My Yorkshire: Playwright Mike Poulton on his favourite people and places

Mike Poulton adapted Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies for the RSC. The Bradford-born playwright has also redeveloped the scripts he penned for the York Mystery Plays in 2000 for a new production at the Minster.

What’s your first Yorkshire memory? Our house in Bradford, which was in the middle of a field, surrounded by rolling open countryside. All long vanished these days of course, hidden underneath vast housing estates. When I was young, skylarks and hares were commonplace. When we went out to play, there was no sense of any danger. No one said ‘don’t do this’ or ‘you mustn’t do that’. Going to pick blackberries in the autumn, getting up to all sorts of mischief, it was idyllic.

What’s your favourite part of the county – and why? I grab every opportunity I can to get out into the Dales – that sense of immense space never fails to recharge my batteries. And I do love York Minster, too. I’ve known it ever since I was very young, because I was a chorister for our local church, and we’d go over to visit a lot.

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What’s your idea of a perfect day, or a perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire? I really do enjoy driving, so I’d be in the car, and off to somewhere like Norton Conyers, just outside Ripon. It’s a beautiful old house, said by some to be the inspiration for the novel Jane Eyre. After a stroll there, it would be over to Jervaulx Abbey. It’s the little sister to Fountains, but to my mind twice as lovely.

Do you have a favourite walk – or view? Richmond Castle is a lovely spot. Many years ago I was there with a friend at twilight. We were up in the tower, looking out, and we spotted an inn sign way below. It was for a pub called The Chequers, so we thought we’d go for a drink, but we couldn’t find it anywhere. A ghostly vision, perhaps?

Which Yorkshire sportsman, past or present, would you like to take for lunch? Fred Trueman. Not just because he is a great sportsman, but also a splendid raconteur and teller of tales, which are so much improved by his Yorkshire accent. I used to love watching him play, particularly at the end of matches, when he would invariably pull off some sort of inimitable stunt.

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, past or present, would you like to take for dinner? The late Brian Glover, whom I got to know when he was with the RSC, and who died far too young. Another teller of fascinating yarns, and, before he turned to acting, a schoolteacher and a very capable professional wrestler. The last time that we talked, Northern Broadsides was a very new company and we thought that it would be marvellous to have him as Falstaff in The Merry Wives. Sadly, he died before he ever could and that is our terrible loss. A gentleman and also a gentle man.

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If you had to name your Yorkshire ‘hidden gem’, what would it be? The Early English Music shop at Salts Mill. It is always a delight to go in there – they make and also repair everything from recorders to harpsichords. I get lost amongst all the wonderful things, and I have to be forcibly restrained from buying the entire stock.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity? It’s the way that the landscape, in all its many variations, has formed the people. You can tell a Yorkshireman anywhere in the world, even if he’s lost his accent. It’s just something about him – or her. A combination of doggedness, determination, and loyalty.

Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub? It used to be a certain place which embodied the true spirit of a great pub. Not too big, a roaring fire, cosy and well run. I took some friends there after having been away for a while, and found to my disappointment that it is now a boutique hotel, terribly twee. So now my place of choice is The Buck Inn at Buckden, right smack on the Dales Way.

How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you’ve known it? For me, I find it wonderful that so many cultures now blend with each other. I am all in favour of change and improvement, but we have knocked down so many lovely buildings in the name of progress.

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If you had to change one thing in, or about Yorkshire, what would that be? I would move London just a little closer. Putting it somewhere like Peterborough. That way I wouldn’t have to spend so much time on the train when I’m going there, or coming home. I don’t want London right next door, just a decent distance to be far enough away.

Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire? Richard III. He was brought up at Middleham Castle – another one of my very favourite places – he knew York well, and he was a very efficient Lord President of the North. I just cannot see the sense of his tomb being in Leicester. He went to Leicester to die, but he came to Yorkshire to live.

Has Yorkshire influenced your work? Indeed it has, and specifically through the language. When I worked on the Mystery Plays for the very first time, I was struck by the fact that the ancient stories were told in such a contemporary way. It was a very direct, but very vibrant, way of storytelling.

Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer? It has to be David Hockney for me. Every time you think that you have the measure of the man, he changes his style completely. His techniques are ever changing.

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If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place, it would be? Jervaulx Abbey and Middleham Castle, with a long stroll around each, and a picnic at either of them. These two places give you the true experience of what Yorkshire is all about.

The York Mystery Plays, York Minster, May 26 to June 30. For further information: yorkminster.org/mysteryplays2016.

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