Staffordshire Cover Online.qxp_cover 23/09/2015 11:37 Page 1 THE MIDLANDS ULTIMATE ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE

STAFFORDSHIRE ’ Whatwww.whatsonlive.co.uk sOnISSUE 358 OCTOBER 2015 GARY LUCY GOES THE FULL MONTY more inside...

THE SNOW DRAGON Tall Stories at the Gatehouse STOMP & HOLLER ‘big, bold blues band’ provide a taste of New Orleans

The INSIDE: FILM COMEDY THEATRE LIVE MUSIC VISUAL ARTS EVENTS Drifters FOOD & DRINK ‘high energy show’ comes to Staffs & MUCH MORE! Belgrade (FP) OCT 2015.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 20:59 Page 1 Contents October Region 2 .qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 21:50 Page 1

October 2015

The Full Monty Simon Beaufoy’s comedy arrives in Stoke, page 27

Strictly Grand Designs Meera Syal Craig Revel Horwood dresses for Kevin McCloud back at the NEC talks about Anita And Me Annie interview, page 42 page 67 interview, page 6

INSIDE: 4. News 11. Music 24. Comedy 27. Theatre 44. Dance 51. Film 63. Visual Arts 67. Days Out 81. Food

@whatsonwolves @whatsonstaffs @whatsonshrops Birmingham What’s On Magazine Staffordshire What’s On Magazine Shropshire What’s On Magazine

Publishing + Online Editor: Davina Evans [email protected] 01743 281708 ’ Sales & Marketing: Lei Woodhouse [email protected] 01743 281703 Chris Horton [email protected] 01743 281704 WhatsOn Editorial: Brian O’Faolain [email protected] 01743 281701 Lauren Foster [email protected] 01743 281707 MAGAZINE GROUP Abi Whitehouse [email protected] 01743 281716 Adrian Parker [email protected] 01743 281714 Contributors: Graham Bostock, James Cameron-Wilson, Chris Eldon Lee, Heather Kincaid, Katherine Ewing, Helen Stallard Offices: Wynner House, Managing Director: Paul Oliver Publisher and CEO: Martin Monahan Graphic Designers: Lisa Wassell Chris Atherton Bromsgrove St, Accounts Administrator: Julia Perry [email protected] 01743 281717 Birmingham B5 6RG This publication is printed on paper from a sustainable source and is produced without the use of elemental chlorine. and We endorse the recycling of our magazine and would encourage you to pass it on to others to read when you have finished with it. 13-14 Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, SY2 6AE All works appearing in this publication are copyright. It is to be assumed that the copyright for material rests with the magazine unless otherwise stated. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in an electronic system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recording or otherwise, without the prior knowledge and consent of the publishers. News October Region TWO.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 19:05 Page 1

News A ROUND-UP OF LOCAL AND NATIONAL ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Whitby Jet amongst highlights at Winter Fair This popular event, which makes a welcome return to the venue next month for its Winter Fair, is famed for its pottery, porcelain and glass. The recent addition of twentieth centu- ry and contemporary specialists has encour- aged a more diverse range of buyers and designers. Among the Winter Fair highlights is a Whitby Jet exhibition. The display tells the story of the world’s largest fashioned and rough Jet specimen collection of over two hundred pieces, most of which are being shown in public for the first time. Antiques For Everyone’s Winter Fair takes place at the NEC from 19 to 22 November.

25 Years of Costume showcased in Brum As part of its twenty-fifth anniversary celebrations, Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is exhibit- ing a selection of costumes worn by its dancers during its quarter-century residency in the city. The intimate exhibition has been designed to provide members of the general public with the New venue for gaming event chance to find out how the costumes are made, from initial sketches through to finished product. The UK’s biggest gaming festival is relocat- Commenting on the exhibition, BRB’s Head of Costume, Elaine Garlick, said; “This is an ing to Birmingham’s NEC, having outgrown extraordinary opportunity to display the time, effort and craftsmanship that goes into each its current home at the Ricoh Arena in and every costume that we put on stage.” Coventry. Insomnia Gaming Festival is a Birmingham Royal Ballet: 25 Years Of Costume runs at House of Fraser, Birmingham, until 11 twenty-four-hour event ‘combining all the October. Admission is free. best bits of video-gaming’. It takes its NEC bow in December. Commenting on the relocation, the founder New sporting event aims Housman - author of A Shropshire Lad - will and CEO of Multiplay, Craig Fletcher, said: also be set to music and performed by the “The Insomnia Gaming Festival has enjoyed to inspire youngsters highly rated ensemble. an incredible journey in recent years. Ticket The Sports Show, taking place at the NEC BCMG kicked-off their season at the end of sales have soared in the last three years and from 24 to 26 June, has been created to last month with a performance of new piece we’re expecting to welcome a total of over inspire youngsters ‘to play sport, love sport Requiem To Let at Birmingham Weekender, one hundred thousand visitors through our and live sport’. The event will bring together the city’s free arts festival. doors in 2015.” a wide range of sports activities under one Insomnia Gaming Festival takes place at the roof, with a number of former and current NEC from 11 to 14 December. sports stars also on hand to offer their New members sought for advice and expertise. Commenting on the new event, Sports Show South Shropshire choir Neil Simon Director Ed Rusling said: “The show is going A recently established Ludlow-based singing to be a playground of fun for kids across the group is on the lookout for new members. comedy country. We’ll be taking over most of the The group meets every Thursday between launches rep NEC and plan to pack every inch with as 10am and 11.30am at the Loudwater Studio many different sports as we can.” on Burway Trading Estate. “The group has a theatre’s first feelgood factor about it and everyone’s here season to have fun,” says Loudwater’s Business Development Manager, Nikki Hook. “Singing The first professional World premieres feature in is an amazing way of getting rid of the repertory theatre season to take place in stresses of everyday life. We already have Shrewsbury for sixty years is set to open this new concert season six members but it would be great to see the month. A work of classical music based on Samuel group grow. The first session is free, so Marches Theatre Company is performing hit Taylor Coleridge’s epic poem, The Rime Of there’s nothing to lose.” To find out more Neil Simon comedy The Last Of The Red Hot The Ancient Mariner, is one of no fewer than about singing at Loudwater, contact Sarah Lovers at the town’s Wightman Theatre from thirteen world premieres being presented by on 07801 225883 or call Loudwater Studio 14 to 24 October. Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in on (01584) 877272. To book tickets, ring 0800 292 2116 or visit its 2015/16 season. www.Marchestheatre.co.uk/redhotbookings. The verses of Shakespeare and AE

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Museum ready for Big Bang... The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford is next month hosting an event designed to encourage youngsters to consider future careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The Big Bang is the UK’s largest science and engineering event for young people aged between seven and nineteen. The show offers visiting students the opportunity to experience hands-on learning outside the classroom in a fun, interactive and innova- tive way. Commenting on the show, event organiser James Silcox said: “This is a unique event aiming to inspire the next generation of young scientists and engineers with the STEM careers and opportunities available in the Armed Forces and Emergency Services.” Big Bang STEM 4 Heroes takes place at RAF Cosford on 5 November.

Grand Theatre announces new season Midlands theatregoers will have plenty of reason to visit the Wolverhampton Grand next spring, with the venue having lined up a succession of sure-to-be-popular shows. Nikolai Foster’s brand new production of Annie, starring Birds Of A Feather’s Lesley Joseph as the tyrannical Miss Hannigan, shows at the theatre from 4 to 8 April. It’s swiftly followed by the visit of psychological illusionist Derren Brown (from the 11th to the 16th). Strictly Come Dancing 2014 winner Pasha Kovalev stops off at the theatre on the 17th, while Flog It! in Wolverhampton Priscilla Queen Of The Desert parks its delightfully battered old bus in the city from 2 to 7 Wolverhampton Art Gallery is set to host a May. Flog It valuation day. Now in its fifteenth As spring gives way to summer, West Bromwich Operatic Society (WBOS) make a welcome series, the BBC daytime television show is return to the venue with Made In Dagenham - The Musical. inviting members of the public to bring Tickets for all the above shows can be purchased from 9 October. WBOS tickets are already along up to three antiques and collectables available. they might be interested in selling. Once The venue has also announced plans for a major refurbishment next summer. The refurb is valued, the owner and a team of experts designed to massively improve the front-of-house areas, enhance the visitor experience and decide whether an object should go for- increase the city centre night-time economy. ward for auction. Chief Executive Adrian Jackson said: “Enhancing the theatre in this way will greatly improve Everyone who goes along to the gallery’s the customer experience and will ensure the Grand not only continues as a celebrated theatre valuation day will receive a free valuation - venue, but also becomes a popular daytime and early-evening destination for socialising and even if their antiques aren’t chosen to go intimate performance within the heart of the city centre.” forward for auction. Flog It is at Wolverhampton Art Gallery on Wednesday 14 October between 9.30am and 4pm. IN BRIEF Panto duo ready to take flight Jonathan Wilkes and Christian Patterson are officially launching Ignite your passion the Regent Theatre’s 2015 pantomime, Peter Pan, on A star-spangled adventure with Glee... Wednesday 7 October. Jonathan is starring as Smee in the festive-season blockbuster, One of Birmingham’s newest visitor attrac- with Christian taking on the role of the dastardly Captain Hook. tions is set to become distinctly ‘star-span- An event offering a platform for fervent The pair will kick off this month’s special launch day by co-host- gled’ this half-term holiday. ing Signal One Radio’s breakfast show. The Wonderful World Of Trains & Planes - speakers to talk on a subject they’re passion- “I love coming home to Stoke-on-Trent during Christmas,” offering an interactive journey through a reveals Jonathan, “Not only are the audiences amazing but the world of models - is hosting a special US- ate about makes its debut at Birmingham’s theatre is like my second home. We have as much fun in the themed experience to celebrate the start of panto as the audience do watching it.” its new American layout. Glee Club this month. Ignite has been a sell- Peter Pan runs at the Regent from Saturday 5 December to The week of special events and activities Sunday 3 January. includes modellers explaining and demon- out success at the Glee strating how they’re building the new lay- Club in Cardiff over the out. Children can make flags to take home, last year and arrives in and budding air cadets can fly down the Brum on 27 October. The Industrial Revolution re-imagined... Las Vegas Strip or over one of the Great Each speaker is allo- A symposium re-imagining the Industrial Revolution is being held Lakes in the visitor attraction’s flight simula- cated five minutes to in Ironbridge this month. tors. talk about any subject The two-day event includes a keynote lecture from international that takes their fancy. artist Jeremy Deller, who takes a personal look at the impact of For further information, the Industrial Revolution on British popular culture. visit ignitebrum.com Artist-in-Residence Faye Claridge also contributes to the sympo- sium, inviting delegates to join her as she covers the famous Iron Bridge in rags for her installation, Weighty Friend. Other attrac- tions include numerous workshops and Nathan Tromans’ The Trail Of Thomas Love, a unique multimedia performance explor- ing the myths of Shropshire’s Severn Gorge landscape. The symposium is open to all and takes place on 9 & 10 October. Tickets must be pre-booked online at www.ironbridge.org.uk..

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interview

in conversation with... Kids like me growing up “ didn’t have any role Meera models. We didn’t see anybody who was like us being regarded as Syal beautiful by the media or working in the media.” 6 www.whatsonlive.co.uk Meera Syal Interview DPS Oct (CHRIS).qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 21:52 Page 2

Actress, comedian and writer Meera Syal is probably best known for two TV comedy series - Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars At No 42 - and her debut novel. Published in 1996, Anita And Me is this month coming to the stage for the very first time. It takes its inspiration from the novelist’s own upbringing in the Black Country mining town of Essington. Meera here talks to What’s On about her experience of growing up - as she once put it - “an exotic flower in Midland soil”...

Anita And Me was arguably the first novel write it, is a dear friend. She’s a brilliant So looking back on your career, what have by a woman of British Asian origin to enjoy playwright and I knew she could do a much been the highlights? high-profile international success. What do better job than me. Also, I was in the midst of There are so many. I still wake up feeling a you think made it so appealing, Meera? writing my third novel at the time Anita And very lucky woman. It’s such an insecure It’s a universal story - and although it’s Me was being developed for the stage, so profession and I’ve been in it a while now. I’m ostensibly about a little Indian girl in a mining timing-wise I wasn’t free to do it. Even if I had gratified that I’m still managing to make a village, I think many people relate to it on been, I still think I’d have said Tanika was the living out of something I never thought I different levels, be it Indian or English. It’s right person. And she’s done a terrific job. would do and something that I love so much. about a British way of life that disappeared But there are lots of highlights. Goodness with the close of the rural mining Was playing a part in the play not an Gracious Me has been groundbreaking for all communities. It’s also about friendship - the option for you? of us. It turned around all of our careers and pain and the joy of that. I don’t know if that would’ve been just too changed the landscape a little bit. Personally, weird; it’s already like therapy on stage! I doing my first Shakespeare a couple of years Reviews of the novel made comparisons don’t know if I’d want to take it a step further ago, playing Beatrice at the RSC, was a great between Anita And Me and To Kill A than that and actually be in it. highlight because I’d never done any Mocking Bird. Harper Lee’s classic novel Shakespeare before. To do Shakespeare at is even mentioned briefly by Meena in the But you played Meena’s aunt in the film... the RSC, and play that iconic part, was pretty story. How great an influence was Mocking I did - because it was a fun sort of part. But special. Shirley Valentine was another Bird on you? no, I’m quite happy just to let people take it amazing experience. So there have been a It was a huge influence. We all have one of and run with it. few lovely things. those life-changing books, and that was the one for me. Up until that point, I hadn’t Going back to the storyline - when Meena Quite diverse as well - Shirley Valentine, a actually read a book that I felt spoke to me is asked what she wants to be when she bit of Shakespeare... and connected with how I felt as a first- grows up, she replies ‘Blonde’. What life As an actor you want to keep pushing generation immigrant growing up here. Even opportunities was a young Asian girl likely yourself and surprise people occasionally - though it was written by a southern writer in be denied in early-1970s Britain that and obviously surprise yourself. You need to the States many years before, it was Scout’s would’ve made her want to grow up to be be kept on your toes. That’s how you learn. story - the pain of growing up, understanding white? what racism was about and discovering the I think most kids just want to fit in. Nobody Have you got to the point in your career need to do what’s right - that really struck a likes being different. It’s no different in 2015 where you’ve stopped worrying about chord with me. It changed the way I felt about than it was in 1972. We all have a pack where the next job is coming from? myself and how I looked at society. mentality - particularly as teenagers. Kids like I wish I had reached that point. I’m a woman me growing up didn’t have any role models. of a certain age, I’m a woman of colour, so What motivated you to write Anita And Me? We didn’t see anybody who was like us being it’s never going to be straightforward. You Was there an event or person in your regarded as beautiful by the media or always have to keep pushing. Success for childhood that influenced you to write it? working in the media. As far as acting, writing me would be knowing what I’m doing for the I wrote it because an editor approached me and presenting were concerned, we were next year. If I could look ahead and go, ‘I’ve after he’d seen something I’d written for pretty invisible. When you don’t see positive actually got work for a year and I’m doing this television. He asked me if I’d ever thought of reflections of yourself out there, you begin to and that and then I’m having a holiday’, that, writing prose and whether there was think you’re invisible - or that how you are for me, would be the definition of success. I something I’d like to write about. I isn’t beautiful or important. That’s the sort of haven’t reached that yet, so you have to keep immediately thought of my childhood. It was mindset that Meena’s in, to some extent. knocking on that door. At least they open it so extraordinary, so influential, so unusual, Even though she has so much spark and now, which is great. and I liked the idea of preserving that little potential, in Jackie magazine the pretty girls piece of British history. I suppose I needed to are always blonde, so that’s what she thinks Have you ever turned down a role and then tell the story because I didn’t know if anybody is pretty. later regretted it? would ever write it down again. I wanted I’ve had to turn down quite a few lovely roles people after me to know what it was like to While at university you won the National because of my kids and tag-teaming it with grow up in that environment at that particular Student Drama Award for your an actor husband, but that’s just par for the time. A lot of the book is fiction. The setting is performance in One Of Us. How did that course. As a working mother there are some autobiographical and a lot of the emotion is feeling of accomplishment compare to things you just can’t do - or at least that’s the autobiographical, but there’s plenty in the when you received your CBE at the start of choice I’ve made while I’ve still got young book that I made up. I suppose the influential this year for your service to drama and children. event which I cover in the book that really did literature? happen in my life sees ten-year-old Meena in I suppose the first one is sort of almost more Going back to Anita And Me, is the play hospital because she’s broken her leg, as I significant because I was on the verge of true to the book? did when I was four. I met a boy in hospital having a completely different life. I had an MA It’s really faithful to the book, which is who passed away when I was there. It was place booked and a teacher training course. I delightful. Tanika said the hardest bit was my first experience of mortality. I was only was all set to go off and have a sensible life. choosing what to keep in and what not to four but I remember understanding then that The award was quite a shock at twenty-two keep in. What she’s done beautifully is ease life was short - and that it was a gift and I because I didn’t know if I was any good at out the friendship and the story and the life of shouldn’t waste it. acting. I didn’t know if anybody would get that village and kept all of the humour. I think what I was trying to do, so the fact that people will get in the play exactly what they You wrote the film adaptation of Anita And people thought what I was doing was quite loved about the book, which is obviously Me. Were you ever tempted to be the interesting sort of changed the course of my what you’d hope. person who also wrote the stage life. The CBE was lovely. It’s gratifying when adaptation? your work reaches people, but that first Anita & Me shows at The REP, No, not really. I’ve never really written award was the one that actually made me Birmingham from Fri 9 - Sat 24 October anything for the stage, other than a one- think I might have a shot at doing this for a Meera Syal and Tanika Gupta are. In woman show many years ago. It’s not a living. conversation at The Rep on Sat 10 October medium I know well. Tanika Gupta, who did

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One of the joys of “ watching Handbagged is seeing four fantastic actresses in one play, talking about global politics and being really brilliant and funny”

8 www.whatsonlive.co.uk Moira Buffini Interview DPS Oct LW.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 20:18 Page 2 Moira Buffini talks to Heather Kincaid about bringing her West End comedy to the Midlands

Moira Buffini’s Handbagged is a raucous comedy that speculates about the relationship between the Queen and Mrs Thatcher. The play visits the Midlands this month after enjoying rave reviews in the West End. Moira here talks to What’s On about the show, the subject of women in politics and her commitment to ‘monsterism’ - a movement campaigning for theatres to commission more large-scale work from new writers...

What first got you interested in the admire her conviction politics without women in politics now. Even the relationship between Margaret Thatcher supporting what she did. Conservative party has got a female Home and the Queen? Secretary, which you couldn't imagine I was asked to write a play as part of a Mrs Thatcher very much made her views happening in Thatcher's day. But then, no season at Tricycle Theatre called Women, known, whereas the royals have a much one could imagine Thatcher happening in Power And Politics. I knew I was going to more neutral public image. Was it difficult Thatcher's day! write about Thatcher, but I didn't want to write writing the Queen? about Thatcher and men. Right from the What I found with Mrs Thatcher was that You're known for writing stories with focal start, she made sure there were no women in everybody wanted to tell me their Thatcher female characters, and in this case, you're her cabinet, so the only longstanding, story, but when it comes to the Queen, writing about mature women. Do you think political relationship she had with another everyone's really circumspect. There are far there's still a lack of stories being told woman was with the Queen. fewer books and resources about the Queen, from those perspectives? and publicly she's not allowed to declare her Yes, definitely. One of the joys of watching As you started researching, did you find own opinions about anything. So I thought it Handbagged is seeing four fantastic more similarities or differences between would be much harder to write her, but actresses in one play, talking about global them? actually I found it great fun imagining the politics and being really brilliant and funny. Looking at them on paper, you'd think there private behind the public persona. Her There's an amazing generation of female must be similarities. They were both born in character is much more of a work of writers coming up, and things will change, the same year, lived through the war, had imagination, but wherever I've been able to but currently I'm still among the ten to fifteen very strong relationships with their fathers, get facts, or quotes, or anything - even per cent of screenwriters who are women. I and are very traditional in many ways and hearsay - I’ve used it. think there are so many interesting stories completely groundbreaking in others. But in not being told because of the gender of the terms of their actual personalities, I think Mrs Thatcher died a few months before tellers. they're chalk and cheese. For example, the the full-length version debuted. Did that Queen is well known for her sense of affect the finished play? You're part of the ‘monsterist’ playwrights' humour, and Mrs Thatcher didn't really have Absolutely. I did the bulk of the work during a movement which started some years ago. one. They're very different in the way they residency at Tricycle Theatre, and she died Do you think it's been successful in deal with people. just days into that, so I began it watching her achieving its aims? funeral and seeing how much all of that old I do. I think the landscape is really changing, What kind of a relationship do you think division was still there. I wanted to explain to and there's a new generation of writers they had? my own children why people hated and getting exposure on big stages. We've still The animosity between them is well- revered this woman so much. got further to go, but if new writers aren't documented. And yet, it was complicated, given big stages and big budgets, we'll lose because Thatcher revered the Queen. She Do you see any similarities between her a generation of writers who are able to write was a real royalist, and I think she was government and our current Conservative plays of scale, and not just little plays to be terribly disappointed that the Queen didn't leadership? put on in black boxes. We've got to be able really like her or agree with her. I'm not sure Mrs Thatcher would approve of to fill big theatres with new work about the current government. She was never a fan people living in our world and dealing with How did you find the experience of writing of old Etonians. She was a revolutionary in our issues, otherwise they'll just become about real people as opposed to fictional her party, and the people she liked were heritage boxes and will slowly die. There will characters? working class Tories like Norman Tebbitt and always be companies specialising in heritage I loved doing all the research and being able John Major. I think she'd be quite shocked at theatre, but even The Globe and the RSC are to use words they really said, as well as what her policies have done. putting on far more new work and allowing trying to write between the lines. It's quite writers big budgets now. irreverent. I think my feelings about Mrs The subject of women and politics has Thatcher are clear, but I did feel a great been in the news again lately. Do you obligation to be fair. It's the first time I've think we've moved on at all since then? done it, but I don't think it'll be the last. I think change has happened, but the battle is still on. It's still a very male world run along Actress Susie Blake (pictured left) stars as Did writing Handbagged change your male lines, and female politicians have to The Queen in Moira Buffini’s Handbagged perspective on them at all? cope with much more abuse - often about which shows at the Belgrade Theatre, It's certainly made me more respectful of the petty things like what kind of shoes they Coventry from Tues 6 - Sat 10 October. Queen. It's made me... admire some of Mrs wear or how low their neckline is, rather than Thatcher's personal qualities. And I can about their policies. But there are a lot more

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Racing Glaciers The Sugarmill, Stoke-on-Trent, Thurs 29 October English rock band Racing Glaciers features Tim Monaghan, Danny Thorpe, Matt Scheepers, Simon John Anderson and Matt Welch. Since forming in 2012, the guys have been on quite a journey, producing three EPs - Racing Gla- ciers, Ahead Of You Forever and Don’t Wait For Me - and contributing the song First Light to the soundtrack of the Transformers movie. They visit Stoke as part of first headline tour Seems Like A Good Tour.

UB40 The Buttermarket, Shrewsbury, Wed 14 October It's thirty-plus years now since UB40 performed their first gig - at a Birmingham pub for Bruce Cockburn the birthday of a friend - and the boys are still going strong. The Robin, Bilston, Mon 5 October Their big break came in a pub too, when Chrissie Hynde spotted them and gave them the chance to perform as support with The Pretenders. Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn’s out- Blending pop and reggae, the band continue to perform across the world, helping to put has been impressively eclectic since he burst spread the reggae word to places as far-flung as Russia and South America. onto the scene way back in the 1960s, success- fully embracing the genres of folk, country, reggae, jazz, rock and blues. Along the way he’s sung about all manner of injustice, fought hard for wor- Fall Out Boy thy causes and visited war-torn countries across Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, Tues 6 October the globe. American rock band Fall Out Boy rose to fame in 2005 after the release of second album “It's kind of amazing,” reflects Bruce, a Christian From Under The Cork Tree. The album produced two hit singles - Sugar We’re Goin since the early 1970s. “There was a time when the Down and Dance Dance - and went double platinum, transforming the group into world- idea of living to be forty seemed absolutely absurd, famous stars. yet here I am well into my sixties and still doing the Follow-up offering Infinity On High landed number one on the Billboard 200, whilst Folie à thing I love. And what’s more, it still feels fresh. Old Deux, the band’s fourth album, generated a mixed response. hat or boring it most definitely is not.” After a three-year hiatus, the band re-grouped in 2013 to release fifth album (and second number one) Save Rock And Roll. Their sixth studio collaboration, American Beauty/American Psycho, was released earlier this year and also made the top spot.

James Bay O2 Academy, Birmingham, Thurs 8 October After a number one debut album with Chaos And The Calm, twenty-four-year-old singer-songwriter James now heads out on tour. This year’s winner of the BRIT’s Critics’ Choice award, Bay also made numerous festival appear- ances during the summer months, including one on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage. Support comes from Elle King and Samm Hen- shaw. www.whatsonlive.co.uk 113 Music October Region Two.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 17:02 Page 3 Music October Region Two.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 17:03 Page 4

Music PREVIEWS Simone Felice The Glee Club, Birmingham, Mon 19 October; Henry Tudor House, Shrewsbury, Thurs 22 October Best known for playing with his siblings as the Felice Brothers, Simone Felice’s path through life has been far from smooth. As a young boy he suffered a brain aneurysm which saw him pronounced clinically dead for several minutes. Then, as an adult, the loss of his child in a late-term miscarriage was swiftly followed by emergency surgery which saw him fitted with a mechanical heart... Little wonder, then, that his songs display such maturity and depth. This Birmingham gig comes in support of his recently released double album, From The Violent Banks Of The Kaaterskill (featuring The Felice Brothers). Mallory Knox Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton, Fri 2 October Mallory Knox played Reading and Leeds in 2013, as well as SummerJam, Burn Out Festival, Chaos and Coventry’s Godiva. The band also released a deluxe edition of their album, Sig- nals, featuring B-sides, acoustic tracks and live recordings from the album release show. They may have missed out that same year to Lower Than Atlantis for the Kerrang! Best British Newcomer award, but the disappointment certainly didn’t hold them back. They’ve since re- leased second album Asymmetry and played the main stage at Download this summer. The band here return to the UK on their Homecoming tour.

Stomp & Holler The Trail Of Thomas Love Lichfield Guildhall, Staffs, Sat 24 October Enginuity, Ironbridge, Sat 10 October The always colourful Stomp & Holler have A musical adventure with a difference is Sons of Kemet been described as a ‘big, bold blues band’ being showcased in Telford this month. Hare & Hounds, Birmingham, and feature two British Blues Award nomi- Presented as part of Enginuity’s Shifting Thurs 22 October nees. Bringing together some of the Mid- Worlds Symposium, The Trail Of Thomas MOBO award winners Sons Of Kemet here lands’ best musicians, the band here offers Love is the work of Shropshire-born song- present a mix of music that spans jazz, rock, an evening of writer and photographer Nathan Tromans. dub, Caribbean folk and traditional African di- floor-filling New A unique multimedia performance exploring asporan history. Orleans-style the myths of Shropshire’s Severn Gorge The four-piece’s debut album, Burn, was re- sound. landscape, the work sees Nathan (accompa- leased in autumn 2013 and received an im- Or, as they them- nied by a five-piece band) perform a selec- pressive variety of nominations and awards. selves put it, ‘a tion of ‘mystical and enchanting’ music. Expect an electric performance from the boys musical journey Numerous images from the Ironbridge in Birmingham this month. around the archives and photographs from Nathan’s swamps, bayous own collection will be projected on a 6 metre and dancefloors screen backdrop during the course of the of the blues’. performance.

Krista Detor Henry Tudor House, Shrewsbury, Sun 4 Octo- ber; Stafford Gatehouse, Mon 5 October Comparisons with Joni Mitchell and perform- ances alongside Suzanne Vega, Joan Arma- trading, Louden Wainwright and Sam Phillips have ensured an enviable reputation for pi- anist and singer-songwriter Krista. The music press absolutely love her - Rolling Stone described her as a ‘miracle’ - and after an evening in her company, there’s every The Unthanks chance that you will too. Wem Town Hall, Shropshire, Sun 25 October Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers Northumbrian folk band The Unthanks are Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, marking their tenth anniversary with a short Thurs 22 October tour of small, intimate spaces and a paired- The Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers are the UK’s back line-up. first and only professional touring taiko Very much a family affair, with sisters Rachel group. They fuse thundering rhythms on and Becky at the forefront, the band’s long huge taiko drums with layers of percussive list of celebrity fans soundscapes and the includes Elvis delicate sound of the Costello, Colin Firth, shinobue bamboo Dawn French, Al flute, all of which are Murray, Ade Ed- brought together in mondson and Nick an impressive theatri- Hornby. cal style.

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MusicGIG REVIEWS Music LISTINGS MON 5 OCT NORTHLANE The Asylum, Birmingham For full listing information on gigs, KRISTA DETOR Stafford including times and dates, Gatehouse Theatre For further reviews, visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk BRUCE COCKBURN The Robin, Bilston ALEXANDER The Institute, Benji Kirkpatrick mac, Birmingham THURS 1 OCT CHAPIN WICKWAR Birch- Birmingham meadow Centre, BENJAMIN FOLKE THOMAS Bellowhead guitarist Benji Kirkpatrick's new Broseley, Shropshire Hare & Hounds, Arts Council-funded project sees him chan- JO HARMAN AND THE AFRONAUT & JAYSON COMPANY The Robin, Birmingham WYNTERS Hare & JOHNNY MARR nel the legendary Jimi Hendrix with master- Bilston The Insti- Hounds, Birmingham tute, Birmingham ful string-playing. The brilliantly titled THE ILLEGAL EAGLES The SQUEEZE WITH DR JOHN THE BONFIRE RADICALS “Bendrix” is a stripped-back reimagining of Place, Oakengates The- COOPER CLARKE Sym- atre, Shropshire The Crescent Theatre, Hendrix's hits on assorted traditional instru- phony Hall, Birmingham Birmingham ments, aiming in part to highlight his often- JENN GRANT The Sun- KICK UP THE 80'S The flower Lounge, B’ham Robin, Bilston forgotten talents as a songwriter. THAT'LL BE THE DAY TUE 6 OCT Original songs dominate the first half, with THE BLUES BROTHERS EX- Stafford Gatehouse PERIENCE Theatre Sev- FALL OUT BOY Barclay- effortlessly accomplished musicianship as Theatre ern, Shrewsbury card Arena, Birmingham reminiscent of Richard Thompson as it is of other, more acknowl- THE PICTUREBOOKS The THE ENGLISH BEAT O2 WHEATUS O2 Academy, edged inspirations. Then in the second half, Kirkpatrick revives iconic Slade Rooms, Wolver- Academy, Birmingham Birmingham hampton KNOTSLIP O2 Academy, BULLET FOR MY VALEN- Hendrix numbers, along with a few less familiar, bluesy tracks, on a YIDDISH TWIST ORCHES- combination of bouzouki, mandolin and banjo. The last of these, he Birmingham TINE Victoria Hall, TRA mac, Birmingham WILL AND THE PEOPLE Stoke-on-Trent muses, might have been something Hendrix himself turned to if not for JOE MCELDERRY Lichfield The Oobleck, B’ham STANLEY BRNKS AND THE his untimely death forty-five years ago. Or perhaps not. Either way, Garrick, Staffordshire PARADISE LOSTWulfrun WAVE PICTURES Hare & each of Kirkpatrick's instrumental choices is excellent, adding some- WALK OFF THE EARTH The Hall, Wolverhampton Hounds, Birmingham thing new to every song. Institute, Birmingham THE STRYPES The Rain- THE INFERNAL SEA, DENI- WILLE & THE BANDITS This second section is also accompanied by intricate, kaleidoscopic bow Venues, B’ham GRATA & MERCILESS TIDE Hare & Hounds, B’ham The Rainbow Venues, artwork by Shropshire artist Esther Thorpe, projected onto a screen at KAST OFF KINKS Tam- JOE LONGTHORNE Prince worth Assembly Rooms Birmingham the back of the stage. Each sequence has been specially designed to Of Wales Centre, KICK UP THE 80'S The BY THE RIVERS, KIOKO & match the songs on the set list, and together they create an appropri- Cannock Chase Robin, Bilston LOBSTER The Rainbow ately psychedelic, 60s vibe. BEATS & PIECES Hare & MAX BOYCE The Place, Venues, Birmingham Hounds, Birmingham The show's one disappointment comes when Kirkpatrick cuts out “Lit- Oakengates Theatre, CHANTEL MGGREGOR The WED 7 OCT tle Wings”' extended final solo. Despite his argument that no other gui- Shropshire Institute, Birmingham MR BEN The Jam House, tarist has ever matched Hendrix's “unique” performance, the song THE LEMONHEADS The In- Birmingham ERJA LYYTINEN & HER comes to an oddly abrupt halt without something to follow the lovely stitute, Birmingham JACK SAVORETTI The In- BAND The Robin, Bilston but rather short lyrical section. Moreover, based on what we've already CLAY The Oobleck, stitute, Birmingham BITERS The Slade Birmingham EC-LECTRICITY: DJ HAZ- Rooms, Wolverhampton seen him do by this point, it's hard to believe Kirkpatrick's own take SIMPLY SOWETO ENCHA would have been anything short of show-stopping. ARD The Institute, B’ham FRI 2 OCT THE BOHICAS The Insti- mac, Birmingham Nevertheless, as a whole, it's undoubtedly a stunning achievement, tute, Birmingham RALEIGH RITCHIE The In- guaranteed to captivate die-hard Hendrix fans and enthusiastic new- BLAKE The Place, stitute, Birmingham Oakengates Theatre, CLAIRE SHAW Havana comers alike. Heather Kincaid nnnn Republic Bar and BARENAKED LADIES The Shropshire Institute, Birmingham JANE WEAVER Hare & Restaurant, Shrewsbury ICICLE WORKS The Slade JOHN SPIERS Kings Hounds, Birmingham Heath Cricket Club, JILTED GENERATIONThe Rooms, Wolverhampton A VISION OF ELVIS Birmingham Martin Simpson, Andy Cutting & Nancy Kerr Roadhouse, B’ham THE VRYLL SOCIETY The THE RED SHOES - KATE Lichfield Garrick, Staffs Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury INKERMAN, THE CLAUSE, Sunflower Lounge, BUSH STORY The Robin, Birmingham Each accomplished artists in their own right, the union of leading folk Bilston SHORE SCENE & MOON- SHINE The Rainbow Ven- JIM JONES, THE RIGHT- lights Martin Simpson, Nancy Kerr and Andy Cutting offers the perfect MALLORY KNOX Wulfrun EOUS MIND & SUZIE STA- Hall, Wolverhampton ues, Birmingham blend of masterful musicianship, historical folk knowledge and inven- BICEP, MARTYN, MARK E & PLETON The Rainbow THAT'LL BE THE DAY Venues, Birmingham tive song-writing. Stafford Gatehouse ADAM REGAN The Rain- Folk superstar and guitar legend Martin Simpson leads the set with bow Venues, B’ham EEK, MEME DETROIT & Theatre MIDSUMMER Hare & the atmospheric Dark Swift and Bright Swallow, where a stroll on a THE COAST ROAD Palace OUGHT Hare & Hounds Hounds, Birmingham beach prompts reflections on wartime tragedy and life's many com- Theatre, Redditch SUN 4 OCT LAND OF THE GIANTS ings and goings. Later, Simpson swaps his guitar for a banjo, for MR BEN The Jam Hare & Hounds, some superb renditions of songs from across the pond. He explains House, Birmingham MIDGE URE Wulfrun Hall, Birmingham LETHAL BIZZLE The Insti- Wolverhampton that working with Cutting and Kerr has finally enabled him to perform CLAY & KASSASSIN tute, Birmingham DMS ANNIVERSARY CON- STREET The Sugarmill, music he has loved since his teens. EROL ALKAN Hare & CERT - A FUSION OF Stoke-On-Trent “The great thing about working with these two is that they're not fazed Hounds, Birmingham MUSIC AND DANCE Sym- by anything,” he says. “I'll play them something and they'll go, 'Oh GOD DAMN, MAX RAPTOR phony Hall, Birmingham THUR 8 OCT yeah,' and play it back to me.” & GLEAM The Rainbow SNARKY PUPPY The Insti- Venues, Birmingham tute, Birmingham RAGLANS The Rainbow On fiddle, Nancy Kerr's string sounds are easily a match for Simp- BLUE NATION O2 Acad- BELINDA CARLISLE Venues, Birmingham son's own, but it's her exquisite singing and poetic sensibility that emy, Birmingham Birmingham Town Hall LONELADY The Rainbow make her performances extraordinary. Named Folk Singer of the Year PURPLE ZEPPELIN Prince LEGENDS LIVE 2015 Bar- Venues, Birmingham at the Radio 2 Folk Awards, Kerr has earned a reputation for her tal- Of Wales Centre, claycard Arena, B’ham LEO SAYER - RESTLESS ents, and both Dark Honey (referring to inner-city bees that visit cola Cannock Chase GABRIELLE APLIN The In- YEARS TOUR 2015 The MICHAELA WYLDE Ha- stitute, Birmingham Robin, Bilston cans) and Not Even the Ground (commissioned for the Magna Carta vana Republic Bar and KRISTA DETOR Henry JAMES BAY O2 Academy, anniversary celebrations) are choice examples of her always excel- Restaurant, Shrewsbury Tudor House, Birmingham lent song-writing. GREN BARTLEY Ort Cafe, Shrewsbury STARSAILOR Wulfrun On accordion and melodeon, the two-time Folk Musician of the Year Birmingham GERRY COLVIN Hare & Hall, Wolverhampton and ever entertaining Andy Cutting offers the best explanations for his RUA MACMILLAN Talbot Hounds, Birmingham METRIC The Institute, songs' origins, from traditional tunes picked up in the pub (work is as Theatre, Whitchurch, LAYLA TUTT Hare & Birmingham Shropshire Hounds, Birmingham MARTIN STEPHENSON & good an excuse as any for a visit), to original compositions invented CHEMKILL, EYES OF THE THE DAINTEES Hare & while walking his dog (to the bemusement of passers-by). Among his SAT 3 OCT RAVEN, PYRAH, INSUNA, Hounds, Birmingham selected tunes are an old favourite, the Staffordshire Hornpipe, and a AONIA, HIDDEN, ELLIE WHITNEY - QUEEN OF THE new piece called Seven Years, written for the trio's album, Murmurs. THE ZZ TOPS The Road- DOWEN AND MORE The NIGHT New Alexandra house, Birmingham A showcase of exceptional talent from performers all at the top of Roadhouse, B’ham Theatre, Birmingham "WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC O2 SMOKED MANGO, AARON THE SONGS OF LEONARD their game, the Murmurs tour is a outstanding collaboration that is Academy, Birmingham HOPPER, DOM KELLY, PER- COHEN Stafford Gate- not to be missed. Heather Kincaid nnnnn YAZZ AHMED CBSO Cen- ERA, BRADLEIGH & ASTON house tre, Birmingham The Rainbow Venues, MIDNIGHT MAGPIE Hare Birmingham & Hounds, Birmingham

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LICHFIELD FESTIVAL OF FOLK FEATURING Friday 16th October l The Exmouth Shanty Men from 7pm

Saturday 17th October l Merry Hell from 12.30pm l TRADarrr from 7pm Sunday 18th October l Melrose Quartet from 12.30pm l Blackbeards Tea Party from 7pm 16th- 18th OCT Plus: Workshops, music cafe, procession and dancing AT LICHFIELD GUILDHALL in Lichfield City Centre… see website for full details.

