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Wolves & B'Cntry Cover .qxp_Mids Cover - August 24/11/2014 10:45 Page 1 WOLVERHAMPTON & BLACK WOLVERHAMPTON COUNTRY ON WHAT’S THE MIDLANDS ESSENTIAL ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE WOLVERHAMPTON & BLACK COUNTRY ISSUE 348 ’ Whatwww.whatsonlive.co.uk sOnISSUE 348 DECEMBER 2014 RUSSELL DECEMBER 2014 HOWARD GOOD NEWS IN BRUM CAMERON MACKINTOSH talks musicals, money and more... PART OF MIDLANDS WHAT’S ON MAGAZINE GROUP PUBLICATIONS GROUP MAGAZINE ON WHAT’S MIDLANDS OF PART interview inside... BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB indie rockers at the Civic VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS festive cheer at Black Country Living Museum @WHATSONWOLVES WWW.WHATSONLIVE.CO.UK @WHATSONWOLVES Buttermarket Xmas.qxp_Layout 1 24/11/2014 18:35 Page 1 Contents Dec Region 2.qxp_Layout 1 24/11/2014 12:59 Page 1 December 2014 Editor: Davina Evans INSIDE: [email protected] 01743 281708 Editorial Assistants: Cameron Mackintosh Brian O’Faolain [email protected] Barnum out on tour... 01743 281701 interview p6 Lauren Foster [email protected] 01743 281707 Adrian Parker [email protected] 01743 281714 Sales & Marketing: Chris Horton [email protected] 01743 281704 Subscriptions: Adrian Parker [email protected] 01743 281714 Managing Director: Paul Oliver [email protected] Chrissie Hynde 01743 281711 bonafide rock legend Publisher and CEO: in Wolves p17 Martin Monahan [email protected] 01743 281710 Graphic Designers: Lisa Wassell Chris Atherton Accounts Administrator Julia Perry [email protected] 01743 281717 Camping it up in Grand style. Julian Clary tells us how he’ll be spending Website Development: Christmas... Interview page 10 Eddie Payne Contributors: Graham Bostock: Theatre James Cameron-Wilson: Film; Alev Dervish: Music TO GET THE VERY p4 Eva Easthope, Kate LATEST LISTING News Alfie Boe Evans, Jessica Aston, inspired by the golden era Patsy Moss, Jack Rolfe, INFORMATION, Jan Watts, Reggie White, Music p17 of Italian song... p24 Simon Carter, Anita VISIT: Champaneri whatsonlive.co.uk Comedy p26 INCLUDING Head Office: BOOKING ONLINE 13-14 Abbey Foregate, Theatre p29 Shrewsbury, SY2 6AE Tel: 01743 281777 The Midlands’ most e-mail: [email protected] comprehensive p45 entertainment website Film/DVD Follow us on... Visual Arts p51 This publication is printed on paper from a sustainable source and is Events p55 produced without the use December 2014 of elemental chlorine. Wolverhampton Eating Out p65 We endorse the recycling & Black Country MTWTFSS of our magazine and @whatsonwolves 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 would encourage you to Staffordshire pass it on to others to 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 read when you have @whatsonstaffs finished with it. Shropshire 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ’ @whatsonshrops 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 WhatsOn 29 30 31 MAGAZINE GROUP 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 December Region 2Davina.qxp_Layout 1 24/11/2014 16:21 Page 1 News A ROUND-UP OF LOCAL AND NATIONAL ENTERTAINMENT NEWS Secret Egypt, discovered An exhibition addressing popular modern misconceptions about ancient Egypt is to open at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery next month. Featuring more than one hun- dred-and-fifty objects, Secret Egypt is a col- lection of ceramics, jewellery, statues, coffins and both animal and human mummies. The exhibition examines the science behind the mummification process and also looks at evidence of curses in Egyptian society. A touring exhibition from Coventry’s Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, presented in partner- ship with Birmingham Museums Trust, Secret Egypt shows at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery from 24 January to 26 April. Secret Egypt exhibition at a previous location Scoundrels abound in the Midlands... Festive treat with a difference A national touring version of the critically acclaimed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels will visit two Midlands theatres next year. Based on Frank Oz’s 1988 film starring Steve Martin and Michael Dudley Canal Trust is looking to make the Caine - which itself was based on 1964’s Bedtime Story with David Niven and Marlon Brando most of the area’s underground acoustics in - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is set in the decadent underworld of the French Riviera, where two the lead up to Christmas. seasoned swindlers attempt to hoodwink a millionaire soap heiress. The show stops off at Boat trips around the caverns and limestone Birmingham’s New Alexandra Theatre from 5 to 16 May and then at the Regent Theatre, mines on 14 and 21 December will see an Stoke-on-Trent, from 29 July to 1 August. Casting for the show is yet