When Churchill said we’d fight the Nazis on beaches, landing grounds, fields, streets and hills, he left out the church-yard, manor house, pub and village green. But in this stirring, startlingly violent (for its time) masterwork of World War II propaganda, that’s exactly where the plucky locals of Bramley End engage the enemy.

Inspired by a Graham Greene short story, this is a true hidden gem of our national cinema.

On a morning like any other a powerful business man, Stanislas Graff, is kidnapped outside his luxurious apartment building by a gang of thugs. From there begins a terrifying ordeal that will last for several weeks. Despite being tortured and humiliated Graff resists his captors. He accepts his fate without complaint.

Outside, his world is falling to pieces as details of his personal life are revealed. All he had managed to keep private; his affairs, his gambling debts, his shady dealings are exposed by the police investigation and media frenzy. Friends and family begin to discover that the real Stanislas Graff may not be the man they thought they knew.

“Attal’s depiction is physically brutal and emotionally convincing.” Variety

Post Screening Discussion – Wed 8 Sep 6.15pm

Fresh from watching his son Karl being acquitted in court, family head Bill returns to his terraced home in Brighton with dangerous questions swimming around in his head. Questions which will lead to violence, recrimination and murder. Who grassed him up to the police? How will top brass in London react to the recent downturn in profits from his criminal activities? And when will Karl finally get around to decorating the sitting room?

By turns thrilling and funny, shocking and authentic, Down Terrace takes on themes of family, betrayal, immorality and cold-blooded rage.

“A dark British Sopranos.” Little White Lies

“… fusing the wry realism of Ken Loach with the blackly comic bloodlust of Ken Russell…” ****Time Out

Winner of the 2010 Best Foreign Language Academy Award.

Benjamin Esposito (Darin), a recently retired criminal court investigator decides to try his hand at writing a novel based on an old case which has haunted him since 1974. As Esposito uncovers the devastation of the brutal crime on the victim’s family, he sets out to find the killer 25 years on.

“This spellbinder will sneak up and floor you. It’s that good. A supremely intelligent and deeply touching thriller. Thunderously exciting!” Rolling Stone

“The unsolved murder of a young woman is at the root of this haunting, beautifully calibrated Oscar winner from Argentina.” Los Angeles Times

Mousse and Louis are young, beautiful, rich and in love. But drugs have invaded their lives. One day they overdose and Louis dies. Mousse survives but soon learns she’s pregnant. Feeling lost, she runs away to a house far from Paris on the French coast.

With a mesmerising performance by Isabelle Carré, Francois Ozon’s latest film explores deep themes about death, life and love, set against the idyllic background of rural France.

In the northern frontier of Iran, director Babak Jalali mines absurdist humour and quiet pathos from the immutable routines of a group of men.

Hassan is a Persian with Coke-bottle glasses whose only pal is his ever-present donkey. His uncle runs a clothing store whose items never seem to fit his shoppers. A Turkmen minstrel pines for the wife he lost 30 years ago.

Together, these characters go through the motions of living while preoccupied with escape. Against visually serene compositions and a plaintive score, Jalili teases out the intense longing hidden behind his characters’ stoic expressions, crafting a humane and drolly charming first feature that leaves an indelible impression.

1974. Power cuts, strikes and boot-boy aggro on the terraces. Flares, Chopper bikes and beer at fourteen pence per pint.

Joe McCain, 17 and restless, is bored with the flatline tedium of a life that seems like it’s going nowhere. Enter Jane, moving to the beat of a music that Joe’s never heard, a vision of loveliness who opens the door to a whole world of sound, movement and all-nighter dancing at The Wigan Casino – the home of Northern Soul! Swept along on this tide of pulsating dance and lust, Joe finally finds somewhere he belongs and the acceptance and true love he yearns for.

Shimmy Marcus’ stylish, vibrant and generous coming-of-age tale captures, with infectious enthusiasm, the overwhelming attraction of being part of something – and the errors of judgement that can be born out of blind faith.

Post Screening Discussion – Fri 17 Sep

Whilst shopping in Marseilles with his young son, retired gangster Charley Mattei (Reno) is the target of a brutal assassination attempt in an underground car park. Surviving, despite being shot 22 times, he recovers to exact violent revenge on those who left him for dead…but who were they?

Inspired by a true story, and partially adapted from the 2007 novel The Immortal by Franz-Olivier Giesbert, Richard Berry’s gripping film dramatises a notorious episode in the life of infamous French ‘Godfather’, the legendary Marseilles gangland figure Jacques Imbert – famously known as ‘Jacky Le Mat’.

A slick, hardboiled piece of cinema, proving once again that Hollywood is not the only source of memorable action-packed entertainment.

Angel, 15 years old: assault and car theft. Davis, 16 years old: possession of narcotics with intent to resell. Butch, 17 years old: assault on a police officer. The three are taken to a Youth Correctional Centre in Montana and placed under the authority and watch of Officer Goodyear, a strict but caring guard. But even so, they become the subjects of ruthless assaults by another inmate. The young men struggle to keep their bodies and spirits intact, but each act of violence swells ever more forcefully.