OCTOBER & NOVEMBER CONCERTS AT LICHFIELD GUILDHALL

Sat 10th Oct The Little Unsaid Sat 24th Oct Stomp and Holler Sun 25th Oct Ashley Hutchings

Sat 7th Nov An Evening with Christian Reilly (followed by a disco)

Sat 28th Nov Idiot & Friend

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Birmingham KWABS The Institute, Music LISTINGS Birmingham DU BLONDE & GOODNIGHT LENIN Hare & Hounds, For full listing information on gigs, Birmingham including times and dates, BRAWLERS & ALLUSON- DRUGS The Rainbow visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk Venues, Birmingham Lichfield Guildhall, TUE 13 OCT FRI 9 OCT Staffordshire URBAN INTRO The Jam 911 The Institute, Birm- THE SENSATIONAL 60'S House, Birmingham ingham EXPERIENCE Theatre KEITH SWEAT AND BLACK- THE PAT MCMANUS BAND Severn, Shrewsbury STREET The Institute, The Robin, Bilston LEFTFIELD The Institute, Birmingham COUNTERPARTS The Asy- Birmingham REGGAE CITY 2015 Alfie lum, Birmingham MICHAEL MONROE The Bird's, Birmingham GO WEST AND NIK KER- Institute, Birmingham ASAF SIRKIS QUARTET SHAW TOGETHER IN CON- INTO THE SHADOWS WITH GARETH LOCKRANE CERT WITH SPECIAL Lichfield Garrick, The Hive, Shrewsbury GUEST T'PAU Symphony Staffordshire HANNAH & BRIAN Ha- Hall, Birmingham ROXY MAGIC Theatre On vana Republic Bar and TANKUS THE HENGE Hare The Steps, Bridgnorth, Restaurant, Shrewsbury & Hounds, Birmingham James Bay - O2 Academy, Birmingham Shropshire CAUSE TO EFFECT The SUPREME QUEEN The Slade Rooms, WED 14 OCT ELVIS The Place, Hounds, Birmingham Place, Oakengates The- Wolverhampton Oakengates Theatre, THANK YOU FOR THE TUE 20 OCT atre, Shropshire BRADLEY ZERO Hare & THE UPBEAT BEATLES Shropshire MUSIC Theatre Severn, T'PAU FEATURING CAROL Hounds, Birmingham Wolverhampton Grand INTO THE SHADOWS For- Shrewsbury CRADLE OF FILTH Wulfrun DECKER The Robin, HOT CLUB DE SWING Theatre est Arts Centre, Walsall DETROIT SOUL The Jam Hall, Wolverhampton Bilston Hare & Hounds, B’ham MAJOR LAZER O2 Acad- BON GIOVI The Road- House, Birmingham RAVEN The Asylum, ELIZA AND THE BEAR O2 BONSAI KITTEN, SPIRIT emy, Birmingham house, Birmingham SWIM DEEP The Institute, Birmingham Academy, Birmingham BOMB, THE TEENAGE RAGLANS The Sugarmill, EDITORS O2 Academy, Birmingham REEL BIG FISH The Sug- YEARS AND YEARS O2 ZOMBIES, COMPLETE Stoke-On-Trent Birmingham THE COMPLETE STONE armill, Stoke-on-Trent Academy, Birmingham DYSFUNCTION & BLOOD- MARTIN TURNER’S WISH- THE PRETTY THINGS The ROSES The Slade WISHBONE ASH Theatre AGAINST THE CURRENT THIRSTERS The Rainbow BONE ASH The Robin, Robin, Bilston Rooms, Wolverhampton Severn, Shrewsbury The Asylum, B’ham Venues, Birmingham Bilston PALACE The Rainbow RAT PACK VEGAS SPEC- GONG The Robin, Bilston ROCKTOBERFEST Tam- JOY ORBISON, FOLD, GOSPEL CENTRAL The Venues, Birmingham TACULAR Prince Of VONDA SHEPARD Henry worth Assembly Rooms ADAM SHELTON & LEWIS Jam House, B’ham METRO STATION & TI- Wales Centre, Tudor House, Shrews- URBAN INTRO The Jam OXLEY The Rainbow SPECTOR The Institute, GRESS The Sugarmill, Cannock Chase bury House, Birmingham Venues, Birmingham Birmingham Stoke-on-Trent SYNERGY Havana Re- FRANK CARTER & THE TANKCSAPDA The Insti- HOSPITALITY The Rain- UB40 The Buttermarket, FRED ZEPPELIN The public Bar and Restau- RATTLESNAKES The tute, Birmingham bow Venues, B’ham Shrewsbury Slade Rooms, rant, Shrewsbury Rainbow Venues, FEARFEST 2015 The Asy- MC TRIGGA’S BIRTHDAY PROTOJE & THE INDIG- Wolverhampton THE OASIS EXPERIENCE Birmingham lum, Birmingham BASH O2 Academy, GNATION O2 Academy, DETROIT SOUL The Jam The Roadhouse, B’ham CHICO & THE GYPSIES QUILL Prince Of Wales Birmingham Birmingham House, Birmingham LONGSHOT The Rainbow Birmingham Town Hall Centre, Cannock Chase THE SHERLOCKS The THE AUSTRALIAN PINK CIRCA WAVES The Insti- Venues, Birmingham DAN PAGE Havana Re- Sugarmill, Stoke-On- FLOYD SHOW Barclay- tute, Birmingham RABID The Rainbow WED 21 OCT public Bar and Restau- Trent card Arena, B’ham A$AP ROCKY & WIZ KHAL- Venues, Birmingham GHOST TOWN O2 Acad- rant, Shrewsbury THE TRAIL OF THOMAS MARTHA TILSTON Red IFA Genting Arena, HOLD YOUTH, DIEGO emy, Birmingham TOM JONES Symphony LOVE Enginuity, Iron- Lion Folk Club, B’ham Birmingham KRAUSE, ADAM SHELTON DARWIN DEEZ The Rain- Hall, Birmingham bridge, Shropshire PAUL POTTS - LIVE IN & LOPASKI The Rainbow bow Venues, B’ham CRAIG CHARLES Hare & r CONCERT Wolverhamp- Venues, Birmingham THUR 15 OCT JOCELYN BROWN The Hounds, Birmingham ton Grand Theatre SUN 11 OCT Jam House, B’ham GLORY DAYS The Road- ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE THE LICHFIELD FESTIVAL SUN 18 OCT ANTI FLAG, RED CITY house, Birmingham ONE DIRECTION Barclay- The Robin, Bilston OF FOLK Lichfield Guild- RADIO, TROPHY EYES & DUSKY The Rainbow card Arena, B’ham MIGUEL O2 Academy, hall, Staffordshire THE LICHFIELD FESTIVAL THE HOMELESS GOSPEL Venues, Birmingham RAE MORRIS The Insti- Birmingham KEITH JAMES ‘LEONARD OF FOLK Lichfield Guild- CHOIR The Institute, JOHN MCCULLAGH & THE tute, Birmingham FEROCIOUS DOG The COHEN’ Talbot Leisure hall, Staffordshire Birmingham ESCORTS, SAVANNAH AND RAINTOWN The Slade Rainbow Venues, Centre, Whitchurch, ANDY FAIRWEATHER LOW RON SEXSMITH The Glee RITUALS The Rainbow Rooms, Wolverhampton Birmingham Shropshire AND THE LOW RIDERS Club, Birmingham Venues, Birmingham GRAVE PLEASURES The MOTOWN'S GREATEST CHARLIE LANDSBOROUGH The Robin, Bilston FIGHTSTAR Wulfrun Hall, THIS FEELING FT SUGAR- Oobleck, Birmingham HITS - HOW SWEET IT IS Prince Of Wales Centre, MUTOID MAN & PALM Wolverhampton MEN, BROKEN WIT R5 O2 Academy, B’ham Theatre Severn, Cannock Chase READER The Rainbow THE GRANDMOTHERS OF REBELS, THE ASSIST & RHODES, JP COOPER & Shrewsbury HANNAH & BRIAN Ha- Venues, Birmingham INVENTION - THE MUSIC REGALE The Rainbow BENJAMIN YELLOWITZ ANTI-NO WHERE LEAGUE vana Republic Bar and BLACK HONEY The Rain- OF ZAPPA The Robin, Venues, Birmingham The Rainbow Venues, The Robin, Bilston Restaurant, Shrewsbury bow Venues, B’ham Bilston EMMA STEVENS The Birmingham T.REXTASY The Place, CIRCA WAVES O2 Acad- KID INK O2 Academy, MILE HIGH CLUB Hare & Oobleck, Birmingham WHILE & MATTHEWS Oakengates Theatre, emy, Birmingham Birmingham Hounds, Birmingham Crescent Theatre, Shropshire WOOKIE Hare & Hounds, BAY CITY ROLLERS STAR- DMA’S Hare & Hounds, SAT 10 OCT Birmingham THE CARPET CRAWLERS Birmingham RING LES MCKEOWN Birmingham BILLY MITCHELL AND RAY Prince Of Wales Centre, MAD PROFESSOR MEETS Lichfield Garrick, Staffs ROXY MAGIC Theatre On THE OLD DANCE SCHOOL LAIDLAW: THE LINDIS- Cannock Chase CHANNEL ONE SOUND THE SHIRES The Insti- The Steps, Bridgnorth, Red Lion Folk Club, FARNE STORY Theatre BESIDE ALL HOPE O2 SYSTEM The Rainbow tute, Birmingham Shropshire Birmingham Severn, Shrewsbury Academy, Birmingham Venues, Birmingham NATHANIEL RATELIFF AND INTO THE SHADOWS FRAZEY FORD The Glee RICH HOMIE QUAN The 99 SOULS, ICARUS, THE NIGHT SWEATS The Lichfield Garrick, Staffs THUR 22 OCT Club, Birmingham Institute, Birmingham KIDEKO, LFM & MALI & Institute, Birmingham JONATHAN BYRD, BILL KARNATAKA The Robin, TREVOR BURTON The MISTANOIZE The Rain- GUNS 2 ROSES The WOOD & THE WOODIES Bilston Roadhouse, B’ham bow Venues, B’ham MON 19 OCT Robin, Bilston Stafford Gatehouse KIMBERLY ANNE Hare & SONS OF KEMET Hare & ONE DIRECTION Barclay- Hounds, Birmingham FRI 16 OCT RYAN MCGARVEY BAND card Arena, B’ham SAT 17 OCT The Robin, Bilston Hounds, Birmingham PORT ISAAC'S FISHER- LET'S HANG ON THE REEL BIG FISH The Insti- WOLFSBANE The Asy- MON 12 OCT THE LICHFIELD FESTIVAL MAN'S FRIENDS MUSIC OF FRANKI VALI & tute, Birmingham lum, Birmingham OF FOLK Lichfield Guild- Birmingham Town Hall ONE DIRECTION Barclay- THE FOUR SEASONS SALENE & FRET & FIDDLE CATTLE & CANE The hall, Staffordshire DARK SIDE OF THE WALL card Arena, B’ham Theatre Severn, Crescent Theatre, Rainbow Venues, WARTOUR 2015 The The Roadhouse, JOSEF SALVAT O2 Acad- Shrewsbury Birmingham Birmingham Flapper, Birmingham Birmingham emy, Birmingham BRING IT ALL BACK: THE SIMONE FELICE The Glee HOOTON TENNIS CLUB HOOSIERS The Oobleck, SHOWADDYWADDY Kid- HAYSEED DIXIE & THE ULTIMATE 90S SHOW Club, Birmingham The Sugarmill, Birmingham derminster Town Hall JOKERS The Sugarmill, HABITATS, OCEANIA & Stoke-on-Trent mac, Birmingham NO JACKET REQUIRED - PEACE Civic Hall, Stoke-on-Trent STEVE AJAO BLUES GI- OCEAN STATE The Rain- MUGENKYO TAIKO DRUM- THE PHIL COLINS TRIBUTE Wolverhampton ENCHANT & HASSE ANTS Symphony Hall, bow Venues, B’ham MERS Theatre Severn, The Robin, Bilston THE MOTELLAS The FROBERG & MUSICAL Birmingham FOREVER CAME CALLING Shrewsbury PSYENCE The Sugarmill, Place, Oakengates The- COMPANION The Robin, PANIC ROOM The Insti- & BOSTON MANOR O2 RIDE The Institute, Stoke-on-Trent atre, Shropshire Bilston tute, Birmingham Academy, Birmingham Birmingham BLOSSOMS The Institute, SECKOU KEITA mac, GENGAHR Hare & THE ROBERT CRAY BAND THE RAILS Henry Tudor SIMONE FELICE Henry Birmingham Birmingham Hounds, Birmingham Birmingham Town Hall House, Shrewsbury Tudor House, RONI SIZE Hare & THE LITTLE UNSAID ULCERATE The Asylum, GORDON HENDRICKS IS Shrewsbury www.whatsonlive.co.uk 17 Music October Region Two.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 22:28 Page 9

Fri 2 october 7pm michaela wylde ......

Sat 3 october 7pm Claire shaw ......

Fri 9 october 7pm dan page ......

Sat 10 october 7pm hannah & brian ......

Fri 16 october 7pm hannah & brian ......

Sat 17 october 7pm synergy ......

Fri 23 october 7pm dan page ......

Sat 24 october 7pm michaela wylde ......

Fri 30 october 7pm heidi browne & ‘’two faced tom’’ ......

Sat 31 october 7pm tocha

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CRICKETERS Theatre FRIENDS Tamworth As- LISTINGS Severn, Shrewsbury sembly Rooms Music SLUG The Rainbow Ven- GINGER WILDHEART'S THE ues, Birmingham NIGHTMARE BEFORE HAL- RICHARD HAWLEY The LOWEEN & HALLOWEEN For full listing information on gigs, Institute, Birmingham HOOTENANNY The Slade including times and dates, SESSION AMERICANA Rooms, Wolverhampton visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk Hare & Hounds, B’ham Y&T The Robin, Bilston EAVES Hare & Hounds, CLASSIC CLAPTON Birmingham Stafford Gatehouse THE IRISH HOUSE PARTY MORGAN HERITAGE O2 ALL STAR 60'S New Theatre Lichfield Garrick Academy, Birmingham Alexandra Theatre, HARRY MANX The Glee REAL LIES Hare & NORTHERN SOUL Dudley Birmingham Club, Birmingham Hounds, Birmingham Town Hall STEVE ‘N’ SEAGULLS The STORMZY The Institute, DAVE MCCABE & THE ANDY FAIRWEATHER LOW Slade Rooms, Wolver- Birmingham RAMIFICATIONS The Insti- AND THE LOW RIDERS hampton FRED ZEPPELIN The tute, Birmingham Stafford Gatehouse Roadhouse, B’ham THE DEMON BARBERS XL SANTA CRUZ & LIBERTY WED 28 OCT CHAINSKA The Oobleck, Birmingham Town Hall LIES The Slade Rooms, Birmingham Wolverhampton SOUL LEGENDS New LUKE JACKSON Stafford FRI 23 OCT EAST INDIA YOUTH, Alexandra Theatre, Gatehouse Theatre MONEY, DORCHA, FREE Birmingham ROY ORBISON & FRIENDS RAT PACK VEGAS SPEC- SCHOOL & CHARTREUSE KING HEAVY The Asylum, TACULAR Regent The- Tamworth Assembly Hare & Hounds, B’ham Birmingham Rooms atre, Stoke-on-Trent SYNKRO Hare & BABAJACK The Robin, BEN MONTAGUE The Glee WAXAHATCHEE The Rain- Hounds, Birmingham Bilston bow Venues, B’ham Club, Birmingham MODERN MINDS The In- HOOTON TENNIS CLUB GORDON DAVIS AS ELVIS SOLID SOUL The Jam stitute, Birmingham Hare & Hounds, House, Birmingham PRESLEY The Robin, CABALLO BLANCO, FLIGHT Birmingham Bilston ERNIE TORME The Insti- 15, CHEVY CHASE STOLE MAGNIFICENT MUSIC tute, Birmingham RAT PACK LIVE Theatre MY WIFE & GHOST OF THE HALL The Place, Severn, Shrewsbury METZ Hare & Hounds, AVALANCHE The Rain- Oakengates Theatre, Birmingham THE ELO EXPERIENCE bow Venues, B’ham Shropshire Tamworth Assembly HEIDI BROWNE & TWO THE COMPUTERS The MERRY HELL Red Lion FACED TOM Havana Re- Rooms Rainbow Venues, Birm- Folk Club, Birmingham THE JON SPENCER BLUES public Bar and Restau- ingham FAUSTUS Henry Tudor rant, Shrewsbury EXPLOSION The THE STORMS The Rain- House, Shrewsbury Oobleck, Birmingham TOP TEN BEATLES Prince bow Venues, B’ham MARCUS MILLER Of Wales Theatre, Can- Seth Lakeman - The Robin, Bilston CARCASS Wulfrun Hall, ALEX ARNOUT, BUNNY, Birmingham Town Hall Wolverhampton nock Chase BLEEPZ & CROFT, CASSY, RADKEY Hare & Hounds, Hall, Stoke-on-Trent FESTIVAL Drayton Cen- HOTHOUSE FLOWERS & CLIVE HENRY, ENZO SIRA- Birmingham THE BAY CITY ROLLERS tre, Market Drayton, RAINY BOY SLEEP Sym- SAT 31 OCT GUSA, HECTOR AND MORE DOMINIC KIRWAN & MARY Stafford Gatehouse Shropshire phony Hall, Birmingham The Rainbow Venues, DUFF Prince Of Wales GINGER WILDHEART'S THE Theatre LUSTS The Sunflower AND FINALLY... PHIL Birmingham Centre, Cannock Chase NIGHTMARE BEFORE HAL- DAPPY O2 Academy, Lounge, Birmingham COLLINS BONDAX & FRIENDS The TURBOWOLF O2 Acad- LOWEEN & HALLOWEEN Birmingham TOCHA Havana Republic Lichfield Garrick Rainbow Venues, Birm- emy, Birmingham HOOTENANNY The Slade TOM ROBINSON & BAND Bar and Restaurant, ROCKET The Jam ingham LADY LESHURR The Insti- Rooms, Wolverhampton The Assembly, Shrewsbury House, Birmingham JOSIENNE CLARKE & BEN tute, Birmingham SOLID SOUL The Jam Leamington Spa THE KOMMITMENTS The DELAIN The Institute, WALKER Talbot Leisure NOTHING BUT THIEVES House, Birmingham KILLING JOKE The Insti- Roadhouse, B’ham Birmingham Centre, Whitchurch, The Rainbow Venues, BACK:N:BLACK The tute, Birmingham THE LURKERS The Rain- GIMME GIMME NIGHT Shropshire Birmingham Robin, Bilston THE LANCASHIRE HOT- bow Venues, B’ham FEVER Prince Of Wales SAMOANS, FREEZE THE THE DRIFTERS Prince Of POTS + THE BAR-STEW- THE HAUTING BIRMING- Centre, Cannock Chase ATLANTIC, BLANK PARODY Wales Centre, Cannock ARD SONS OF VAL HAM: BLONDE, MY NU DAN PAGE Havana Re- SUN 25 OCT & OFFSHORE The Rain- Chase DOONICAN The Institute, LENG, TAZER, WOZ AND public Bar and Restau- ELLA HENDERSON O2 bow Venues, B’ham THE SENSATIONAL 60'S Birmingham MORE The Rainbow rant, Shrewsbury Academy, Birmingham PRIDES The Sugarmill, EXPERIENCE Victoria BUDDY HOLLY RAVE ON Venues, Birmingham MOTOWN & CLUB SOUL THE UNTHANKS Wem Stoke-on-Trent NIGHT Dudley Town Town Hall, Shropshire Hall, Shropshire DEAN FRIEDMAN THUR 29 OCT BEDWORTH BRASS Henry Tudor House, Bedworth Civic Hall SETH LAKEMAN The Shrewsbury Music Venues Box Office Across The Midlands HORSE MEAT DISCO Hare FOCUS FEAT THIJS VAN Robin, Bilston & Hounds, Birmingham PHILLIP DYSON Lichfield LEER The Robin, Bilston THE WYTCHES, SPEEDY Garrick 0121 246 2273 01743 281744 JOE STILGOE The Slade Birmingham ORTIZ, CHASTITY BELT DEL CAMINO The Jam ROUTE 44 HENRY TUDOR HOUSE Rooms, Wolverhampton 02 ACADEMY Hare & Hounds, B’ham House, Birmingham 0121 622 8250 0121 708 0108 SHREWSBURY SPEAR OF DESTINY 01743 361666 NICKY BLACKMARKET The AMBER RUN The Insti- THE SUNFLOWER LOUNGE Theatre Severn, THE ACTRESS & BISHOP Institute, Birmingham tute, Birmingham 0121 236 7426 0121 632 6756 THE HIVE, SHREWSBURY Shrewsbury 01743 234970 SKARLETT RIOT, THE FOXES O2 Academy, ALFIE BIRD’S SYMPHONY HALL ASHLEY HUTCHINGS LUDLOW ASSEMBLY ROOMS RAVEN AGE, SISTER SHOT- Birmingham 0121 270 6665 0121 780 3333 Lichfield Guildhall 01584 878141 GUN & WINTER STORM RAYMOND FROGGATT THE ASYLUM JOHN BRAMWELL The In- THEATRE SEVERN, The Rainbow Venues, Prince Of Wales Centre, 0121 233 1109 Black Country stitute, Birmingham SHREWSBURY Birmingham Cannock Chase BARCLAYCARD ARENA CIVIC HALL, WOLVERHAMPTON 01743 281281 0121 780 4141 0870 320 7000 THE CLONES ROSES The MON 26 OCT KYMBERLEY MYLES O2 THE PLACE, OAKENGATES, Sugarmill, Stoke-on- Academy, Birmingham BIRMINGHAM TOWN HALL FOREST ARTS CENTRE TELFORD 0121 780 3333 01922 654555 Trent SONGHOY BLUES Hare & RACING GLACIERS The 01952 382382 FLAPPER NEWHAMPTON ARTS CENTRE WEM TOWN HALL Hounds, Birmingham Sugarmill, Stoke-on- 01902 572090 SAT 24 OCT Trent 0121 236 2421 01939 232299 STEPHEN HOUGH Sym- ROBIN 2, BILSTON phony Hall, Birmingham THE BON JOVI EXPERI- GENTING ARENA A FOREIGNERS JOURNEY 0121 780 4141 01902 401211 IN HINDSIGHT & ADEL- ENCE The Place, Oaken- Staffordshire The Roadhouse, B’ham THE GLEE CLUB SLADE ROOMS PHIA, 4TH STREET, SALLY gates, Telford FOXLOWE ARTS CENTRE, LEEK SOUL'D OUT The Robin, 0871 472 0400 WOLVERHAMPTON PEPPER & MARTY JACK- SPEAR OF DESTINY The 0870 320 7000 01538 386112 Bilston HARE & HOUNDS SON O2 Academy, Slade Rooms, STOURBRIDGE TOWN HALL LICHFIELD GUILDHALL A BORN DISASTER O2 0121 444 2081 Birmingham Wolverhampton 01384 812812 01543 262223 Academy, Birmingham THE INSTITUTE GLENN HUGHES FEATUR- THE GHOST RIDERS IN WULFRUN HALL, THE SUGARMILL, HANLEY COASTS The Institute, 0121 643 0428 ING DOUG ALDRICH The THE SKY & COLD YEARS WOLVERHAMPTON STOKE-ON-TRENT Birmingham IRISH CENTRE 0870 320 7000 01159 454 593 Robin, Bilston The Rainbow Venues, MAD DOG MCREA The 0121 622 2314 THE VINTAGE CARAVAN Birmingham TAMWORTH ASSEMBLY ROOMS Sugarmill, Stoke-on- THE JAM HOUSE Shropshire 01827 709618 The Rainbow Venues, ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Trent 0121 200 3030 Birmingham The Rainbow Venues, BIRCHMEADOW, BROSELEY VICTORIA HALL, HANLEY JOE STILGOE mac, THE KITCHEN GARDEN CAFE 01952 882210 0870 060 6649 HIGH HOPES The Asy- Birmingham 0121 443 4725 Birmingham THE BUTTERMARKET, lum, Birmingham STAFFORD GATEHOUSE STOMP AND HOLLER THE OOBLECK SHREWSBURY 01785 619080 FRI 30 OCT 0121 270 6665 Lichfield Guildhall 01743 281712 THE GRIMETHORPE COL- TUES 27 OCT THE RAINBOW THE EDGE ARTS CENTRE, STEVE HACKETT Sym- 0121 772 8174 LIERY BAND Lichfield MUCH WENLOCK For additional information PINK FAIRIES The Robin, phony Hall, Birmingham 01952 728911 Garrick, Staffordshire RED LION FOLK CLUB and to find out What’s On Bilston THE CLONE ROSES O2 0121472 4253 HAVANA REPUBLIC ROCKET The Jam at these venues. BUDDY HOLLY AND THE Academy, Birmingham THE ROADHOUSE SHREWSBURY House, Birmingham ROY ORBISON AND Visit: www.whatsonlive.co.uk

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PREVIEWS Ex Cathedra: The Grand Tour Classical Music Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Sun 11 October British choir and early music ensemble Ex Cathedra has based its reputation on the performance of choral music from the fif- teenth century onwards. The choir com- prises between twenty and forty singers and regularly commissions new works. In The Grand Tour, Ex Cathedra takes audiences on ‘a magnificent journey’ to discover afresh the works of some of Europe’s finest composers. The pro- gramme comprises: Handel’s Zadok The Priest; Mondonville’s Venite adoremus; Lalande’s La Grande pièce royale; Gabrieli’s In ecclesiis; Allegri’s Miserere mei; and Handel’s Dixit Dominus.

Riccardo Chailly conducts

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig perform Strauss Symphony Hall, Mon 19 October The oldest symphony orchestra in the world, Germany-based Gewandhausorchester was founded in 1743 by sixteen musical philanthropists. Renowned for its diverse repertoire, the orchestra presents over two hundred performances each year and assumes three different guises - concert orchestra in the Gewandhaus, orchestra of the Leipzig Opera, and orchestra Tenebrae: Russian Treasures for the weekly services of the cantatas of JS Bach. Shrewsbury School Chapel, Sat 3 October This month Gewandhausorchester follows the monumental success of its Beethoven Cycle Passion And Precision is the motto of this (2011) and Brahms Cycle (2013) with a homage to Richard Strauss and Wolfgang Mozart. award-winning chamber choir who, under Under the direction of Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly - and with accompaniment from Por- the direction of Nigel Short, are regarded tuguese pianist Maria João Pires - the orchestra here performs Strauss’ Don Juan and Ein Hei- as one of the world’s finest vocal ensem- denleben and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 27 in B flat. bles. Although dedicated to supporting contem- porary composers, Tenebrae are also held La Traviata in high regard for their interpretations of Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Fri 9 October the choral cannon; works by Poulenc, Tavener, Brahms and Bruckner all feature One of the most popular operas of all time, La in their extensive repertoire. Traviata tells the story of Violetta, a nineteenth This Shrewsbury School concert sees century Parisian courtesan who, desiring a better Tenebrae perform twentieth album Russian life, becomes involved with a man who may final- Treasures in its entirety. ly make her dreams come true... As well as featuring works by two of the Written by Verdi at the peak of his powers, the greatest names in Russian music - Rach- work covers a subject of intense personal signifi- maninov and Tchaikovsky - the album also cance to the Italian composer - he and the singer includes gems from the far less well- Giuseppina Strepponi lived together for ten years known Chesnokov, Golovanov and Kalin- before they married, enduring the objections of nikov, composers whose works are rarely those who viewed her as a woman of no worth performed outside Russia. or moral standing. Academy Of Ancient Music This particular production is presented by the Holy Trinity Church, Oswestry, highly acclaimed Russian State Ballet & Opera Sat 17 October House Since being founded in 1973 by Christo- pher Hogwood (CBE), the Academy Of Ancient Music have gathered quite a fol- lowing. The ensemble specialise in per- forming the work of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart in the way they perceive it was intended. This Shropshire Music Trust concert sees them presenting four lesser-known, minor- mode works: JM Krauss’ Symphony in Cmin VB142; Haydn’s Symphony No 49 in Fmin (La Passione); F Benda’s Concerto for violin & strings in Dmin; and Mozart’s Symphony No25 in Gmin. Ukranian/Irish violinist Pavlo Beznosiuk directs.

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ESO at Elgar Concert Hall, University of Birmingham

Friday, 9 October at 7:30pm

Brahms- Piano Quartet in G minor, opus 25 Elgar- Piano Quintet in A minor, opus 85

Alexander Sitkovetsky violin Tamsin Waley-Cohen violin Louise Lansdown viola Matthew Sharp cello Clare Hammond piano

Saturday, 10 October at 4pm

English Symphony Orchestra Kenneth Woods conductor Njabulo Madlala baritone

Bach/Elgar: Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, opus 86 Mahler- Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) Elgar / Fraser- Symphonic Realization of Piano Quintet in A minor, opus 84 (world premiere)

Part of ESO’s Elgar Pilgrimage series

TICKETS for each: £20, £15, £10 from Town Hall/Symphony Hall 0121 345 0600 www.eso.co.uk

