Coventry & Warwickshire Cover January 2019.qxp_Coventry & Warwickshire Cover 14/12/2018 11:21 Page 1 Your FREE essential entertainment guide for the Midlands STEPHEN K AMOS - INTERVIEW INSIDE... COVENTRY & WARWICKSHIRE WHAT’S ON JANUARY 2019 2019 JANUARY ON WHAT’S WARWICKSHIRE & COVENTRY Coventry & Warwickshire ISSUE 397 JANUARY 2019 ’ WhatFILM I COMEDY I THEATRE I GIGS I VISUAL ARTS I EVENTSs I FOOD On warwickshirewhatson.co.uk inside: PART OF WHAT’S ON MEDIA GROUP GROUP MEDIA ON WHAT’S OF PART Yourthe 16-pagelist week by week listings guide NICK HANCOCK stars in Octopus Soup! at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre TWITTER: @WHATSONWARWICKS TWITTER: @WHATSONWARWICKS SWAN LAKE Matthew Bourne’s legendary ballet returns... FACEBOOK: @WHATSONWARWICKSHIRE STRICTLY COME DANCING LIVE! waltzes back into the Midlands WARWICKSHIREWHATSON.CO.UK Sunrise F/P Jan 2019.qxp_Layout 1 13/12/2018 16:46 Page 1 Contents January Warwicks/Worcs.qxp_Layout 1 13/12/2018 09:44 Page 2 January 2019 Contents Swanning around - Matthew Bourne’s masterpiece gets a new lease of life... page 32 Nick Hancock Nish Kumar Spirit Of The Dance the list talks about appearing in taking comedy seriously at award-winning spectacular Your 16-page Octopus Soup! at the Belgrade Coventry’s Warwick Arts Centre visits Malvern Theatres week-by-week listings guide feature on page 8 page 25 page 35 page 51 inside: 4. First Word 11. Food 13. Music 24. Comedy 26. Theatre 37. Film 42. Visual Arts 49. Events fb.com/whatsonwarwickshire fb.com/whatsonworcestershire @whatsonwarwicks @whatsonworcs Warwickshire What’s On Magazine Worcestershire What’s On Magazine Warwickshire What’s On Magazine Worcestershire What’s On Magazine Managing Director: Davina Evans [email protected] 01743 281708 Sales & Marketing: Lei Woodhouse [email protected] 01743 281703 Chris Horton [email protected] 01743 281704 What’sOn Editorial: Lauren Foster [email protected] 01743 281707 Brian O’Faolain [email protected] 01743 281701 Abi Whitehouse [email protected] 01743 281716 Sue Jones [email protected] 01743 281705 MEDIA GROUP Subscriptions: Adrian Parker [email protected] 01743 281714 Contributors: Graham Bostock, James Cameron-Wilson, Katherine Ewing, Jenny Ell, Steve Adams, Lauren Cole, Nanci Davies, Jack Rolfe, Daisy Sparkle, Steve Taylor, Chris Eldon Lee, Patsy Moss Publisher and CEO: Martin Monahan Accounts Administrator: Julia Perry [email protected] 01743 281717 This publication is printed on paper from a sustainable source and is produced without the use of elemental chlorine. 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. 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. First Word Warwickshire January.qxp_Layout 1 14/12/2018 17:46 Page 1 Entertainment news from around the region Warwickshire festival celebrates new talent A four-day biennial festival celebrating Coventry & Warwickshire’s best up-and- coming creative talent makes a welcome return in the spring. Shoot Festival, taking place at various venues around Coventry from 4 to 7 April, provides a platform for artists who’re based within the CV postcode. Commenting on the festival, Shoot direc- tors Jennifer Davis and Paul O’Donnell said: “Since our first event in 2014, Shoot has developed so much. It’s now an es- tablished event in Coventry’s cultural cal- endar, and plans are well underway for this year’s festival. We’re going to be sup- porting more artists than ever before.” For more information, visit coven- tryshootfestival.com Bar+Block restaurant to the North Pole. Warwick theatre looks The show has been written by playwright opens in Leamington Tatty Hennessy. “I’m excited to write a piece towards a dark future Whitbread, the owner of the Premier Inn of serious drama focused on a teenage girl,” A ‘darkly comic warning for the future’ is hotel chain, has opened its latest restaurant says Tatty, “and one who takes her difficul- being presented at Bridge House Theatre in format on the Parade in central Leamington ties and desires seriously - especially at a Warwick this month. Spa. time when the pressures and constraints on Blending ‘magical’ visuals with live song and The new 148-cover Bar+Block restaurant oc- young women are so varied and complex.” clowning, Where The Hell Is Bernard is per- cupies the former Barclays Bank building ad- A Hundred Words For Snow runs at Warwick formed by the award-winning Haste Theatre jacent to the Premier Inn hotel. Arts Centre from Monday 4 to Thursday 7 on Wednesday 30 January. An additional 13 