a host of icelandic and scandinavian musicians to hull. 0n the orchard park estate, local residents collaborated with artists to put on a vibrant parade around the neighbourhood. the ferens art gallery has an amazing new exhibition called skin, which features work by ron mueck, lucian freud and the sea of hull photographs taken by spencer tunick of over 3000 naked, blue volunteers. i'm about there. you've only one life. just live it. and i don't care if anybody sees me or not. we are looking forward to assemblefest which takes over an ordinary shopping street, turning unlikely places into pop—up performance spaces. # she's a perfect ten. nearly 30 years ago, the beautiful south performed in hull, and injune, paul heaton and jackie abbott appeared for a one—off gig. east park will be transformed to the fictional malarkey park for hull's first children's literature festival. and injuly, the bbc proms will come to hull for a day of outdoor concerts, the first time recently that this british institution has travelled outside of london. well, from a circus performance in a graveyard to something more traditional. we are talking shakespeare, richard iii to be precise. but hull being hull, it's with a difference. we are sitting in with the lead actor, mat fraser. we are sitting in with the lead actor, matt fraser. he is returning to his theatrical roots, after role in american horror story. can you imagine a mug on this normal body? i could have ruled the world. matt fraser has been in rehearsals for three weeks now. and for him, it's one of the toughest roles he's ever had with 685 lines to learn. director, barry rutter started northern broadsides 25 years ago with the aim of making shakespeare accessible to all. his success means others are sure to follow. you have done lots of theatre, but never any shakespeare. why now? i did puck, in a midsummer night's dream. the reason why now is because i was intrigued to be asked to audition and i'm what we might call a mid—term career artist, and each time you do something it is less shocking dangerous the next time you do it. it had been a long time since i had been scared of something and just the notion of doing that wonderful, eponymous character. it's not the easiest of shakespeare's plays, is it? it's one of the most famous plays, it's done more than hamlet, even. and it is the only one where the character talks directly to the audience and they are in on his secrets of evil. he's one of the most famous villains and famous disabled people. i think i'm one of the first people to say i'm a deformed actor playing a deformed character in britain. it's extraordinary that i should be the first but exciting that i get to do it. it must be a big deal for you, isn't it? it wasn't from me, i didn't push to get it. i was offered it. although one could say it's about time, barry offered it to me and not anybody else, so i'm going to run with it and see what we do. i'm fascinated to see what audience members make of it. he's out and out evil. he's horrible to everyone. he stabs them in the back by any means necessary. as a disabled person, i can relate to having to think round the corners, to think round the corners. i can't really relate to the murder and decay that he causes though. for me, the challenges to step up to playing one of the biggest characters. i've never played the lead before. you have to own that. i'm very much a team player. i have ego, obviously. i wouldn't be an actor otherwise, but i don't have a monstrous ego that wishes to be the star. so owning the lead, that's my challenge. in terms of challenges for the audience, it is whether my deformity pulls them out of the play. but i think of lenny henry doing 0thello. there's been a lot of boot polish going on over the years, so now, let's go! hull is twinned with freetown in africa. in the sierra leone. it started with william wilberforce trying to abolish the slave trade. hull and freetown were twinned many years ago and it's a relationship being celebrated in 2017 with a concert later this summer. shirely henry has been finding out more about freetown and how it's being involved with the city of culture. we love you, people of hull. a message from freetown to hull. this is the capital of sierra leone and as its partner enjoys its year as the city of culture, expectations are growing as to what this will mean for freetown. i expect people will want to see musical treats coming from freetown. all the stuff we've got going on, i'm sure it's true. they don't have a choice but to be treated. but for most people, sierra leone is not known for its culture, but that this, ebola. progress has been made, but its impact still resonates. 50,000 people also died in a civil war in the 1990s. sierra leone's refugee all—stars was formed during the crisis. people were killed in front of my eyes. i saw people burned in front of me. i lost my brother, my sister, my friends. it was too bad. the all—stars translated their suffering into lyrics that inspire and uplift. as part of the city of culture celebrations, they have travelled to hull to spread hope, joy and faith. culture means a lot. it will bring good connections between freetown and hull so i think it means something. this year is notjust about showcasing talent like this, but building educational links and letting people know that freetown is open for business. to cement theirfuture relationships, the twin cities are now building connections through education. pupils at this school can share cultural links via skype. your pen pal wants to know what your favourite food is. this is notjust for the children, but it is for them