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ber Concert Hall, The REQUIEM Programme Robert Levin LISTINGS Barber Institute, B’ham includes works by Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conserva- Classical ACADEMY OF ANCIENT Mozart & Brahms, Sat toire, Tues 6 October MUSIC Sat 17 Oct, Holy 24 Oct, Symphony Hall, Trinity Church, Birmingham Robert Levin is one of America’s leading For full listing information on classical Oswestry, Shropshire LUNCHTIME ORGAN CON- pianists and music polymaths. Both cham- concerts, including times and dates, BIRMINGHAM ICKNIELD CERT WITH THOMAS pioning and composing contemporary visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk MALE VOICE CHOIR TROTTER Programme music, Levin has famously reconstructed ANNUAL CONCERT Fea- comprises works by JS Mozart choruses from sketches, including turing special guest Bach, Mon 26 Oct, CBSO SIBELIUS' FIFTH ano). Programme com- Lesley Delo, Sat 17 Symphony Hall, B’ham the Amen fugue in the Requiem. Programme includes prises Danzi’s Sonata Oct, Adrian Boult Hall, STEPHEN HOUGH IN Arriving in Birmingham direct from Wig- works by Mendelssohn, in F for fortepiano and Birmingham RECITAL Programme more Hall, Levin here presents a specialist Mozart & Sibelius, basselthorn, Op.62; EDGE CHAMBER CHOIR includes works by programme alternating Mozart’s Preludes Thurs 1 Oct, Symphony Danzi’s Sonata in B flat Programme includes Schubert, Franck, Hall, Birmingham for fortepiano and clar- works by Ildebrando Debussy & Liszt, Mon and Sonatas. Included is: Four Preludes, CBSO WIND ENSEMBLE & inet, Op.56 & Mozart’s K.284a; Sonata in B flat, K.333; Sonata in E Pizzetti, Bob Chilcott & 26 Oct, Symphony Hall, LARS VOGT Programme Adagio in B minor, Vaughan Williams, Sat Birmingham flat, K.282; and Sonata in C, K.330. includes works by KV540, Fri 9 Oct, Bar- 17 Oct, Ludlow Assem- VALERY GERGIEV & THE Debussy, Thurs 1 Oct, ber Concert Hall, The bly Rooms, South MARIINSKY ORCHESTRA CBSO Centre, B’ham Barber Institute, B’ham Shropshire Programme includes LUNCHTIME CONCERT ORGAN PROMS WITH THE CARMEN Ellen Kent Pro- works by Debussy, WITH CLARA MOURIZ SCOTT BROTHERS DUO ductions present their Tchaikovsky, (MEZZO-SOPRANO) & Sat 10 Oct, Victoria version of Bizet's pas- Mendelssohn, Verdi & JOSEPH MIDDLETON Hall, Stoke-on-Trent sionate opera, in which Liszt, Wed 28 Oct, (PIANO) Programme ENGLISH SYMPHONY Carmen shifts her pas- Symphony Hall, B’ham includes works by ORCHESTRA: ELGAR PIL- sion from one lover to BINCHOIS CONSORT: THE Respighi, Mompou, GRIMAGE Sat 10 Oct, another with tragic con- BATTLE OF AGINCOURT Ravel & Montsalvatge, Bramall Music Building, sequences, Sun 18 Featuring Andrew Fri 2 Oct, The Barber Birmingham Oct, New Alexandra Kirkham (conductor), Institute, Birmingham EX CATHEDRA Featuring Theatre, Birmingham James Hall & Tim Tra- RICHARD STRAUSS’ Jeffrey Skidmore (con- WURLITZER THEATRE vers-Brown (alto), Will SALOME Presented by ductor). Programme ORGAN CONCERT Sun 18 Balkwill, Dominic the Bournemouth Sym- includes works by Han- Oct, The Buttermarket, Bland, Tom Raskin & phony Orchestra & fea- del, Mondonville, Shrewsbury George Pooley (tenor), turing an all-star cast Lalande, Gabrieli & BIRMINGHAM PHILHAR- Wed 28 Oct, The Bar- including Lise Lind- Allegri, Sun 11 Oct, MONIC ORCHESTRA: ber Institute, B’ham strom as Salome, Fri 2 Symphony Hall, B’ham CLASSIC & ROMANTIC CBSO - PICTURES AT AN Oct, Symphony Hall, LUNCHTIME ORGAN CON- Programme includes EXHIBITION Featuring Birmingham CERT WITH THOMAS works by Beethoven, Daniele Rustioni (con- TENEBRAE IN CONCERT: TROTTER Programme Strauss & ductor) & Vadim Gluz- RUSSIAN TREASURES Sat includes works by Mendelssohn, Sun 18 man (violin). Pro- The Boyan Ensemble 3 Oct, Shrewsbury Boëllmann, JS Bach, Oct, Bramall Music gramme includes works Of Kiev School Chapel Messiaen, Holloway & Building, Birmingham by Dvorak, Brahms & PUBLIC MASTERCLASS Liszt, Mon 12 Oct, GEWANDHAUSORCH- Mussorgsky, Thurs 29 St Laurence’s Church, Ludlow, SERIES: ROBERT LEVIN Birmingham Town Hall ESTER LEIPZIG Featuring Oct, Symphony Hall, Wed 14 October (FORTEPIANO) Tues 6 FRONTIERS: LEGACIES IN Maria João Pires on Birmingham Oct, Adrian Boult Hall, TECHNOLOGY XIV.II Fea- piano, Mon 19 Oct, BIRMINGHAM CONSERVA- Ukraine’s top professional male choir this Birmingham Conserva- turing Horacio Vag- month stop off in Shropshire as part of Symphony Hall, B’ham TOIRE SYMPHONY toire gione, Stephane Roy & MONDAY SHOWCASE: ORCHESTRA Featuring their twenty-third tour of Great Britain. ORCHESTRA OF THE François Bayle, Mon 12 RACHNANINOV, COPLAND Michael Seal (conduc- Formed in 1969 as the travelling arm of the SWAN & TAMSIN WALEY- Oct, Recital Hall, Birm- & BEETHOVEN Featuring tor). Programme Revutsky Academic Make Capella, the COHEN Programme ingham Conservatoire Llang Shan & Yuyan includes works by ensemble here present ‘a divine musical includes works by FRONTIERS: LEGACIES IN Wang (pianos). Pro- Vaughan Williams, Mendelssohn & Mozart, TECHNOLOGY VIX.IV offering’ in two parts. In part one they sing gramme includes works Elgar & Britten, Thurs Wed 7 Oct, Birmingham Mixed works curated & by Beethoven, Copland sacred orthodox chants in capella. In part 29 Oct, Symphony Hall, Town Hall diffused by Adrian & Rachmaninov, Mon Birmingham two they showcase the diverse folk culture CBSO: ELGAR’S FIRST Moore & featuring 19 Oct, Recital Hall, BIRMINGHAM CONSERVA- of Ukraine. Featuring Ryan Wig- Sarah Farmer on violin, Birmingham Conserva- TOIRE RECORDER glesworth (conductor) Tues 13 Oct, Recital toire DEPARTMENT: VIVA & Mark Padmore Hall, Birmingham Con- CBSO: BRAHMS’ GERMAN I‘ITALIA! Featuring con- (tenor). Programme servatoire REQUIEM Featuring sort music, canzonas & English Symphony Orchestra includes works by Wig- CBSO: DVORAK’S SIXTH Andrew Manze (con- sonatas from late ren- glesworth, Britten & Featuring Nicholas Col- Hereford Cathedral, Wed 7 October; ductor), Francesco aissance baroque Italy. Elgar, Wed 7 Oct, Sym- lon (conductor), Pekka Malvern Theatre, Thurs 8 October; Elgar Piemontesi (piano), Works by Bassano, phony Hall, B’ham Kuusisto (violin). Pro- Concert Hall, University of Birmingham, Fri Susan Gritton (sopra- Merulo, Castello, KALEIDOSCOPE ENSEM- gramme includes works 9 - Sat 10 October no), Mark Stone (bari- Barsanti & Vivaldi fea- BLE Featuring Jane by Mozart, Nielsen & tone) & the CBSO Cho- ture, Thurs 29 Oct, Worcestershire-based English Symphony Wright & Elizabeth Dvorak, Wed 14 Oct, rus. Programme Recital Hall, Birming- Orchestra is this month visiting three Mid- Golding (violins), Symphony Hall, B’ham includes works by ham Conservatoire BOYAN ENSEMBLE OF lands venues with a concert celebration of Michael Jenkinson Mozart & Brahms, INSTRUMENTAL: AN (viola) & Helen Edgar KIEV Featuring Ukrain- Edward Elgar’s life and music. Included Thurs 22 Oct, Sympho- EVENING WITH JAMES (cello). Programme ian soloist Igor Rudyi, ny Hall, Birmingham RHODES Fri 30 Oct, alongside some of the Worcestershire-born comprises Stravinsky’s Wed 14 Oct, St Lau- IRINA LANKOVA PIANO Birmingham Town Hall composer’s most iconic pieces are music The Soldier’s Tale: rence’s Church, Lud- RECITAL Programme TAKAHASHI, STRINGFEL- by his contemporaries, new commissions Suite for violin, clarinet low, South Shropshire includes works by LOW & WHIFFEN Pro- and a world premiere (University of Birm- & piano, Thurs 8 Oct, CBSO CENTRE STAGE: THE Rachmaninov, Scriabin gramme includes works CBSO Centre, B’ham SOLDIER’S TALE Featur- & Chopin, Fri 23 Oct, by Jacquet de la ingham, 9 Oct). LA TRAVIATA The Russ- ing Oliver Janes (clar- Principal Conductor Kenneth Woods is the Bramall Music Building, Guerre, Senaillé & ian State Ballet & inet), Charlotte Skinner Birmingham Rameau, Fri 30 Oct, man with the baton. Opera House present (violin) & James Keefe YU-MIEN SUN & WAI LAM Barber Concert Hall, For details of all concerts, visit eso.co.uk Verdi's haunting (piano). Programme (VIOLINS) Programme The Barber Institute, tragedy, Fri 9 Oct, comprises Stravinsky’s includes works by Birmingham Stafford Gatehouse The Soldier’s Tale: Arnold & Walton, Fri 23 FRIGHT NIGHT CLASSICS Theatre Suite for violin, clarinet Oct, Adrian Boult Hall, WITH CBSO Sat 31 Oct, ENGLISH SYMPHONY & piano, Thurs 15 Oct, Birmingham Conserva- Symphony Hall, B’ham ORCHESTRA: ELGAR PIL- CBSO Centre, B’ham toire HALLOWEEN SPECIAL GRIMAGE Featuring CBSO: FRIDAY NIGHT APOLLO SAXOPHONE WITH NIGEL OGDEN Rare Tamsin Waley-Cohen, CLASSICS - STAR WARS QUARTET Fri 23 Oct, opportunity to see a big Alexandra Sitkovetsky, Featuring Mark Seal Barber Concert Hall, screen showing of The Louise Lansdown & (conductor) & Mar Silk Birmingham Phantom of the Opera, Matthew Sharp, Fri 9 (presenter), Fri 16 Oct, THE CASSIA STRING accompanied by a Oct, Bramall Music Symphony Hall, B’ham QUARTET Programme unique soundtrack, Sat Building, Birmingham DAUTRICOURT TRIO Pro- includes works by 31 Oct, Birmingham ENSEMBLEF2: DISCOVER- gramme includes works Schubert & Dvorak, Fri Town Hall ING DANZI Featuring by Schumann, Jean- 23 Oct, Birmingham Jane Booth (clarinet) & Frederick Neuberger & Museum & Art Gallery Tamsin Whaley Cohen performs Elgar Concert Hall Steven Devine (fortepi- Ravel, Fri 16 Oct, Bar- CBSO: BRAHMS’ GERMAN www.whatsonlive.co.uk 23 Comedy Oct - Region 2.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 16:53 Page 1 Comedy

Ed Byrne Comedy Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Tues 13 October; Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Sun 18 October Box Office If you fancy a good heckle, don't bother going BIRMINGAM TOWN HALL to an Ed Byrne show. Ed's style of delivery is so 0121 345 0600 fast that any attempted witticisms from the audi- THE BREWHOUSE, ence get drowned out in his veritable barrage of BURTON-UPON-TRENT top-quality laugh- 01283 508100 ter-inducing CIVIC HALL, WOLVERHAMPTON material. A highly 0870 320 7000 regarded master THE DRUM, BIRMINGHAM of observational 0121 333 2444 comedy, the DUDLEY TOWN HALL Mock The Week 01384 815577 THE EDGE ARTS CENTRE, star here contin- MUCH WENLOCK, SOUTH ues on his jour- SHROPSHIRE ney towards 01952 728911 ‘grumpy old man’ FOXLOWE ARTS CENTRE, LEEK, STAFFS status, talking 01538 386112 about subjects as THE GLEE CLUB, wide-ranging as BIRMINGHAM & STOKE cake and cats. 0871 4720400 HENRY TUDOR HOUSE, SHREWSBURY 01743 361666 Kevin Bridges JONGLEURS COMEDY CLUB, BIRMINGHAM Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, Wed 21 Oct 0870 011 1960 Scottish-born stand-up Kevin Bridges makes LICHFIELD GARRICK comedy look like 01543 412 121 the easiest gig in LUDLOW ASSEMBLY ROOMS, SHROPSHIRE the world, engag- Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse 01584 878141 ing his audience Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, Sat 31 October - Sun 01 November; MAC, BIRMINGHAM with a laid-back Barclaycard Arens, Birmingham, Sat 07 November; Victoria Hall, 0121 446 3232 style of delivery Stoke-on-Trent, Sun 22 November NEW ALEXANDRA THE- ATRE, BIRMINGHAM and bags and Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse have a long and impressive com- 0844 871 3011 bags of high-qual- edy history together, having first teamed up in the late 1980s. OAKENGATES THEATRE, ity wit. Many of the characters they’ve created in partnership across numer- TELFORD, SHROPSHIRE He’s visiting the ous TV series have become the stuff of legend, including the Old 01952 382382 Midlands this Gits, the Self-Righteous Brothers and the Radio One DJ-parodying THE OLD JOINT STOCK, BIRMINGHAM month with his Smashie and Nicey. 0121 200 1892 brand new show, All of the above are present and correct in this live touring show, THE OLD REP THEATRE, A Whole Different which also features plenty of other memorable characters, including BIRMINGHAM Story. Loadsamoney, Kevin the Teenager, Julio Geordio and The Surgeons. 0121 359 9444 THE OLD POST OFFICE, STOKE-ON-TRENT 07715 631139 Rob Newman PLAYERS BAR, Sarah Millican BIRMINGHAM The Brewhouse Arts Centre, Fri 30 October Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, 0121 643 6871 Rob Newman came to prominence in the late Wed 21 October; The Place, Oakengates PRINCE OF WALES 1980s in The Mary Whitehouse Experience and Theatre, Telford, Fri 30 October; Theatre CENTRE, CANNOCK 01942 828508 via his comedy double-act with David Baddiel, a Hafren, Powys, Sat 31 October; Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, REGENT THEATRE, partnership that was allegedly fraught with ten- Fri 27 - Sun 29 November STOKE-ON-TRENT sion. Since going solo, Newman’s work has 0844 871 7649 been characterised by a strong political ele- One of the brightest comedians around, THE REP, BIRMINGHAM ment which has Geordie lass Sarah Millican enjoyed a 0121 236 4455 sell-out success with her very first tour. THE SLADE ROOMS, seen him likened to WOLVERHAMPTON Mark Thomas. It almost goes without saying that she’s 0870 320 7000 With a downbeat not looked back since... STAFFORD GATEHOUSE style of delivery, She returns here with brand new THEATRE 0121 362 4961 he’s not to show Outside, the rather bizarre syn- opsis for which states: “In the past STOURBRIDGE TOWN HALL everybody’s taste 01384 812812 when you put Sarah Millican outside, as a stand-up SYMPHONY HALL, comedian, but he’s she said things like: ‘There'll be BIRMINGHAM always an interest- wasps. I've nothing to sit on. Is that 0121 345 0600 poo? Can we go home?’ But things THEATRE SEVERN, ing and SHREWSBURY thought-pro- have changed, now she has outside 01743 281281 voking experi- slippers. She can tell a chaffinch THEATR HAFREN, POWYS ence. from a tit (hey). But she still can't tell if 01686 614555 it’s an owl or her husband’s asth- WULFRUN HALL, ma”... WOLVERHAMPTON 0870 320 7000

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SEAN HUGHES Fri 9 Oct, LISTINGS Stafford Gatehouse Comedy Theatre SIMON MUNNERY Fri 9 Oct, mac, Birmingham For full listing information on comedy JOHN FOTHERGILL, DAVID gigs including times and dates visit HADINGHAM, JAY www.whatsonlive.co.uk HANDLEY & LARRY DEAN Fri 9 - Sat 10 Oct, The STEVE ROYLE, MARC Birmingham Glee Club, Birmingham LUCERO, STEVIE GRAY, JASON BYRNE Sat 3 Oct, GEOFF BOYZ, DANE THOMAS RACKHAM & LOU Birmingham Town Hall BAPTISTE, BRENDAN CONRAN Thurs 1 Oct, FELICITY ETHNIC, ATHENA RILEY & THE RAYMOND Foxlowe Arts Centre, KUGBLENU, KEVIN J & AND MR TIMPKINS REVUE Leek, Staffordshire AXEL BLAKE Sat 3 Oct, Fri 9 - Sat 10 Oct, JONNY AWSUM, ELLIE The Drum, Birmingham Jongleurs Comedy TAYLOR, ALAN AARDVARK ALFIE MOORE Sun 4 Oct Club, Birmingham & RO CAMPBELL Thurs 1 The Slade Rooms, SEAN LOCK Fri 9 Oct, Oct, The George Hotel, Wolverhampton The Edge Arts Centre, Lichfield RICE N PEAS N CAVIAR Much Wenlock, South NISH KUMAR, MARK Tue 6 - Thurs 8 Oct, Shropshire MAIER, COMEDY Old Joint Stock TREVOR NOAH Sat 10 CAROUSEL WITH ANDY Theatre, Birmingham Oct, Symphony Hall, ROBINSON Thurs 1 Oct, SEAN KELLY Tue 6 Oct, Birmingham The Glee Club, B’ham Theatre Severn, FESTIVAL OF THE SPOKEN KUM-N-AVALOFF COMEDY Shrewsbury NERD Sat 10 Oct, NIGHT Thurs 1 Oct, ROB BECKETT Wed 7 Theatre Severn, Stourbridge Town Hall Oct, The Glee Club, Shrewsbury CHRIS RAMSEY Fri 2 Oct Birmingham MANFORD’S COMEDY The Brewhouse Arts DOUG STANHOPE Wed 7 CLUB (ACTS TBC) Sat 10 Centre, Burton-upon- Oct, O2 Academy, Oct, Players Bar, B’ham Trent, Staffordshire Birmingham CHRIS RAMSEY Sun 11 MILTON JONES Fri 2 Oct, ROY CHUBBY BROWN Oct, The Old Rep Dudley Town Hall Thurs 8 Oct, Prince Of Theatre, Birmingham ANDY PARSONS Fri 2 Oct Wales Centre, Cannock ED BYRNE Tue 13 Oct, Ludlow Assembly DANIEL SLOSS Thurs 8 Theatre Severn, Rooms, South Oct, The Glee Club, Shrewsbury Shropshire Birmingham HENNING WEHN Wed 14 BIRMINGHAM COMEDY IVAN BRACKENBURY, IAN Oct, Theatre Severn, FESTIVAL BREAKING D MONTFORT & CHRIS Shrewsbury TALENT AWARD 2015 Fri TURNER Thurs 8 Oct, JOE LYCETT Wed 14 Oct, Mike Wilmot, Henry Tudor House, Shrewsbury, Thurs 21 October Bramall Music Building, The Glee Club, B’ham 2 Oct, The Glee Club, MORGAN Fri 16 Oct, DAMIAN CLARK, GEOFF SARAH MILLICAN Fri 30 Birmingham SHAZIA MIRZA & Birmingham Jongleurs Comedy NORCOTT, TANYALEE Oct, The Place, FREDDIE QUINNE, MONTY MARK THOMAS Thurs 8 MAUREEN YOUNGER Wed Club, Birmingham DAVIS & MATT GREEN Fri Oakengates Theatre, BURNS, ROB Oct, The Brewhouse 14 Oct, Kitchen Garden MICHAEL LEGGE, FOIL 23 - Sat 24 Oct, The Telford, Shropshire MULHOLLAND & JACK Arts Centre, Burton- Cafe, Birmingham ARMS AND HOG, MATT Glee Club, Birmingham ROBERT NEWMAN Fri 30 SHANIK upon-Trent, Staffs MICHAEL LEGGE, FOIL, Fri 2 Oct, REED & OLA Fri 16 - Sat STUART MITCHELL, KEVIN Oct, The Brewhouse JETHRO Thurs 8 Oct ARMS & HOG & COMEDY Katie Fitzgerald's, 17 Oct The Glee Club, GILDEA, RUDI LICKWOOD Arts Centre, Burton- The Place, Oakengates CAROUSEL WITH ANDY Stourbridge Birmingham & ALISTAIR WILLIAMS upon-Trent, Staffs NISH KUMAR, MARK Theatre, Telford, ROBINSON Thurs 15 Oct ALISTAIR BARRIE, STEVE Sat 24 Oct, Jongleurs JOJO SUTHERLAND, TOM MAIER, ALISTAIR BARRIE Shropshire The Glee Club, SHANYASKI, INEL Comedy Club, B’ham PRICE, MARK NELSON & & BRENDAN DEMPESY JOHN FOTHERGILL, DAVID Birmingham Fri TOMLINSON & COMIC TBC PADDY MCGUINNESS Sat ANDY ADDY VAN DER HADINGHAM & COMEDY MATT FORDE Thurs 15 2 - Sat 3 Oct, The Glee Sat 17 Oct, Jongleurs 24 Oct, Regent Theatre, BORGH Fri 30 Oct, CAROUSEL WITH ANDY Oct, The Glee Club, Club, Birmingham Comedy Club, B’ham Stoke-on-Trent Jongleurs Comedy RED BASTARD ROBINSON Thurs 8 Oct, Birmingham Fri 2 - Sat ED BYRNE Sun 18 Oct, MICKEY SHARMA Sat 24 Club, Birmingham The Glee Club, B’ham SEAN KELLY Thurs 15 3 Oct, mac, B’ham Stafford Gatehouse Oct, mac, Birmingham TIM CLARK, JAVIER JOHN MOLONEY, JAVIER JIMMY CARR Fri 9 Oct, Oct, The Brewhouse Theatre COMEDY IN THE MET Sat JARQUIN, TACO, TONY JARQUIN, ROGER Civic Hall, W’hampton Arts Centre, Burton- DANNY 'SLIM' GRAY, 24 Oct, Stafford HARRIES & CHRIS MONKHOUSE & ANDREW ANDREW MAXWELL Fri 9 upon-Trent, Staffs WAYNE ROLLINS, AXEL Gatehouse Theatre NORTON WALKER Fri 30 O'NEILL Oct, The Glee Club, ALAN CARR Fri 16 Oct, Fri 2 - Sat 3 Oct, BLAKE, JUDY LOVE & PATRICK KIELTY Sun 25 Oct, National Brewery Birmingham Civic Hall, W’hampton Jongleurs Comedy SMASH Sun 18 Oct, The Oct, The Glee Club, Centre, Burton-Upon- NINA CONTI Fri 9 Oct, ALISTAIR BARRIE, STEVE Club, Birmingham Glee Club, Birmingham Birmingham Trent, Staffs LEE NELSON Wulfrun Hall, SHANYASKI, INEL Sat 3 Oct, CHRIS RAMSEY Mon 19 MILTON JONES Sun 25 BEN NORRIS, FREDRIK Wolverhampton TOMLINSON & DAVID The Old Rep Theatre, Oct, Stafford Oct, Theatre Severn, ANDERSSON, ANDRE Gatehouse Theatre Shrewsbury, Shrops VINCENT & STEVE HARRIS KEVIN BRIDGES Wed 21 RUBY WAX Sun 25 Oct, Fri 30 - Sat 31 Oct, The Oct, Regent Theatre, The REP, Birmingham Glee Club, Birmingham Stoke-on-Trent THE LAUGHING SOLE Sun SARAH MILLICAN Sat 31 SARAH MILLICAN Wed 21 25 Oct, mac, B’ham Oct, Theatr Hafren, Oct, Theatre Severn, STEWART FRANCIS Wed Powys Shrewsbury 28 Oct, Theatr Hafren, JOJO SUTHERLAND, TOM MIKE WILMOT & SPECIAL Powys PRICE & MARK NELSON GUEST, TOM LUCY & ONE MAN BREAKING BAD Sat 31 Oct, Jongleurs STUART GOLDSMITH Wed Wed 28 Oct, Wulfrun Comedy Club, B’ham 21 Oct, Henry Tudor Hall, Wolverhampton HARRY ENFIELD AND House, Shrewsbury, DAVE SPIKEY Wed 28 PAUL WHITEHOUSE Sat Shropshire Oct, The Glee Club, 31 Oct, Civic Hall, TERRY CHRISTIAN Thurs Birmingham Wolverhampton 22 Oct, Theatre Severn, SARA PASCOE, MATT ANDY PARSONS Sat 31 Shrewsbury REES & LARRY DEAN Oct, The Place, ANDY ZALTZMAN Thurs Wed 28 Oct, Lichfield Oakengates Theatre, 22 Oct, The Glee Club, Garrick Telford, Shropshire Birmingham PADDY MCGUINNESS MILTON JONES Sat 31 DAMIAN CLARK, GEOFF Thurs 29 - Fri 30 Oct, Oct, New Alexandra NORCOTT & COMIC TBC New Alexandra Theatre, Theatre, Birmingham Thurs 22 Oct, The Glee Birmingham MICK FERRY, SUZI Club, Birmingham JAMES ACASTER Thurs RUFFELL, PAUL TIM VINE Fri 23 Oct’ 29 Oct, The Glee Club, MCCAFFERY & JOJO Civic Hall, W’hampton Birmingham SMITH Sat 31 Oct THE NOISE NEXT DOOR Fri BEN NORRIS, FREDRIK The Glee Club, Hanley, 23 Oct, The Slade ANDERSSON & COMEDY Stoke-on-Trent Rooms, W’hampton CAROSEL WITH ANDY IVAN BRACKENBURY, IAN STUART MITCHELL, KEVIN ROBINSON Thurs 29 Oct D MONTFORT & DANNY GILDEA, RUDI LICKWOOD The Glee Club, B’ham DEEGAN Sat 31 Oct, & JEFF INNOCENT Fri 23 JIM DAVIDSON Thurs 29 The Old Post Office, Oct, Jongleurs Comedy Oct, Theatre Severn, Burton-upon-Trent, Club, Birmingham Shrewsbury Staffs Paddy McGuiness, Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent For more comedy listings, visit, www.whatsonlive.co.uk 25 B.Hipp.October Vrs4:Layout 1 21/09/2015 17:34 Page 1

Autumn 2015 A new look for a new season

Thu 8 - Sat 10 Oct Variations Triple Bill

Mon 28 Sep Tue 13 - Mon 2 - - Tue 6 Oct Sat 31 Oct Sat 7 Nov From £19 From £20 From £18

Tue 10 & I puritani Wed 11 Nov Bellini From £15 Orlando Handel NEW PRODUCTION

Thu 19 - Sat 21 Nov Sweeney Todd Tue 17 & Fri 27 Nov - Thu 12 - Sondheim Sat 14 Nov Wed 18 Nov Sun 13 Dec £23 NEW PRODUCTION From £16.50 From £19

Sat 19 Dec - Tue 9 - Wed 9 Mar - Sun 31 Jan Sat 13 Feb Sat 23 Apr From £14 From £18.50 From £25

0844 338 5000 birminghamhippodrome.com Calls cost 4.5p/min plus access charge. 5% transaction charge applies excluding cash sales in person. Theatre October Region 2 New.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 22:34 Page 2 Theatre

The Full Monty Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, Mon 26 - Sat 31 October This month sees the return of Simon Beaufoy’s acclaimed Schofield, The Full Monty tells the story of six unem- staging of one of the most successful British screen ployed steel workers who decide to get their kits off to comedies of all time. Starring Gary Lucy (EastEnders/The earn some much-needed cash. Expect plenty of exposed Bill), Andrew Dunn (Dinnerladies), Louis Emerick (Brook- flesh as the lads strut their stuff to the songs of Donna side), Rupert Hill (Family Affairs), Martin Hill and Bobby Summer, Rod Stewart, Hot Chocolate and Tom Jones.

Anita And Me The REP, Birmingham, Fri 9 - Sat 24 October Meera Syal’s poignant coming-of-age novel has been adapted by award-winning playwright Tanika Gupta and is here being staged for the very first time. Set in a Black Country mining village in the early 1970s, Anita And Me follows the story of a young girl named Meena as she grows up in the village’s only Punjabi family. Meena spends her days happily enough, getting into scrapes with other local children - but when the impossibly cool Anita enters her life, the young girl finds her world sud- denly turned upside-down...

Anita And Me rehearsal shot

Blood Brothers Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton, Mon 26 - Sat 31 October Maureen Nolan and Marti Pellow this month return to the Midlands in Willy Russell’s ever-popular musical. Filled with Russell’s usual astute observations about the British class system, Blood Brothers is probably best described as a play with music. The story of twins separated at birth, who spend their lives in contrasting social circumstances but are inextricably drawn together, it has none of the trite and patronising sentimentality that typifies a lot of Russell’s work, but is in fact incredibly moving - and funny. If you haven't seen it before, check it out. If you have, you'll no doubt be going to see it again anyway!

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Friday 9th October at 1pm and 7.30pm Wednesday 14th October at 7.30pm Thursday 15 October, 7.30pm Friday 16 October, 1pm & 7.30pm

London Classic Theatre WAITING FOR GODOT

Arena Theatre + Sampad Arts ALL OUR HEROES

White Rabbit, The Albany & Birmingham Repertory Theatre HOW TO BE A HERO Tickets: £10, £8 concs. Mat. £5 Tickets: £10, £8 concs. Tickets: £10, £5 Mat. £8 concs.

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Theatre PREVIEWS Ceri Dupree: Eyecons Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton, Tues 13 October; Theatre Severn, Shrews- bury, Fri 23 October Female impersonator Ceri Dupree was once described as a cross between Joe Longth- orne and Lily Savage - only with better legs! The hugely popular Ceri is well known to Midlands theatre-goers following recent pan- tomime stints in both Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and here returns to the Grand with a brand new show. Expect ‘a sensational evening of visual comedy, impressions, music and thousands of pounds worth of astounding, jaw- dropping costumes’. Annie Birmingham Hippodrome, Tues 13 - Sat 31 October The Picture Of Doreen Gray Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood stars as the far-from-pleasant Miss Hanni- Brewhouse Arts Centre, Burton-upon-Trent, gan in this latest version of the oft-touring Broadway hit. Fri 9 October; Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Sat 10 October A heart-warming rags-to-riches tale about a little girl who finds herself transported from a New York orphanage to the luxurious world of millionaire Oliver Warbucks, the show features plen- The well-established Lip Service - aka Mag- ty of memorable songs, including It's A Hard Knock Life and the legendary Tomorrow. Lesley gie Fox and Sue Ryding - here present a Joseph (Birds Of A Feather) will play Miss Hannigan in all Saturday performances (17, 24 & comic offering which takes its inspiration 31 October) from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray. Maggie and Sue recently celebrated three decades of working together, presenting Dracula’s Ghost Vanity Bites Back shows like Withering Looks - ‘an authentic Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Wed 28 October The REP, Birmingham, Thurs 22 October insight into the lives and works of those three Don’t Go Into The Cellar Theatre Company’s Helen Duff’s solo debut has been described Bronte sisters’ - and Inspector Norse - ‘a self- inventive production has been described as as ‘a bold, subversive and very funny clown assembly Swedish crime thriller’... You get ‘a bizarre synthesis of history and fiction’. It cookery show about searching for self-worth the picture. This time they’re telling the story finds Bram Stoker's widow welcoming a in a cheesecake’. of drive-time radio show host Doreen, who lawyer named Mr Leech into her home. As Duff plays an aspiring TV cookery host, finds her high-profile career set to go up in their engagement proceeds, it soon using the character as a means of exploring smoke as she fast approaches her half cen- becomes apparent that there’s more to Mrs the complexities of anorexia nervosa. The tury. While attending a school reunion, she Stoker’s creepy companion than meets the eating disorder is one from which the play- stumbles across a youthful self portrait - and eye. And so begins a tale of the most feared wright and actress herself has suffered. finds herself making a dark and dreadful vampire of all time... “The clowning and comedy has allowed me deal... to celebrate skills in which I was never Poles Apart able to place any New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, confidence when I Tues 27 - Sat 31 October was ill,” explains A new observational comedy by John God- Helen. “Even though ber is always a welcome addition to the the- it’s ten years ago that atre circuit. This one is here receiving its I suffered with the ill- world premiere. ness, it’s only in the At one stage in his career, the Wakefield- past two years that born dramatist’s work was being staged so I’ve been able to frequently across the UK that he was beaten openly discuss it.” only by Shakespeare and Alan Ayckbourn in the playwright-popularity stakes. This latest offering from Godber’s ever-prolif- The Canterbury Tales Going Green ic pen/keyboard sees a quiet, leaky-roofed Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton, theatre descended upon by Phil, Fat Glen Fri 23 October Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Wed 21 - Thurs and Polish Jan - three scaffolders from hell 22 October; Lichfield Garrick, Fri 30 October One of English literature's most famous who come complete with views on life, art - Sun 1 November works, Geoffrey Chaucer's legendary epic and sausage sandwiches... This dark comedy focuses on the endeav- was written at the end of the fourteenth cen- ours of charismatic politician John Brown - a tury. It presents a series of cautionary tales man determined to offer the country a supposedly recounted by a group of pilgrims brighter (and greener) future in the wake of as they travel together to the shrine of Saint expenses scandals, fat-cat bankers and year Thomas Beckett at Canterbury Cathedral. after dismal year of soul-destroying austerity. The work is best known to modern audi- Boasting one-liners aplenty, Going Green ences for its spectacularly bawdy charms, was written by highly acclaimed Midlands featuring, as it does, more than its fair share playwright David Tristram. David is nowadays of references to willies, bottoms and bodily probably best known for his five-minute functions. Using a fast-paced mix of physical YouTube mockumentary about the fictional theatre, live music and verbatim, Impulse Black Country character of Doreen. Collective here provide a contemporary take Credit: Amy Charles Media on the Tales.

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LA TRAVIATA GATEHOUSE THEATRE Fri 9 Oct Thurs 1st October THE ILLEGAL EAGLES Time: 7.30pm

7.30pm, £32/£30

Presented by The Russian State Opera to a large live orchestra. This haunting tragedy with its beautiful areas will transport you to the world in which it is set. La Traviata is a love story shrouded in Fri 2nd October sacrifice and misunderstanding. A masterpiece in its own right, it contains some of Verdi's most beautiful and memorable music. BLAKE DAVID STARKEY Time: 7.30pm GATEHOUSE THEATRE Sat 10 Oct The UK’s leading constitutional historian, known for his forth- right views, talks about the Saturday 3rd October 13th century agreement that, imperfect though it was, and radically modified in its first ten MAX BOYCE years, limited for the first time Time: 7.30pm the power of the monarch by 7.30pm, £15 stating the basic rights, privileges, and liberties of leading citizens and clergy.

ANDY FAIRWEATHER LOW AND THE LOWRIDERS GATEHOUSE THEATRE Thurs 8th October Sat 24 Oct JETHRO Andy Fairweather Low came to prominence as the lead singer Time: 7.30pm in Amen Corner. The 60s saw them clock up hit after pop hit. Now see the latest new chap- ter in the story develop. Andy Fairweather Low – Guitar & Vocals, Dave Bronze – Bass 7.30pm, £20 & Vocals, Paul Beavis – Thurs 29th October Drums, Nick Pentelow – Sax & Clarinet. THE BON JOVI EXPERIENCE HOW THE KOALA LEARNT TO HUG Time: 7.30pm GATEHOUSE THEATRE Mon 26 Oct Koalas are the cuddliest critters but just how did they learn to hug? There’s only one way to Sat 31st October find out so come and hear Karen The Koala tell her story ANDY PARSONS in this fun filled family musical, written especially for parents to 2.30pm, £8.50 / £7.50 concs Time: 8.00pm enjoy with their children. / £28 family

THE NUTCRACKER GATEHOUSE THEATRE Sun 1st November Thu 29 Oct MILKSHAKE! LIVE Featuring an impressive cast and accompanied by a large live Orchestra with over 30 musicians. Time: 1pm & 3.30pm The Russian State Ballet and Opera House will burst onto the stage again with a new and excit- ing performance of The Nutcrack- er, and will bring with them all the colour, enthusiam and vibrancy 7.30pm, £31/£29 Thurs 5th November that one would expect. ONLY FOOLS AND BOYCIE THE SNOW DRAGON Time: 7.30pm THE MET STUDIO Fri 30 & Sat 31 Oct Story-telling, comedy and songs create a magical, mysterious world for everyone aged 3 and Mon 16th November up, from the company that brought you The Gruffalo and DOUG ALLAN Room on the Broom. 'If you are a kid, if you have kids, if you ever Time: 7.30pm were a kid, go and see The Snow Dragon.' - Three Weeks ***** 11am & 2pm, £8.50

BOOKONLINE Box Office 01785 619080 TWC GP 01038 www.staffordgatehousetheatre.co.uk

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Theatre PREVIEWS As You Like It Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Wed 28 - Sat 31 October Shakespeare’s highly likable comedy revolves around the character of Rosalind, banished by her usurping uncle to the Forest Of Arden where her exiled father is already living. Revelling in the naturalness of their surroundings, Rosalind and her companions - cousin Celia and Touchstone the fool - find a happiness they hadn’t known existed. Presented by Shropshire Drama Company.

The Glenn Miller Story Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, moN 28 September - Sat 3 October; The Hound Of The Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Mon 19 - Sat 24 October Baskervilles Ever-popular song-and-dance man Tommy Steele takes top billing in this brand new produc- Lichfield Garrick, Fri 16 - Sat 17 October tion. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is Glenn Miller himself disappeared long ago but his music has an incredible longevity. This one of cinema’s most enduring characters, high-energy show explores the life and career of the legendary band leader from Iowa - from and The Hound Of The Baskervilles one of his determined efforts to create a unique band sound through to his disappearance in myste- his most popular adventures. Yet no matter rious circumstances over the English Channel in December 1944. how many actors don the deerstalker and The show features Miller classics such as In The Mood, Chattanooga Choo Choo, Moonlight solve the mystery of the monstrous moorland Serenade and Tuxedo Junction, all performed by a sixteen-piece orchestra. beast, for many it will always be Basil Rath- bone’s portrayal of Holmes in the 1938 Holly- wood version of the story that’s most deserv- the prosperous Birling family, his startling ing of ‘classic’ status. Bouncers revelations not only shatter the foundations This brand new production from Stafford- Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, of their lives but also challenge them to shire’s Fired Up Theatre pays due homage Thurs 1 - Sat 3 October examine their consciences... to the Rathbone movie. It comes complete One of the biggest successes in British the- This particular production is brought to the with shadow theatre, projection, grotesque atre in the last thirty-odd years, John God- stage by Stephen Daldry, the Oscar nominat- and quirky characters, a smattering of come- ber’s Bouncers provides a sharp and funny ed Director of The Reader, The Hours and dy and original music. Oh, and the custom- perspective on the club scene in the late Billy Elliot. ary ‘rolling mist and fog’... twentieth century. It focuses on four mean and moody bouncers as they prowl around a nightclub, and four good-time girls out on a The Silver Sword hen night. Godber has a knack for hitting all the right notes with his observations on con- The Old Rep, Birmingham, Thurs 22 - Sat 24 October temporary life, a talent never more in evi- dence than with this bright and clever come- Puppetry, projections and a cast of talented dy. actor/musicians are here brought together in a brand new stage version of one of the most famous children’s books of the twenti- eth century. Set during the immediate aftermath of World War Two, the story follows the Balicki chil- dren as they suffer an existence of hardship and deprivation fending for themselves on the streets of Warsaw. Nosferatu But when they meet a fourteen-year-old boy mac, Birmingham, Wed 28 October named Jan, they suddenly see a glimmer of hope on the horizon... The renowned 1922 German Expressionist movie of the same name - and, of course, the classic Bram Stoker novel, Dracula - pro- vide the inspiration for this new theatrical offering from Proper Job Theatre. Featuring original music and libretto, live An Inspector Calls musicians and the sleight-of-hand magic of a Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, talented illusionist, the show explores the Tues 13 - Sat 17 October psychological relationship that evolves Anybody who’s been fortunate enough to between a group of sailors as they journey catch a production of JB Priestley’s classic from Varna to Whitby with an unknown and work will have no trouble understanding why mysterious cargo... it's been such a worldwide hit. When Inspector Goole calls unexpectedly on

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OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS

Thurs 1 Oct, 7.30pm JOE McELDERRY AUTUMN HIGHLIGHTS The X Factor winner returns with the Evolution Tour. 7 October, 12.30pm Literature at Lunchtime with Tickets: £20.50 Dr Jane Mackay – Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Fri 2 Oct, 7.30pm AN EVENING WITH 8 October, 8.00pm ADAM HENSON Mark Thomas - The best known farmer in the UK Tresspass and presenter on TV’s Countryfile. Tickets: £15, £13 conc Tickets: £20.50 9 October, 7.30pm Thurs 8 -Sat 10 Oct, Doreen Gray: 7.30pm, Sat Mat 2.30pm Lip Service VIENNA FESTIVAL BALLET PRESENTS: COPPELIA Tickets: £12, £10 conc Brilliant dance and a wonderful ballet for all the family. 11 October, 8.00pm Tickets: £21, £15 (Students) £11 (child) , £60 (family) Andy Fairweather Low

Tickets: £20 Fri 9 & Sat 10 Oct, 7.30pm INTO THE SHADOWS 15 October, 8.00pm Recreating the unique sound of The Shadows. Sean Kelly Live! Tickets: £15.00, Tickets: £15, £13 conc. £10.00 (students)

17 October, 8.30pm Thurs 15 Oct, 7.30pm Glamarama ONLY FOOLS AND BOYCIE An intimate evening with Tickets: £10 Only Fools And Horses actor John Challis. Tickets: £15.00 21 October, 8pm King King Sun 18 Oct, 7.30pm Tickets: £16 adv, £18 otd BAY CITY ROLLERS Join Les McKeown and his 4 piece band for a celebration of those 30 October, 8.00pm hectic days and pandemonium that followed. Robert Newman: The Brain Show Tickets: £21.00 Tickets: £15, £10 conc. Tue 20 & Wed 21 Oct, 7.30pm 31 October, 8pm ROUND THE HORNE The Madhouse Presents: The 50th Anniversary Tour Henry Priestman & Come and take a step back in Loved Up Les time to the BBC's Paris Studios Tickets: £10adv, £12otd and experience this comedy clas- sic live. 19 November, 8.00pm Shappi Khorsandi - Thurs 22 Oct, 7.30pm Because I’m Shappi THE IRISH HOUSE PARTY Tickets: £14, £12 conc.16+ Dublin's number one award win- ning music and dance show. Tickets: £19.50

Fri 23 Oct, 7.30pm AND FINALLY PHIL COLLINS The best of Phil Collins including all of the big hits! Tickets: £19.50

Brewhouse Arts Centre, Union Street, BOX OFFICE: 01543 412 121 Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire DE14 1AA www.lichfieldgarrick.com Box office: 01283 508100. LICHFIELD GARRICK, CASTLE DYKE, www.brewhouse.co.uk LICHFIELD, STAFFS, WS13 6HR

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Theatre for younger audiences

The Snow Dragon Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Fri 30 - Sat 31 October

Tall Stories have previously presented hit shows The Gruffalo and Room On The Broom. The company here returns with the enchanting story of a young goat named Billy and his encounter with the legendary Snow Dragon.