An electrifying cast delivers blistering performances packed with intensity and emotional punch that reveals the deficiencies of a well-intentioned but ultimately failing correctional system.

Raquel, a bitter and introverted woman, has been the Valdés family’s maid for 23 years. One day, Pilar her mistress, hires another maid to help Raquel with her chores. Raquel, feeling her place in the family threatened, drives the new arrival away with cruel psychological abuse. This happens time and again until Pilar hires Lucy, a merry girl from the countryside who has never worked as a maid before. It is Lucy who finally breaks the barrier Raquel has erected around herself.

Winner of World Cinema Jury Prize and the World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Acting (Catalina Saavedra) at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

National Theatre Live launched in June 2009 with a broadcast of Phèdre. Seen by over 50,000 people worldwide, don’t miss your chance to see an Encore screening of this smash hit production.

Helen Mirren takes the title role in this savage play by Jean Racine, translated into muscular free verse by the late Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes.

Consumed by an uncontrollable passion for her young stepson and believing Theseus, her absent husband, to be dead, Phèdre confesses her darkest desires and enters the world of nightmare. When Theseus returns alive and well, Phèdre, fearing exposure, accuses her stepson of rape.

Official website

Award for Best Actress (Juliette Binoche), Cannes 2010.

This is the story of a meeting between one man and one woman in a small Italian village in Southern Tuscany. The man is a British author who has just finished giving a lecture at a conference. The woman, from France, owns an art gallery. This is a common story that could happen to anyone, anywhere.

A captivating film, Certified Copy marries post-modern reality games with mature romantic comedy in a single, playful and provocative package – Before Sunrise for grown-ups!

“… an extraordinary film…” ****Time Out

Post Screening Discussion – Wed 29 Sep

A thoughtful but outrageous comedy – the story of a man who learns the things you want most may not be the things that make you happy.

Lance Clayton (Williams) dreamed of being a rich and famous writer, but has only managed to make it as a high school poetry teacher. Then, in the wake of a freak accident, Lance suffers the worst tragedy and greatest opportunity of his life. He is suddenly faced with the possibility of all the fame, fortune and popularity he ever dreamed of, if he can only live with the knowledge of how he got there.

“… an original, brilliantly funny masterwork. Robin Williams gives the best performance of the year in one of the best movies of the year.” Dark Horizons

Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, based on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s best-selling novel, must surely rate as one of the most sumptuously beautiful epics ever made. And this new digital restoration makes the experience yet more intense.

Set in 1860-62, during the turbulent period of Italian unification, it tells the story of an aristocratic Sicilian family threatened by the political upheavals, culminating in the 45 minute ballroom scene where we can see and feel a society in transition.

This gorgeous evocation of an era, filmed on location in Sicily, is stunningly photographed with a rousing score by Nino Rota.

As cheeky, boisterous and witty as it is delicately drawn and beauteous to behold, Sylvain Chomet’s second feature film is a winner on every level.

Our weary hero is an over-the-hill magician, complete with less-than-friendly white rabbit; their adventures are based upon an unrealised script by the great Jacques Tati, the action of which Chomet transposed to Scotland after moving there in 2004.

Always in search of a paying gig, the illusionist treks from Paris to the Western Isles to Edinburgh – acquiring along the way, a young travelling companion who sincerely believes in his magical abilities.

“Delightful… thrilling… a love letter to Scotland and Edinburgh in particular.” Variety

Hot on the heels of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo comes the next in this trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire.

The latest instalment sees Lisbeth Salander and crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist once again caught up in a brutal murder investigation. Having served his prison sentence, Blomkvist returns to Millennium intent on exposing a billion dollar sex trafficking ring.

When two of his researchers are murdered, Salander is framed for the murders and emerges as the police’s chief suspect. Unconvinced, Blomkvist attempts to track her down and find out the truth. But secretive hacker Salander goes on the run and soon stumbles upon secrets of her own past.

EXTRA DATE – 28 Jan 2010: ON SALE FRI 27 AUG

It’s been a great 18 months for Micky – he appeared in BBC1’s Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, his Radio 4 series What Chance Change? was a hit with listeners and critics alike and he is one of a handful of comics to perform their own Comedy Central special.

So now it’s time for Micky to hit the road performing the best of his last two Edinburgh shows. It’s not just time to go out, it’s time to go Out Out.

“Arguably the funniest comedian in the country… the future of comedy.” Frank Skinner

“If there was any justice in the world he’d be a huge star.” Time Out

Official Website

This multi award-winning hit of the 2008 Dublin Fringe Festival takes the audience on a journey with three generations of Dublin women through one extraordinary year of love, sex, birth, marriage and salsa classses. A year of courage, comedy and romance.

This is a triple monologue of the kind Irish theatre excels in; it tells the tale of three generations of a Dublin family as they stand on the brink of widowhood for Kay, new love for Lorraine and teenage motherhood for Amber.

Little Gem is Elaine Murphy’s debut play. Premiering at the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2008, it picked up the Fishamble New Writing Award and the Stewart Parker/BBC Drama Award.

In 2009, the play transferred to the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it won the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award.