to be announced. onboard choir performing live in unaccom- panied four-part harmony, presenting festive favourites such as God Rest Ye, Merry That’s Amore and Come Fly With Me. The Staffordshire location the Gentlemen, Coventry Carol and Silent Night. show also boasts a sprinkling of seasonal The unique hour-long trip will take in loca- favourites to enjoy. Ten percent of all ticket public’s favourite tions such as Cathedral Arch and the sales will be donated to local sight-loss char- The National Arboretum has come out on famous Singing Cavern. ity Beacon. Funds raised will help the charity top in a public vote designed to find the Tickets priced at £10.80 include travel support people living with sight loss across most popular places to be funded by the aboard one of the Trust’s special electric tun- the West Midlands. Tickets are priced £21 National Lottery in the past twenty years. nel tripping boats, a hot drink and a mince and £17 and are available from the Beacon The Staffordshire location received the most pie. For further information, call 0121 557 fundraising team on 01902 880 111. votes in the recent National Treasures sur- 6265. vey, which asked social media users to Raw State launched in Brum choose their favourite from a range of iconic Black Country-born singer-songwriter Dan venues, landmarks and facilities, all of which Whitehouse is to officially launch his third have benefitted from Lottery funding. album, Raw State, at Birmingham’s Glee To date, more than £8 million of Lottery fund- Club this month (7 December). Dan per- ing has been awarded to the arboretum. The forms at the venue with a full band - includ- survey also saw the public choose Stephen ing BJ Cole (Bjork, Elvis Costello, REM). Fry as their National Treasure, for his work Award-winning Irish songwriter Duke Special as president of mental health charity Mind. offers support. Dan is releasing Raw State having New collection revealed just completed a Walsall’s New Art Gallery this month pres- string of UK and ents the first exhibition from The Clive That’s Amore in Wolves North America Beardmore Collection - a private collection dates. The album which will expand the gallery’s holding of Wulfrun Hall is offering Midlanders the has been described Modern British artworks. On general display chance to enjoy Christmas with the Rat Pack as a body of work from 4 December, the collection showcases on Tuesday 23 December. The popular trib- which ‘embraces pieces by Edward Bawden, John Bratby, ute show sees ‘Frank Sinatra’, ‘Dean Martin’ the power of Laura Knight, Graham Sutherland and Keith and ‘Sammy Davis Jnr’ transporting audi- change and new Vaughan, none of whom have previously ences to 1960s Las Vegas via a programme directions’. been represented in the gallery. of classic songs, including Mac The Knife, 4 www.whatsonlive.co.uk News December Region 2Davina.qxp_Layout 1 24/11/2014 16:21 Page 2 Motionhouse to join forces with Tamworth arts team World-renowned dance company Motionhouse is to join forces with Tamworth’s Arts & Events team to mount a large-scale site-specific performance next May. The Leamington-based ensemble will work with over two hundred performers from the local community to create Tigress, a piece inspired by the story of Æthelfleda, the eldest daughter of King Alfred the Great. A powerful queen in her own right, she was responsible for refortifying the Saxon town of Tamworth and leading the Mercians into battle against the vikings. Tigress is just one of many projects that Motionhouse has planned for 2015. The company will also be collaborating with No Fit State Circus on a brand new outdoor Three Men In A Bowtie go back to where it all began... show called Block. We’ll keep you posted. Shropshire’s most established comedy trio are this month celebrating their twenty-first anniversary by returning to their Shrewsbury roots. Three Men In A Bowtie launched themselves on an unsuspecting public as a ‘Christmas enter- tainment’ way back in 1993. Five hundred concerts later they’re resurrecting the Christmas format for two special nights, and will be presenting their first ‘seasonal show’ in Shrewsbury since 1998. Classic Christmas songs will include Stuff The Turkey, Pantomime Blues and the Telford carol, Ding Dang Dong. They’ll also be giving an airing to all their latest songs, as well as pulling a few old crackers out of their Santa hats. Accompanying the chaps will be Shropshire’s agricultural starlet Freda Brace-cock, who’ll be waving around her mistletoe in the high hope of enjoying a moment or two of yuletide romance. Archive image of rehearsals for a previous Three Men In A Bowtie play the Ashton Theatre at Shrewsbury School on Thursday 18 and Motionhouse production Friday 19 December. Tickets are available from www.ticketsource.co.uk/threemeninabowtie, or by calling Darren Wood on 01743 280812.