Disney On Ice: World’s Of Enchantment Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, Wed 21 October - Sun1 November The Basil Brush Show Prince Of Wales Centre, Cannock, Sat 3 Get your skates on for the return of Disney’s ever-popular ice spectacular, complete with high- October; Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Thurs energy music, glittering sets, dramatic choreography and four of the Mouse House’s best- 29 October loved stories: Cars, The Little Mermaid, Toy Story and Frozen.

Every child’s favourite fox is nowadays accompanied by Mr Stephen (aka Chris Dinosaur Detective Shrek The Musical Pizzey). Basil’s roadshow brings together Ludlow Assembly Rooms, South Shropshire, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, songs and storytelling with plenty of humour. Friday 30 October until Sun 11 October

Rod puppets, shadow play and children’s The popularity of this family-friendly West toys all feature in a show designed to take Ender is hardly a surprise. After all, Dream- families on a fascinating journey from the dis- works’ animated Shrek movies - inspired by covery of the first dinosaur bones through to cartoonist William Steig's 1990 book - were the Great Exhibition, which featured the absolutely huge. world’s first ever dinosaur sculptures. After a tentative Broadway start, the produc- tion was revised for its subsequent US tour Ministry Of Science Live and West End residency - and is all the bet- Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Wed 7 October; ter for it. Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Thurs 15 Pretty much retelling the story of the first October; movie, it peddles a line in humour that calls to mind both the surrealist Pythons and an From the creative team behind Brainiac Live evening of festive-season pantomime fare. The Owl Who Was Afraid comes an anarchic show that takes a look at There are plenty of new songs to enjoy too, Of The Dark the inventors and engineers who’ve shaped presented alongside the cult Shrek anthem SpArC Theatre, Bishops Castle, Shropshire, and inspired the modern world. Expect plenty I’m A Believer. All in all, then, a feelgood Wed 21 October of demonstrations - and a few loud bangs show that pretty much touches all the bases along the way... for its young target audience while at the Jill Tomlinson’s bestselling children’s classic same time offering plenty to keep the adults is here brought to the stage by the talented amused. Blunderbus. The ensemble utilise music, puppetry and storytelling to present the delightful tale of a baby barn owl who’s not as comfortable with the darkness of night as maybe he should be...

Sid’s Show Stourbridge Town Hall, Tues 27 October

CBeebies' Sid Sloane is the star of this sure- to-be-popular family show, setting out on a Little Frankenstein heroic quest to find out where in the world his Newhampton Arts Centre, Mon 26 October favourite socks and shoes have Frank Stein wants to be the best puppeteer got to. Expect to around - but his puppets are badly made. find yourself visit- Taking inspiration from Frankenstein (and ing the bottom of with the help of the audience), Frank sets the sea, the about creating a new puppet that will change depths of the jun- his life forever... gle and the vast- ness of outer space...

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Theatre LISTINGS The Hundred Years’ War - The REP, Birmingham For full listing information on theatre productions, including times and dates, visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk

Commencing THUR 1 OCT

SEEING THE LIGHTS An uplifting drama about a fami- ly's attempt to arrange a rare get-together for their mum's birthday, until Sat 3 Oct, New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme THE SILVER SWORD A stage production of Ian Serail- lier’s highly acclaimed and much-loved children’s novel, until - Sat 3 Oct, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry THE GLENN MILLER STORY An extraordinary take on the world's most famous big band leader, until Sat 3 Oct, Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION until Sat 3 Oct, New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham BEFORE THE PARTY An adaptation of a short story by Somerset Maugham, until Sat 3 Oct, Malvern The- atres APRIL IN PARIS Anne Bowen stars in John Godber’s comic masterpiece, until Sat 3 Oct, The Bear Pit WOMEN AT THE EDGE songs, dance and laugh-out-loud comedy, Tues 6 - Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon Two funny women, two mono- Sat 10 Oct, The Swan Theatre, Worcester THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST Oscar Wilde's logues, several songs... Fri 2 Oct, Old Joint Stock CONFUSIONS Human frailty is laid bare in Alan Ayck- much-loved and brilliantly witty masterpiece, direct Theatre, Birmingham RED BASTARD bourn’s ‘sharp, sad and funny’ play, Tues 6 - Sat 24 from the West End. Starring Nigel Havers, Sian After five-star reviews and sold-out Oct, New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme Phillips and Christine Kavanagh, until Sat 3 Oct, shows across North America, Europe and Australia, MINISTRY OF SCIENCE LIVE! From the creators of Belgrade Theatre, Coventry America's premier bouffon delivers on his promise DEAD DOG IN A SUITCASE (AND OTHER LOVE SONGS) in this critically acclaimed show, Fri 2 - Sat 3 Oct, Brainiac Live comes a brand new show which takes an anarchic approach to science communication Kneehigh with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse mac, Birmingham BLACK ROSES whilst looking at the inventors & engineers who present Carl Grose's A New Beggar's Opera, until Steven Downs' moving play focusing have shaped and inspired the modern world, Wed Sat 3 Oct, The REP, Birmingham on the role of women during the miners' strike of 7 Oct, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury HOW TO BE A HERO Tessa Walker directs the world 1984, Fri 2 - Sat 10 Oct, Hall Green Little Theatre, NELSON: THE SAILOR’S STORY One-man show written premiere of Bernadette Russell and Gareth Brier- Birmingham HOW THE KOALA LEARNT TO HUG & performed by Nicholas Collett, Wed 7 Oct, Forest ley's play, which draws on real stories of heroism A charming tale Arts Centre, Walsall from Birmingham and beyond, until Sat 3 Oct, about the magic of family and, of course, the THE FOOTSIE CLUB Evening of burlesque, variety & The REP, Birmingham importance of a nice warm hug! Sat 3 Oct, mac, cabaret, with special guest performances from BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET’S SWAN LAKE Filled with Birmingham CLAPPER BOX Velma Von Bon Bon and Kiki Lovechild, Wed 7 Oct, exquisite ensembles, lyrical pas de deux and Fetch Theatre fuse puppetry and Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham bravura solos, until Tues 6 Oct, Birmingham Hippo- object manipulation to present a curious, interactive STALAG HAPPY The true story of artists Sir Terry drome puppet-booth experience, Sat 3 Oct, Wigmore Vil- Frost and Adrian Heath whilst interned at World BRIEF ENCOUNTER Noël Coward’s play, adapted for lage Hall, Herefordshire CAPTAIN CRAB’S TREASURE War Two prisoner-of -war camp Stalag 383, Wed 7 - the stage by Emma Rice. Combining the love story Fun, songs & audience Thurs 8 Oct, Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Muse- from the classic 1945 film with comedy, dance and participation for two-to-nine-year-olds, Sat 3 Oct, um song, until Sat 3 Oct, Lichfield Garrick Swan Theatre, Worcester THE BASIL BRUSH SHOW WEAKLINGS The world premiere of Chris Goode and BLUE STOCKINGS Powerful new play exploring the Britain's most loveable fox is company's new show. A show loosely based role of women, until Sat 3 Oct, Dream Factory, War- back on the road along with his TV chum Mr around the notorious blog of the writer Dennis wick Stephen (aka Chris Pizzey). Together they promise Cooper, Wed 7 - Thurs 8 Oct, Warwick Arts Centre, SUNSHINE ON LEITH Following the highs and lows of to take audiences on a journey of laughs, story- Coventry Ally and his friend Davy as they return home to telling & song in a brand new stage show, Sat 3 OLIVER! Alcester Musical Theatre Company present Leith from the army, until Sat 3 Oct, Crescent The- Oct, Prince Of Wales Centre, Cannock TREE FU TOM LIVE the stage musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' atre, Birmingham New show starring the world's Oliver Twist, Wed 7 - Sat 10 Oct, Palace Theatre, SHREK THE MUSICAL The popularity of this family- smallest superhero, direct from the smash-hit Redditch friendly West Ender is hardly a surprise. After all, CBeebies series, Sat 3 Oct, Palace Theatre, Red- HALF A SIXPENCE CLOC Musical Theatre Company Dreamworks’ animated Shrek movies - inspired by ditch OH DEAR DIARY present an amateur version of the popular musical cartoonist William Steig's 1990 book - were An evening of embarrassing, angst- comedy based on HG Wells' novel, Kipps, Wed 7 - absolutely huge, until Sun 11 Oct, Wolverhampton ridden and often unintentionally hysterical real-life Sat 10 Oct, The Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham Grand Theatre stories, as brave volunteers read aloud from their THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST Live from Lon- HECUBA Erica Whyman directs Marina Carr's teenage diaries, Sat 3 Oct, Old Joint Stock Theatre, don's Vaudeville Theatre, David Suchet stars as the reimagining of the legend of Hecuba in a visceral Birmingham BUGSY MALONE formidable Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's much- new play. A searing version of war, womanhood Get Your Wigle On present an ama- loved masterpiece, Thurs 8 Oct, Warwick Arts Cen- and courage, until Sat 17 Oct, The Swan Theatre, teur production of Alan Parker's gangster hit, Bugsy tre, Coventry & Malvern Theatres Stratford-upon-Avon Malone, Sat 3 - Sun 4 Oct, Theatre Severn, Shrews- AN EVENING WITH ADAM HENSON Farmer and presen- HENRY V Alex Hassell returns as Henry V in Gregory bury METAMORPHOSIS ter from BBC TV's Countryfile, Adam Henson, talks Doran's continued exploration of Shakespeare's his- The Crescent Theatre Company about farming life, his TV career and British agricul- tory plays, until Sun 25 Oct, Royal Shakespeare present Berkoff’s adaptation of Kafka’s literary mas- ture, Thurs 8 Oct, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon terpiece, Sat 3 - Sat 10 Oct, The Crescent Theatre, ADVERSE CHAMBER: FIRE IN THE NORTH SKY Tradition- AN EVENING WITH RUTH PADEL Poet Ruth Padel reads Birmingham al Finnish tales of epic heroes and the dark river of from her celebrated verse biography of Charles the underworld, Thurs 8 Oct, mac, Birmingham Darwin, Thurs 1 Oct, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury Week Commencing MON 5 OCT THE ENCOUNTER Simon McBurney follows Loren MAD ABOUT THE MUSICALS Celebrating the very best McIntyre's journey into the Amazon rainforest. An songs from the shows. Starring Gareth Gates and exploration of nature, time and our own conscious- Michael Courtney, Thurs 1 Oct, Palace Theatre, THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO Live broadcast of one of ness, Thurs 8 - Sat 10 Oct, Warwick Arts Centre, Redditch Mozart's great masterpieces, directly from the Royal Coventry EDMUND THE LEARNED PIG A ‘darkly pleasant’ tale Opera House, Mon 5 Oct, Malvern Theatres HERO’S WELCOME The latest addition to Alan Ayck- based on a poem by Edward Gorey, Thurs 1 Oct, HAIRSPRAY THE MUSICAL New production of the bourn’s extensive repertoire is a ruefully comic view Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton smash-hit musical comedy. Starring Claire of the human predicament, Thurs 8 - Sat 24 Oct, THAT'LL BE THE DAY A musical romp through the Sweeney as Velma Von Tussle, Mon 5 - Sat 10 Oct, New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme youthful days of Rock’n’Roll in the ’50s, on through Malvern Theatres LA TRAVIATA The Russian State Ballet & Opera the Swinging ’60s and into the taste-free days of RELATIVELY SPEAKING Amateur production of Alan House present Verdi's haunting tragedy, Fri 9 Oct, the 1970s, Thurs 1 - Fri 2 Oct, Stafford Gatehouse Ayckbourn’s comedy of confusion and mistaken Stafford Gatehouse Theatre Theatre identity, Mon 5 - Sat 10 Oct, The Rose Theatre, Kid- EMMA Hotbuckle return to Shrewsbury to present BOUNCERS John Godber’s classic comedy, Thurs 1 - derminster one of Jane Austen's most perfect novels, Fri 9 Oct, Sat 3 Oct, Stafford Gatehouse Theatre HANDBAGGED Moira Buffini's Olivier Award-nominat- Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY Presented by Euro- ed comedy is a wickedly funny new play, examining THE SECOND BEST BED Worcester Repertory Compa- pean Arts Company and adapted by Oscar Wilde's the relationship between Queen Elizabeth II and ny present a one-woman play about Anne Hath- grandson, Merlin Holland, Fri 2 Oct, Artrix, Broms- Margaret Thatcher, Tues 6 - Sat 10 Oct, Belgrade away on the night of husband William Shake- grove Theatre, Coventry speare's funeral, Fri 9 Oct, Malvern Theatres WWI OLD TIME MUSIC HALL Fri 2 Oct, Stourbridge ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE An amateur production from THE PICTURE OF DOREEN GRAY LipService Theatre Town Hall the Worcester Musical Theatre company filled with

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ANNIE Starring Craig Revel Horwood as the tyranni- PLAYING WITH WORDS Stories & songs for all the LISTINGS cal Miss Hannigan. Lesley Joseph (Birds Of A family with Sally Tongue, Sun 18 Oct, Ludlow Theatre Feather) will play Miss Hannigan in all Saturday Assembly Rooms, South Shropshire performances (17, 24 & 31 October), Tues 13 - Sat For full listing information on theatre 31 Oct, Birmingham Hippodrome HOW TO BE A HERO Story inspired by real-life vigi- Week Commencing MON 19 OCT productions, including times and lante groups who often cause more trouble than dates, visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk they prevent, Wed 14 Oct, Arena Theatre, Wolver- DOREEN: THE MOVIE! A must for Doreen fans, indie hampton movie fans, and lovers of Black Country comedy, return with a comedy about the life of Doreen Gray, THE GAME'S AFOOT Mad Cow Productions present Mon 19 Oct, Lichfield Garrick a fifty-year-old radio show host whose career takes an amateur production of Ken Ludwig's comedic POCKET MERCHANT A condensed version of Pro- a turn for the worse, Fri 9 Oct, Brewhouse Arts thriller, Wed 14 - Sat 17 Oct, Theatre Severn, peller’s critically acclaimed 2009 production brings Centre, Burton-upon-Trent Shrewsbury one of Shakespeare’s darkest plays to life using the ALL OUR HEROES Physical theatre, verbatim MOONLIGHT ON THE CUT New play which tells a tale company’s unique revelatory style, Mon 19 Oct, accounts and vibrant storytelling come together to of love against the odds, Wed 14 - Sat 17 Oct, The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry recount what it was like for the men of the Indian Blue Orange Theatre, Birmingham MICHAEL PORTILLO - LIFE: A GAME OF TWO HALVES sub-continent who left their homes to fight for the LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS Marches Theatre Com- Mon 19 Oct, Palace Theatre, Redditch British Raj on continents far away, Fri 9 Oct, Arena pany present a staging of what is described as one RISE UP Theatre Centre presents a new play about Theatre, Wolverhampton of Neil Simon’s funniest plays, Wed 14 - Sat 24 Oct, the Freedom riders – principled young Americans DICKENS ABRIDGED A high-speed comic journey The Wightman, Shrewsbury in the 1960s who peacefully challenged the racism through Dickens' greatest hits, written and directed ONLY FOOLS AND BOYCIE An intimate evening with of the deep South, Mon 19 - Wed 21 Oct, Belgrade by Adam Long, Fri 9 Oct, Malvern Theatres John Challis, Thurs 15 Oct, Lichfield Garrick Theatre, Coventry MISTER MAKER Evolution Productions presents Mis- MINISTRY OF SCIENCE LIVE! From the creators of THE GLENN MILLER STORY An extraordinary take on ter Maker and The Shapes Live, Fri 9 - Sat 10 Oct, Brainiac Live comes a brand new show which takes the world's most famous big band leader, Mon 19 - New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham an anarchic approach to science communication Sat 24 Oct, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre OUR MAIN STORY TONIGHT A brand new play inspired whilst looking at the inventors & engineers who’ve CRACKED A new play by Mike Kenny & Julie Boden by whatever major story is dominating the news shaped and inspired the modern world, Thurs 15 about a first episode of psychosis & cultural differ- that week, Fri 9 - Sat 10 Oct, Belgrade Theatre, Oct, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre ence, Tues 20 Oct, The REP, Birmingham Coventry GRANDMA REMEMBER ME Fusion of drama, puppetry THE OWL WHO WAS AFRAID OF THE DARK ANITA AND ME New adaptation of Meera Syal’s & storytelling reflecting on a special relationship A blend of live music, puppetry and storytelling, much-loved novel, Fri 9 - Sat 24 Oct, The REP, between a grandma and her granddaughter, Thurs based on the classic children's book by Jill Tomlin- B’ham 15 Oct, The Hive, Worcester son. Suitable for children aged three to seven, Tues MEERA SYAL AND TANIKA GUPTA IN CONVERSATION Join NT LIVE: HAMLET Benedict Cumberbatch takes the 20 Oct, Malvern Theatres the duo as they discuss their remarkable careers title role in Shakespeare's greatest tragedy, Thurs CAN I START AGAIN PLEASE Coffin dark humour, a and the process of bringing Anita And Me to the 15 Oct, poetic script delivered in BSL, and choreographed stage, Sat 10 Oct, The REP, Birmingham Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry theatre combine to reveal a tale of silence and THE PICTURE OF DOREEN GRAY LipService Theatre BERYL: A ROMANCE ON TWO WHEELS West Yorkshire childhood sexual abuse, Tues 20 - Wed 21 Oct, return with a comedy about the life of Doreen Gray, Playhouse present a celebration of the life of cyclist Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry a fifty-year-old radio show host whose career takes Beryl Burton, Thurs 15 Oct, The Talbot Theatre, ROUND THE HORNE Step back in time to the BBC’s a turn for the worse, Sat 10 Oct, Theatre Severn, Whitchurch Paris Studios for a spoof-tastic experience celebrat- Shrewsbury WAITING FOR GODOT London Classic Theatre present ing the fiftieth anniversary of the comedy classic, THE KING OF TINY THINGS Metta Theatre bring an Samuel Beckett’s reflection on the random futility of Tues 20 - Wed 21 Oct, Lichfield Garrick enchanting story to life aided by circus, puppetry existence, Thurs 15 - Fri 16 Oct, Arena Theatre, PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT Feelgood interna- and song. Suitable for children aged three-plus, Sat Wolverhampton tional musical direct from the West End and Broad- 10 Oct, Malvern Theatres COPACABANA Amateur production of the Barry way. Jason Donovan stars as Tick, Tues 20 - Sat 24 THE HOLY & HORNY FAREWELL TOUR One-woman Manilow musical, Thurs 15 - Sat 24 Oct, The Rose Oct, New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham show which tells of love, longing & ultimate betray- Theatre, Kidderminster SUNSET BOULEVARD WODS present Andrew Lloyd al, Sat 10 Oct, The Drum, Birmingham TALBOT HOUSE: A HOME FROM HOME Webber's hit musical, Tues 20 - Sat 24 Oct, The DOWN TO EARTH: AN EVENING WITH MONTY DON Hear Peter Gill's drama about the house in Poperinge, Swan Theatre, Worcester Monty's stories about his travels and visits to gar- Belgium, which became a refuge for Allied troops ROMEO & JULIET The Worcester Repertory Company dens all over the world, Sat 10 Oct, Huntingdon during the Great War, Fri 16 Oct, mac, Birmingham presents its version of the world’s greatest love Hall, Worcester UNDER MILKWOOD Guy Masterson brings Dylan story, Tues 20 - Sat 24 Oct, Worcester Cathedral Thomas’ timeless masterpiece vividly to life to mark HYPNOSIS A Lichfield Players production of David the centenary of Wales’ greatest poet, Fri 16 Oct, Week Commencing MON 12 OCT Tristram’s mesmerising thriller, Tues 20 - Sat 24 Ludlow Assembly Rooms, South Shropshire Oct, Lichfield Garrick THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES Presented by Fired AND THIS IS MY FRIEND MR LAUREL One-man play SALLY MORGAN: PSYCHIC SALLY ON THE ROAD Mon 12 Up Theatre, Fri 16 - Sat 17 Oct, Lichfield Garrick performed by Jeffrey Holland, Wed 21 Oct, Solihull Oct, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury EDITH PIAF - THE SONGS Eve Loiseau performs the Arts Complex THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY European Arts present works of France’s most popular singer, Sat 17 Oct, THE FOREST Multi-sensory tale which immerses their adaptation of Oscar Wilde's classic play using Ludlow Assembly Rooms, South Shropshire audiences in a world of new sights, sounds, smells a cast of five versatile actors, Mon 12 Oct, Stafford SING-A-LONG-A FROZEN A full screening of the Disney & sensations, Wed 21 - Thurs 22 Oct, Arena The- Gatehouse Theatre sensation, complete with on-screen lyrics to help atre, Wolverhampton MACBETH: BLOOD WILL HAVE BLOOD One-man adapta- you sing along with Anna and Elsa during the film, EVITA TADLOP present an amateur staging of tion of Shakespeare's story of ambition, greed and Sat 17 Oct, Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical, Wed 21 - the abuse of power, Mon 12 - Tues 13 Oct, mac, I SPY! All-acting, all-dancing, all-singing spectacular, Sat 24 Oct, The Place, Oakengates, Telford Birmingham Sat 17 Oct, Solihull Arts Complex DISNEY ON ICE: WORLDS OF ENCHANTMENT Be swept OUR HOUSE Stratford Musical Theatre Company CAROL ANN DUFFY & JOHN SAMPSON A demonstration away with your favourite Disney stories, including present an amateur production of the Madness of eclectic, iconoclastic, profound and moving The Little Mermaid, Disney/Pixar’s Cars and Toy musical, Tues 13 - Sat 17 Oct, Stratford Artshouse poetry - accompanied by a selection of music, from Story, Wed 21 Oct - Sun 1 Nov, Barclaycard Arena, AVENUE Q Tony Award-winning musical that centres medieval to modern, Sat 17 Oct, Ludlow Assembly Birmingham on a group of loveable yet hopeless characters on Rooms, South Shropshire VANITY BITES BACK Unique solo debut from Helen a downtown New York street, Mon 12 - Sat 17 Oct, BERYL: A ROMANCE ON TWO WHEELS West Yorkshire Duff, described as a ‘bold, subversive and very Malvern Theatres Playhouse present a celebration of the life of cyclist funny’ clown cookery show about searching for CERI DUPREE: EYECONS Female impersonator Ceri Beryl Burton, Sat 17 Oct, SpArC Theatre, Bishops self-worth in a cheesecake, Thurs 22 Oct, The REP, Dupree presents an evening of visual comedy, Castle, Shropshire B’ham impressions, music and thousands of pounds CLAPPER BOX Fetch Theatre fuse puppetry and PELLÉAS ET MELISANDE English Touring Opera pres- worth of jaw-dropping costumes, Tues 13 Oct, object manipulation to present a curious, interactive ent Debussy’s only finished opera, Thurs 22 Oct, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre puppet-booth experience, Sat 17 Oct, Ludlow Malvern Theatre THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF VARIETY New stage show Assembly Rooms, South Shropshire THE HATE PLAY Developed in partnership with Essex featuring the legendary Duggie Brown, Tues 13 CARMEN Ellen Kent Productions present their ver- Police. An interactive performance portraying the Oct, Dudley Town Hall sion of Bizet's passionate opera, Sun 18 Oct, New devastating impact of victimisation and hate crime OF MICE AND MEN John Steinbeck’s powerful and Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham on a group of young friends, Thurs 22 - Sat 24 Oct, gripping masterpiece tells the story of two outsiders HIMALAYAN JOURNEYS Ben Osbourne presents the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry in search of the American Dream, Tues 13 - Thurs stories of two journeys, with images and com- THE SILVER SWORD A stage production of Ian Serail- 15 Oct, Palace Theatre, Redditch pelling commentary, Sun 18 Oct, Theatre Severn, lier’s highly acclaimed and much-loved children’s THE FULL MONTY Amateur production presented by Shrewsbury novel, Thurs 22 - Sat 24 Oct, The Old Rep Theatre, the Lichfield Operatic Society, Tues 13 - Sat 17 Oct, BERYL: A ROMANCE ON TWO WHEELS West Yorkshire Birmingham Lichfield Garrick Playhouse present a celebration of the life of cyclist MINDGAME Staging of Anthony Horowitz’s gripping THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH Liza Goddard & Beryl Burton, Sun 18 Oct, Conquest Theatre, Here- thriller, Thurs 22 - Sat 31 Oct, Sutton Arts Theatre, Brian Capron star in a brand new version of Irving fordshire Sutton Coldfield Berlin’s musical comedy, Tues 13 - Sat 17 Oct, Bel- THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA A light-hearted & zany MONOLOGUESLAM UK AUTUMN 2015 Witness the grade Theatre, Coventry reinterpretation of the classic fairytale, Sun 18 Oct, brightest new acting talent and watch as the actors SWEENEY TODD Stafford & District Operatic Society’s The Dream Factory, Warwick go head to head, competing to be crowned the amateur staging, Tues 13 - Sat 17 Oct, Stafford WEBBER STREET New production based on a host of winner of their respective rounds. Visit triforcepro- Gatehouse Theatre colourful characters and their comings and goings motions.co.uk for more information, Fri 23 Oct, The AN INSPECTOR CALLS JB Priestley’s award-winning on Webber Street. Featuring songs from Cats, REP, Birmingham thriller, Tues 13 - Sat 17 Oct, Regent Theatre, Starlight Express, Oliver! & Joseph, Sun 18 Oct, JUMP! WE’LL CATCH YOU Insightful and moving play Stoke-on-Trent Artrix, Bromsgrove

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CBeebies series, Mon 26 Oct, Theatre Severn, journey through his life, Thurs 29 Oct, Stratford Shrewsbury Artshouse, Stratford-upon-Avon Theatre LISTINGS MARTY MACDONALD’S FARM Children’s theatre featur- DR SEUSS'S THE CAT IN THE HAT Lively and engaging ing the voice of CBeebies star, Justin Fletcher, as theatre experience for young children aged three- For full listing information on theatre Pongo the Pig, Mon 26 - Wed 28 Oct, Belgrade plus, Thurs 29 - Sat 31 Oct, Belgrade Theatre, Theatre, Coventry Coventry productions, including times and BAD JEWS Joshua Harmon’s best-selling play stops SWEENEY TODD Blue Orange Arts in association with dates, visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk off in the Midlands as part of a national tour, Mon Night Project Theatre present the story of the 26 - Sat 31 Oct, Malvern Theatre Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Thurs 29 Oct - Sat 7 exploring the role of theatre in the mental health THE FULL MONTY Sheffield Theatres present a Nov, The Blue Orange Theatre, Birmingham system and asking what it is to be normal, Fri 23 staged version of Simon Beaufoy's award-winning DON QUIXOTE Based on episodes from Miguel de Oct, The REP, Birmingham film, Mon 26 - Sat 31 Oct, Regent Theatre, Stoke- Cervantes' famous novel Don Quixote de la Man- CERI DUPREE: EYECONS Female impersonator Ceri on-Trent cha, Fri 30 Oct, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury Dupree presents an evening of visual comedy, BLOOD BROTHERS Willy Russell's musical, set in his FALLEN VOICES Local performers re-enact the experi- impressions, music and thousands of pounds native Liverpool. Maureen Nolan & Marti Pellow star, ences of those living during the First World War, Fri worth of jaw-dropping costumes, Fri 23 Oct, The- Mon 26 - Sat 31 Oct, Wolverhampton Grand The- 30 Oct, Royal Spa Centre, Leamington Spa atre Severn, Shrewsbury atre DINOSAUR DETECTIVES Using rod puppets, shadow JURASSIC ADVENTURES Lively & fun show for young NOTHING TO HYDE 4Front Theatre present a modern play & children’s toys, Clydebuilt Puppet Theatre dinosaur fans, Fri 23 Oct, Solihull Arts Complex adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale, invite audiences to join them on a journey of dis- DICKENS ABRIDGED A high-speed comic journey exploring the war that rages within us, Mon 26 - Sat covery, Fri 30 Oct, Ludlow Assembly Rooms, South through Dickens' greatest hits, written and directed 31 Oct, Malvern Theatres Shropshire by Adam Long, Fri 23 Oct, Artrix, Bromsgrove SID’S SHOW Join Sid from Cbeebies live on stage in DUCK IN THE TRUCK Children’s theatre based on the FLANDERS AND SWANN: AT THE DROP OF A HIPPOPOTA- a fun-filled adventure that promises to knock your bestselling book by acclaimed children’s author Jez MUS Evening of wit and piano playing from pianist socks off!, Tues 27 Oct, Stourbridge Town Hall Alborough, Fri 30 Oct, Solihull Arts Complex Duncan Walsh Atkins & comedian Tim Fitzhigham, OH, WHISTLE Two supernatural tales by MR James, THE AMAZING BUBBLE MAN The international hit show, Fri 23 Oct, Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury the master of the English ghost story, Tues 27 Oct, with bubble art, magic, science and lots of fun, Fri TALES OF HOFFMAN English Touring Opera present a Lichfield Garrick 30 Oct, Birmingham Town Hall dark comedy from the masters of French operetta, PUSS IN BOOTS Join CBeebies star Patrick Lynch as TREE FU TOM LIVE! New show starring the world’s based on the brilliant, bizarre stories of fantasy he adds a new spin to this much-loved classic, smallest superhero, direct from the smash-hit author ETA Hoffman, Fri 23 Oct, Malvern Theatre Tues 27 Oct, Stafford Gatehouse Theatre CBeebies series, Fri 30 Oct, Bedworth Civic Hall THE CANTERBURY TALES Impulse Collective present a LIGHT SHOW Oily Cart present a fully immersive the- DRACULA: THE KISSES... Scary Little Girls turns the contemporary take on Chaucer’s fourteenth century atre experience for three-to-eleven-year-olds, Tues Dracula myth on its head in this new production classic, Fri 23 Oct, Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton 27 - Wed 28 Oct, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry featuring an all-female cast, Fri 30 Oct, The Old Rep YOUR FRAGRANT PHANTOM Passionate story of love, DEAD DOG IN A SUITCASE (AND OTHER LOVE SONGS) Theatre, Birmingham loss & legacy which explores the life and times of F Kneehigh Theatre presents John Gay's blazing new WILL SEAWARD'S SPOOKY GHOST TALES Storyteller & Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda - one of the show, based on the Beggars Opera, Tues 27 - Sat comedian Will Seaward presents a 'mighty dose of most iconic couples of the Roaring ’20s, Fri 23 - Sat 31 Oct, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry spine-tingling, blood-soaked, torch-wielding come- 24 Oct, Old Joint Stock Theatre, B’ham POLES APART John Godber’s scorching new comedy dy spookiness’, Fri 30 Oct, mac, Birmingham THE SNOW DRAGON Tall Stories combine storytelling, sees two worlds collide when the scaffolders from DRACULA Rabbit Theatre present a new adaptation comedy & songs to create a magical, mysterious hell descend on a quiet theatre, Tues 27 - Sat 31 of Bram Stoker’s classic tale, Fri 30 Oct, Snailbeach world for children aged three-plus, Fri 23 - Sat 24 Oct, New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme Village Hall, Shropshire Oct, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry PETER PAN Amateur production, presented by the I WISH I HAD A MOUSTACHE A coming-of-age story ROMEO & JULIET The Flanagan Collective present an Sutton Coldfield Musical Theatre Company, Tues 27 that explores beauty, gender anxieties and the all-female production of one of the greatest love - Sat 31 Oct, Lichfield Garrick taboo of body hair, Fri 30 - Sat 31 Oct, Belgrade stories ever told, Fri 23 - Sun 25 Oct, mac, Birming- ABIGAIL'S PARTY An amateur production of Mike Theatre, Coventry ham Leigh’s story of 1970s suburbia, Tues 27 - Sat 31 THE SNOW DRAGON Tall Stories combine storytelling, THE AMAZING BUBBLE MAN The international hit show, Oct, The Swan Theatre, Worcester comedy and songs to create a magical mysterious with bubble art, magic, science and lots of fun, Sat DRACULA’S GHOST Don’t Go Into The Cellar present world for everyone aged three-plus, Fri 30 - Sat 31 24 Oct, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury an original stage play concerning the story of Count Oct, Stafford Gatehouse Theatre THE HOLLYWOOD SPECIAL EFFECTS SHOW An interac- Dracula, Wed 28 Oct, Stafford Gatehouse Theatre RELATIVELY SPEAKING Bear Pit Theatre Company tive family show offering a behind-the-scenes look NOSFERATU Proper Job Theatre Company blend present Alan Ayckbourn's comic masterpiece, Fri 30 into how some of the special effects in your original music and illusion to present a new touring Oct - Sat 7 Nov, The Bear Pit Theatre - The United favourite films have been created, Sat 24 Oct, show inspired by F Murnow's renowned German Reformed Church, Stratford-upon-Avon Palace Theatre, Redditch Expressionist film of the same name - which, in THE BASIL BRUSH SHOW Britain's most loveable fox is WERTHER English Touring Opera present turn, was inspired by Bran Stoker's Dracula, Wed back on the road along with his TV chum Mr Massenet’s domestic story of a seemingly idyllic 28 Oct, mac, Birmingham Stephen (aka Chris Pizzey). Together they take middle-class family torn apart by uncontrollable EVERY BRILLIANT THING Paines Plough and Pentabus audiences on a journey of laughs, storytelling & passion, Sat 24 Oct, Malvern Theatre Theatre Company present a play about depression song in a brand new stage show, Sat 31 Oct, Soli- LOVERS ROCK MONOLOGUES Join Janet Kay, Carroll and the lengths people will go to for those they hull Arts Complex Thompson & Victor Romero Evans as they fuse love, Wed 28 Oct, Artrix, Bromsgrove MAD ABOUT THE MUSICALS Celebrating the very best timeless music with theatrical storytelling. This ONCE UPON A TIME Fiercely unapologetic show songs from the shows. Starring Gareth Gates and event forms part of Punch Records BASS 15, Sat about ageing and the passing of time, Wed 28 Oct, Michael Courtney, Sat 31 Oct, Malvern Theatres 24 Oct, The REP, B’ham Malvern Theatre RUMMAGE Language Alive! and Theatre Company I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS Sat 24 Oct, Number 8 Com- THE FAITHLESS HEALER A dark comedy about a Blah Blah Blah fuse creative storytelling & puppetry munity Arts Centre, Evesham young girl with inexplicable healing powers, Wed 28 to explore the imaginative possibilities of the things MORBID CURIOSITIES Don't Go Into The Cellar pres- - Sat 31 Oct, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry we throw away every day, Sat 31 Oct, The REP, ent a theatrical anthology of classic ghost and hor- AS YOU LIKE IT Presented by Shropshire Drama Birmingham ror stories, Sun 25 Oct Company, Wed 28 - Sat 31 Oct, Theatre Severn, DRACULA: THE KISSES... Scary Little Girls turns the Croft Castle, Leominster Shrewsbury Dracula myth on its head in this new production THE SCARECROW'S WEDDING Scamp Theatre present PARADE Forest Arts Theatre Company present an featuring an all-female cast, Sat 31 Oct, Artrix, a stage adaptation of Julia Donaldson & Axel amateur production of the award-winning musical, Bromsgrove Scheffler's new best-selling book, Sun 25 Oct, The Wed 28 - Sat 31 Oct, Forest Arts Centre, Walsall UNEXPECTED OPERA Opera Naked present a fusion Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham ORPHEUS Acclaimed company Little Bulb Theatre of singing, true stories & comedy, Sat 31 Oct, Strat- THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA A light-hearted & zany are here joined by French guitarist Django Rein- ford Artshouse reinterpretation of the classic fairytale, Sun 25 Oct, hardt & songstress Yvette Pepin in a musical re- DRACULA Rabbit Theatre present a new adaptation The Dream Factory, Warwick imagining of the Greek myth, Wed 28 - Sat 31 Oct, of Bram Stoker’s classic tale, Sat 31 Oct, The Mar- ALIENS LOVE UNDERPANTS Family fun with stunning The REP, Birmingham ket Theatre, Ledbury, HR8 2AQ effects, madcap action, original music and more... A CLOCKWORK ORANGE Tin Robot Theatre in collabo- GREAT EXPECTATIONS The Crescent Theatre Compa- Sun 25 - Mon 26 Oct, Birmingham Town Hall ration with the OJS Theatre present a radical ny present an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ clas- retelling of Anthony Burgess's masterpiece for the sic tale, Sat 31 Oct - Sat 7 Nov, The Crescent The- modern day, Wed 28 - Sat 31 Oct, Old Joint Stock atre, Birmingham Week Commencing MON 26 OCT Theatre, Birmingham LOVE FOR LOVE Selina Cadell makes her RSC direc- Tree Fu Tom Live - Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury LITTLE FRANKENSTEIN Lempen Puppets present a torial debut with Congreve's restoration comedy, gentle horror which promises to tickle the imagina- where love for love is stronger than love for money. tion of everyone from five to one hundred-and-five, Nicholas Le Prevost stars, Wed 28 Oct 2015 - Fri 22 Mon 26 Oct, Newhampton Arts Centre, Wolver- Jan 2016, The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon hampton THE SELFISH GIANT Children’s theatre presented by ERROR 404 ARC Stockton present a Polka Theatre Sea Legs Puppet Theatre Company, Thurs 29 Oct, production which encourages audiences to look The Hive, Worcester again at everything they thought they knew, Mon 26 THE BASIL BRUSH SHOW Britain's most loveable fox is Oct, mac, Birmingham back on the road along with his TV chum Mr HOW THE KOALA LEARNT TO HUG A charming tale Stephen (aka Chris Pizzey). Together they take about the magic of family - and, of course, the audiences on a journey of laughs, storytelling & importance of a nice warm hug! Mon 26 Oct, song in a brand new stage show, Thurs 29 Oct, Stafford Gatehouse Theatre Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury TREE FU TOM LIVE! New show starring the world’s BRIAN BLESSED: ABSOLUTE PANDEMONIUM Join the smallest superhero, direct from the smash-hit larger-than-life actor as he takes audiences on a www.whatsonlive.co.uk 39 Theatre October Davina 1.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 18:58 Page 15