“A tiny treasure… any woman out there facing down the barrel of marriage, childbirth or old age would be well advised to ditch the sambuca and come to Little Gem instead.” *****Time Out

“Elaine Murphy’s Little Gem is indeed a little gem of a play, vivid, funny and touching… The writing is so honest, the language so vivid that the happy ending seems genuinely earned, and the performances are outstanding… this is lovely, life-affirming work.” **** The Telegraph

“Murphy and her brilliant cast make us care about every breath these women take, and make you want to hug them.” Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

Post-Show Talk Wed 6 Oct

Official website

Mobius Dance delivers athletic, high-octane theatrical works with a quirky edge.

Such Is Life brings together five brilliant performers from some of the finest dance theatre companies in the UK (Frantic Assembly, Punch Drunk, De la Guarda, Motionhouse Dance Theatre, Barebones and Wired Aerial Theatre).

The programme weaves together three related pieces that explore life, love and art by five characters set against three different situations.

Honest, athletic and rhythmical, Such Is Life is all about normal stuff, the happenings of everyday flipped on its head! The Root of It examines the pleasure and pain of living with the influence of the past; Pressure Gauge explores the struggle to strike a balance between life and a relationship; and Performing Monkey considers the pressure to perform, succeed and be the best in everything we do.

“Poetic, humorous, deep and brilliantly put together.” Audience member, London

Official website

Bax – Tintagel
Chopin – Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, Op.21
Interval
Dvorák – Symphony No.7 in D minor

We are delighted to open our 2010-2011 season with the award-winning Hallé under the direction of their Music Director, Sir Mark Elder.

The centrepiece of this concert is Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto. A fitting celebration of the composer’s bicentenary year, soloist Artur Pizarro has received high praise for his recordings of Chopin’s Piano Sonatas: “with the fine natural recorded sound we could very well have the Chopin release of the year” (Pianist Magazine).

Dvorák’s intense and beautiful Seventh Symphony with its elegiac slow movement, lilting scherzo and thrilling finale, has been compared to Brahms in its emotional turbulence. Bax’s dramatic tone poem, Tintagel, evocatively paints a musical picture inspired by the castle-crowned cliffs of Cornwall to open this magical concert.

Pre-Concert Talk
Conference Room 6.45pm
Tickets £2, Subscribers £1
A talk with members of The Hallé – details to follow

Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, Rashomon is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice.

Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, Kurosawa reveals the complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the story of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife.

A genuine classic of World Cinema, Rashomon is based on two stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and stars the inimitable Toshirô Mifune.

Following last year’s sell-out tour and sensational performances on The Royal Variety Performance, Live At The Apollo, and Michael Mcintyre’s Comedy Roadshow, the Welsh Wonder is back on the road with a brand new show. Last year, he punched a shop-assistant over the duvet tog-rating system and went berserk over a mince pie. Stung by accusations that he over-reacts, this year Rhod sets out on an emotional rollercoaster of a journey to discover the truth. Is he, as he believes, a visionary in a sea of closed minds, or has he, as everyone else believes, got anger-management problems?

“Without doubt one of the best comedians anywhere in the world right now.” Time Out

“Exhilarating stand-up… sublime storytelling.” ***** Scotsman

Based on Posy Simmonds’ beloved graphic novel of the same name (which was itself inspired by Thomas Hardy’s classic Far From The Madding Crowd) this wittily modern take on the romantic English pastoral is a far cry from Hardy’s Wessex.

Tamara Drewe’s present-day English countryside – stocked with pompous writers, rich weekenders, bourgeois bohemians and a horny rock star – is a much funnier place.

When Tamara Drewe sashays back to the bucolic village of her youth, life for the locals is thrown upside down. Tamara – once an ugly duckling – has been transformed into a devastating beauty (with the help of some plastic surgery). As infatuations, jealousies, love affairs and career ambitions collide among the inhabitants of the neighbouring farmsteads, Tamara sets a contemporary comedy of manners into play using the oldest magic in the book – sex appeal.

Post Screening Discussion – Fri 8 Oct

Folk/blues singer/songwriter Ben Clempson can silence a pub crowd with the quality of music he makes. His style is spellbinding. He combines intricate finger-picking with impressive percussive techniques on the body of the guitar. With his rich voice he expresses his musical storytelling from gentle folk through to raw, funky blues. If you like John Martyn, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake and Eric Bibb; you’ll love him!

Paul Van Ryan is a singer/songwriter with a bit of a twist, confessional, blunt and witty in his lyrics. True stories of the chaos that has followed him – love, death, hate, sex and bizarre twists all accompanied by catchy melodies. The Late Knights are his faithful backing band and can consist of up to 12 members including brass sections and pianists, but no matter what mix of musicians on the night, you’re guaranteed a fantastic gig.

With a new album, Back To Love, the acclaimed Nashville-based singer/songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman comes full circle, back to the soul-deep song writing style that made her famous and provided big hits for herself and covers by an impressive and eclectic group of artists including Faith Hill, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Trisha Yearwood, Neil Diamond and Emmylou Harris, to name but a few.

And while soaring melodies, bell-clear vocals and heart-penetrating lyrics are reassuringly in place, there’s a new depth to the singer and to the songs, reflecting every turn in the tragic-and-triumphant road Nielsen Chapman has travelled.