Premier Inn bedrooms have February. The show tells the story of four women who also been created above the ground-floor unwittingly find themselves with the future restaurant as part of the same development. of humanity in their hands. A further six rooms will follow in the main For more information about the production hotel building. and the rest of the venue’s season, visit bridgehousetheatre.co.uk Coventry set to kick-start mass-participation charity cycle ride A mass-participation charity cycle ride from Burt Bacharach to play Coventry is set to be one of the city’s first Midlands music festival One woman’s journey in events as European City of Sport 2019. The 2019 edition of Birmingham’s Mostly Jazz The Starley Sportive returns to Coventry & honour of her father... Funk & Soul festival will be brought to a close Warwickshire roads next month with a new, A new play shedding light on the world of fe- by the legendary Burt Bacharach. longer route, offering cyclists the chance to male polar exploration will visit Warwick The award-winning composer, whose hits in- shake off any lingering Christmas cobwebs Arts Centre in Coventry early next month. clude Alfie, I Say A Little Prayer, I'll Never and raise money for their chosen charities. Performed by Mobius Theatre, A Hundred Fall In Love Again and Walk On By, will per- Places on the cycle ride, which is being held Words For Snow finds Rory embarking on a form at the three-day Moseley Park event on on Sunday 17 February, can be journey of epic proportions across the Arctic, booked online Sunday 14 July. Tickets for the festival can yclinguk.org as she attempts to get the ashes of her father at c now be purchased at mostlyjazz.co.uk 4 whatsonlive.co.uk First Word Warwickshire January.qxp_Layout 1 14/12/2018 17:46 Page 2 First Word Ben Elton hits the road with a new comedy tour Blackadder and Upstart Crow writer Ben Elton is this year making a long-overdue return to the world of stand-up comedy, heading out on an autumn tour that sees him visiting various Midlands venues. Commenting on the news, Ben said: "The last time I toured, I was still smarter than my phone. Things have definitely taken a funny turn.” To find out where he’s appearing in the re- gion and to book tickets for the show, visit Ticketmaster.co.uk Caroline Quentin to star in RSC’s restoration comedy Familiar television face Caroline Quentin is to star in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of John Vanbrugh’s restoration comedy, The Provoked Wife. Quentin, who shot to fame in 1990s ‘lads sitcom’ Men Behaving Badly, will be joined in the show by RSC Associate Artists Alexandra Gilbreath and Jonathan Slinger. The Provoked Wife shows at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from 2 Hall & Oates May to 7 September. For more information, visit rsc.org.uk to play Resorts World Arena Human rights X Factor winners Rak-Su to perform in The biggest-selling music duo highlighted Coventry’s Soundscape Weekender in history, Daryl Hall & John Coventry’s City of Cul- X Factor 2017 winners Rak-Su are to appear at major Coventry music Oates, will be stopping off at ture Trust has launched festival Soundscape Weekender this summer. Birmingham’s Resorts World a campaign aimed at Since winning the ITV1 talent contest, the in-demand R&B four-piece Arena on 24 April as part of a highlighting the issue of have scored a number-two hit in the charts and toured with Little Mix. four-date UK tour. human rights. They will appear at Ricoh Arena on Sunday 16 June, the second day of The legendary pair, who last The campaign - #Hu- the festival. For more information about the event, visit soundscape- headline-toured the country mansOfCov - will turn weekender.co.uk in 2014, have sold an esti- the spotlight on every- mated 40 million records, in- day heroes and grass- cluding six n umber ones, and roots activism in were inducted into the Song- Coventry communities, writers Hall of Fame in 2003. as well as starting a con- For more information about versation about what the concert, visit resortsworl- human rights mean for a darena.co.uk modern and diverse city in the 21st century. The campaign was launched last month with the touring of a 14ft- high mobile and illumi- nated peace poem to different parts of the city. whatsonlive.co.uk 5 First Word Warwickshire January.qxp_Layout 1 14/12/2018 17:46 Page 3 First Word Nostalgia show celebrates its 20th Popular Midlands nostalgia show Go And Play Up Your Own End is celebrating its 20th anniversary.