Theatre REVIEWS

Below are reviews of theatre/dance productions we checked out last month. For further theatre reviews, visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk

Crush Belgrade Theatre, Coventry

If Crush isn’t a huge hit, I’ll eat my hockey stick... naked... in public. This new musical comedy has all the heart-warming elements of those charming girls’ boarding school novels of yesteryear; laced with hearty humour, singable songs and nifty dance routines. Maureen Chadwick and her composing companion, Kath Gott, have transformed the Girl’s Own Annual formula into something far more compelling. It’s the early ’60s and a horrible headmistress (Miss King Charles III The REP, Birmingham Bleacher, masterfully played by Rosemary Ashe) has taken command at Dame Dorothea Stunning choral music sets a sombre tone at the start of King Charles III, quickly Dosserdale’s School for Girls with a harsh mission undercut by Prince Harry's comically late arrival at his grandmother's funeral. This shift- to dominate and destroy; and there certainly won’t ing mood characterises Mike Bartlett's fascinating state of the nation play, as it does be any of ‘that’ in her school. the fickleness of public opinion and the press, who are the largely unseen heart of this Rallied by lovely deputy head Miss Austin (a perfect production. part for Sara Crowe), the distraught girls vow to The premise is interesting if not wholly convincing: it takes time to get past disbelief at vanquish their tyrant. But they hadn’t reckoned on a modern monarch's attempt to wield parliamentary influence, particularly over a bill the dastardly deeds of school sneak Brenda... a pertaining to press freedom. Nevertheless, as the story progresses, the power of cute comedy character of which Georgia Oldman Robert Powell's performance in the title role is such that it's easy to forget it isn't makes the absolute most. Charles himself on stage. Powell is magnetic, deftly conveying conflict, reflectiveness Kath Gott has created twenty new songs for this and, perhaps most importantly, frailty. show and there are no makeweights. Like The King's Speech, this is a story of the imposition of royalty and hereditary She and choreographer Richard Roe clearly recall celebrity. It's tough enough for Charles's sons (excellently portrayed by Richard Glaves the thwack of hockey sticks and the clatter of studs and Ben Righton), but the effective exercise of sovereignty in one's seventies seems on changing room tiles - and have conjured up a an impossible ask. Unlike his mother, Charles hasn't had decades to learn the ropes - fabulously jokey tap routine, led with gusto by Kirsty and with the modern world in constant flux, the new King is instantly out of his depth. Malpass as the mysterious gym mistress who’s At the other end of the spectrum is Prince Harry, destined never to be king but still to come to save the school. bear the family burden. He and his newfound ‘common’ love, Jess (aptly studying at The only obstacle I fear might stand in this excellent St Martin's College, with Lucy Phelps sparkling in the role), are among the most sym- new show’s way to pathetic characters - though the Falstaffian quality of their forbidden friendship creates the West End is a sense of foreboding. Tim Treloar, too, makes a wonderfully grounded Prime Minister, the title. ‘Crush’ is his principled, working-class persona reflecting increased favouring of Jeremy Corbyn such an ugly word and left alternative parties. with other, crueller Shakespearean references are woven throughout, among them parental ghosts, other- meanings. There wordly promises of kingship, and Katherine's Lady Macbeth-like qualities. Jennifer Bry- has to be some- den's Kate is the most pantomime character, but here a point is made: her plastic shell thing better. of a public persona could hide anything beneath. Equally deliciously dastardly is Giles Chris Eldon Lee Taylor as the scheming Mr Stevens. Less effective is the stylised writing: the blank n n n n n verse works best when least apparent, with poetic archaisms sometimes jarring. Among the most memorable scenes is one in which the disillusioned Harry unfolds his woes to a kebab shop server. In Parth Thakerar's earnestly delivered reply, unlikely par- allels are drawn between the royals' existential angst and that of the teeming masses, Sylvie Guillem Birmingham Hippodrome lost and redundant in a world that is yet busier and better connected than ever. This From being the youngest ever étoile (highest rank- drawing on the general confusion of our times is perhaps the play's greatest strength: ing female dancer) at the Paris Opera House to in his frustrated impotence, the King really does seem to speak for his people. Associate Artist at London’s Sadler’s Wells, Sylvie Heather Kincaid n n n n Guillem has enjoyed a career of which any dancer would be proud. So when the decision came to say goodbye to dancing, one last world tour was the only way to do so. Waiting For Godot Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury Life In Progress opened with Akram Khan’s brand new work, Technê - made specifically for Guillem. A London Classic Theatre’s version of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot was spot on. key figure in Sylvie’s career, it’s no surprise Akram’s It made for a hypnotically meditative evening when it showed at Shrewsbury’s Theatre choreography made an appearance in the show. Severn - although stamina was required to see it through. Guillem effortlessly managed to capture all the The main characters - two tramps - were a delight. Richard Heap (as a northern, no- qualities we’d expect from a Khan work, amplifying nonsense Estragon) and Peter Cadden (as the light, intellectual Vladimir) appeared to them in her own unique way. understand every word of Beckett’s convolutions, even making sense of the bits that Duo2015, meanwhile, featured two wonderful male don’t make sense. dancers; Guillem sat this one out. Desperately waiting for something to happen, the bowler-hatted, love-hate duo passed Russell Maliphant is another choreographer who’s the timedid by speculating about the mysterious Godot’s arrival. had a massive impact on Sylvie. Her performance Who turn up was Pozzo, played with loud, boorish bluster by Jonathan Ashley. in his Here And After was one to remember. Pozzo is used by Beckett in the play to point up the inequality of our social structure. Guillem danced the final work, Mats Ek’s Bye, with This arrogant ringmaster had his poor serving boy, Lucky, on a long lead and treated all great passion, after which she left the Hippodrome three fellows with contempt - until, that was, he desperately needed them in Act Two. stage for the very last time. Waiting For Godot will never be a crowd pleaser. It’s a play for the connoisseur rather This show isn't a ‘best of’. It’s a thank you and trib- than the casual theatregoer. But this sixtieth anniversary production is as good as it ute to the choreographers who’ve helped create, gets and proves that you can please most of the people for much of the time. You just mould and define the career of Sylvie Guillem, a have to remember you’re watching a pivotal piece of theatre history. dancer truly deserving of legendary status. The play simply wouldn’t have worked if it had been written today... One of the tramps would surely have texted Godot to ask him what the hell he was playing at. Jamie Ryan n n n n n Chris Eldon Lee n n n n 40 www.whatsonlive.co.uk Theatre October Davina 1.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 18:53 Page 16

Theatre WEST END What the Dickens! It must be Christmas... Jim Broadbent is to return to the West End to star in a new produc- tion of A Christmas Carol. The Academy Award-winning actor will play Ebenezer Scrooge in Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ tale of greed, ghosts and redemption. Directed by the Olivier Award-winning Phe- lim McDermott (Shockhead Peter), A Christmas Carol shows at the Noel Cow- ard Theatre from 30 November to 30 Janu- ary. Further casting is yet to be announced.

Holy puppet! Hand To God to open in West End

Robert Askin’s controversial and blasphemous play, Hand To God, is to transfer to the West End early next year. The play is currently proving a hit on Broadway and has been described by The New Yorker as ‘Sesame Street meets The Exorcist’. Its story concerns a shy teenager named Jason who’s surprised to find his Bible School project, a puppet named Tyrone, taking on a shocking, truth-telling personality all its own. The puppet forces everyone in its path - and especially Jason’s mother, Margery - to confront their own demons in a search for redemption. Featuring some genuinely shocking twists, Hand To God is performed for the final time on Broadway on 3 January. The play then opens at London’s Vaudeville Theatre on 5 February.

War-time classic at Duke of York’s Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre’s much-acclaimed production of Good- night Mr Tom is to return to the West End in December for a ten- week season. Based on Michelle Magorian’s modern classic, David Wood’s stage version beautifully brings to life the World War Two story of William Beech. A young boy evacuated to the idyl- lic English countryside, William forges a heart-warming relationship with elderly recluse Tom Oakley, played by David Troughton. William’s life seems perfect - until, that is, he’s suddenly summoned by his mother to return to London. Goodnight Mr Tom shows at Duke of York’s Theatre from 11 December to 20 February.

Sounds of Burt Bacharach at the Criterion A New York Theatre Workshop production paying homage to one of America’s finest songwriters is transferring to the West End’s Criteri- on Theatre this month. Close To You: Bacharach Reimagined arrives at the Criterion follow- ing a successful run at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Described as ‘a dynamic, uplifting and magical journey’ through over thirty classic Burt Bacharach hits, Close To You is directed by the Olivier Award-winning Steven Hoggett. It features a (yet to be announced) cast of multi-talented musicians, all of whom are led by visionary composer and performer Kyle Riabko. Featured Bacharach classics include Alfie, Anyone Who Had A Heart, I Say A Little Prayer, Walk On By, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head and What’s New Pussycat?. For further information about Close To You (Criteri- on Theatre, 3 October - 10 January) and to purchase tickets, visit criterion-the- atre.co.uk

www.whatsonlive.co.uk 41 Craig Revel Horwood Interview DPS Oct LW.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 22:53 Page 1

interview Craig Revel Horwood

Whether it’s via his acerbic comments as a Strictly judge or by playing a menacing character in panto, Craig Revel Horwood certainly knows how to make himself the villain of the piece. Craig’s currently, er, revelling in the rave reviews he’s getting for starring as the emotionally challenged Miss Hannigan in a new touring production of Annie. Recently catching up with him to talk about this latest role, What’s On was pleased to discover that, in direct contrast to his well-managed public persona, Craig is really rather nice...

What appeals to you most about the role of Miss Hannigan, Craig? I like the fact she’s a villain. I love playing villains because they’re just a lot more fun. There’s a lot of depth to the character, which is good too. I also find the fact she’s a gin- swigging woman who lusts after men and hates children attractive.

So what qualities do you have that make you ideal for the role? I play her just as any actor would play her. I’ve invested in the character and hopefully the audience will believe in me. It’s not a drag role, it’s just me playing Miss Hannigan, that’s all. There’s no sight of Craig Revel Horwood in the show at all.

So how did the chance to play the part come about? Were you surprised to be approached? Was it an instant yes from you or did you need some time to think about it? When I was first approached, my initial thought was that they were going to ask me to direct and choreograph. I’d done panto but hadn’t done any serious acting for a long time, because I love directing and I love choreographing. I took a week to think it over. I read the script and really did love the character, so I thought, ‘Yeah, why not, let’s give it a bash and see how we get on’. That’s how it came about and it’s been a huge success.

42 www.whatsonlive.co.uk Craig Revel Horwood Interview DPS Oct LW.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 22:53 Page 2

I love playing villains because they’re just a lot more fun

Where did your research for Miss in my key and all the keys were specifically is a delight. I’m seeing some really lovely “Hannigan take you? chosen for my vocal ability. It’s something I lines, some lovely arms and some lovely” feet, I have an alcoholic father, so I’m quite ‘in the used to do way back when anyway. I was in so that’s good. A couple of them got in a few know’ about alcoholism. I know how Miss Saigon for a long time, and I was also in high kicks too, which is wonderful. Then, alcoholics react because I lived with it as a Cats. At the end of the day, though, it’s up to equally, there are people who don’t have child and grew up with it. I guess I’m a the person who’s listening, not me, to make a much rhythm - so it should be fun seeing the fountain of knowledge when it comes to that decision on my vocal ability, but I do enjoy it. dancers teaching them. Peter Andre looks like sort of thing. I’ve played women before. I he’ll be good. I suppose he could become a once created a character called Lavish, but You’re used to directing. How are you finalist because of his popularity - as well as that was just for clubs so is slightly different to adapting to taking instructions from the fact he can move quite well. He certainly what I’m doing here. For Miss Hannigan, I others? looks like a front runner. studied the New York accent and visited an It did take some getting used to, but I go back accent coach for guidance. to being professional and listening to the Which previous dancer and/or routine still director and the choreographer and doing gives you a chuckle? How’re you finding the heels and make- what I’m told. They criticise me and give me Ann Widdecombe. She’s funny. I just think of up? notes, but that’s what it’s all about. They do it her and it makes me laugh. She’s actually I’ve danced in heels before. I was doing a to make me better. I suppose that’s why I’m become a friend now, because we did panto show where I first learned to dance as a so harsh on Strictly, because I’m hard on for two years after she was on Strictly and we woman, because it’s very different to dancing myself in that way. danced together on the tour. We did forty-two as a man. Heels, of course, are a very big part shows dancing together on the tour and forty- of that, so I had a lot of blisters to begin with. Where are you most comfortable - in front two panto shows. We’ve sort of become a They’ve subsided now and I’ve got used to it. of or behind the stage? double act - and an unlikely one at that, which Quite frankly, it’s like putting on a pair of I prefer being in the dark, making people I think is quite good. She makes me laugh slippers now. I apply all my make-up myself. It better, than performing, but that’s because because she’s just out there having fun and took me a while initially but with practice it I’ve had such a long step off the stage - apart having a laugh with it. That’s a great becomes faster. I arrive ninety minutes before from with panto, of course. It’s been great approach. the show as it takes that long to get ready. and I’ve loved being on tour. Every week is different. We get to go to another place and Who would be your ideal contestant on a They say you should never work with discover these lovely cities all over again. I’m future show? children or animals. How’re you finding the enjoying that side of it. Simon Cowell. He would be fantastic. experience? That would be excellent. Yes, they would be right! They’re As you mentioned earlier, you enjoy unpredictable, but the kids in the show are playing the villain. You played the Wicked There’s been a call for same-sex couples absolutely incredible and are really, really Queen in Snow White, now Miss Hannigan to be featured on the show. What’s your talented. There are three different Annies and in Annie, and later this year you’ll be opinion? three groups of orphans who play three days playing Captain Hook in Peter Pan. Do you I think it’s a good idea. I have no problem with each. Each group then has a week off, so it ever yearn to play someone who’s nice? it because there are same-sex competitions, works out perfectly well. They’re tutored on No, not at all. I like the villains. They get the and Strictly Come Dancing isn’t entirely a the road as well, so that’s pretty cool. They’re best lines and the best parts. Being dark, dance competition. The winners aren’t going actors and aspiring actors who’ve been sometimes sinister, is much more fun; far to become world champions and do dance selected from all over the UK and who want to better than playing some boring old love tours around the world, are they? I can’t see go on and do this as a career, so they’ve interest. any reason why it should be an issue on the been trained very, very well. show, although I can professionally. At that Do you ever get tired of being called ‘Craig level it raises points about lifts and stuff like Do you have a pre-show routine that you Revel Horrid’? that, and certain things they do in the rule go through to get into character? No, I don’t care. It’s like water off a duck’s book. As for Strictly, I say bring it on. Miss Hannigan opens the show at four back. o’clock in the morning, absolutely Post-Annie, what’s next for Craig Revel slaughtered out of her head - so I can’t Has being back on the stage given you a Horrid, er, Horwood? completely get into character until I’m at the taste for more in the future? I go into panto in High Wycombe, where I’ll door, otherwise I’d be falling all over the Yeah, definitely, I would most certainly be doing two shows a day, every day - except place! Mainly I just concentrate. I have a bit of consider doing it again, as I’ve enjoyed it Saturdays because I’ll be doing Strictly. Then, quiet time before getting into character and enormously. It would be great to do a West when Strictly finishes at Christmas, I continue going on stage. End run, but we’ll see what happens in the in panto until the beginning of January. Then future. That’s the beauty of this business and there’s Strictly Come Dancing Live, which Miss Hannigan loves gin. What’s your why I like it so much. You never know what tours arenas across the country up until favourite tipple away from the stage? you’re going to be doing or what February. I’ll then be off to Berlin to I like vodka. Vodka and anything diet so that opportunities there will be. As one door choreograph a dance show. After that I’m it’s not as many calories, because I have to closes, another one opens and vice versa, so doing Hood The Musical, a new show all watch my weight. That or Sauvignon Blanc. it’s all very good. about Robin Hood which opens in June. In July/August I’m directing and choreographing Do you suffer pre-show nerves? What’s the worst criticism you’ve received a new version of Sister Act The Musical. Then I always do because it’s a live crowd and you as a performer? we’re back into Strictly, panto and the Strictly never know what’s going to happen. Each The worst criticism was about my first tour again. Talking through my diary with you audience is different and the show itself is a performance. It was by a newspaper and in makes me realise I need to sort a holiday. little bit different every day, but I do think it’s bad taste. They said I had varicose veins, that Phew! good to be nervous. It’s my job to get up I couldn’t dance, I couldn’t sing, I couldn’t act there, to play the character and play the part and was too fat. It really was just a two-page well, so I do get nervous. blast off, but they had thousands of Craig Revel Horwood stars as Miss complaints from readers. Hannigan in Annie at Birmingham You’ve got a proven record when it comes Hippodrome from Tues 13 - Sat 31 to dancing, choreography and directing, What are your initial thoughts about the October. Of A Birds of a Feather star Lesley but how’s your singing? quality of this year’s Strictly contestants? Joseph will play Miss Hanniganin in all I think it’s fantastic! I love it because it’s right Well, some of them can actually dance, which Saturday performances.

www.whatsonlive.co.uk 43 Dance October.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 16:17 Page 1 Dance

Rambert Presents: Rooster & Other Works The REP, Birmingham, Wed 28 - Sat 31 October Britain’s oldest dance company makes a welcome return to the properties. Alexander Whitley’s Frames dissects the process of the- Midlands this month to perform a triple bill of works - including its atre making, with dancers using metal structures to construct and most popular and best-loved piece, Rooster. deconstruct a stage within a stage. Christopher Bruce’s colourful celebration of the Swinging ’60s was Closing the programme, Kim Brandstrup’s Transfigured Night is a first performed in 1994. It features sharp-suited, snake-hipped men dramatic love story in which intimate duets are complemented by coming together with strong, sassy women to perform courtship ensemble dancing, all of which amplify the beauty and romance of dances to hits by the Rolling Stones. Arnold Schoenberg’s brilliant score, Verklärte Nacht. Next up is an innovative work from one of British dance’s hottest

Without Stars/There Coppelia Lichfield Garrick, Thurs 8 - Fri 9 October; Artrix, We Have Been Bromsgrove, Sun 11 October; The Place, DanceXchange, The Patrick Oakengates, Shropshire, Tues 13 October Centre, Birmingham Hippodrome, Fri 16 - Sat 17 October Delibes’ enchanting comic ballet has delighted audiences for generations. Love, loss and loyalty are When Dr Coppelius leaves mechanical doll explored to great effect in this Coppelia on his workshop balcony, she's soon double-bill of works by James causing a stir in the village - particularly in the Cousin Company. heart of the red-blooded Franz and the mind of Two stories telling the tale of two his jealous fiancee, Swanilda - who's mistaken the lovers, both works are inspired by mannequin for a flesh-and-blood rival... Haruki Murakami’s best-selling This particular production is brought to the stage novel, Norwegian Wood. by Vienna Festival Ballet. Featuring a talented Without Stars is presented from a array of young female perspective, as a quartet dancers, the of dancers provide an intimate company was glimpse into a secluded world of founded in 1980 fragile dependency. by Austrian By contrast, There We Have Been dancer Peter opens the door on the male ver- Mallek and typi- sion of events. cally spends Presented as a mesmerising duet, eight months of the male and female bond is the year perform- explored in an incredible feat of ing works from its stamina and choreographic inven- extensive reper- tion, with the female form not toire in smaller touching the floor once through- venues across out the piece. the UK.

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Dance LISTINGS Supernatural - DanceXchange, Birmingham For full listing information on dance, including times and dates, visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk

MANA: THE POWER WITHIN A double bill featuring two emotive and spiritual works directed by Gail Parmel, presented as part of Birmingham Black History Month 2015, Thurs 1 Oct, DanceXchange, Birmingham VARIATIONS TRIPLE BILL Featuring work from George Balanchine, Alexander Whitley and Frederick Ashton, Thurs 8 - Sat 10 Oct, Birmingham Hippodrome COPPELIA Vienna Festival Ballet present the captivating story of an eccentric toymaker and his beloved doll, Thurs 8 - Sat 10 Oct, Lichfield Garrick ner of Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures THE NUTCRACKER The Russian State Ballet present SUPERNATURAL Performance artists Simone Choreography Award, Fri 16 - Sat 17 Oct, the all-time family favourite, Thurs 29 Oct, Stafford Aughterlony and Antonija Livingstone explore the DanceXchange, Birmingham Gatehouse Theatre meeting place between choreography and perform- CSCAPE DANCE: TASTE The tapestries of Grayson BROMANCE Crying Out Loud & Barely Methodical ance art in an elegant use of movement, coupled Perry are the inspiration behind this exploration of Troupe present a jaw-dropping show which promis- with challenging physical action that dissects our what defines our identity, Tues 20 Oct, Roses es to take British circus to new heights, Thurs 29 - perceptions of gender, Fri 9 Oct, DanceXchange, Theatre, Tewkesbury Fri 30 Oct, DanceXchange, B’ham Birmingham THE NUTCRACKER Presented by Vienna Festival C-12 DANCE THEATRE: SHHH! Contemporary dance COPPELIA Vienna Festival Ballet present Ballet, Thurs 22 Oct, Bedworth Civic Hall story of a library that’s closed down, with five the- the captivating story of an eccentric toymaker and THE SNOW QUEEN Ballet Theatre UK present a re- atrical performers manipulating the set and sur- his beloved doll, Sun 11 Oct, Artrix, Bromsgrove telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale roundings to create an innovative and powerful ...IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU Hagit Yakira Dance pres- ballet, Fri 23 Oct, Albany Theatre, Coventry piece of dance theatre, Thurs 29 Oct, mac, ent a poignant work which focuses on the nature of A DANCE FOR ALL SEASONS Showcase of work by the Birmingham human experience, Tues 13 Oct, Arena Theatre, Bloxwich-based Russon Dance School, Sat 24 - DON QUIXOTE The Russian State Ballet & Opera Wolverhampton Sun 25 Oct, Prince Of Wales Centre, Cannock House present a ‘new & vibrant’ production based COPPELIA Vienna Festival Ballet present THE SNOW QUEEN Ballet Theatre UK present a re- on episodes from the novel Don Quixote de la the captivating story of an eccentric toymaker and telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale Mancha, Fri 30 Oct, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury his beloved doll, Tues 13 Oct, The Place, ballet, Mon 26 Oct, Palace Theatre, Redditch SWAN LAKE The Russian State Ballet and Opera Oakengates, Shropshire THE SNOW QUEEN Ballet Theatre UK present a re- House perform Tchaikovsky's world famous ballet, PHOENIX DANCE THEATRE: MIXED PROGRAMME 2015 telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale Sat 31 Oct, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury Wed 14 Oct, Malvern Theatres ballet, Tues 27 Oct, Solihull Arts Complex INFUSION EMPORIUM A locally developed world WITHOUT STARS & THERE WE HAVE BEEN James THE SNOW QUEEN Ballet Theatre UK present a re- fusion dance event showcasing some of the most Cousins Company. Inspired by the best-selling telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale innovative contemporary choreographers to have novel, Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami, this ballet, Wed 28 Oct, The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury emerged from the scene, Sat 31 Oct, Arena double bill portrays two sides of a tender story of RAMBERT PRESENTS: ROOSTER & OTHER WORKS Wed Theatre, Wolverhampton love, loss and loyalty. Cousins is the inaugural win- 28 - Sat 31 Oct, The REP, Birmingham

www.whatsonlive.co.uk 45 Ammo Interview DPS Oct LW.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 22:57 Page 1

interview Ammo Talwar

I’m proud to be a “ Brummie because Brummies keep it real.” 46 www.whatsonlive.co.uk Ammo Interview DPS Oct LW.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 22:57 Page 2

A cultural entrepreneur whose venture into music and arts ‘evolved organically’, Ammo Talwar is the Chief Executive of Punch Records and the man at the helm of BASS, the UK’s leading annual Black arts festival. This month the festival marks its tenth anniversary by staging ten live events paying homage to Black icons. What’s On recently caught up with Ammo to reflect on, among other subjects, the festival’s journey to date and his aspirations for BASS’s future.

Tell us about the origins of twenty-five. We want it to be an authentic the connectivity between theory and practice, BASS Festival, Ammo... youth voice. We’ve got partnerships with and between learning and getting a job. It was the result of conversations with young Access to Music, BOA and BCU. It’s running Does the educational side play a big role people - particularly from Afro Caribbean twenty-four/seven, with dedicated talk-and- in the wider scheme of things with Punch? communities - in terms of representation in music shows from eight to ten pm, then we Absolutely. We have four core values at the arts and commissioning new work. What go to specialist shows that cover niche Punch. Those are written through everything we wanted to do as an arts company was sounds. It’s all very exciting, and I know when we do and aren’t just about our business create something that would connect young we launch on 4 October it’s going to be really plan. To us, it’s all about creating work, people to mainstream arts organisations good for the city. touring work, educating through work and through a commissioning process. We showcasing through work. wanted to commission new work, individuals, The festival has a different theme each Not everything we do is in Birmingham, but producers, to create something that year. In 2015, it’s Icons. Tell us about when we tour artists nationally we make sure connected their art form to the broader arts yours... there’s always a Birmingham flavour or community. That was the idea in theory. The I have quite a few. In terms of values it has to feeling. first couple of years, we were making it up as be Mahatma Ghandi. In politics it’s Malcolm we went along, but over the years it really has X. In music it’s Public Enemy. All those Which up-and-coming local artist excites become a defined part of Birmingham’s personal icons have helped shape my you most? cultural offer. business, obviously all in different ways. Lady Leshurr. She’s someone who I think is going to take the city to another level Has it been easy to maintain that original Looking back at the festival over the past internationally. Laura Mvula has done it in one ethos? ten years, what would you say has been particular theme, but Leshur is definitely one It’s been a bit up and down. Some years were your highlight? to watch from an international perspective. easier because there was more momentum, We did something called the Decypher there was a lot more investment and there Collective in our first year. It was about You were awarded an MBE in 2008 for were a lot more partners. Venues like The bringing grime music into a theatre space. It contributions to music and young people. Drum or The REP would come on board and was a collision of ideas and people. We had What was your first reaction on hearing help co-commission work. Some years have grime artists next to theatre makers and we about the honour? been hard primarily because we’ve not got created this great work. A lot of those artists I thought it was a joke at first because I’ve got sponsorship or we’ve not got support from have now achieved bigger and better things. some quite bizarre friends who do all sorts of the local authority. But during the last three or They’ve toured and gone on to carve careers weird and wonderful things. When I realised it four years we’ve really been able to define the out of these art forms, either working in wasn’t a prank, I was genuinely surprised. It festival. theatre or spoken word. That was in our first was obviously reflective of the work we were We were always acutely aware that we didn’t year and it definitely remains a highlight. doing at the time. Although it was good to want to create a two-day, weekend festival. receive it, it was always about the impact we What we wanted to do was put together What's your favourite festival - apart from were having on our locality and the quality of beautifully crafted small events across a BASS, obviously? the work we were producing. I never planned period of time. The best one I’ve been to is a performing arts to work in music or the arts. I never planned festival in Graham’s Town in South Africa. On to run a festival, set up a radio station or The festival historically takes place in a local level, I enjoy Mostly Jazz, Simmer publish books. It all just sort of evolved June, so what was behind the decision to Down - all of the festivals where community organically. move this year’s event to October? meets good music. Because it’s the tenth anniversary we wanted Where would you like to see the festival in it to be special. We also wanted to get a bit Birmingham is renowned for its cultural ten years’ time? more for our buck, and we knew that by diversity and eclectic artistic offer. What do At the moment we’re quite boutique, with staging it during Black History Month we’d you think could and should be done to some small-scale commission events locally. get a bit more media support. further improve this? I’d love to bring more international artists to We’d already planned to produce a radio I think the arts need to be statutory. We need Birmingham, to get a feel of what the city’s station - mytenradio - throughout October to to teach more arts in schools and we need about. I’d like bigger, higher quality events, give young people an opportunity to talk the art work in the city to be more reflective of some outdoors. It’s about keeping it fresh. about real issues. Birmingham’s airwaves are the city. We need to reflect what’s going on in pretty poorly represented in terms of youth Alum Rock, Nechells, Handsworth, Kings Finally, what are you most proud of about voice. We have a lot of commercial stations Heath etc. I think a local agenda really is the being a Brummie? and we have a lot of niche radio stations, but future. I'm proud to be a Brummie because nothing that represents the youth voice. So Brummies keep it real. we decided on Radio Ten. We did something What contribution does Punch make to similar two years ago with BASS FM and it local education? was one of the best things we’ve done - so We work in schools and work closely with much so that we thought we’d do it again for teachers and academies, helping them to BASS 15 takes place across various 2015. look at the curriculum specifically in relation venues in Birmingham until 25 October. The station will be driven by the youth; we to music. It’s all about us as a business or Find out more at punchbass.com have a remit that you have to be under local arts organisation ensuring we look at

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Black History Month (BHM) made its UK debut in London in the late 1980s and has since grown into a nationwide celebration. The event is designed to honour the achievements, contributions and struggles of African, Asian and Caribbean people within the context of their diversity and heritage. Birmingham’s 2015 programme of BHM events has been jointly developed by the city council and intercultural arts centre The Drum. Its highlights include the showing of a looping video projection, Crossing Boundaries, against the exterior of the University of Birmingham’s Watson Building. The projection explores the subject of diversity on the university’s campus. Other BHM events in Birmingham include a number of local libraries displaying The Black Pioneers - a series of stories about inspirational black men and women who overcame prejudice. There’s also a special exhibition entitled RACE 50 which takes a look at ‘race relations half a century on’. An ‘accessible and engaging’ University of Birmingham talk explores the changing face of racism, while Celebrating The Light sees young musicians investigating the way in which the issue of race relations has diversified British music over the past fifty years. Birmingham’s BHM 2015 celebration is launched at The Drum on Friday 2 October with a keynote speech by sociology lecturer Dr Kehinde Andrews. Dr Andrews will be talking about the visit of Malcolm X to Smethwick fifty years ago. He will also explore how attitudes to racial discrimination have changed in Birmingham since the passing of the Race Relations Act in 1965. HIGHLIGHTS

MANA - ONE MANY PEOPLE 3 THE HARD WAY STOGIE KENYATTA THE POWER WITHIN ‘THE WORLD IS MY Bramall Music The Drum, HOME - THE LIFE The Patrick Centre, Building, Birmingham, Birmingham, OF PAUL ROBESON’ Birmingham, Thurs 1 October Thurs 29 October Thurs 1 October Bramall Music Building, Birmingham Fri 30 October www.whatsonlive.co.uk 49 MCM Brum (FP) OCT 2015.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 20:55 Page 1 Film - Oct.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 20:52 Page 1 Film

Released from Fri 2 Oct

By Our Selves CERT 15 (83 mins) Starring Toby Jones, Freddie Jones, Alan Moore, Iain Sinclair Directed by Andrew Kötting (UK) Considering that the pastoral poet John Clare ended up in a lunatic asylum, it is perhaps apt that Andrew Kötting’s film is quite mad. Kötting is one of Britain’s most distinctive filmmakers (Gallivant, This Filthy Earth, Ivul), although he refuses to pi- geon-hole himself as a feature filmmaker. He does make a lot of experimental shorts. Here, he’s cast Toby Jones as Clare, who wanders, on foot, from Epping Forest to Northampton in the year 1841, al- though the passing traffic and visibility of the cam- era operator Anonymous Bosch detracts from the period feel. The film’s ace card, though, is the presence of the eighty-seven-year-old Freddie Jones (Toby’s father) who reads Clare’s work on EDITOR’S screen. As much a comment on insanity and the CHOICE filmmaking process as on the poet, the film will prove far too self-indulgent for most tastes. Spectre CERT tbc Starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Andrew Scott, Léa Seydoux, Monica Bellucci, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Jesper Chris- tensen Directed by Sam Mendes (UK/USA) The last James Bond movie, Skyfall, is now the highest-grossing film in the UK of all time. So it’s good news that Skyfall’s director, Sam Mendes, is back behind the camera for the twenty-fourth official Bond movie. Daniel Craig returns (for the last time) as 007 and is sent on a mission to uncover a secret organisation (Spectre) that is really, really bad news. The theme song, Writing’s On The Wall, will be sung by Sam Smith, making him only the second male solo English artist (alongside Matt Monro) to have had the honour. Filming took place in Morocco, Mexico City, Rome, Austria, London and Oxford- shire. And, of course, Dame Judi will be sorely missed. Released 26 October

The Intern CERT 12a (121 mins) Starring Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Adam DeVine, Christina Scherer, Nat Wolff Directed by Nancy Myers (USA) Robert De Niro is back in comedy mode, this time playing a seventy-year-old who’s not all that con- tent with retirement. So he enrols himself as an in- tern at a fashion-based e-commerce company founded by the somewhat younger Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway). The director, Nancy Myers, is a past mistress at frothy comedy, having previously brought us What Women Want and The Holiday. And so the music is relentless, the running time a little generous (one hundred-and-twenty-one min- utes) and the gloss as thick as the contents of a tin of industrial Dulux. Still, De Niro and Hathaway do EDITOR’S generate a genuine warmth and chemistry, the dia- CHOICE logue sparkles and De Niro proves to be a rather Suffragette CERT 12a (106 mins) adept light leading man. Who would have thought? Starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff, Meryl Streep, Ben Whishaw, Romola Garai Directed by Sarah Gavron (UK) The opener for this year’s London Film Festival, Suffragette focuses on the working women who fought for equal rights for their sex in the early part of the twentieth century. Starting off in 1912, the film takes a fictitious wife and mother, Maud Watts (Mulligan), and charts her involvement with key figures in the movement. However, the scenarist Abi Morgan has failed to find a sufficiently gripping narrative to thrust the story forward, other than to detail the misery of Maud’s life. Edu Grau's photography is also pretty mis- erable, a drab and grainy affair, captured via an agitated hand-held camera - presum- ably in an effort to inject a newsreel immediacy. It’s all very worthy, of course, but nowhere near as compelling as it should be. Released 12 October

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FilmNEW RELEASES

Macbeth CERT 15 (113 mins) Starring Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotil- lard, Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, Elizabeth Debicki, David Thewlis Directed by Justin Kurzel (UK) A Scottish thane lusts for power and thanks to the goading of his flaky wife and some premonitions, embarks on a path of consid- erable tragedy and much blood-letting. Words by William Shakespeare.