For legions of tried-and-true fans, this new release represents an exuberant return to the style that distinguished some of her best work and produced some of her biggest hits. For newcomers, the magic and the music of Beth Nielsen Chapman, Back To Love is a bright new chapter in her songbook of life’s revelations.

Official website

Lindsay Seers seeks to unravel the strange disappearance of a young woman, her stepsister Christine Parkes, following a moped accident in Rome. Old letters, her stepsister’s notes and a box of photographs act as the point of departure as Seers sets out to find the truth, a truth which leads her to tales of diamond smuggling in Western Africa.

The viewer witnesses the unfolding of this matrix of film, photography, personal and historical events within Seers’ sculptural installation which place the viewer within an immersive viewing chamber.

OPENING PARTY FRI 8 OCT 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Join us at a free preview of our new exhibitions.

It has to be this way2 was co-commissioned by the National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen and the Mead Gallery with Matt’s Gallery, London. Lindsay Seers is represented by Matt’s Gallery, London.

To compliment this exhibition we have alongside it Piranesi’s Prisons.

An exhibition of prints from the eighteenth century Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi creates a dialogue with the Lindsay Seers’ work and their shared preoccupations with light and dark, reality and fantasy, loss and displacement.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s mid eighteenth century etchings create a series of 16 haunting images of imaginary prisons. Towering fantastical architecture, endless staircases and dreadful machinery create nightmarish scenes that have fuelled the imagination of Romantic writers and contemporary game designers.

On loan from the University of Manchester, Piranesi’s prints create a dialogue with Lindsay Seers’ work, sharing a preoccupation with light and dark, real and fantastic, loss and displacement.

OPENING PARTY FRI 8 OCT 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Join us at a free preview of our new exhibitions. Everyone welcome.

It’s Big Draw Day! Join in and explore drawing with light, experiment with torches, collage and colour to create your own live installations and performances.

Ages: 6+
Children must be accompanied by an adult.

For further information please call the Mead Gallery Assistants on 024 7652 2589 (12noon – 9pm, Mon-Sat)

As cheeky, boisterous and witty as it is delicately drawn and beauteous to behold, Sylvain Chomet’s second feature film is a winner on every level.

Our weary hero is an over-the-hill magician complete with less-than-friendly white rabbit; always in search of a paying gig.

The illusionist treks from Paris to the Western Isles to Edinburgh – acquiring along the way a young travelling companion who sincerely believes in his magical abilities.

Accompanied by: Henry’s Cat: The Circus

The Met Opera bring a selection from their award-winning series of live, high-definition performance transmissions to Warwick Arts Centre.

Conducted by: James Levine
Directed by: Robert Lepage
Featuring: Wendy Bryn Harmer, Stephanie Blythe, Bryn Terfel, Patricia Bardon, Richard Croft, Gerhard Siegel and Hans-Peter Konig

Two unparalleled artists join forces to create a groundbreaking new Ring for the Met: Maestro James Levine and director Robert Lepage. The cycle launches with Das Rheingold, the prologue to Wagner’s epic drama.

“The Ring is not just a story or a series of operas, it’s a cosmos.” says Lepage, who brings cutting-edge technology and his own visionary imagination to the world’s greatest theatrical journey.

Bryn Terfel sings the leading role of Wotan for the first time with the company, heading an extraordinary cast.

Be careful what you wish for. That’s what the Queen discovers when, after having 12 sons, she wishes for a daughter. For, at the very moment her beautiful daughter is born, her sons are transformed into wild ducks.

When Princess Snow-Rose learns what happened to her brothers, she sets out to try to release them from their enchantment. She must weave and sew 12 shirts from nettles.

And, as if that isn’t hard enough, for three years she must stay silent and neither smile nor weep.

This traditional Norwegian tale is a fabulous fable of determination in the face of great hardship. Multistory bring their customary magic to bear with a blend of live music, magical word-weaving and the engaging physicality that has become their hallmark.

Official website

Set in the desolate Ozark mountain region of the central United States, this enigmatic thriller follows 17-year-old Ree Jolly on a desperate quest to save the family home after her drug-dealing father skips bail. Subjected to the sheer menace of the uncompromising terrain and the brutality of her hostile neighbours, Ree embarks on a quest so dark and dangerous that it could ultimately threaten her life.

Winter’s Bone won the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival as well as two further prizes at this year’s Berlinale.

“Suspenseful, surprising and subtle with as memorable and vivid a heroine as you are likely to see.” The New York Times

Post Screening Discussion – Thu 14 Oct

Known for their genre-bending approach to music, Polar Bear draw on everything from hip hop to metal, but have their roots firmly in jazz.

The band’s 2005 album Held on the Tips of Fingers was shortlisted for the coveted Mercury Music Prize, and recent fourth record Peepers is possibly their strongest to date, with typically off kilter grooves and joyful twisting tunes.

Drummer and composer Seb Rochford is joined by Leafcutter John on guitar and electronics, tenor saxophonists Pete Wareham and Mark Lockheart and Tom Herbert on double bass.