to access more information to develop more creative thinking. i like school, because when i go there, i can express myself and i learn many things. when i finish, i want to become a lawyer. this is freetown's version of the promotional film that propelled hull's place as the city of culture for this year. freetown now wants the world to know it is open for business. it's one of rock music's most celebrated partnerships, during the 19705, david bowie and the spiders from mars changed the face of music. while the london born david bowie was an art school graduate, the spiders from mars had a very different musical apprenticeship. musical apprenticeship. they honed their skills on the club pub circuit from hull, playing as the rats. sadly, only one of them is left, woody woodmansey. we went on a trip down memory lane with him. # there's a star man, waiting in the sky. # he'd like to come and meet us... 1972, and david bowie introduced britain's music fans to the spiders from mars. woody woodmansey is the only surviving member of the group and he has come back home to visit some of the places where he hung out before he was famous. this was the first place i ever recorded with anybody. i recorded with the rats with mick ronson. he'd been in with the rats with another drummer and they done the rise and fall of bernie gripplestone. as the rats played their first gig is in a hull and east yorkshire, from pubs clubs. we were in the duke of cumberland in 1969. how much has it changed since then? i don't recognise anything. different net curtains then! we would come back to hull and we would come here. we would have a night out, watch bands. it doesn't look like you would fit on there with your drum kit. my my drum kit would fit on there but the band would not, definitely not! the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders of mars was the album may play. but there was one place they never performed it, hull. finally, coming to play here. it was the biggest gig in hull, so it was with my dream to play here. how does it feel to be up here, getting ready to play? it's great. it's somewhere that david wanted to play himself because he knew we were from hull, so it was always on our wish list but itjust never happened. so come back now, hull, the city of culture, it's amazing. to be able to celebrate david's legacy and do it for mick and trevor. it would've been nice for them to be here in their city to be playing. music more than four decades since that tour, they perform the full album the first time ever, live as part of the celebrations. woody's dream of playing the album in hull has finally come true. that is it from hull's general cemetery and our latest look at the highlights from the uk city of culture. we will be back in the summer, but you can get your cultural fix on our website. goodbye. many places are then try this afternoon with spells of sunshine. killer across more areas but we look towards the south for changes —— cooler across northern areas. skies are darkening along the south coast with heavy rain in dorset, hampshire and sussex within the last hour. further north gaps in the cloud with some sunshine in the midlands and parts of central and southern scotla nd parts of central and southern scotland seeing a very pleasant end to the day and feeling quite warm and light winds. the rain in the south move northwards, the odd heavy thundery burst but moderate bursts through the course of the afternoon. in the north of lovely end to the afternoon, sunny spells, temperatures in the high teens. further south, very pleasant conditions, the rise of cloud in south wales, central southern england and wetter in the south west. very atrocious driving conditions on the m4—mac add—on 6pm. a warm end to the day, turning increasingly shimmered as the cloud moves northward. the first part of the night this rain coming in from france is affecting the south—east, some potentially very torrential with thunder and lightning. a bit fresher in the northern half of scotland. monday, a cloudy note, outbreaks of rain in northern england in central and southern scotland, northern ireland. in the south, improving conditions in the afternoon. the cloud will break up, temperatures will increase particularly in the south—eastward it will be quite humid which could spark the odd thunderstorm in the afternoon. low—pressure clears and into tuesday this feature from the atla ntic into tuesday this feature from the atlantic bringing westerly winds. feeling fresher for all. a atlantic bringing westerly winds. feeling fresherfor all. a band of cloud and rain spread through on tuesday and after tuesday's high pressure built in. for the rest of the week it looks fine and settled, turning dry up with sunny spells. warm by the unfairly fresh by night. —— fairly fresh by night. this is bbc news. the headlines at 15:00. a second day of delays and cancellations for british airways passengers after the worldwide failure of its computer system. passengers are not being admitted to terminal five until 90 before departure. it's been a absolute disaster. i'm trying to give you shots behind of people in the first queue, which then goes to a second queue, and then a third before they can even get to the registration desk. the conservatives and labour promise more action to minimise the threat of terror attacks in the wake of the manchester bombing. the 22 victims have been remembered in church services held across the city this morning. tributes to two passengers killed on an american train, trying to defend two women from anti—muslim abuse. also: the american rock musician gregg allman has died.