FROM THU The Walk CERT PG (123 mins) OCT 8 Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Released from Fri 16 Oct Sicario CERT 15 (121 mins) James Badge Dale, Ben Schwartz, Charlotte Starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Le Bon Directed by Robert Zemeckis (USA) Josh Brolin, Victor Garber, Jon Bernthal Of course, this is no ordinary walk. This is Hotel Transylvania 2 Directed by Denis Villeneuve (USA) the life-threatening, highly illegal saunter be- CERT U (89 mins) It sounds like a routine action thriller. An tween the Twin Towers of the World Trade Featuring the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy idealistic FBI agent (Emily Blunt) is en- Center taken by the funambulist (tightrope Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve listed to track down a nameless drug lord walker) Philippe Petit in 1974. The subject Buscemi, David Spade, Mel Brooks operating on the US-Mexican border. was previously explored in the Oscar-win- Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky (USA) However, the film has received ecstatic ning documentary Man On Wire in 2008. In You can’t escape Adam Sandler these days - acclaim and is being tipped for Oscar 3D. or cartoons. Here, glory, with Ms Blunt a front-runner for Count Dracula best actress. (Sandler) attempts to fine-tune the blood-sucking The Program CERT 15 (103 mins) skills of his half- Starring Ben Foster, Chris O'Dowd, Guillaume human grandson, Canet, Jesse Plemons, Lee Pace, Dustin Hoff- Dennis. In 3D. man Directed by Stephen Frears (UK/France) If nothing else, Lance Armstrong was a ter- rific inspirational speaker. He could look you The Lobster CERT 15 (118 mins) straight in the eye and convince you he was Starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Jessica telling the truth. At cancer seminars he pro- Barden, Olivia Colman, Léa Seydoux, Ben claimed: “The pain is temporary, quitting is Whishaw Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Ireland/UK/Greece/France/The Netherlands) forever.” His other key line was that the Tour de France is “the hardest sporting event in Regression CERT 15 (106 mins) Contender for the world.” Armstrong not only contracted Starring Ethan Hawke, Emma Watson, David weirdest film of the stage three metastatic testicular cancer, but Dencik, David Thewlis year, The Lobster is he beat it - and then went on to win the Directed by Alejandro Amenábar (USA/Spain) set in the near fu- ‘Tour’ seven consecutive times. It’s a com- According to those in the know, Emma Wat- ture where single pelling narrative and, as Armstrong, the son comes of age as a serious actress in people must find a blue-eyed Ben Foster is more than up to the this thriller. She plays the daughter of a man mate or be turned task. More problematic is the act of com- (Dencik) who confesses to sexually abusing into a beast - or pressing such a big story into less than two her, even though he has no memory of it. In- crustacean. File it hours and to bring a freshness to a tale so triguing. Amenábar previously directed under ‘Absurdist often told. The masterly documentarian Alex Open Your Eyes and The Others. black comedy’. Gibney previously tilled the same ground with his acclaimed The Armstrong Lie (2013) - which leaves this slick undertaking little Pan CERT PG (111 mins) room to improve on. Starring Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, Levi Miller, Amanda Seyfried, Cara Delevingne Directed by Joe Wright (USA) Like its protagonist, the story of Peter Pan will never grow up. This edition reverts to Peter’s beginnings and explores how he be- came the airborne child that we all know and love. The director Joe Wright previously brought us Pride & Prejudice and Atone- ment. In 3D.

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to unleash a terrible plague. So it’s up to the CERT tbc Crimson Peak immortal witch hunter Kaulder (Vin Diesel) to Released from Fri 30 Oct Starring Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, team up with a beautiful witch in order to Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam, Jim Beaver, save New York City. Leslie Hope CERT tbc Directed by Guillermo del Toro (USA) Taxi Tehran Starring Jafar Panahi, Hana Saeidi It sounds like something a Brontë might Directed by Jafar Panahi (Iran) have written, but is actually the product of Following The Circle (2000) and Crimson Guillermo del Toro, the Mexican master of Gold (2003), Jafar Panahi was banned from fantasy. Here, Wasikowska (who once making any more films for twenty years (and played Jane Eyre on film) marries Sir from leaving Iran). So, he shot this drama in Thomas Sharpe (Hiddleston), and moves to the back of a taxi while driving around his crumbling mansion in the north of nine- Tehran, recording his passengers’ confiden- teenth century England (Cumbria). There, tial comments and opinions. Winner of the she discovers that her new sister-in-law Golden Bear (best film) at this year’s Berlin (Chastain) is bent on protecting the ominous film festival. secrets of the house...

Mississippi Grind CERT 15 (109 mins) Starring Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn, Si- enna Miller, Analeigh Tipton, Alfre Woodard Directed by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck (USA) A veteran gambler down on his luck (Mendelsohn) embarks on a road trip with a younger man (Reynolds) hoping to up his game. It’s quite a gamble, as most films about gambling don’t do very well at the box-office.

Paper Planes CERT U (97 mins) Released from Fri 23 Oct Starring Sam Worthington, Ed Oxenbould, Deborah Mailman, David Wenham Directed by Robert Connolly (Australia) The Last Witch Hunter CERT tbc The World Paper Plane Championships in Starring Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood, Japan are approaching and young Dylan Michael Caine, Rena Owen Webber (Oxenbould) is determined to com- Directed by Breck Eisner (USA) pete - in spite of a slew of setbacks, not least Unbeknownst to most people, our planet is his father (Worthington), who is grieving over still haunted by witches who are now about the loss of Dylan’s mother in a car crash.

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Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), derworld by his junkie fa- Thurs 16 Oct Street, Glaswegian barber an African-American ther. But things seem to Barney Thomson stum- FilmA-Z LISTINGS woman living in the South be looking up when he La Famille Bélier 12a bles into serial murder by who survives incredible finds himself drawn to the Being the only hearing accident. Following a All films are currently on general release abuse and bigotry. Also mysterious girl with kohl- member of a deaf and somewhat low profile on unless otherwise stated. For full listing stars Oprah Winfrey & brimmed eyes and billow- mute family, Paula is the big screen in recent struggling to find her information, including times and dates, Danny Glover. Showing at ing hijab. Stars Sheila years, Robert Carlyle (The Artrix, Bromsgrove, Thurs vand & Arash Manesh. voice and make her own Full Monty) comes back visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk 22 Oct Showing at Foxlowe Arts life decisions. After discov- with a bang, making his Centre, Leek, Staffs, Tues ering a talent for singing directorial debut to boot. 45 Years 15 whom she might just The Diary Of A Teenage 13 Oct and receiving encourage- Also stars Emma Thomp- Kate and Geoff Mercer share her secret… Stars Girl 18 ment from her choir son. Showing at Royal (Charlotte Rampling & Blake Lively & Michiel Longing for love, Minnie teacher, she decides to Spa Centre, Leamington Tom Courtenay) are plan- Huisman. Showing at sets her sights on her hip- pursue a singing career, Hotel Transylvania PG Spa, Sat 17 Oct ning their forty-fifth wed- Stourbridge Town Hall, pie mother’s boyfriend, leaving the family facing Dracula operates a high- ding anniversary when an Mon 5 Oct the happy-go-lucky Mon- numerous challenges. A Little Chaos 12a end resort away from the unexpected discovery roe. The ’70s palette of Stars Karin Viard & There just aren’t enough Appropriate Behaviour human world. He goes threatens to torpedo the burgeoning feminism, François Damiens. Show- films about landscape 15 into overprotective mode celebration, not to men- bad acid trips and brown ing at Warwick Arts Cen- gardeners. This one pits An offbeat comedy telling when a boy discovers the tion the couple’s mar- corduroy is enlivened by tre, Coventry, Fr2 2 & Sun Kate Winslet’s Sabine the tale of Shirin, whose resort and falls for the riage… Both Ms bursts of psychedelic ani- 4 Oct against the designs of family don’t know is bisex- count's teenaged daugh- Rampling and Mr Courte- mation that perfectly illus- André Le Nôtre, both of ual. Following her ter. Featuring the voices of Laurel & Hardy - In nay won best acting trate Minnie’s blossoming whom are competing to brother’s engagement, Adam Sandler & Kevin Trouble U gongs at this year’s Berlin imagination. Stars Bel win the prize of construct- Shirin embarks on a pri- James. Showing at The Three classic films from Film Festival. Showing at Powley, Alexander Skars- ing a new fountain at the vate rebellion... Stars De- Hive, Shrewsbury, Fri 30 one of the biggest com- Stoke Film Theatre, Fri 2 - gård & Kristen Wiig. Palace of Versailles. Alan siree Akhavan. Showing at Oct edy double acts of all Sat 3 & Tues 6 Oct; War- Showing at The Courtyard, Rickman plays King Louis The Hive, Shrewsbury, Sat time, Stan Laurel and wick Arts Centre, Coven- Hereford, Sat 3 - Wed 7 XIV. Also stars Matthias 17 Oct The Imitation Game 12a Oliver Hardy, which find try, Fri 2 - Thurs 8 Oct; The Oct Schoenaerts. Showing at Based on the biography the duo in deep trouble Courtyard, Hereford, Sat 3 Stourbridge Town Hall, Far From The Madding Alan Turing: The Enigma with their long-suffering - Wed 7 Oct; Roses The- Mon 19 Oct Crowd 12a by Andrew Hodges, the wives. Chickens Come atre, Tewkesbury, Mon 5 - The last time Thomas film chronicles Turing’s Home (1931), Their First Me And Earl And The Sat 10 Oct; Royal Spa WATCH Hardy’s immortal 1874 part in winning the Sec- Mistake (1932) and Blotto Dying Girl 12a Centre, Leamington Spa, novel was adapted for ond World War (by help- (1930). Showing at mac, Social misfit Greg and his Tues 6 Oct; Festival Dray- THE FILM the screen was courtesy ing to crack the Nazi’s Birmingham, until Thurs 1 friend and ‘co-worker’ Earl ton Centre, Market Dray- of the modern-day, thinly Enigma code) and then Oct spend most of their time ton, Fri 9 - Sat 10 Oct TRAILERS AT disguised Tamara Drewe his criminal prosecution making hilarious parodies The Abominable Crime (2010), with Gemma for being homosexual. Legend 15 of arthouse films. When whatsonlive.co.uk Stars Benedict Cumber- Tom Hardy stars opposite A documentary that gives Arterton. Thomas Vinter- Greg’s mum urges him to batch & Keira Knightley. Tom Hardy in this biogra- voice to gay Jamaicans berg’s version is strictly of spend time with a girl who Showing at Forest Arts phical thriller about the who, in the face of en- the costumed variety, set has Leukaemia, an unex- Centre, Walsall, Fri 9 Oct notorious twins, Ronald demic anti-gay violence, in Victorian England. Stars pected friendship devel- 15 and Reginald Kray. Based are forced to flee their Biutiful Carey Mulligan & Matthias ops. Stars Thomas Mann, This is the journey of Inside Out U on John Pearson’s 1972 homeland. The film fol- Schoenaerts. Showing at Olivia Cooke & RJ Cyler. Uxbal, a conflicted man Largely set inside the book, The Profession Of lows Simone Edwards, a The Courtyard, Hereford, Showing at Roses The- who struggles to reconcile brain of an eleven-year- Violence: The Rise And mother, and Maurice Tom- Wed 14 - Thurs 15 Oct atre, Tewkesbury, Tues 13 fatherhood, love, spiritual- old girl, the film’s five pro- Fall Of The Kray Twins. linson, a human rights ac- Oct; Stoke Film Theatre, ity, crime, guilt and mortal- Girl Rising PG tagonists are the Also stars Emily Brown- tivist, as they navigate the Fri 16 - Sat 17 Oct ity amidst the dangerous From Academy Award- emotions that dominate ing. Showing at mac, conflict of loving their underworld of modern nominated director her actions: Joy, Fear, Birmingham, until Thurs 1 Manglehorn 12a homeland and staying Barcelona. His livelihood Richard E Robbins, Girl Anger, Disgust and Sad- Oct; Malvern Theatres, Al Pacino got terrific re- alive. Showing at The is earned out of bounds, Rising journeys around ness, each given its own until Thurs 1 Oct; Old Mar- views for this drama, in Drum, Birmingham, Wed his sacrifices for his chil- the globe to witness the voice. But there’s more to ket Hall, Shrewsbury, Fri 2 which he plays an eccen- 21 Oct dren. Stars Javier Bardem strength of the human this set-up than meets the - Thurs 8 Oct tric, small-town locksmith mind, as Joy and Sad- Absolutely Anything 12a & Maricel Álvarez. Show- spirit and the power of ed- in Texas still mourning an ness get lost! Showing at Life 15 As an off-the-wall experi- ing at The Hive, Shrews- ucation to change the unresolved relationship of The Courtyard, Hereford, Based on a friendship ment, a gaggle of un- bury, Wed 28 Oct world. Viewers get to twenty years ago. Also Sat 10 Oct; Artrix, Broms- with Life photographer orthodox aliens decide to know nine unforgettable stars Holly Hunter. Show- U grove, Mon 26 - Tues 27 Dennis Stock. Celebrated confer a disenchanted, Cinderella girls living in the develop- ing at The Courtyard, Once upon a time... Oh, Oct photographer Anton Cor- human school teacher ing world: ordinary girls Hereford, Fri 9 - Tues 13 don’t let us spoil the plot bijn is the man behind the with the ability to do ab- who confront tremendous Oct for you. Let’s just say Irrational Man 12a camera. Corbijn previ- solutely anything. Stars challenges and overcome there are long work hours, Fans of William Barrett’s ously helmed the cele- Miss Julie 12a Simon Pegg & Kate Beck- nearly impossible odds to really horrible step-sisters 1958 eponymous book, a brated Control (2007) - August Strindberg’s play insale. Showing at Festival pursue their dreams. and a rather dashing study in existential philos- about Ian Curtis and Joy on class and gender has Drayton Centre, Market Showing at Foxlowe Arts prince. ‘This version actu- ophy, may thrill to Woody Division - and the reward- been filmed twice before Drayton, Fri 2 Oct; Artrix, Centre, Leek, Staffs, Wed ally adheres more to Dis- Allen’s latest comedy- ingly intelligent The Ameri- on the big screen, and is Bromsgrove, Tues 6 Oct 7 Oct ney’s classic cartoon drama. Here, Joaquin can, with George here directed by the ac- Phoenix plays an alco- The Age Of Adaline 12a version of 1950 than A Girl Walks Home Clooney. Stars Robert Pat- tress Liv Ullmann. Show- holic, unconventional phi- Some accidents come at Charles Perrault’s original Alone At Night PG tinson & Dane DeHaan. ing at Warwick Arts losophy professor who a price. The reclusive folk story. Stars Cate In the deadbeat Iranian Showing at Warwick Arts Centre, Tues 6 - Wed 7 embarks on an irrational Adaline Bowman, follow- Blanchett & Lily James. ghost town of Bad City, a Centre, Coventry, Sun 18 - Oct; Old Market Hall, act in order to salvage his ing an accident, is ren- Showing at Forest Arts lone female vampire Thurs 22 Oct Shrewsbury, Fri 9 - Thurs ego. Devotees of Niet- dered ageless, for all Centre, Walsall, Fri 30 Oct stalks the streets looking 15 Oct zsche may also get a kick The Legend Of Barney intents and purposes re- for prey. Across town, re- 15 out of Woody’s worldview. Thomson 15 Mr. Holmes 12a maining twenty-nine for al- The Color Purple luctantly and against his An epic tale spanning Showing at Warwick Arts Unlike Sweeney Todd, the Just when you think most eight decades. She better nature, Arash is forty years in the life of Centre, Coventry, Fri 9 - Demon Barber of Fleet they’ve tried every angle then meets a man with pulled into Bad City’s un-

FOREST ARTS CENTRE, WAL- ODEON TELFORD ODEON TAMWORTH Worcestershire CINEMA Box Office SALL 01922 645 555 0871 224 4007 0871 224 4007 ARTRIX, BROMSGROVE OMH SHREWSBURY 01527 577330 Shropshire 01743 281281 Warwickshire Birmingham SHOWCASE 0871 220 1000 MALVERN THEATRE VUE CINEMA Star City 08712 CINEWORLD, SHREWSBURY WEM TOWN HALL ODEON COVENTRY 0845 287 2146 CINEWORLD Broad St, B’ham 0871 200 2000 01939 232299 0871 224 4007 240 240 THE NORBURY THEATRE, 0871 200 2000 THE EDGE ARTS CENTRE, Staffordshire ODEON NUNEATON DROITWICH SPA CINEWORLD Solihull Black Country MUCH WENLOCK 0871 224 4007 08444 777 1000 0871 200 2000 CINEWORLD W’HAMPTON 01952 728 911 CINEWORLD, BURTON-UPON- SHOWCASE, COVENTRY TRENT 0871 200 2000 WAREHOUSE, ELECTRIC, B’ham 0871 200 2000 FESTIVAL DRAYTON CENTRE, 0871 220 1000 0121 643 7879 THE STAFFORD CINEMA, KIDDERMINSTER LIGHT HOUSE MEDIA CEN- MARKET DRAYTON VUE, LEAMINGTON SPA 01562 747773 EMPIRE 0871 471 4714 TRE, W’HAMPTON 01902 01630 654 444 STAFFORD 08712 240 240 716055 0207 438 9580 VUE, WORCESTER MILLENNIUM POINT THE HIVE, SHREWSBURY PICTURE HOUSE, STRAT- 0871 224 0240 0121 202 2222 ODEON MERRY HILL, DUD- 01743 234 970 FOXLOWE ARTS CENTRE, FORD-UPON-AVON 0871 902 THE ROSE’S THEATRE, MAC 0121 446 3232 LEY 0871 22 44007 LUDLOW ASSEMBLY ROOMS LEEK 01538 386 112 5741 SHOWCASE, DUDLEY 01584 878 141 STOKE FILM THEATRE, 01782 TEWKESBURY ODEON 0871 224 4007 WARWICK ARTS CENTRE 01684 295 074 0871 220 1000 411188 COVENTRY 02476 524524 REEL Quinton 0121 421 5316 MAJESTIC, BRIDGNORTH 01746 761815

54 www.whatsonlive.co.uk Film A-Z October.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 20:38 Page 2

on Sherlock Holmes, The Salvation15 Selma12a Timbuktu12a Shrewsbury, Sat 17 Oct where his dreams of along comes a new inter- This is a Danish cowboy The story of Martin Luther The story of a simple cat- greatness are mentored A Walk In The Woods12 pretation. In this version, drama shot in South King’s legendary march tle herder and his wife and by an instructor who will It’s hard to imagine Bill Holmes is retired and suf- Africa. Mads Mikkelsen from Selma to Mont- what happens to them stop at nothing to realise a Bryson’s 1998 memoir fering from dementia but plays a settler whose fam- gomery, Alabama, in when the Malian city of student’s potential. Stars being turned into a film, let still resolved to solve a ily is murdered, and so he 1965, to secure equal vot- the title is occupied by Is- Miles Teller & JK Sim- alone having Robert Red- fifty-year-old case. Stars takes the law into his own ing rights for black Ameri- lamic Jihadists. Set in mons. Showing at The ford play Bryson. The Ian McKellen, Laura Lin- hands... Expect strong vi- cans. Stars David 2012. Stars Abel Jafri & Edge Arts Centre, Much cuddly Bryson was in his ney.Showing at Artrix, olence. Also stars Eva Oyelowo & Tom Wilkin- Hichem Yacoubi.Showing Wenlock, Mon 12 Oct mid-forties then and Red- Bromsgrove, Thurs 29 Oct Green & Eric Cantona. son. Showing at The at Foxlowe Arts Centre, ford is seventy-eight now. Who Polices The Showing at Foxlowe Arts Drum, Birmingham, Thurs Leek, Staffs, Tues 20 Oct Peppermint Candy12a The walk in the woods Police? Centre, Leek, Staffs, Tue 6 15 Oct Backtracking from his sui- was actually a two thou- Sean Rigg died in a Oct Two Days, One Night15 cide as a broken and de- The SpongeBob Movie: Sandra has one week to sand, two hundred-mile caged area in Brixton Po- pressed man, this film The Second Best Exotic Sponge Out Of WaterU convince her workmates trek along the Ap- lice Station in August recounts the life of Yong- Marigold HotelPG You just can’t keep a to give up their bonuses palachian Trail, an amble 2008. Using powerful tes- ho, from his tragic demise The sequel in which the good sponge down. so that she can keep her that was somewhat com- timonies, poetry and a po- to his innocent and ideal- hapless Sonny Kapoor Here, the jolly yellow sea job... Stars Marion Cotil- plicated by the accompa- litical analysis of police istic youth, in reverse (Dev Patel) has opened sponge joins forces with lard & Fabrizio Rongione. niment of Bryson’s violence, the film explores order. Stars Kyung-gu Sol. the new hostelry of the his adversary Plankton to Showing at The Hive, dissolute ‘former’ friend, the tactics of the IPCC Showing at The Hive, title, in spite of his im- help retrieve his precious Shrewsbury, Fri 23 Oct Stephen Katz (Nick and, through the family of Shrewsbury, Wed 14 Oct pending marriage. Still, he ‘Krabby Patty’ formula. Nolte).Showing at War- Rigg, challenge its claim has a new co-manager, The villain of the piece - Tuplan12a wick Arts Centre, Coven- that it is independent of Ricki And The Flash12a the dauntless Muriel Don- pirate named Burger- Young Asa travels back try, Fri 9 - Thurs 15 Oct the police.Showing at The Having sung in Postcards nelly (Maggie Smith). Also Beard - is played by Anto- from the city to the steppe Drum, Birmingham, Thurs From the Edge, A Prairie The Way He Looks12 stars Judi Dench & Bill nio Banderas.Showing at where his family live a no- 29 Oct Home Companion, Leonardo and Giovana Nighy.Showing at The Forest Arts Centre, Walsall, madic life. He wants to Mamma Mia! and Into are best friends. Like all Wild15 Edge Arts Centre, Much Wed 28 Oct become a shepherd and The Woods, Meryl Streep teenagers they yearn for Adapted (by Nick Hornby) Wenlock, South Shrop- get married but encoun- returns to the music more independence and, from her own memoir, this shire, Mon 19 Oct Theeb15 ters some surprising ob- scene to play Ricki Ren- Theeb is a young stacles. Starring being blind, Leonardo is the story of Cheryl dazzo, a rocker who pur- Song For MarionPG Bedouin boy, engaged Tolepbergen Baisakalov & even more so. They Strayed, who hiked one sued her dreams of This dramatic comedy upon a perilous desert Samal Yeslyamova. dream of going abroad thousand, one hundred stardom over the needs of stars Vanessa Redgrave journey with his elder Showing at The Hive, and of experiencing love’s miles of the Pacific Crest her family. Then she at- as Marion, a woman brother Hussein, guiding Shrewsbury, Fri 9 Oct first kiss. Gabriel, the new Trail - alone. Reese With- tempts a reconciliation dying of cancer. Her hus- a secretive British officer boy at school, becomes erspoon, Laura Dern & with her daughter, Julie band (Terence Stamp), to a clandestine ren- Victim12 fast friends with them Thomas Sadoski star. (played by Streep’s real- curmudgeon that he is, dezvous, encountering In 1960s London, barrister both, but ultimately three Showing at The Edge Arts life daughter, Mamie agrees to join her senior Arab revolutionaries, Ot- Melville Farr’s life is near becomes a crowd... Stars Centre, Much Wenlock, Gummer).Showing at singing group because he toman mercenaries and perfect, with a loving mar- Fabio Audi & Ghilherme South Shropshire, Mon 26 Warwick Arts Centre, knows how happy it bloodthirsty raiders en riage and successful ca- Lobo. Showing at Old Oct; Foxlowe Arts Centre, Coventry, until Thurs 1 makes her. It’s really not route.Showing at Stoke reer. However, when Market Theatre, Shrews- Leek, Staffs, Tues 27 Oct Oct; The Courtyard, Here- his thing, though, and Film Theatre, Tues 13 Oct; blackmailers link Farr to a bury, Fri 16 Oct ford, Fri 9 - Thurs 15 Oct; he’s surprised by the ef- Roses Theatre, Tewkes- young gay man, every- Whiplash15 Artrix, Bromsgrove, Sun 18 fect it has on him.Show- bury, Mon 26 Oct thing Farr has worked for A promising young drum- - Tues 20 Oct; Roses The- ing at The Courtyard, is threatened. Stars Dirk mer enrolls at a cut-throat atre, Tewkesbury, Mon 19 Hereford, Tues 13 Oct Bogarde & Sylvia Syms. - Thurs 22 Oct Showing at The Hive, music conservatory

DVD NEW RELEASES Good People 15 Insidious Chapter 3 15 NB. If you stumble The second outing in this across a large cache of horror franchise received somebody else’s money a somewhat lukewarm and don’t tell anybody, reception. The film’s pro- the likelihood is that you ducers opted for a pre- will invite more trouble quel this time round. So into your life than you the psychic Elise Rainier can handle. At least, in (Shaye) finds herself re- the movies. And that’s luctantly aiding a what happens to Tom teenage girl badgered by and Anna Wright (James a malevolent supernatu- Franco, Kate Hudson), ral entity. an American couple liv- Released 12 Oct ing in London up to their ears in debt. Released 5 Oct

Mister Holmes PG Just when you think they’ve tried every angle on Sherlock Holmes, along comes a new inter- pretation. In this version, Mad Max: Fury Road 15 Holmes is retired and Thirty years after the last suffering from dementia Mad Max film and but still resolved to solve twenty-five years in ‘de- a fifty-year-old case. velopment hell’, Fury Based on the 2005 novel Road has arrived. Two A Slight Trick Of The Mind by Mitch Cullin. rebels - a man and a 12a Released 26 Oct Jurassic World woman - join forces to Jurassic World is the continuing story of the Costa Rica theme park, a somewhat different place than it circumnavigate the was twenty-two years ago. However, in spite of everything now running smoothly, visitor rates have de- desert in a post-apoca- clined. So, in an effort to sex the place up, the Masrani Global Corporation decides to create a hybrid di- lyptic universe gone nosaur, the Indominus Rex. Of course, it’s all a terrible mistake… Word has it that Steven Spielberg – mad… Stars Tom Hardy, along with the screenwriter Mark Protosevich – came up with a story idea for the film, but it was rejected. Charlize Theron and Zoë However, to honour Spielberg, director Trevorrow introduced sharks as scrummy morsels for the di- Kravitz. nosaurs. Stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. Released 5 Oct Released 19 Oct

www.whatsonlive.co.uk 55 Christmas Feature October.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 21:28 Page 1 Christmas Feature October.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 21:28 Page 2 Looking ahead to Christmas! It may only be October, but theatres around the region are already busying themselves with preparations for the festive season. And, as always, there are plenty of big names winging their way to the Midlands to appear in some of the best pantos in the land… A bumper treat awaits Midlands theatre-goers this Christmas, with a The RSC, for instance, is taking a more serious approach to JM Santa’s sackful of stars descending on the region. Barrie’s classic tale of the boy who wouldn’t grow up. Ella Hickson’s With its long-held reputation for hosting the country’s biggest pan- acclaimed production of Wendy And Peter Pan features Benidorm tomime, the Birmingham Hippodrome this year presents Aladdin. Its actor Adam Gillen as pirate’s cabin boy and Tink’s love interest, Martin. all-star cast features Wet, Wet, Wet frontman Marti Pellow, panto veter- Elsewhere, the award-winning Hairspray The Musical stops off at an Julian Clary, West End star Lee Mead and comic genius Matt Slack. Birmingham’s New Alexandra Theatre, a brand new production of The Up the motorway at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, meanwhile, Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe runs at the Birmingham REP, and comedy legends the Chuckle Brothers promise plenty of laughs as The Gruffalo’s Child enjoys an adventure at Warwick Arts Centre. And Starky and Smee in the swashbuckling tale of Peter Pan. The for those who like their festive tales good’n’ghostly, a new version of Chucklevision duo are joined by the ultimate Mr Nasty, John Altman - Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol shows at Birmingham’s Old Joint better known as EastEnders’ badboy Nick Cotton. Stock Theatre. Moving north of the region, Stoke’s much-loved son Jonny Wilkes A new kid on the block for 2015 is Cinderella, at the Barclaycard Arena. makes his near-annual ‘festive pilgrimage’ to his home town, this year Claiming to be the ‘world’s biggest pantomime’, the production fea- performing alongside regular sidekick Christian Patterson in another tures Bradley Walsh, Paul O’Grady, Dick & Dom and a cast of over one version of Peter Pan. hundred. If panto’s not your thing, fear not, as there are plenty of festive alterna- For more information on festive offerings in the region, visit tives available. whatsonlive.co.uk

JACK AND THE THE WITCHES Wed 9 THE LOST GIFT Sat 12 THE THREE MUSKE- LISTINGS BEANSTALK Sat 5 Dec - Dec - Sun 10 Jan, The Dec - Thu 31 Dec, TEERS Thurs 17 Dec - Festive show Sun 27 Dec, Bedworth Curve Leicester, from Warwick Arts Centre, Sun 3 Jan, Playbox Civic Hall, Warwickshire £12 - £16 Coventry, £12 - £14 Theatre, Warwick, £14 £8.25 - £22.25 ERIC’S CHRISTMAS £9 - £14.50, Family tick- JACK AND THE PETER PAN Starring The CINDERELLA Sat 19 PARTY Mon 30 Nov - Sat THE GRUFFALO’S CHILD ets £45 12 Dec, New Vic BEANSTALK Thurs 10 Chuckle Brothers and Dec - Tue 29 Dec, Prince Thu 26 Nov - Sun 3 Jan, Theatre, Newcastle- JACK AND THE Dec - Sun 20 Dec, John Altman, Sat 12 Of Wales Theatre, Warwick Arts Centre, under-Lyme, £16.00 BEANSTALK Sat 5 Dec - Forest Arts Centre, Dec - Sun 24 Jan, Cannock, £14 - £48 Coventry, £14.50 £22.50 Sat 2 Jan, Royal Spa Walsall, £5.50 - £7 Grand Theatre, PETER PAN Sat 19 Dec - CINDERELLA Sat 28 Nov Centre, Leamington, Wolverhampton, £17.00 WENDY & PETER PAN SANTA’S RUSTY ROBOT Sun 2 Jan, Blue Orange - Sat 2 Jan, Roses from £12.50 - £31.50 Tue 17 Nov - Sun 31 Presented by Imagine Theatre, Birmingham Theatre, Tewkesbury, Jan, Royal Shakespeare JACK AND THE Theatre, Thurs 10 - DICK WHITTINGTON £11 £11.50 - £24.25 Theatre, Stratford-upon- BEANSTALK Sat 5 Dec - Thurs 24 Dec, Belgrade Presented by All & ALADDIN Starring Marti Avon, £6 - £65 THE WIZARD OF OZ Sun 3 Jan, Lichfield Theatre, Coventry, £7.25 Sundry, Sun 13 Dec - Pellow, Julian Clary, Lee Mon 30 Nov - Sat 5 Dec, Garrick, Staffs, £12.50 - - £10.25 Sun 20 Dec, Artrix TREASURE ISLAND Mead and Matt Slack, Rose Theatre, £21.50, Family tickets Theatre, Bromsgrove, Presented by Scott PETER PAN Starring Sat 19 Dec - Sun 31 Kidderminster, £12.50 £63 £14 - £15, Family tickets Ritchie and BOA, Fri 20 Mark Moraghan and £43 - £47 Jan, Birmingham Nov - Sun 3 Jan, Old DICK WHITTINGTON JACK AND THE Hannah-Jane Fox, Hippodrome, £14 - £42 Rep, Birmingham, BEANSTALK Starring Thurs 10 Dec - Sun 3 HAIRSPRAY THE MUSI- Wed 2 Dec - Sun 10 DOREEN’S CHRISTMAS £15.95, Family tickets Jan, Theatre Severn, Eternal’s Vernie Bennett Jan, Malvern Theatres, CAL Mon 14 Dec - Sat 2 CRACKER Mon 21 Dec - £55 Shrewsbury £11.50 - £23 and X Factor’s Lloyd £10.34 - £26.88 Jan, New Alexandra Daniels, Mon 7 Dec - Theatre, Birmingham Tue 22 Dec, Rose ROBIN HOOD & MARIAN CINDERELLA: A Sun 3 Jan, Palace ALADDIN Fri 11 Dec - from £15 - £67.40 Theatre, Kidderminster, Sat 21 Nov - Sat 30 Jan, FAIRYTALE Thurs 3 Dec Theatre, Redditch, £18 - Sun 3 Jan, Solihull Arts £12.50 New Vic Theatre, Complex, £16 - £19 A CHRISTMAS CAROL - Sat 9 Jan, mac, £65.25 WE’RE GOING ON A Newcastle-under-Lyme, Birmingham, £8.50 - £21 Tue 15 Dec - Wed 23 £16 - £23 SNOW WHITE AND THE JACK AND THE Dec, Old Joint Stock BEARHUNT Tues 22 Dec GRIMM TALES Sat 5 - SEVEN DWARFS Tue 8 BEANSTALK Fri 11 Dec - Theatre, Birmingham, - Wed 13 Jan, Town Hall, BEAUTY AND THE Sat 19 Dec, Crescent Dec - Sun 3 Jan, The Sun 10 Jan, Stafford Peter£15 Pan, Regent Theatre Birmingham £12 - £14 BEAST Wed 25 Nov - Theatre, Birmingham, £8 Place, Oakengates, Gatehouse Theatre, £18 Sat 9 Jan, Belgrade - £15, Family tickets £36 Shropshire, £9.50 - (£14) Family tickets £58 Theatre, Warwickshire £17.50

Peter Pan, Regent Theatre Peter Pan, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre Aladdin, Birmingham Hippodrome www.whatsonlive.co.uk 57 Christmas Feature October.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 21:28 Page 3 Christmas Feature October.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 21:28 Page 4

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www.whatsonlive.co.uk 61 Visual Arts Region 1 October NEW.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 15:38 Page 1

62 www.whatsonlive.co.uk Visual Arts Region 1 October NEW.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 15:39 Page 2 Visual Arts

Flinck In Focus The Barber Institute, Birmingham, Fri 23 October - Sun 24 January Seventeenth century portrait artist and history painter Govert Flinck was not only among Rembrandt’s most talented pupils but in his day also developed a reputation that was very much on a par with that of his master. The intervening centuries, however, have not been kind to Flinck - so much so, in fact, that today his name is relatively unknown... This new exhibition marks the four hun- dredth anniversary of Flinck’s birth and offers an ideal opportunity to learn more about one of the Dutch Golden Age’s most talented painters.

Punk Rock? So What!! Parkside Gallery, Birmingham, until Sat 31 October A selection of punk graphic and visual material spanning the past forty years is brought together in this engaging new exhibition. The show seeks to demonstrate connections, sty- listic conventions and patterns of engagement, as well as the evolution of punk’s visual language and identity across diverse regions and cultures. Enchanted Dreams Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Sat 17 October - Sun 21 February This is the first ever exhibition to be dedicated to Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Robert Display Show Hughes. Eastside Projects, Birmingham, Hughes has been largely overlooked since his death one hundred-and-one years ago, a until Sat 12 December fact which is somewhat surprising given his contribution to British art. This thought-provoking and, on a level, mind-bog- Among many of his hugely familiar and often-reproduced images is his 1908 fairy vision gling exhibition asks whether any object can be of Midsummer Eve, a painting which he exhibited in London just prior to the First World separated from the way in which it is shown, War. repaired, treated, classified, owned and valued. And it was Hughes who painted Birmingham Museums’ most popular watercolour, Night The presentation includes an ongoing survey of With Her Train Of Stars, produced by the artist just two short years before his death. radical display practices from the twentieth centu- This fascinating exhibition - accompanied by a programme of talks, special events and ry, such as those associated with Franco Albini, workshops - features numerous paintings, drawings and watercolours, many of which Lina Bo Bardi and Carlo Scarpa... have remained unseen in the hundred-plus years since Hughes’ death. Display Show is one of a series of group exhibi- tions and productions which have been designed ‘to effect change upon the existing conditions of Making It: Sculpture In Britain: 1977 - 1986 Eastside Projects’. Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Thurs 8 October - Sun 29 November A ten-year period during which a new generation of artists introduced a fresh approach to sculpture is explored in this new exhibition. Featuring sculptures by world-renowned artists including Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Julian Opie, Cornelia Parker, David Nash and Richard Deacon, Making It highlights a time of great social, political and economic change. Commenting on the show, Fiona Venables, Deputy Curator at Mead Gallery, said: “The late 1970s and early 1980s was such a pivotal time for sculpture in this country. This is a good time to stop and reflect on the work of a pioneering generation of British artists.”