“Polar Bear blast out of the past, full of straight, cool school skills, and detonate the past, bursting with edgy, forward-looking lust.” Paul Morley, Observer Music Monthly

Official website

Kick off the Autumn with the ever popular Free Concert, with classic numbers from an array of musicals performed by all these different groups! The concert will include excerpts from Guys & Dolls, My Fair Lady, An American in Paris, The Lion King and Oliver!.

Hofesh Shechter presents his highly anticipated new work Political Mother, his first full length piece for his internationally acclaimed company since he exploded onto the world stage with Uprising/In your rooms.

Political Mother brims with Shechter’s emotional and gritty complexity, powerful percussive grooves and raw and honest physicality. Political Mother is performed by ten dancers and accompanied by Shechter’s own cinematic score featuring a band of live drummers and electric guitarists.

Shechter’s choreography for the opening sequence of E4’s Skins and the overwhelming response to Uprising/In your rooms has singled him out as one of the most exciting artists to emerge in recent years.

Political Mother tours the world in 2010 so catch it here while you can.

“Part dance show, part heavy-rock gig, Hofesh Shechter’s first ever full-length work is an audio-visual marvel.” ***** The Telegraph

“A mix of explosive choreography and sensory musical overload… in adding the vibe of a rock concert to contemporary dance, Shechter is bringing the form to life for a new generation of spectators.” The Stage

“… delivered like a roar of defiance in the face of an omnipotent, malevolent force. It’s visceral, painful and very, very exciting but even in the dark void at its centre there is humanity and tenderness, never quite extinguished.” **** The Times

“Hofesh Shechter’s latest work detonates on stage in a scattershot of shattering political imagery.” The Guardian

Post-Show Talk Tue 12 Oct

Official website

The BBC’s Will Gompertz meets Hofesh Shechter

Read the full five star review in The Daily Telegraph

Political Mother is commissioned by Brighton Dome and Festival, Sadler’s Wells and Movimentos – Festwochen der Autostadt in Wolfsburg. The work is co-commissioned by Biennale de la Danse de Lyon, Théatre de la Vile, Romaeuropa and Mercat de les Flors. Produced in collaboration with Theatre Royal, Plymouth and with support from DanceXchange, Birmingham. The score for Political Mother was created in collaboration with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and barbicanbite09.

For the first time, National Theatre Live is broadcast from Theatre Royal, Plymouth.

Complicite’s A Disappearing Number opened in Plymouth in 2007 before visiting Warwick Arts Centre and subsequently touring all over the world. Awards include the Olivier Award for Best New Play (2008), the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play (2007) and the Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play (2007).

A Disappearing Number weaves together the story of two love affairs, separated by a century and a continent. The first happens now. The second is set in 1914. It tells of the heartbreaking collaboration between the greatest natural mathematician of the 20th century, Srinivasa Ramanujan, a penniless Brahmin from Madras in South India, and his British counterpart, the brilliant Cambridge don GH Hardy.

With a haunting original score by Nitin Sawhney, this piece of startling visual poetry from Simon McBurney and Complicite is a compelling meditation on love, mathematics and the pain of exile in an age when we think we can belong anywhere and have everything.

“A Disappearing Number is a wonder and one I cannot recommend too highly.” The Daily Telegraph

Complicite is one of the UK’s most outstanding theatre companies and becomes the first company outside of the National Theatre to be a part of the National Theatre Live season.

Official website

Tuning Out With Radio Z is an event, an extraordinary theatrical experience that is improvised afresh each night both for you and by you. It will never be repeated.

It is late in the studios of Radio Z and two presenters are attempting to navigate the perils of the night, intent on bringing their listeners safely to dawn. Where the fictional presenters are relying on their listeners for help, the real actors are relying on you, their audience, to guide them through the show.

Bring a phone or a laptop, write text, send ideas, submit images and make requests. Devise the show live with the Stan’s Cafe team and experience the kick of finding your material seamlessly woven into the emerging drama.

Audiences find the show powerful, hypnotic and addictive. You are immersed in a rich, visually beautiful, fictional world, whilst watching actors negotiating the challenges of improvisation and all the time being aware of how you could and others are, helping to shape events.

Tuning Out With Radio Z is an audacious and generous undertaking, a one-off that needs your presence and input.

Come for the start and stay as long as you wish. You may just surprise yourself, you may fall in love with it and stay right through to the end, whatever that may be.

“At the heart of most of Stan’s Cafe’s works there is a simple idea, which is then pursued with an extreme boldness bordering on recklessness.” Festwoch Wein

Official website

Sibelius – Karelia Suite
Grieg – Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.16
Interval
Rachmaninov – Symphony No.2 in E minor, Op.27

Our first visit from the Philharmonia this season will be conducted by the distinguished Vladimir Ashkenazy, with a mixed programme of Scandinavian and Russian music.

The evening will begin with Sibelius’ compelling Karelia Suite, followed by Nikolai Lugansky’s performance of Grieg’s Piano Concerto, one of the most popular pieces of the form ever composed.

The second half of the concert features Rachmaninov’s towering masterpiece; his Second Symphony in E minor.