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continuously around the gallery, until Sun 29 Nov, VisualArts PREVIEWS VisualArts LISTINGS mac, Birmingham OF TIME AND THE RAILWAY BY ROBERT DAVIES A film about the railway line between Birmingham and For full listing information on Visual Art Aberystwyth, filmed by Robert Davies from the dri- Further exhibitions exhibitions, including times and dates, ver's cab of the train, recorded weekly over twelve visit whatsonlive.co.uk months, until Sat 5 Dec, Wolverhampton Art Gallery DISPLAY SHOW One in a series of group exhibitions War Games #NICKLINUNSEEN An outdoor photographic exhibi- and productions which have been designed ‘to Herbert Museum & Art Gallery, Coventry, tion showing a changing Birmingham in the 50’s & effect change upon the existing condition of Sat 10 October - Sun 17 January 60’s, Fri 2nd Oct - Jan 2016, Snow Hill Square, Eastside Projects’, until Sat 12 Dec, Eastside Birmingham Projects, Birmingham This highly interactive touring exhibition from A HISTORY OF US Miniature history of humanity pre- the V&A Museum of Childhood in London FLORE NOVE-JOSSERAND ‘CITY GROWTH BLUES’ A sented across a forty-four-metre display, until Sun 4 space created by artist Nove-Josserand, displaying explores the controversy surrounding child- Oct, Herbert Museum & Art Gallery, Coventry a number of architectural hoardings through draw- hood engagement IT'S ALL ABOUT THE HENS Exhibition about hens by ing, painting, photographing and constructing, until with war, examin- artists and 'hen-enthusiasts' Ali McQuail and Lady Sat 12 Dec, Eastside Projects, Birmingham ing the role of Jane Gray, until Sat 10 Oct, Harborne Art Gallery, CHINESE COLLECTION RE-DISPLAY Consisting of over armed conflict in Birmingham one hundred objects spanning over three thousand the games young- SIR TERRY FROST RA (1915-2003): A LEAMINGTON LAD years, until Sun 13 Dec, Compton Verney Gallery, sters play. This exhibition, in the year which marks the cente- Warwickshire Children visiting nary of the artist’s birth, includes a large number of LANDSCAPE WITH MACHINES Artworks by leading works which haven’t been displayed before, until the show are contemporary artists, such as Jeremy Deller and Sun 11 Oct, Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum Tony Cragg, shown alongside selected pieces from encouraged to BRICK CITY: THE WORLD’S MOST ICONIC BUILDINGS & the museum’s nationally designated collection of dress up and par- LANDMARKS IN LEGO Celebration of some of the Industrial Art, until Fri 18 Dec, Coalbrookdale ticipate in a range world’s most famous buildings, Mon until Sun 11 Gallery, Ironbridge, Shropshire of thought-provok- Oct, Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery BIRMINGHAM PEOPLE AND CHANGE IN THE INNER-CITY ing activities, to EMMA HART: BIG MOUTH Unique in every way, Display exploring the way in which ordinary investigate how Emma’s sculptures go where other pieces fear to Birmingham people have been represented in art games of war have tread, until Sat 31 Oct, Grand Union, Birmingham during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, until Thurs 31 Dec, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery evolved across the RE-MAKING THE PAST Six contemporary makers ages. respond to inspiration from pre-history, until Sat 31 20TH CENTURY BRITISH STUDIO CERAMICS A display of Oct, Bilston Craft Gallery seventy-eight pieces of studio ceramics made by twenty-nine potters working in England and Wales STILL WITH US: THE STORY OF YARDLEY PEOPLE IN during the twentieth century, until Thurs 31 Dec, WORLD WAR ONE until Sun 1 Nov, Blakesley Hall, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Jet Rotmans: Birmingham THE AGE OF INNOCENCE Works by William Hogarth & HELEN SNELL: BURNT OUT A Tale Of Two Cities Digital laser and water jet John Brett feature in this exhibition, which explores cutting techniques are here used to explore themes Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery, the evolving imagery of children and childhood, of imperialism, exploration, survival and the quest until Sun 13 December until 10 Jan, The Barber Institute, Birmingham for knowledge, until Sun 1 Nov, Shire Hall Gallery, Cementing a connection stretching back to Stafford MATT COLLISHAW Works in sculpture, photography, film & installation which ably test the richness and the sixteenth century but most particularly in BIRMINGHAM PASTEL SOCIETY Exhibition in the show- breadth of the artist’s practice, until Sun 10 Jan, evidence since the Second World War, the case gallery, until Sun 1 Nov, Red House Glass New Art Gallery, Walsall towns of Shrewsbury and Zutphen in the Cone, Stourbridge MADE AT MAC: PHOTOGRAPHY A showcase of work THE HOSPITAL IN THE OATFIELD Netherlands were twinned in 1977. Exhibition of ten from two Kate Green-led courses, until Sun 10 Jan, This new exhibition of work by Zutphen artist paintings by French artist Victor Tardieu, recently mac Birmingham Jet Romans seeks to compare and contrast acquired by the Florence Nightingale Museum, until Sun 1 Nov, Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford LOWRY & BERRY: OBSERVERS OF URBAN LIFE Works the two destinations, with much of the work by distinguished artist LS Lowry and his local coun- RBSA PRIZE FOR INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY, WIN- being exhibited in the form of Jet’s favourite terpart Arthur Berry are here brought together for NERS & RUNNERS-UP Awarded each year to gradu- medium, the artists’ book. The show also the first time, until Sun 10 Jan, The Potteries ates from Birmingham City University’s School of Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent features acrylic paintings, poetry and films, Jewellery, until Mon 2 Nov, RBSA Gallery, as well as a scrapbook of archive material. Birmingham A TOUCH OF TEXTURE CRAFT EXHIBITION Featuring jewellery made using alternative materials including ICON Solo exhibition of work by Ian McIntyre which leather, felt, cotton, wool, silk and velvet, until Sat responds to the British Ceramics Biennial’s theme 16 Jan, RBSA Gallery, Birmingham of The Production Line, until Sat 7 Nov, Airspace Fiona Banner: Scroll Down Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent THIS IS NOT A JOKE Exhibition that looks at how some contemporary artists use different facets of SOCIETY OF STAFFORDSHIRE ARTISTS And Keep Scrolling Exhibition of humour, until 16 Jan, The Barber Institute, society members’ work, until Sat 7 Nov, The Birmingham Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Nicholson Museum & Art Gallery, Leek Sat 10 October - Sun 17 January INHERITING ROME Exhibition which uses money to FRACTURE: WWI TO 21ST CENTURY HEALING A new explore and question our deep-seated familiarity “This show isn’t a survey, more of an anti-sur- digital installation, working in partnership with the with the Roman Empire’s imagery, until Sun 24 Jan, vey,” explains Fiona Banner in talking about world-renowned RJAH Orthopaedic Hospital NHS The Barber Institute, Birmingham her new Ikon exhibition. “It suggests some- Foundation Trust, until Mon 9 Nov, Qube Gallery, Oswestry, North Shropshire EPSTEIN'S ROCK DRILL I TRANSFORMED BY WAR Rock thing objective, historical and fixed. This is Drill was destroyed by Epstein at the end of 1915 THE RICHES BENEATH US subjective; nothing else is possible.” Objects with a local con- and reformed into the truncated Torso In Metal from nection showing how the former collieries and lime- The most comprehensive exhibition of Rock Drill, until Sun 24 Jan, The New Art Gallery, stone quarries contributed to the assembly of Walsall Banner’s work to date, Scroll Down And astounding fossils, until Sun 15 Nov, Bantock Keep Scrolling re-presents some of the House & Park, Wolverhampton THE CLIVE BEARDSMORE GIFT The 2015 interventions into the Garman Ryan Collection is a selection from artist’s key early projects alongside recent HIROSHIGE’S JAPAN: 53 STATIONS OF THE TOKAIDO a substantial gift of artworks donated to the gallery ROAD and unseen works that span a period of Famous series from one of the great masters by a private collector, Clive Beardsmore, until Sun twenty-five years. of Japanese landscape print, until Sat 21 Nov, 24 Jan, The New Art Gallery, Walsall Wolverhampton Art Gallery Throughout the exhibition, Fiona revisits her MINTON ARCHIVE An interactive exhibition of some of JOHN HOPKINS ARBSA work with an engaging intensity and humour. Display of studio and ‘plein the museum’s Minton pieces, until Sun 27 Mar, The Commenting on the exhibition (but clearly air’ watercolours, until Sat 21 Nov, RBSA Gallery, Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent Birmingham not taking his cue MENTAL SPACES An ongoing project containing work from Banner’s denial ILLUSTRATION BEATS EXPLANATION Featuring works by contemporary artists who use comics, story- produced by local artists affiliated to the Asylum Art that the show is a boards & drawings as a visual way to convey new Gallery, until Sat 2 Apr, Light House Media Centre, survey), Ikon Director ideas about the world, until Sat 21 Nov, Worcester Wolverhampton Jonathan Watkins City Museum & Art Gallery MINER’S TOOLS A range of equipment used by min- said: “This is a sur- PAUL NEWMAN: STAGE Drawing, painting, perform- ers over the years to extract coal, until Sun 10 Apr, vey of work by one of ance & installation are here used to explore the The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent the leading lights in idea of an internal landscape with occasional refer- WENDY RAMSHAW’S ROOM OF DREAMS An installation the British art scene, ences to historical paintings sourced from artists’ made up of many parts, from small jewels in postcards, until 22 Nov, mac, Birmingham at a pivotal moment frames to large, freestanding furniture, until Sun 22 May, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in her career.” STEENBECKETT Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan's installation of 35mm celluloid film which moves SOLO EXHIBITION BY COLIN SIMMONDS ARBSA

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Retrospective of the artist’s paintings over the past Paul Newman: Stage - mac, Birmingham twenty-five years, Mon 5 - Sat 17 Oct, RBSA Gallery, Birmingham THREE HEBRIDEAN ARTISTS A selling exhibition of work by David Greenall, Jane Harlington & Gareth Watson, Thurs 1 - Sat 31 Oct, Artifex Gallery, B’ham DRAWN TO STITCH Exhibition of recent works by Stewart Easton & Jo Roberts, Fri 2 - Sat 25 Oct, A3 Project Space, Digbeth, Birmingham SHREWSBURY COLLEGE ‘ART SCHOOL PORTRAITS’ EXHIBITION Displaying work from the art school community, including some staff work, Fri 2 - Sat 25 Oct, The Granary, Weston Park, Staffordshire INKED PALETTE Exhibition featuring work by a selec- tion of UK tattoo artists, Sat 3 - Tues 20 Oct, Deasil Art Gallery, Leamington Spa INCUNABULA New works by Tammy Woodrow, Sat 3 - Thurs 15 Oct, Rugby Art Gallery & Museum ABSTRACTION AT THE RBSA Showcasing how abstrac- STRING OF PEARLS: WOMBOURNE QUILTERS 30TH WOLVERHAMPTON SOCIETY OF ARTISTS Biennial exhi- tion within the RBSA and in Birmingham has ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION Sat 17 Oct - Sat 14 Nov, bition with a diverse range of styles, mediums and evolved since the mid-twentieth century. A touring Bilston Craft Gallery subject matter, Sat 24 Oct - Sat 27 Feb, exhibition from the Arts Council Collection, Thurs 8 ANTONIO ROBERTS Wolverhampton Art Gallery Oct - Sun 29 Nov, The Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts First solo exhibition, Sat 17 Oct - JUNE RIDGWAY ARBSA Centre Sat 23 January, BOM (Birmingham Open Media) A collection of new ceramic CONFECTED, BORROWED AND BLUE...AN INSTALLATION work identifiable via the artist’s distinctive use of CODE AND CARPENTRY Interactive exhibition by Anna BY PAUL SCOTT Exhibition organised by the soft colour against lines of black, Mon 26 Oct - Sat Horton and Sophie Bullock in partnership with 19 Dec, RBSA Gallery, Birmingham Fierce Festival, Thurs 8 Oct - Sat 7 Nov, BOM Holburne Museum, Sat 17 Oct - Sun 7 Feb, The THE MAGICAL WORLD OF MASKS AND PUPPETS (Birmingham Open Media) Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent ROBERT PERRY RBSA Featuring masks from Indonesia, Japan, Korea, DENNIS MINCHIN RBSA Solo work featuring a series Rob's work focuses on the phe- nomenon of intense sunlight and its effects in the Mexico and Italy, Mon 26 Oct - Sun 17 Jan, of still lives in oil, Mon 12 Oct - Sat 5 Dec, RBSA Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery Gallery, Birmingham context of coastal scenes, rivers, sky, mountains and other landscape features, Mon 19 - Sat 31 Oct, ROBERT PERRY: THE FIELDS OF BATTLE 1914-1918 TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT Portraits from the University RBSA Gallery, Birmingham Commemorating the centenary of World War One, of Birmingham, including works by Jacob Epstein, MEDICATE 2015 Contemporary collection exploring Mon 26 Oct - Fri 18 Dec, Museum Of Cannock Tom Phillips, Humphrey Ocean and Jennifer Chase McRae, Fri 16 Oct - Sun 17 Jan, The Barber the physical, societal & psychological effects of dis- OSWESTRY & DISTRICT SOCIETY OF ARTISTS Institute, Birmingham ease on people, as well as the values and practices Over forty of medical science, Fri 23 Oct - Sun 17 Jan, members exhibit works of landscape, portrait and SIMON KENNY EXHIBITION A vibrant, expressive, lyri- Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum abstract art, Sat 31 Oct - Sat 28 Nov, The Willow cal abstract collection of paintings, Sat 17 - Sun 18 WHOSE GAZE IS IT ANYWAY? Gallery, Oswestry, North Shropshire Oct, Whitewall Gallery, Birmingham Exploring the history of Arab pop culture through posters, notebooks, THE GREAT WAR Exhibition featuring dramatic dis- COVENTRY ARTS CONSORTIUM Exhibition of work by diaries, book covers, film and video, Sat 24 Oct - plays which bring to life the period between 1914 thirteen artists from four local art societies, Sat 17 Sun 10 Jan, The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, and 1918, until Sun 11 Nov 2018 Dudley Museum Oct - Sun 1 Nov, Herbert Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent & Art Gallery Coventry

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READERS OFFER! SAVE £6 OFF YOUR TICKET! ENTER PROMO CODE ‘WON6’ ONLINE Ticket offer available online only until 7 Oct Grand Designs Live NEC, Birmingham, Thurs 8 - Sun 11 October The UK’s leading contemporary home show makes its annual visit to Birmingham this month, with design guru Kevin McCloud once again presiding over proceedings. Kevin hosts various events in the show’s Grand Theatre, where guest speakers offer tips and advice on a variety of homebuilding issues. This year’s show also features: A brand new Green House, boasting plenty of interesting gadgets; tons of inspiring ideas to help visitors cre- ate stylish interiors for their homes; state-of-the-art bathroom products; suggestions for making the most of available kitchen space; and ‘must have’ products for gardens and outdoor spaces.

Stone Food & Drink Festival Stone, Staffordshire, Fri 2 - Sun 4 October Since its debut in 2005, the Stone Food And Drink Festival has become Staffordshire’s biggest gastronomic celebration, attracting thousands of food lovers to the delightful market town. This year’s event features a wide range of attractions for visitors to enjoy, including a gourmet food marquee and gourmet pop- up restaurant. Cookery demonstrations and masterclasses, numerous talks and plenty of live music also feature. Professor Panic and his performers from Panic Circus are on hand too, keeping youngsters entertained with free puppet shows, circus workshops, clown shows and plenty of ‘giant bubble fun’ in a traditional circus big top.

Brick 2015 NEC, Birmingham, Thurs 29 October - Sun 1 November This haven for LEGO fans boasts numerous interactive features. Attractions include brick pits - enabling visitors to showcase their inner master builder - LEGO video games (including the latest releases), a fan zone, LEGO Minecraft, a museum of LEGO history, the Seven Wonders of the World recreated in LEGO, and race ramps on which to test custom-built cars. And with the event taking place over Halloween, visitors are also promised ‘a haunting experience’, with plenty of spooky activities programmed. Arrive dressed in your ghastliest ghostly outfit and you might even win yourself a prize...

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Christmas!

THURS 5 - SUN 8 NOVEMBER NEC, BIRMINGHAM 9.30AM - 5.30PM (SUN 5PM) KIDS GO FREE*

3 SHOWS FOR THE PRICE OF 1! ichfevents.co.uk 01425 277988 Tickets: Adults £10.50 in advance, £12.50 on the door Seniors £9.50 in advance, £11.50 on the door SAVE UP TO *Children under 16 FREE if accompanied by parent

THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR SUGARCRAFT AND CAKE DECORATING SHOW! £2 OFF! EACH ADULT AND SENIOR TICKET Fri 6 - Sun 8 ...... ORDERED BY 5PM MON 2 NOV separate november entry fee neC, birmingham adults: £12, £14 on the door Seniors: £11, £13 on the door cakeinternational.co.uk Events October Region 2.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 22:17 Page 4

Events PREVIEWS Festival Of Flight Weston Park, Shropshire, Sat 17 October This brand new Weston Park event presents what organisers describe as ‘a thrilling specta- cle of model aircrafts, fireworks and lasers’. The festival puts a real emphasis on family- friendly fun and features ‘breathtaking’ aerobat- ics accompanied by lights, smoke, fire, lasers and music. A children’s funfair and a selection of food stalls are other attractions playing their part in an entertainment-packed evening.

READERS OFFER! SAVE £££’s OFF YOUR TICKET! ENTER PROMO CODE ‘WON1’ ONLINE Ticket offer available Motorhome & Caravan Show online only until 12 Oct NEC, Birmingham, Tues 13 - Sun 18 October Attracting huge crowds and filling numerous halls of the NEC, the Motorhome And Caravan Lichfield Literature Festival Show 2015 is promising to be ‘bigger and better than ever’. The always-popular event fea- Lichfield, Staffordshire, tures over four hundred UK exhibitors. It offers visitors the chance to check out - hot off the Sat 3 - Sun 11 October production line - all the new 2016 caravan, motorhome, holiday home, trailer tent and folding The 2015 Lichfield Literature festival caters caravan models. for all interests and ages, as well as fostering The show also provides free help and advice on all aspects of touring - from finance, insur- ance and security to the best tow cars on the market - and offers visitors the chance to a wealth of local talent. “This year’s programme features several new check out a wide range of accessories at show-only prices. elements,” says the event’s Artistic Director, Sonia Stevenson. “These include our first ever children’s festival, a night of classic film Weston Park International most famous buildings, within the walls of at the Red Carpet Cinema, a number of which seven people were executed by hang- events produced in collaboration with Horse Trials ing between 1902 and 1961. Visitors taking the tour can find out what it Lichfield Library, and comedy from Jon Weston Park, Shropshire, Holmes and Rob Auton. Thurs 8 - Sun 11 October was like for convicts entering prison for the “We’ll also be celebrating the one hundred- first time, check out This annual three-day event features the the solitary confine- and-fiftieth anniversary of Alice In National Junior Championships and National Wonderland, exploring life in Palestine and ment and condemned- Under-twenty-one Championships, consist- man cells, walk the on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, uncovering a range ing of dressage, cross country and show of historical subjects from Bronze Age Britain wings and step inside jumping. the execution room, to Restoration England, and discovering the Commenting on the show, internationally 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die. where sentences were renowned course designer and Weston Park carried out. Horse Trials organiser Janet Plant said: “The grass areas where the main arena and the Wellington Literary Festival trot-up areas are situated look fabulous. We Various venues across Wellington, can't wait to get going on the fences and Fierce Festival Shropshire, Thurs 1 - Sat 24 October course. Every year we’re faced with a slightly Birmingham Cathedral Square, Wed 7 - Sun 11 October Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee is the different course depending on the weather headline speaker at this long-established lit- during V Festival in August, which always No fewer than eight UK premieres from high- erary festival, presenting her political talk, keeps the course interesting and different! ly rated international artists feature in this Cameron’s Coup, at Wrekin College on 17 year’s event, including Simone Aughterlony’s October. Alongside Polly’s appearance, the Supernatural. A hotly anticipated dance event’s other highlights include Birmingham piece, the work presents a thought-provok- Poet Laureate finalist Kurly McGeachie com- ing exploration of the subject of gender bining poetry with music and rap, and an roles. appearance by former EastEnders actor Tom Sleep With The Curator, meanwhile, invites Watt - the ghost writer of David Beckham’s festival-goers to pack their sleeping bag and autobiography. Other attractions include an spend the night in the Eastside Projects amateur photography competition entitled gallery in Digbeth. They’ll be joined there by Wild Shropshire and special Big Read events curator Gavin Wade for a selection of bed- based around Lewis Carroll’s Alice In time stories. Gavin will also demonstrate his Wonderland. cooking prowess by rustling up bacon pan- cakes the following morning! “This year’s Fierce festival will have a cele- bratory feel to it,” says Fierce Director Laura Lockdown McDermott. “We’re making our festival hub The Dana Prison, Shrewsbury, at BOM, a really exciting new space for art, Thurs 29 - Sat 31 October science and technology near New Street HM Prison Shrewsbury was built in 1877, Station. Across the city there’ll be dance on close to the site where Thomas Telford built a car park roof, parties in warehouses and a the Dana Gaol in 1793. chance to sing karaoke to a video made by a This new tour provides the opportunity to Turner Prize-winning artist.” explore the history of one of Shrewsbury’s www.whatsonlive.co.uk 69 Events October Region 2.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 20:41 Page 5

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Events PREVIEWS Scarefest Alton Towers, Staffordshire, Sat 17 October - Sun 1 November Alton Towers has spectacularly revamped its hugely popular Scarefest attraction for 2015. Highlights of this year’s presentation include two new mazes: The Haunting Of Molly Crowe, a multi-sensory live-action Victorian-era horror maze; and Sub- Species: The End Games, featuring a post- apocalyptic, sewer-dwelling community infested by a species from another world.The two new mazes are joined this year by two equally new scare zones. Dark Apocalypse sees quarantine procedures implemented as a deadly virus gets out of hand. Nox Infernus, meanwhile, offers visi- tors the stark choice of joining The Cult or submitting to the end of the world as they know it... Halloween Nights Black Country Living Museum, Dudley, Thurs 29 - Sat 31 October Expect ghoul and ghost and goblin host to be dancing around the Black Country Living Museum this month as the popular visitor attraction gets into the Halloween ‘spirit’. Treats, tricks and terrifying tales of old abound, while the venue’s gaslit cobbled streets come alive with all manner of street entertainment. The museum’s mine has been suitably spookified for the occasion, and there’s also the chance to win a prize for best-dressed ghoul in a cos- tume parade.

More Treat Than Trick Drayton Manor Theme Park, Tamworth, Staffs, Sat 17 - Sat 31 October Drayton Manor Park is inviting families to dust Ghoulish Fun On The Canal off their broomsticks and batwings and (trick or) Dudley Canal & Limestone Mines, treat themselves to some ghoulish fun this Wed 28 - Sat 31 October month. The Staffordshire venue’s Thomas Land Dudley Canal Tunnel and Limestone Mines attraction is being transformed into the ‘spook- is offering two types of Halloween experi- tacular’ Island of Sodor. Meanwhile, for those ence this half-term: A family-friendly one who fancy something a little bit scarier, a visit to and an adults-only option. “This Halloween Drayton Manor’s very own haunted house is set to be our spookiest ever,” says Nick should ensure a fine covering of goose bumps Morris, Chief Executive at Dudley Canal and a well-tingled spine. Trust Trips Ltd. “There will be plenty of ghoulish surprises that take advantage of the naturally spooky tunnels and cav- erns.”This is the first major event to take Ghostly Gaslight place in the new Portal building, which is Blists Hill, Ironbridge, Shropshire, Sat 31 October due to open early this month. As well as housing an interactive exhibition and a This popular annual event sees the amiable characters of Blists Hill Victorian Town replaced by function & commu- ghouls, ghosts and creepy-crawlies. As night falls and street lamps cast their shadows across nity learning the cobbled streets, visitors are advised to keep their eyes and ears open. Weird apparitions space, the Portal and spooky sounds will most definitely not be in short supply... also boasts licenced restaurant Gongoozlers, pro- viding canal-side food and drink for visitors.

Halloween Spooktacular Shugborough, Staffordshire, Sat 31 October A ‘shriek of a time’ on the ghost train and adventures in the weird and wonderful Zombee Garden feature among the Halloween attractions at Shugborough this month. Further entertainment comes in the form of a kids disco, a funfair, face paint- ing, trick or treating and apple bobbing. Numerous traders - selling gifts, food, tof- fee apples, roast chestnuts and warm punch - also make a welcome contribu- tion.

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National Wedding Show - NEC, Birmingham Events LISTINGS

For full listing information on Events, including times and dates, visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk

From THUR 1 OCT

DIESEL ENTHUSIASTS GALA Thurs 1 - Sat 3 Oct, Severn Valley Railway, Bewdley, Nr Kidderminster GREAT BRITISH WALKING FESTIVAL EVENT An exclusive tour of the gardens, Thurs 1 - Wed 28 Oct, Powis Castle and Garden, Nr Welshpool, Powys PILOTS OF THE CARIBBEAN - VOLUNTEERS OF AFRICAN HERITAGE IN THE RAF A new exhibition curated in partnership with Black Cultural Archives. Telling the inspirational story of these volunteers, celebrating their vital contribution to the defence of Britain during two World Wars and the subsequent peace, Thurs 1 - Sat 31 Oct, RAF Cosford, Shropshire GLYNN PURNELL'S FRIDAY NIGHT KITCHEN WITH FRIENDS Charity event which sees chef Glynn Purnell and Michelin-starred chef and Master Chef judge Gregg Wallace join forces to serve up a live culinary experience, Fri 2 Oct, Villa Park, demonstrations, toffee apple trail, and of course, haunted sites around the town including Dudley Birmingham plenty of apples, Sat 3 - Sun 4 Oct, Erddig Hall, Castle, Wed 7 Oct, starts at Station Hotel, Dudley FIRST STEPS: A CHILD'S SWAN LAKE Birmingham Wrexham AN AUTUMN NIGHT AT THE CASTLE An evening guided Royal Ballet’s introduction to this beautiful love HERITAGE HARVEST FESTIVAL Sat 3 - Sun 4 Oct, tour around the picturesque ruins of Weoley Castle, story specially adapted for children from aged Moseley Old Hall, Wolverhampton Wed 7 Oct, Weoley Castle Ruins, Birmingham three-seven, Fri 2 Oct, Birmingham Hippodrome MINIATURA - THE INTERNATIONAL DOLLS' HOUSE FIERCE FESTIVAL Wed 7 - Sun 11 Oct, Birmingham SOMETHING GOOD Cathedral Square is transformed MODELLING SHOW Highly specialised visitor attrac- City Centre by extraordinary sounds, words and visual art, Fri 2 tion event established in 1983 and entirely dedicat- GRAND DESIGNS LIVE Thurs 8 - Sun 11 Oct, NEC, - Sat 3 Oct, Birmingham Cathedral ed to the amazing hobby of domestic modelling in Birmingham LIVE AGE FESTIVAL Fri 2 - Sat 3 Oct, The Potteries 1/12th and related scales, Sat 3 - Sun 4 Oct, NEC, INTERNATIONAL AUTUMN HORSE TRIALS Three days Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent Birmingham consisting of dressage, cross country and show INDEPENDENT BREWERS FESTIVAL 2015 Taste around FREE OPEN DAY Explore Aston Hall for free, Sun 4 jumping, Thurs 8 - Sun 11 Oct, Weston Park, fifty real ales and keg beers sourced from small Oct, Aston Hall, Birmingham Shropshire independent brewers from across the UK, Fri 2 - KNOTTY TRAIN DAY A chance to travel on what is BIRMINGHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL Thurs 8 - Sat 17 Sat 3 Oct, National Brewery Centre, Staffordshire said to be one of the oldest trains in the country, Oct, Library Of Birmingham NATIONAL FRANCHISE EXHIBITION A fantastic opportu- Sun 4 Oct, Foxfield Railway, Staffordshire PERSPECTIVE DRAWING WITH MALCOLM HAGUE nity for anyone considering franchising, from AUTUMN FLOWER FESTIVAL Sun 4 Oct, Birmingham Sat 10 Oct, The Willow Gallery, Oswestry, North investing in a franchise to franchising an already Botanical Gardens Shropshire successful business, Fri 2 - Sat 3 Oct, NEC, ANCIENT TREES OF ATTINGHAM WALK Sun 4 Oct, PAINTING: MAKING FACES WITH DAVID BANNISTER Birmingham Attingham Park, Shrewsbury Explore how to create form and structure, Sat 10 STONE FOOD & DRINK FESTIVAL Stone Food & Drink RAF GAYDON EXPERIENCE DAY Tour of the airfield, a Oct, The Willow Gallery, Oswestry, North Festival offers fun for all the family with some great visit to the former RAF Gaydon Control Tower, and Shropshire new attractions at Westbridge Park, Fri 2 - Sun 4 a lecture from the ‘Vulcan to the Sky’ team, Sun 4 APPLE PRESSING DAY Take your own apples to juice, Oct, Westbridge Park, Staffordshire Oct, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, Warwickshire buy apple juice and sample some apple cake in THE NATIONAL WEDDING SHOW Described as ‘the ulti- BRIDAL FAYRE Sun 4 Oct, Himley Hall & Park, the tea room, Sat 10 Oct, Carding Mill Valley & The mate wedding experience’, the National Wedding Dudley Shropshire Hills, Craven Arms, South Shropshire Show features over three hundred wedding special- WILD HARVEST WITH ROB ROWE Sample the wild YOUNG ARTISTS Learn new drawing, painting and ists showcasing their wares and providing endless autumn harvest around the Onny Meadows, Sun 4 sculpture skills, Sat 10 Oct, Bilston Craft Gallery, inspiration for your big day, Fri 2 - Sun 4 Oct, NEC, Oct, Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, Craven Wolverhampton Birmingham Arms, South Shropshire MUSHROOM MOSEY AND MUNCH Go on a fungi forage THE MALVERN CARAVAN SHOW Four nights of camp- PHOTOGRAPHY DAY A chance for professional and with local mushroom expert John Hughes from the ing, two nights of entertainment, an exhibition area amateur photographers to photograph professional Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Sat 10 Oct, Fordhall & lots to see & do locally, Fri 2 - Sun 4 Oct, Three models in costume and historical artefacts in a real Organic Farm, Market Drayton, North Shropshire Counties Showground, Malvern eleventh century castle, Sun 4 Oct, Tutbury Castle, TOY STEAM AND TRADITIONAL HOBBIES DAY OPEN DRAWERS AND DOORS Find out what lies Staffordshire Demonstrations, traditional crafts, children's activi- behind the doors and cupboards of Sunnycroft, Fri FEEDING TOMMY: RATIONS AND COOKING IN THE ties and much more..., Sat 10 Oct, Winterbourne 2 - Mon 5 Oct, Sunnycroft, Wellington, Shropshire TRENCHES Sun 4 Oct, The Potteries Museum & Art House & Garden, Birmingham JEWELLERY QUARTER HERITAGE WALK Gallery, Staffordshire COUNT DUCKULA Children's TV classic live on stage Heritage walks that will transport you back to the CAMERA FAIR The UK’s largest independent camera for the very first time, Sat 10 - Sun 11 Oct, Cadbury Jewellery Quarter's rich industrial past, Sat 3 Oct, fair, regularly featuring over one hundred tables World, Bournville, Birmingham Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham and a wide range of vendors, Sun 4 Oct, VOLUNTEER WEEKEND AUTUMN HOOKING CRAFT WORKSHOP Join a craft spe- Wolverhampton Racecourse Work hard, socialise, make your mark and get cialist for a hooking workshop. Find out about this mucky, Sat 10 - Sun 11 Oct, Fordhall Organic alternative to rag rugging and create something for Farm, Nr Market Drayton, North Shropshire yourself or your home, Sat 3 Oct, Birmingham Back Week Commencing MON 5 OCT TORNADO STEAMS IN... to Backs Take a ride behind an iconic locomotive, Sat 10 - YOUNG ARTISTS Learn new drawing, painting and NATIONAL BRAILLE WEEK Sun 11 Oct, Severn Valley Railway, Worcestershire sculpture skills, Sat 3 Oct, Bilston Craft Gallery Celebrate the work of Louis Braille and have your A WARDEN'S LIFE WALK COOKERY CLUB Come & enjoy Apley Cookery Club name written using the systems, Mon 5 - Sun 11 Join the park's wardens for a walk around the with Gilly Clayton. Taste new food, discover culi- Oct, The Pen Museum, Birmingham premises as they share their stories, Sun 11 Oct, nary ideas & enjoy discussing delicious seasonal TILE DECORATING WORKSHOPS Tue 6 Oct, Attingham Park, Shropshire food, Sat 3 Oct, Apley Farm Shop, Shropshire Jackfield Tile Museum, Ironbridge, Ironbridge, APPLE DAY Morris dancing, archery, plant sales, WHEELS FOR ALL SHROPSHIRE An inclusive cycling Shropshire hunt the golden apple and juice tasting from the session on the new adaptive cycling path, Sat 3 ARCHAEOLOGY SEMINAR WITH PROFESSOR TIMOTHY Blakesley orchard, Sun 11 Oct, Blakesley Hall, Oct, Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, Craven PETERS Tue 6 Oct, Museum of the Gorge, Birmingham Arms, South Shropshire Ironbridge, Shropshire ORCHARD DAY INCLUSIVE CYCLING IN THE ONNY MEADOWS Inclusive THE GEOLOGICAL HEARTLAND: GLOBAL RECOGNITION Celebrate the apple harvest with dancing, apple cycling in the meadow, Sat 3 Oct, Shropshire Hills FOR THE BLACK COUNTRY? A talk by museum curator pressing, competitions and more, Sun 11 Oct, Discovery Centre, Craven Arms, South Shropshire Graham Worton on the bid by Dudley, Sandwell, Dudmaston Estate, Bridgnorth, South Shropshire APPLE WEEKEND A celebration of the apple harvest Walsall and Wolverhampton to make the Black WEDDING FAYRE A variety of suppliers exhibiting, at Berrington, with local cider on sale, a range of Country an internationally-recognised Geopark, Tue supported by bridal fashion shows, Sun 11 Oct, fresh local produce and live folk music, Sat 3 - Sun 6 Oct, Highbury Hall, Birmingham 4 Oct, Berrington Hall, Leominster Bantock House & Park, Wolverhampton THE PARROT SOCIETY SHOW Sun 11 Oct, APPLE WEEKEND TUESDAY TILE DECORATING WORKSHOP Drop-in ses- Staffordshire County Showground Apple-themed activities for children & families, Sat sions perfect for making a few of your own ceramic WEDDING FAYRE Sun 11 Oct, The Snowdome, 3 - Sun 4 Oct, masterpieces,Tue 6 Oct, Staffordshire Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens, Birmingham Jackfield Tile Museum, Ironbridge, Ironbridge, WEDDING FAYRE Sun 11 Oct, Wolverhampton 25TH ANNUAL APPLE FESTIVAL Featuring Punch & Shropshire Racecourse Judy shows, meet the horses, storytelling, archery THE ORIGINAL DUDLEY GHOST TOUR Visit various

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74 www.whatsonlive.co.uk Events October Region 2.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 20:41 Page 10

Events LISTINGS

For full listing information on Events, including times and dates, visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk

Week Commencing MON 12 OCT

TUESDAY TILE DECORATING WORKSHOP Tuesday drop-in workshops are perfect for making a few of your own ceramic masterpieces, Tue 13 Oct, Jackfield Tile Museum, Ironbridge, Ironbridge, Shropshire THE MOTORHOME AND CARAVAN SHOW Tue 13 - Sun 18 Oct, NEC, Birmingham STAFFORDSHIRE HOARD & CONSERVATION TOUR Wed 14 Oct, Birmingham Museum And Art Gallery THE ORIGINAL DUDLEY GHOST TOUR Wed 14 Oct, Station Hotel, Dudley TEA WITH OSCAR WILDE Join ‘Oscar Wilde’ as he interviews leading celebrities of the Victorian era and recounts a story or two... Thurs 15 Oct, Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton WALK THE LONG MYND SKYLINE A walk in the hills sur- rounding Church Stretton, taking in the stunning Fierce Festival - various locations, Birmingham views from the Long Mynd and back, Fri 16 Oct, Carding Mill Valley & The Shropshire Hills TEA WITH OSCAR WILDE Join ‘Oscar Wilde’ as he Country Living Museum, Dudley interviews leading celebrities of the Victorian era Week Commencing MON 19 OCT HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR Arrive in fancy dress for and recounts a story or two... Fri 16 Oct, Highbury some ghoulish fun across the whole attraction, Sat Hall, Birmingham TUESDAY TILE DECORATING WORKSHOP 24 Oct - Sun 1 Nov, Cadbury World, Bournville, SCREAMFEST 2015 Tuesday drop-in workshops are perfect for making Birmingham Five terrifying scare attractions, plus many more a few of your own ceramic masterpieces, Tue 20 HALLOWEEN AT HOOOOO spooky goings-on, Fri 16 - Sat 31 Oct, National Oct, Jackfield Tile Museum, Ironbridge, Shropshire Join Winnie the Witch for scary activities such as Forest Adventure Farm, Staffordshire THE ORIGINAL DUDLEY GHOST TOUR Visit various pumpkin carving, eyeball picking and even a bit of MATCHROOM BOXING haunted sites around the town including Dudley creepy sand art, Sat 24 Oct - Sun 1 Nov, Hoo Farm Sam Eggington and Frankie Gavin clash in an all- Castle, Wed 21 Oct, Station Hotel, Dudley Animal Kingdom, Shropshire Birmingham Welterweight championship fight, Sat AUTUMN COLOUR WALK HALLOWEEN TRAIL Solve the creepy clues to win a 17 Oct, Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham Wed 21 Oct, Chirk Castle, Shropshire prize, Sat 24 Oct - Sun 1 Nov, Severn Valley WILDLIFE WATCH GROUP - MAMMALS Fun activities BACK TO THE FUTURE NIGHT An evening to transport Country Park, Shropshire and walks for children led by Richard Thorpe, you back in time and discover the history of the HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN AND PESKY PESTS FAMILY Arboretum's Volunteer Wildlife Officer, Sat 17 Oct, 50s, the 80s and now... Wed 21 Oct, National TRAILS An outdoor spotting trail for children fol- National Memorial Aboretum, Staffordshire Space Centre, Leicester lowed by the Pesky Pests trail around the Manor, FESTIVAL OF FLIGHT MIDLAND COUNTRIES CANINE SHOW Thurs 22 - Sun Sat 24 Oct - Sun 1 Nov, Wightwick Manor, Featuring breathtaking aerobatics accompanied by 25 Oct, Staffordshire County Showground Wolverhampton lights, smoke, fire, lasers and music in a show HALLOWEEN SPOOK-TACULAR Hair-raising fun on the AUTUMN COLOURS WALK that’s guaranteed to light up the sky, Sat 17 Oct, farm for children, Fri 23 Oct - Sun 1 Nov, Sun 25 Oct, Attingham Park, Shropshire Weston Park, Shropshire National Forest Adventure Farm, Staffordshire CLASSIC CAR & MUSIC DAY Annual end-of-season ROSSETTI AND HIS MODELS Join the House Steward AUTUMN CRAFT FAIR steam service combined with a stunning array of for a relaxed talk followed by a walking tour of the Sat 24 Oct, The Willow Gallery, Oswestry, North classic cars and live music, Sun 25 Oct, Churnet collection, Sat 17 Oct, Shropshire Valley Railway, Staffordshire Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton RAMBLE WITH THE RANGERS Join the ranger team for HALLOWEEN FUN Follow the trail around the garden MASS BULB PLANTING VOLUNTEER DAY Drop in and a different walk each month in the castle's historic to collect the answers to the Dudmaston Dwarf's muck in with the planting of bulbs in preparation for parkland. Walks are of differing lengths and difficul- riddle, Sun 25 Oct, Dudmaston Estate, Bridgnorth, Spring, Sat 17 Oct, Wightwick Manor, ties, Sat 24 Oct, Shropshire Wolverhampton Chirk Castle, Wrexham MAGIC & MYSTERY - A TRADITIONAL SHROPSHIRE THE GREAT WAR SOCIETY WEEKEND Weekend of GCCF SUPREME CAT SHOW Sat 24 Oct, NEC, HALLOWEEN demonstrations and activities from two WWI military Birmingham Traditional family activities including apple bobbing, re-enactment groups, Sat 17 - Sun 18 Oct, Black PAWS WALK Four-legged friends welcome on this pumpkin carving and storytelling, Sun 25 Oct, Country Living Museum, Dudley guided walk around the parkland, Sat 24 Oct, Fordhall Organic Farm, Nr Market Drayton, North TORNADO STEAMS IN Erddig Hall, Wrexham Shropshire Take a ride behind this iconic locomotive, Sat 17 - EERIE EVENINGS GHOST EVENT Ghost hunt, Sat 24 ROARING 20S AFTERNOON TEA An afternoon tea of Sun 18 Oct, Severn Valley Railway, Worcestershire Oct, Dudley Castle hedonistic pleasure, complete with decadent and 22ND CAROLE NASH CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS DIVE 2015 The UK's biggest event for divers, cover- delectable delights based on 1920s American SHOW Sat 17 - Sun 18 Oct, Staffordshire County ing every aspect of the sport in the most innovative favourites, Sun 25 Oct, Highbury Hall, Birmingham Showground and exciting ways, Sat 24 - Sun 25 Oct, NEC, HALLOWEEN AFTERNOON EVENT Sun 25 Oct, COUNT DUCKULA Children's TV classic live on stage, Birmingham Whittington Castle, North Shropshire Sat 17 - Sun 18 Oct, Cadbury World, Bournville, NEWCOMEN ENGINE IN STEAM See the only full- sized Birmingham working replica of Newcomen’s steam engine of Week Commencing MON 26 OCT MORE TREAT THAN TRICK 1712, Sat 24 - Sun 25 Oct, Black Country Living ‘Frightfully’ fun activities for the Halloween period, Museum, Dudley DR FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER Dr Frankenstein is Sat 17 - Sat 31 Oct, Drayton Manor Theme Park, NO TRICKS JUST TREATS building a new monster and could do with some Tamworh, Staffs Halloween themed children's event, Sat 24 - Sun 25 help. Brave the trail around the gardens and SCAREFEST Experience chills and thrills at Alton Oct, Red House Glass Cone, Stourbridge choose the parts to create the scariest monster you Towers with brand new scare mazes, scare zones PUMPKIN FESTIVAL can, Mon 26 Oct, Dudmaston Estate, Bridgnorth, and a horror escape experience alongside all your Carve a simply wicked pumpkin, take its innards Shropshire favourite rides in the dark, Sat 17 Oct - Sun 1 Nov, home to make into soup, eat scary treats in the tea- A WILLOW PATTERN ADVENTURE Tea Dance For Little Alton Towers, Staffordshire room and arrive dressed in your Halloween best, People present an interactive performance that tells GREAT BIRMINGHAM RUN Sat 24 - Wed 28 Oct, Moseley Old Hall, the Willow Pattern story through music and song, Sun 18 Oct, Birmingham City Centre Birmingham treasure hunting and dragon dancing, Mon 26 Oct, REVEALING THE VIEWS SPOOKLEY PUMPKIN FESTIVAL Spookley stories and The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent A guided walk around the garden and Dingle. Take the opportunity to pick your own pumpkin to carve, DINING WITH THE DEAD A night of frightfully tasty you cameras and snap the views, Sun 18 Oct, Sat 24 - Sat 31 Oct, Apley Farm Shop, Shropshire food, terrifying tales and a spooky, starlit walk, Mon Dudmaston Estate, Nr Bridgnorth, Shropshire SPOOKY TILE DECORATING WORKSHOPS Halloween- 26 Oct, Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire SKI SEASON OPEN DAY themed drop-in workshop, Sat 24 - Sat 31 Oct, HALF TERM HALLOWEEN FUN Fun for all the family Tasters, demos, competitions, giveaways and much Jackfield Tile Museum, Ironbridge, Shropshire with hide-and-seek, trails through the gardens, more, Sun 18 Oct, The Ackers, Birmingham GHOST SHIPS WORKSHOPS Sat 24 Oct - Sun 1 Nov, spooky stories and music, Mon 26 - Fri 30 Oct, OCTONAUTS TRAINING ACADEMY Enrol your little ones Enginuity Museum, Ironbridge, Shropshire Birmingham Botanical Gardens at the all-new Octonauts Training Academy and MYTHS AND FABLES WITCHES AND WIZARDS they’ll learn what it takes to become a member of Stroll through the canalside village and debunk Make witches hats, creepy cauldron bags and the crew, Sun 18 Oct - Sat 7 Nov, National Sea Life some nineteenth century myths as the resident jumping frogs, Mon 26 - Fri 30 Oct, Selly Manor, Centre, Birmingham pharmacist and quack doctor sell you some ques- Birmingham tionable remedies, Sat 24 Oct - Sun 1 Nov, Black SPOOKY TALES & CRAFTS Creepy crafts and spooky

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76 www.whatsonlive.co.uk Events October Region 2.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 20:41 Page 12

Events LISTINGS

For full listing information on Events, including times and dates, visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk

stories, a fun day out for the kids, Mon 26 - Fri 30 Oct, Stokesay Castle, South Shropshire HAUNTED CASTLE Come along in your own Halloween costume and try some spooky craft activities, Mon 26 - Fri 30 Oct, Tamworth Castle, Staffordshire TIME TRAVELLING CRAFTS Try crafts from different time periods, Mon 26 - Fri 30 Oct, Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, Craven Arms, South Shropshire PUMPKIN PARLOUR Pumpkin carving for your little monsters, Mon 26 - Sat 31 Oct, Beckett's Farm, Birmingham HALLOWEEN KITCHEN A spooky session of pumpkin carving followed with a cookery class making deli- cious pumpkin muffins, Mon 26 - Sat 31 Oct, Beckett's Farm, Birmingham PUMPKIN CARVING Try your hand at pumpkin carv- Dive Show - NEC, Birmingham ing, Mon 26 - Sat 31 Oct, Chirk Castle, Wrexham ATTINGHAM ADVENTURES: GHOSTHUNTERS Get messy HIBERNATING HEDGEHOGS Learn all about hedgehogs Country Living Museum, Dudley and explore the outdoors, Tue 27 Oct, Attingham with Cuan House Wildlife Rescue, Wed 28 Oct, NEWCOMEN ENGINE IN STEAM See the only full- sized Park, Nr Shrewsbury Severn Valley Country Park, Shropshire working replica of Newcomen’s steam engine of HAUNTED HOUSE: THE WITCHFINDER VISITS BLAKESLEY PSYCHIC AND SCIENCE With Derek Acorah and Felix, 1712, Thurs 29 - Sat 31 Oct, Black Country Living HALL The year is 1645 and the Witchfinder General Wed 28 Oct, Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire Museum, Dudley has descended upon Blakesley Hall in search of GHOST TOURS OF THE CASTLE Wed 28 - Thurs 29 Oct, HAUNTING HALLOWEEN Have a haunting Halloween witches, Tue 27 - Fri 30 Oct, Blakesley Hall, Whittington Castle, North Shropshire at Monkey Forest with lots of gruesome activities, Birmingham HALLOWEEN GHOST TOURS An adults-only tour shar- Thurs 29 - Sat 31 Oct, Trentham Monkey Forest, FEATHERED FRIENDS Make a long-legged clay bird ing the stories of Burton's resident ghosts, Wed 28 - Stoke-on-Trent inspired by the birds in the natural history collec- Sat 31 Oct, National Brewery Centre, Staffordshire HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN TRAIL Find the hidden pump- tion, Tue 27 - Thurs 29 Oct, The Potteries Museum HALLOWEEN FAMILY CRAFTS Kids can make a cat kins around the garden to solve the Halloween & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent mask, a black cat to hang in their window or a mystery, Thurs 29 Oct - Sun 1 Nov, Powis Castle, PEPPA PIG A chance to meet everyone's favourite black cat good- luck charm, Wed 28 - Sat 31 Oct, Nr Welshpool, Powys pig and her brother George, Wed 28 Oct, Churnet Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton BRICK 2015 The UK's biggest LEGO show, Thurs 29 Valley Railway, Staffordshire LANTERN MAKING A chance to make a beautiful wil- Oct - Sun 1 Nov, NEC, Birmingham DR FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER Dr Frankenstein is low lantern to take home, Thurs 29 - Fri 30 Oct, HALLOWEEN HOCUS POCUS Arrive dressed as a building a new monster and could do with some Carding Mill Valley & The Shropshire Hills spooky character and enjoy an evening of ghoulish help. Brave the trail around the gardens and HALLOWEEN NIGHTS Spellbinding magic shows, games and fun, Fri 30 Oct, Dudley Zoological choose the parts to create the scariest monster you ghoulish face painting, fiery street performers and Gardens can, Wed 28 Oct, Dudmaston Estate, Bridgnorth, spine-tingling tales, Thurs 29 - Sat 31 Oct, Black THE PRE-RAPHAELITES: SEX, DRUGS AND POETRY A South Shropshire

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78 www.whatsonlive.co.uk Events October Region 2.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 20:42 Page 14

Events LISTINGS Tile Decorating Workshops, Jackfield Tile Museum, Ironbridge, Shropshire

For full listing information on Events, including times and dates, visit www.whatsonlive.co.uk

tongue-in-cheek evening tour, Fri 30 Oct, Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton MUSEUMS AT NIGHT A chance to see the castle after hours, Fri 30 Oct, Powis Castle and Garden, Nr Welshpool, Powys HALLOWEEN LANTERN MAKING AND LANTERN PARADE Make your very own spooky lantern and then ven- ture into the woods for the lantern parade, Fri 30 Oct, Severn Valley Country Park, Shropshire TORCH LIT PUMPKIN WALK Featuring spooky fun and games on the lakeside terrace, Fri 30 - Sat 31 Oct, Bodenham Arboretum, Kidderminster FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR Fri 30 Oct - Sun 1 Nov, Drayton Manor Theme Park, Staffordshire GHOSTLY GASLIGHT The friendly Victorians have been replaced by creepy characters. Dress in your most frightening costume to keep ghosts and ghouls at bay, Sat 31 Oct, Blists Hill, Ironbridge, Shropshire PORTRAIT PAINTING WITH DARREN FRASER Sat 31 Oct, The Willow Gallery, Shropshire and food, Sat 31 Oct, National Brewery Centre, trails to get you in the mood for Halloween, Sat 31 ARTISAN FOOD & CRAFT MARKET Sat 31 Oct, Fargo Staffordshire Oct, Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, Craven Village, Coventry HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR The ghoulish mansion Arms, South Shropshire CASTLE OF MYSTERIES Spooky goings on at the cas- house and servants’ quarters are transformed into HALLOWEEN TRICK OR TREAT TRAIL Scary witches, tle. Arrive dressed in your spookiest outfit, Sat 31 haunted house, Sat 31 Oct, Shugborough Historic magical cats and wizards galore on the Museum’s Oct, Chirk Castle, Wrexham Working Estate, Staffordshire Halloween Trail, Sat 31 Oct, The Staffordshire GHOST TRAIN EXPRESS Live music, bars, BBQ, dis- MOTORBIKE ENDURANCE EVENT Sat 31 Oct, Regiment Museum plays, mini fun-fair, Area 51 maze, plus a ride Staffordshire County Showground HALLOWEEN EVENING EVENT Sat 31 Oct, Whittington through the terror tunnel and much more, Sat 31 TRICK OR TREAT? Little witches and wizards take ot Castle, Shropshire Oct, Churnet Valley Railway, Staffordshire the halloween trail, Sat 31 Oct, Sunnycroft, WHO YA GONNA CALL...Travel back to the 1980’s and ELIZABETH LIVING HISTORY EVENT See the hall Shropshire celebrate classic spooky music and film this brought to life by Elizabethan period re-enactors, CHILDREN'S HALLOWEEN EVENING Hosted by the Halloween, Sat 31 Oct, The Potteries Museum & Art Sat 31 Oct, Harvington Hall, Kidderminster Friends of Tamworth, Sat 31 Oct, Tamworth Castle, Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent HALLOWEEN STORY NIGHT Includes a ghost walk, ter- Staffordshire ROCK ZOMBIES Create your own mini zombie from a rifying tales and light refreshments, Sat 31 Oct, GHOST SEARCH A ghost walk around the Medieval pebble, Sat 31 Oct, The Potteries Museum & Art Martineau Gardens, Birmingham Castle, with vigils conducted in reputedly haunted Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent HALLOWEEN FANCY DRESS BALL An adults- only rooms led by mediums, Sat 31 Oct, SPOOKY STORIES For young and old alike, prepare Halloween event with live band and disco, a full bar Tamworth Castle, Staffordshire to be scared, Sat 31 Oct, Winterbourne House & TRICK OR TREAT TRAIL Spooky indoor and outdoor Garden, Birmingham

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80 www.whatsonlive.co.uk Eating Out October region two.qxp_Layout 1 21/09/2015 21:25 Page 1 Eating Out

2DS 0121 643 2111 PURNELL’S 55 Cornwall Dine Around The World LISTINGS LAS IGUANAS Arcadian St, B3 2DH 0121 212 Restaurant Centre, Hurst St, B5 9799 Popular charity event Dine Around The World this 4TD 0121 622 4466 PURNELL’S BISTO 11 month returns to Shrewsbury (on Tues 20 For full listing information on LASAN 3-4 Dakota Newhall Street, B3 October) in aid of Self Help Africa. restaurants, including opening Buildings, James St, St 3NY, 0121 2000 1588 This special dining experience takes participants times and type of cuisine, visit: Paul’s Square, B3 1SD RAJDOOT TANDOORI 78 - to three local restaurants - Number Four, CSONS 0121 212 3664 79 George St, B31 1PY www.whatsonlive.co.uk THE LOFT LOUNGE 0121 236 1116 and MoMo-No-Ki - where they’ll be treated to 143 Bromsgrove St, 622 5669 THE RECTORY 50-54 St French, Mexican and Asian dishes. Tickets for the Birmingham B5 6RG 0121 622 Paul’s Sq, B3 1QS three-course event are £25 per person. The adven- CHUNG YING CENTRAL 2444 0121 605 1001 126 Colmore Row, B3 THE LOST & FOUND ture begins at 7pm. Drinks aren’t included but can 24 CARAT BISTRO 27 3AP 0121 400 0888 RED PEPPERS 117 Warstone Lane, 8 Bennetts Hill, B2 5RS Wharfside St, B1 1RF be bought from the restaurants on the night. CHUNG YING GARDEN 17 0121 643 9293 Proceeds from the event will be donated to Self Birmingham, B18 6JQ 0121 643 4202 0121 236 0519 Thorpe St, B5 4AT LOVES The 0121 666 6622 SAN CARLO 4 Temple Help Africa, to support farmers to grow more food, AALTO RESTAURANT Glasshouse, Browning St, B2 5BN 0121 633 increase their income from farming activities and Hotel La Tour, Albert CIELO 6 Oozells St, B16 8FL 0121 454 0251 become self-sufficient. For further information and Street, Birmingham, Square, Brindleyplace, 5151 B1 2JB 0121 632 6882 SHIMLA PINKS 215 to book tickets, visit selfhelpafrica.org B5 5JT 0121 718 MECHU 47 - 59 Broad St, B15 1AY 8000 COAST TO COAST 9 Summer Row, B3 1JJ 0121 633 0366 AIR RESTAURANT LG Brindleyplace, Broad 0121 212 1661 Street, B1 2HJ SIMPSONS, 20 Highfield Arena, Bickenhill Rd METRO BAR & GRILL 73 Rd, Edgbaston, B13 0844 338 0333 COTE The Mailbox, Cornwall St, B3 2DF 3DU 0121 454 3434 BALCONY BRASSERIE B1 1RX 0121 631 0121 200 1911 1587 THE SLUG AND LETTUCE, Selfridges on 4, The MINT Yew Tree Retail Brindley Place, Bullring, B5 4BP CUCINA RUSTICA 24 Park, Stoney Lane Birmingham, B1 2HL BANK 4 Brindleyplace, Ludgate Hill, B3 1DX Yardley, B25 8YP 0121 633 3049 0121 233 2277 0121 789 8908 B1 2JB 0121 633 STRADA 109-111 MOUNT FUJI The 4466 EASTZEAST 167 Broad Wharfside St, The Bullring, B5 4BH 0121 BAR ESTILO 10-114 Street, Birmingham, Mailbox, B1 1XL 633 9853 Wharfside St, The B15 1AY, 0121 643 0121 643 7279 4808 NUVO BAR 11 Brindley Mailbox, B1 1RF 0121 TGI FRIDAYS 180 EDMUNDS 6 Brindley Place, B1 2LP 0121 643 3443 Hagley Road, place, B1 2JB 0121 631 1600 BARAJEE 265 Broad Edgbaston, B16 9NY 633 4944 Street, B1 2DS 0121 OPUS 54 Cornwall St, 0121 454 1930 FIESTA DEL ASADO 229 B3 2DE 0121 200 643 6699 THAI EDGE 7 Oozells MoMo-No-Ki, Shrewsbury Hagley Road, 2323 BELLA ITALIA 102 New Sq, B1 2HL 0121 643 Birmingham, B16 9RP Street, B2 4HQ 0121 THE ORIENTAL The 3993 0121 445 9331 Mailbox, 128-130 643 1548 TURTLE BAY 81-91 John South Shropshire Food Hall named FLEET STREET KITCHEN Wharfside St, B1 1RQ BERLIOZ Burlington Bright Street, B1 1BL Fleet Street, Islington 0121 633 9988 Great Taste Shop of the Year Arcade, New St, B2 THE VAULTS Newhall 4JQ 0121 633 1737 Gates, B3 1JH 0121 PEACHY KEENS 1741 Ludlow Food Centre has won the Guild of Fine 236 0100 Coventry Road, B26 Place, Newhall Hill, BLUE GINGER 32 Poplar, B1 3JH 0121 212 ITIHAAS 18 Fleet St, B3 1DS 0121 764 5519 Food’s 2015 Great Taste Shop of the Year award. Rd, Kings Heath, B14 9837 1JL 0121 212 3383 PICCOLINO The award is presented to the outlet which the 7AD 0121 444 0999 WAGAMAMA Brindley JAMIE’S ITALIAN Middle 9 Brindleyplace, B1 panel of judges feel is most deserving of recogni- BLUE MANGO Regency Place, Birmingham, B1 Mall, Bullring 2HS 0121 634 3055 Wharf, Broad St, B1 WATERS ON THE SQUARE tion for its professionalism, knowledge and dedica- 2DS 0121 633 4422 Shopping Centre, B5 PITCHER & PIANO Brindleyplace, B1 2HP Chad Square, tion to the independent food sector. The Guild of BLUE PIANO RESTAU- 4BE 0121 270 3610 0121 643 0214 Hawthorne Rd, Fine Food’s panel of retail experts made secret- RANT AND BAR 24-26 Edgbaston, B15 3TQ shopper visits to ten shortlisted outlets in order to Harborne Rd, B15 3AA JIMMY SPICES Regency POPPY RED Arcadian 0121 454 6877 Wharf, Broad St, B1 Centre, Birmingham, decide the overall winner. The award was present- B5 4TD 0121 687 1200 ed to Ludlow Food Centre’s managing director, BUONISSIMO 1 Albany Rd, Harborne, B17 Edward Berry. Set up in 2007, the centre employs 9JX eighty staff and produces more than half of its on- 0121 426 2444 sale items on the premises. CAFE OPUS 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, B1 2HS 0121 248 3226 CAFE SAFFRON Wolverhampton Road, Oldbury, B69 4RR 0121 552 1752 CARLUCCIO’S The Water’s Edge, Brindleyplace, B1 2HP 0121 633 9262 CENTENARY BAR & BRASSERIE Broad Street, B1 2EP 0121 Birmingham has gained its fifth 245 2080 Michelin-starred restaurant CHI BAR & GRILL 61 Newhall Street, B3 Carters of Moseley, located on St Mary’s Row, Wake Green 3RB 0121 233 3150 Road, joins four other city restaurants - Purnell’s, Simpsons, CHIMICHANGA 41 Mill Turners and Adam’s - in the Michelin Great Britain & Ireland Lane Arcade, Guide 2016. Run by chef Brad Carter and his partner and Want us to review your Touchwood, Solihull, restaurant?, then contact B91 3GS 0121 704 front-of-house manager Holly Jackson, Carters of Moseley 0749 was launched in 2010. The restaurant beat competitors from [email protected] or call CHUNG YING across the Midlands to become a 2014 Good Food Guide 16-18 Wrottersley award winner. 01743 281703 Street, B5 4RT 0121

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Ellesmere Rd, LISTINGS Shrewsbury, SY4 3AF Restaurant 01939 290 523 BISTRO JACQUES 77/77a For full listing information on restau- Mardol, Shrewsbury, rants, including opening times and SY1 1PZ 01743 272586 type of cuisine, visit: www.whatson- BUTLERS Park St, Shifnal, TF11 9BA 01952 live.co.uk 460128 Hill, Clint, Stourbridge, CASA NARANJO Barracks Black Country DY9 9PS 01562 883260 Passage, Wyle Cop, FRANZLS 151 Milcote Rd, Shrewsbury, SY1 01743 ARBOUR LIGHTS 127-128 Smethwick, B67 5BN 588165 Lichfield Street, Walsall, 0121 429 7920 CASA RUIZ 45 High WS1 1SY 01922 613361 FRENCH CONNECTION Street, Bridgnorth, WV16 BANKS BISTRO Chapel 3 Coventry St, 4DX 01746 218 084 Ash, Wolverhampton, Stourbridge, DY8 1EP CHEZ MAW Best Western WV1 4EP 01902 238433 01384 390940 Valley Hotel, Buildwas BELLA 82 Chapel Ash, FRENCH HEN Bromsgrove Rd, Ironbridge, TF8 7DW Wolverhampton, 01902 Rd, Clent, Stourbridge, 01952 432247 427555 DY9 9PY 01562 883040 THE COTTAGE Tern Hill, BENGAL FUSION 174 High GOLDEN MOMENTS 2-3 Market Drayton, TF9 3PX St, Lye, Stourbridge, Ablewell St, Walsall, 01630 638984 DY9 8LN. 01384 891111 WS12EQ 01922 640363 CROMWELLS 11 Dogpole, BILASH 2 Cheapside, THE HUNGRY BISTRO 81 Shrewsbury, SY1 1EN Wolverhampton, WV1 Lichfield Street, 01743 361440 1TU 01902 427762 Wolverhampton, WV1 DA VINCI’S 26 High St, THE BLUE BRICK 1EQ 01902 546336 Ironbridge, TF8 7AD Broad Gauge Way, LE BRASSERIE 5 Lower 01952 432250 Wolverhampton, WV1 Mill Street, DORRINGTON OLD HALL 1AA 01902 875301 Kidderminster, DY11 PERSIAN CUISINE Main Rocco, Wolverhampton BRAVACCIO’S 4 Upper 6UU 01562 744976 Road, Dorrington, Green, Wolverhampton, MADE IN THAI Darlington Shropshire SY5 7JD HENRY TUDOR HOUSE Mary’s St, Shrewsbury, 27 Broad Eye, Stafford, WV6 8QQ 01902 St, Wolverhampton, WV1 01743 719100 Barracks Passage, SY1 1EQ 01743 358870 ST16 2QB 01785 Shrewsbury, SY1 1XA 229988 756052 4HW 01902 312512 DRAPERS 10 St Mary’s St THE POUND AT LEEBOT- 01743 361666 FOUR SEASONS Swinfen CAFE CHAMPAGNE 253- PARADISE BALTI 7 Lower Shrewsbury, SY1 1DZ WOOD Leebotwood, Nr Hall, Lichfield, WS14 255 Bilston Road, Mill Street, 01743 344679 HILL VALLEY HOTEL Church Stretton, SY6 Kidderminster, Tarporley Road, 6ND 01694 751477 9RE 01543 481494 Wolverhampton, WV2 THE FEATHERS Brockton, DY11 6UU 01562 60479 Whitchurch, SY13 4HA THE GREEN ROOM Castle 2JN 01902 458024 Much Wenlock, TF13 RENAISSANCE, 29a THE PIE FACTORY 0844 879 9049 Dyke, Lichfield, WS13 CASA CASITA Upper 50 Hurst 6JR 01746 785202 Princess St, Shrewsbury, Gornal, Dudley, DY3 Lane, Tipton, DY4 9AB THE INN AT GRINSHILL SY11LW 01743 354289 6HR 01543 412121 0121 557 1402 FENNELS 8 Market Place, 1UP 01902 676754 The High Street, ROMOLO Victoria Avenue, INDIAN VILLAGE SAFFRON Wolverhampton Shifna,l TF11 9AZ Grinshill, Shrewsbury, 8 Lombard St, Lichfield, CATELLANI’S 6 School St, 01952 463020 Shrewsbury, SY1 1HH Wolverhampton, WV1 Road, Oldbury, B69 4RR SY4 3BL 01939 220410 01743 233244 WS13 6DR 01543 0121 552 1752 THE FOX INN 46 High St, KING & THAI Avenue Rd, 253415 4LR 01902 428928 SARACENS Shrewsbury SIMON’S 520 Chester Rd, Much Wenlock, TF13 Broseley, Telford, TF12 INDICA Virage Park, CINNAMON COURT Bentley Rd, SY4 4AG 01939 Aldridge, Walsall, WS9 6AD 01952 727292 5DL 01952 882004 Cannoc, WS11 0HN Mill Way, Walsall, WS2 210877 0BP 0121 568 6664 0PU 0121 580 9293 FRANK CAFE BAR 129 THE KNIGHTON HOTEL 08712 070417 Frankwell, Shrewsbury, SEBASTIANS 45 Willow St, THE COWSHED Clive SPICES Hollywell Rd, Broad Street, Knighton, LA DOLCE VITA 19 Stafford Wednesbury, WS10 7PA SY3 8JX 01743 354422 Powys, LD7 1BL 01547 Oswestry, SY11 1AQ St, Stone, ST15 8QW Farm Clive Rd, 01691 655444 Pattingham, WV6 7EN 0121 502 0720 THE GOLDEN CROSS 14 520530 01785 817 985 01902 701888 THE SPRINGHILL Princess St, Shrewsbury, LA DOLCE VITA 35 Hills SHALIMAR 23 Abbey THE LODGE 24 Foregate, Shrewsbury, THE CROOKED HOUSE Warstones Rd, Penn, SY1 1LP 01743 362507 Lane, Shrewsbury, SY1 Birmingham Road, SY2 6AE 01743 366658 Coppice Hill, Himley, Wolverhampton, WV4 GRANARY BAR & GRILL 1QU 01743 249126 Shenstone, WS14 0LQ 4LB 01902 342530 DY3 4DA 01384 238583 Weston Park, Weston- LA LANTERNA The Old SHERAZ 79 Wyle Cop, 01543 483334 THE DITCH 1 Town Hill, THE SUMMERHOUSE 92 under-Lizard, Nr Shifnal, Vestry, St Julian's Shrewsbury, SY1 1UT MALABAR 1-2 Water Walsall, WS1 2EU Gospel End Rd, Dudley, TF11 8LE 01952 Church, Shrewsbury 01743 242321 Street, Stafford, ST16 DY3 4AN 01902 676 01922 643215 852107 SY1 1UH 01743 233552 THE SILVERTON the Old 2AG 01785 227 500/600 102 ROSSO E NERO 25 THE GLUTTON CLUB 165- LION & PHEASANT 50 Dairy, 9-10 Frankwell, MARLOES 13 London THORNESCROFT Darlington Street, 167 Frankwell, Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury SY3 8JY Road, Newcastle under Bridgnorth Rd, Wolverhampton, WV1 Shrewsbury, SY3 8LG SY1 1XJ 01743 770345 01743 248000 Lyme, ST4 1LQ 01782 Wolverhampton, WV6 01743 361672 THE LION QUAYS Moreton, 661983 4HW 01902 425031 7EQ 01902 700 253 TIN TINS Wellington Road, HADLEY PARK HOUSE Oswestry, SY11 3EN Telford, TF2 8AJ THE MILL 1 Mill St, Stone, DUNSLEY HALL Dunsley THE WOODMAN Claverley, Rd, Kinver, DY7 6LU Hadley Park, Telford, 01691 684300 01952 608688 ST15 8BA 01785 Wolverhampton, WV5 TF1 6QJ 01952 677269 818456 01384 877077 7DG 01746 710 553 LOCH FYNE Talbot House, THE WALLS Welsh Walls, FARADAYS The HAVANA REPUBLIC Market Street, Oswestry, SY11 1AW THE NAVIGATION INN Waterfront, Brierley Hill, 18 Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, SY1 1LG 01691 670970 Newport Road, Gnosall, Dudley, DY5 1UR Shropshire Shrewsbury, SY2 6AE 01743 277140 ZIZZI RISORANTE 39-40 Stafford, ST20 0BN 01785 822327 01384 482 882 01743 281744 LUDLOW KITCHEN High Street, Shrewsbury, AFTAB FIVE RIVERS Vicarage 25 High St, THE HAYWARDS at The Bromfield, Ludlow, SY2 SY1 1SF 01743 353232 OLD VICARAGE 2 Main St, Place, Walsall, WS1 3NA Ironbridge, TF8 7AD Lion Hotel, Wyle Cop, 2JR 01584 856020 Branston, Burton, DE14 01952 432055 01922 646164 Shrewsbury, SY1 1UY THE MALTHOUSE The 3EX 01283 533222 FOUR STONES Adam’s ALBRIGHT HUSSEY 01743 353107 Wharfage, Ironbridge, Staffordshire PASCAL AT THE OLD VIC- TF8 7NH 01902 433712 ARAGE 2 Main Street, NO 5 Gaol Mews, Stafford, Branston, Burton-upon- MOMO·NO·KI T19 Abbey ST16 3AN 01785 22 9900 Foregate, Shrewsbury, Trent 01283 533222 95 HIGH GREEN Cannock, PASTICHE BISTRO 1 - 2 Mill SY2 6AE 01743 281770 WS11 1BH 01543 MORGANS 1 Bellstone, Street, Stafford, ST16 (EST 86) 573905 2AJ 01782 263 737 THE DINNER CLUB Shrewsbury, SY1 1HU 1709 THE BASSERIE 3-5 FOR THE MORE DISCERNING UNNATACHED PERSON 01743 231199 THE PEAR TREE Swinfen, Lombard St, Lichfield, Nr. Lichfield, WS14 9QR THE MYTTON & MERMAID WS13 6DP 01543 01543 481807 Atcham, Shrewsbury, 257986 PORTOFINO 38-40 Marsh SINGLE? SY5 6QG 01743 761220 BELLA ITALIA 20 Greengate St Stoke-On-Trent, ST1 St, Stafford, ST16 2HS Autumn THE OLD ORLETON INN 1JD 01782 209444 Holyhead Rd, Wellington, 01785 211968 THE RED ROOM 7 TF1 2HA 01952 255011 CHANDLERS Corn Newcastle Road, Exchange, Conduit St, BLACK THE OLD RECTORY HOTEL Congleton, CW12 4HN Lichfield, WS13 6JU & & RESTAURANT Lowe Hill 01260 297871 WHITE BALL Road, Wem, Shropshire, 01543 416688 THORNBURY HALL, RASOI SY4 5UA 01939 233233 THE CORNER HOUSE Saturday 24th October Second Avenue,Burton- Lockwood Rd, Kingsley THE PEACH TREE 21 Abbey Holt, Stafford, ST10 2DH at Park Royal Hotel, Warrington, Cheshire WA4 4NS Foregate, Shrewsbury, On-Trent, DE14 2WF 01283 542321 01538 750831 7.30 for 8pm - SY2 6AE 01743 355055 WOLSELEY ARMS Pre-dinner drink, 3 course meal with £65 THE PLUME OF FEATHERS CURRY KUTEER 31 accom also Greengate Street, Wolseley Bridge, wine, coffee and dancing till late (disco)Park Royal Hotel, Warrington Harley, Shrewsbury, SY5 (01244) 677030 weekdays or 548816 eve/weekendsCheshire WA4 available4NS Stafford, ST16 2HY Stafford, ST17 0XS 6LP 01743 727360 01785 253279 01889 883179 www.thedinnerclubuk.com PORTER HOUSE 15 St ESSENCE OF THE ORIENT 82 www.whatsonlive.co.uk PT xmas 2015:Layout 1 21/09/2015 18:37 Page 1

‘Shropshire’s NO.1 Christmas Party Venue’

‘It’s simply the best’ ‘Nobody does it better’

limited availability limited availability Christmas Christmas Lunch Dinner Parties 2015 Parties 2015 from £14.95* from £19.95*

THE PEACH TREE CAFE BAR AND RESTAURANT 18-21 ABBEY FOREGATE, SHREWSBURY. SY2 6AE. • TEL: 01743 355055 WWW.THEPEACHTREE.CO.UK *PLEASE NOTE: A £15 PER PERSON NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT IS REQUIRED TO CONFIRM YOUR BOOKING

*Terms & conditions apply grand_whatson FP Oct:Layout 1 21/09/2015 09:29 Page 1 Great Theatre at the Grand!

WED 30 SEPT - SUN 11 OCT TUES 13 OCT WED 14 OCT CERI DUPREE EYEcons

THURS 15 OCT FRI 16 OCT SAT 17 OCT

FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME EVER - THE BIGGEST BURLESQUE LEGENDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD ARE UNITED ON ONE STAGE AS BRITAIN’S NO1 BURLESQUE SHOW GOES GLOBAL.

MON 19 - SAT 24 OCT MON 26 - SAT 31 OCT SUN 1 NOV

BILL KENWRIGHT PRESENTS ‘Blood Brothers is a theatrical phenomenon’ duBlin Business post

Bill kenwright presents

starring marti pellow & maureen nolan ‘HE REMAINS A VERY GREAT STAR’ DAILY EXPRESS

Follow us on @WolvesGrand Like us on Facebook: Wolverhampton Grand

Box Office 01902 42 92 12 BOOK ONLINE AT www.grandtheatre.co.uk