In this great work, the master of orchestral colour offers us some of the most ravishing music composed in the twentieth century. Sweeping melodies and rich deep-hued harmonies wash over the listener, right up to the triumphant and joyous finale.

Pre-Concert Talk
Conference Room 6.45pm
Tickets £2, Subscribers £1
Vladimir Ashkenazy in conversation with Paul McGrath, Director of Music, University of Warwick.

From the sexy, spontaneous rumba to the slick footwork of the cha-cha-cha, this is a show that’s guaranteed to get heads nodding and feet tapping.

Direct from a sell-out run in the West End’s Peacock Theatre, Havana Rakatan is now bringing all the heat of a Cuban summer to the UK. Jazz, mambo, bolero, son, cha-cha-cha, rumba and salsa all come alive in dazzling dance displays, full of Cuban passion.

Featuring one of Cuba’s most popular Son bands live on stage, this is a captivating and colourful journey through the dance and music of a truly unique country.

“A brilliant band and the dancers’ energy is infectious.” The Guardian

“Such infectious feel good entertainment, I’s already mentally booked a flight to Cuba by the time the curtain went down.” The Stage

“Rip-roaring entertainment… expectations were fulfilled to the point of a full-throated standing ovation.” Time Out

Click here to see a trailer of the show and to win a 5 star holiday to Cuba!

Made in Dagenham stars the award-winning Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky, It’s a Wonderful Afterlife) as Rita O’Grady who is the catalyst for the 1968 Ford Dagenham strike by 187 sewing machinists which led to the advent of the Equal Pay Act.

Working in extremely impoverished conditions and for long arduous hours, the women at the Ford Dagenham plant finally lay down their tools when they are reclassified as ‘unskilled’.

With a stellar cast including Rosamund Pike, Bob Hoskins, Rupert Graves and Miranda Richardson as Barbara Castle, this is a history lesson about the genesis of the 1970 Equal Pay Act as well as a heartwarming ensemble piece and a rare opportunity to see John Sessions giving his ‘Harold Wilson’.

Post Screening Discussion – Mon 18 Oct

Akira Kurosawa is known primarily for his epic samurai films, but he also worked ably with contemporary material, as in the remarkable thriller Stray Dog, set against the backdrop of Occupation-era Japan.

In this illustrated talk, Alexander Jacoby will set the film in its historical context, showing how it dramatises the situation of a recently defeated nation, and in the context of Kurosawa’s wider career, exploring the way in which the director’s other contemporary dramas and thrillers address issues relevant to the postwar Japanese experience.

Stray Dog
A film noir police thriller set in post-war Tokyo. A young detective’s desperate attempts to recover his stolen pistol which leads him into the depths of the city’s criminal underworld.

Illustrate your own weird and wonderful stories using a variety of printmaking methods and collage techniques.

Ages: 6+
Children must be accompanied by an adult.

For further details phone the Mead Gallery Assistants on 024 7652 2589 (12noon – 9pm, Mon-Sat).

Ages: 4+ 2hrs (inc. interval)

A unique, ensemble vaudeville show packed full of heart stopping stunts and classic comedy. Variety on the Campus is an amazing spectacular for all ages, with circus tricksters, original live music, top turns, riotous routines and, most importantly, lots and lots of laughs.

As heard on Radio 4 and seen on ITV1, Slightly Fat Features appear at Warwick Arts Centre for the very first time, with their unrivalled, age-immune variety show for the whole family.

Don’t miss the feast of features and wonderful surprises that only their live shows can bring!

A vigorous account of the peculiar business of being alive. Arthur reflects on the nature of comedy and his days as a scruffy kid on bombsites, a wild-haired undergraduate, a roadsweeper, an English teacher, a failed rock star, a boozed-up sexual adventurer and an intensive care patient.

From the star of BBC TV’s Grumpy Old Men, Q.I., Have I Got News For You and BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends.

“Enjoyably rambunctious.” The Guardian

“Witty, self-aware and poignant.” The Observer

Official Website

This year it’s just the beginning…

Award winning and critically acclaimed comic Jason Cook presents his brand new show The End (Part 1).

Known for his dark razor sharp wit mixed with a healthy amount of heartwarming silliness and buffoonery. Jason is close to the edge but always intriguing and blessed with the sort of charm that will have you laughing in spite of yourself. Are you happy in life? Truly happy? And if not what would you change? What happens at “the End”?

“… has everything one would want in a stand-up, wit, originality, attitude, Geordie accent, excellent material and a fantastic audience rapport.” The Stage

“…a masterclass in how comedy should be done.” Time Out *****”

“..more funny in his middle toe than most comics do in their whole body”. Chortle

SOLD OUT – For returns list enquiries please contact our Box Office on 024 7652 4524 with your full details

Following his epic record-breaking tour in 2008, Frankie Boyle, star of BBC2’s Mock the Week and one of the hottest and most controversial comedians of the moment, is back on the road in 2010 with an all new live show.

In the last four years, Frankie has propelled himself into the premiere league with a host of brilliant performances, both on stage and screen, including every episode of Mock the Week and 8 out of 10 Cats, Live at the Apollo and Would I Lie to You to name but a few.

Alongside his work in front of the camera, Frankie is also a highly-regarded writer. He has written for several series including 8 out of 10 Cats and his autobiography, My Shit Life So Far, released in October 2009.

“This is meat-and-potatoes stand-up, but the sauce is tart, the meat’s bleeding and the spuds are hard as rock” The Guardian

“You can forgive Frankie Boyle’s confidence and his apparent belief that he is really that good. That is simply, because he is” Edinburgh Evening News

Official website

This classic film is being re-released to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless. Jean-Luc Godard burst onto the film scene in 1960 with this jazzy, free-form and sexy homage to the American film genres that inspired him as a writer. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, anything-goes crime narrative and effervescent young stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, Breathless helped launch the French New Wave and ensured cinema would never be the same.

It’s bright under the lights, and hot, and frightening. Nine performers in grubby tuxedos and tarnished sequins play out a comical and disconcerting vaudeville to the strains of Japanese lounge music.

After the minimalism of Spectacular and the animated graphic novel of Void Story, internationally renowned innovators Forced Entertainment return with a large cast on a big stage, filled with ragged dances and distorted voices.

Deranged dancing girls swirl, giggle, bicker and stray ever further from the point. Shabby comperes compete for the microphone and the audience’s laughter as the show itself slowly starts to unravel. Dances end in fights, jokes end in confusion and sentimental stories end in arguments in this unsettling and extraordinary performance.

Forced Entertainment’s trademark collaborative process – devising work as a group through improvisation, experimentation and debate – has made them pioneers of British avant-garde theatre and earned them an unparalleled international reputation.

“Confounding conventions and exploding audience expectations.” The Times

“The reckless Forced Entertainment beat theatre to smithereens.” Cutting Edge

Post-Show Talk Tue 19 Oct

Official website

Co-producers: Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), PACT Zollverein (Essen), Theatre Garonne (Toulouse), Les Spectacles vivants – Centre Pompidou in collaboration with Festival d’Automne (Paris). This production is supported by Sheffield City Council.

“I have the choice to continue. I have the choice to stop.”

Settle back into the warmth of the theatre. Relax as the story unfolds. For you. With you. Of you. a story of hope, violence, togetherness and exploitation. Laugh with the actors, tap your feet to the music, take a chocolate, turn to your neighbour. You’re here.

Tim Crouch’s new play is about the harm carried out in the name of art. Performed within its audience, it tells the story of another play: a shocking and abusive play written by a playwright called Tim Crouch who oversteps the line. The Author is a highly original and terrifyingly seductive journey into the horror of our meditated world.

“It’s about us, what we see, and what we choose to see… this is a dazzling theatrical experience that lets nobody off the hook, opening our eyes to what should be blindingly obvious: we all have a choice.” The Guardian

Contains material that may be disturbing. Recommended for 18+.

Post-Show Talk Wed 20 Oct

Read actor Chris Goode’s blog from the Edinburgh festival about being in this controversial and boundary breaking show – click here.

Meet Michael Ruppert, he predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published newsletter, From the Wilderness, at a time when most Wall Street and Washington analysts were still in denial.

Director Chris Smith has already broken down the American dream into its component parts in previous films such as American Movie and The Yes Men – but never like this. Filmed in a basement with lighting that recalls an interrogation, one man, Michael Ruppert, talks for an hour and a half about how not just the economy is collapsing, but society as a whole. The result is utterly transfixing, one of the most terrifying, hilarious, moving and thrilling documentaries ever made.

Ian McMillan hosts weekly words show The Verb on Radio 3. He’s Yorkshire Planetarium’s Poet in Space, Poet-in-Residence for The Academy of Urbanism and Barnsley FC, Humberside Police’s Beat Poet, Yorkshire TV’s Investigative Poet and a regular on You & Yours, Pick of the Week, The Arts Show, The Today Programme, Just A Minute and Have I Got News For You? His rip-roaring poetry shows are legendary. Cats make him sneeze.

Ian is currently touring with his acclaimed verse autobiography Talking Myself Home and The Ian McMillan Orchestra, featured on The South Bank Show.

“…. an inspiring figure, an encouraging and democratic spirit, a strong and popular poet and one of the funniest people in Britain.”
Poetry News

“I’ve laughed so much, my face hurts.” Coventry Young Writers Festival

Followed by book signing.

Official website

Michael Nyman is one of Britain’s most innovative and celebrated composers. He’s also a performer, conductor, pianist, author, photographer and filmmaker. This evening we are lucky enough to see him as composer, pianist and filmmaker.

During the first half Michael Nyman and his band will perform music from the unforgettable, award-winning soundtrack to The Piano alongside two of his most notable scores for Peter Greenaway’s films The Draughtman’s Contract and Prospero Books.

This will be followed by NYman with a Movie Camera, a film by Nyman, screened with a live performance of his score by the Michael Nyman Band directed from the keyboard by Nyman himself.

The film presents a shot-by-shot reconstruction of Dziga Vertov’s iconic film, replacing the original sequences with footage from Michael Nyman’s own film archives shot over the last two decades.

Nyman‘s film attempts to capture the essence of our contemporary times through the lens of his own camera, creating a multi-sensory experience of time as it occurs and of life as it happens.

The footage is recorded by first hand observation and delivers an unscripted visual transcription of every-day life as recently documented by the composer in a collection of over 50 cinematographic works.

www.michaelnyman.com

PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO THE SPECIAL SET-UP OF THIS ENCHANTING SHOW TICKETS CAN ONLY BE BOUGHT THROUGH THE BOX OFFICE – PLEASE CALL 024 7652 4524

Step inside the small world of Mimika Theatre’s white canvas dome and into a beautiful landscape. Meet six characters – a small green wriggly thing, a bug, a young goose, a fox cub, a cat and a six year old girl – and watch their six interweaving stories unfold.

An unforgettable piece of visual theatre, fusing computer-generated animation and digital projection with miniature landscapes, puppets and a highly evocative soundtrack.

Mimika have been creating unforgettable theatre for young audiences since 1981. Their work combines stunning visual effects with puppetry, an original soundtrack and detailed choreography.

Ages: 5 – 11

Hailed as the ‘Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar’, award-winning Forcione is considered one of the most charismatic and inventive performers to come out of Europe in recent years. He breaks the mould of most conventional, popular guitar sounds be it in the field of jazz, Spanish, African, Brazilian or improvised music.

His rise to recognition is a tale of talent, passion and a relentless determination to wring every possible sound and emotion from the guitar. The result? A cocktail of dazzling virtuosity, ferocious rhythms and burning spiritual aspiration with a touch of natural humour. A much loved performer who never fails to capture his audience’s imagination and hearts.

“Forcione took to the stage and mesmerised us from the word go” The Scotsman

Official website

Following his hugely successful visit last year – so popular that we had to move him from the theatre to the Butterworth Hall – the acclaimed writer and comedian presents a vegetable stew of brand new work in preparation for his 2011 TV series. See it live so you can begin the backlash ahead of transmission.

“He’s the most exciting comedian in the country, bar none.” **** The Times

“Lee’s latest live show boasts all the trademark brilliance that makes him such a brave, invigorating stand-up.” ***** The Mail On Sunday

“… Stewart Lee, about as funny as bubonic plague.” The Sun

Official site

Howard Marks is a legend. International drug trafficker, secret spy, natural born charmer. Marks’ counter-culture fame was assured by the novel combination of his articulacy and charisma with the sheer insane scale of his lawbreaking.

Marks is perfectly portrayed by another shabby Welsh charmer, Rhys Ifans in this biopic. A vivid joyride through an unorthodox life, which doesn’t pretend to tell the unmediated truth but does present its protagonist’s flaws and foibles along with his finer qualities.

Post Screening Discussion – Sat 23 Oct

Let your imagination run wild and create crazy sculptures and bizarre structures with everyday materials.

Ages: 6+
Children must be accompanied by an adult.

For further details phone the Mead Gallery Assistants on 024 7652 2589 (12noon – 9pm, Mon – Sat).

The Met Opera bring a selection from their award-winning series of live, high-definition performance transmissions to Warwick Arts Centre.

Conducted by: Valery Gergiev
Directed by: Peter Stein
Featuring: Ekaterina Semenchuk, Aleksandrs Antonenko, Oleg Balashov, René Pape, Mikhail Petrenko, Vladimir Ognovenko

René Pape takes on one of the greatest bass roles in a production by renowned theatre and opera director Peter Stein, in his Met debut. Valery Gergiev conducts Mussorgsky’s epic spectacle that captures the suffering and ambition of a nation.

“Boris Godunov is a masterpiece,” Stein says. “The challenge is to transmit the enormous emotional depth of the whole thing. Boris is the czar, but he is expressing a problem we all have: the consequences of human actions.”

Aleksandrs Antonenko, Vladimir Ognovenko and Ekaterina Semenchuk lead the huge cast in a work that is also a breathtaking showcase for the Met’s formidable chorus.

In 2010 Ross Noble returns.

Ross follows the success of last year’s 160 date Things tour – which not only ran for six weeks at London’s Apollo Theatre – but also filled arenas down under, becoming the biggest live stand-up comedy gig in Australian history.

Nonsensory Overload is Noble back fresh from his travels, not to mention his own TV show, doing what he does best; spinning forth hilarious nonsense for your amusement. Now is your chance to see one of the best live comics working internationally today.

Prepare your brain for a Nonsensory Overload.

“Noble turns over as many good ideas in one night as most comics do in a year .. gleeful, free-wheeling silliness” Chortle

“It’s impossible to single out highlights when the entire show is a series of you-had-to-be-there moments” Time Out Sydney

“Brilliantly inventive, quirky stand-up .. see him and marvel” The Sun

“Every night is different and every night is a total joy” Time Out

“The great improviser” The Guardian

Official website

Following his visit in October (so successful that we had to move him from the Studio to the Theatre!) and then again in May, Stewart Francis is bringing his tour de force of a show, Tour de Francis back to Warwick Arts Centre this Oct. So if you missed him last time around, now’s your chance…

Lonely, well-endowed, white Canadian male, with dreamy hazel eyes, 6ft. 4 inches, 40+, now living in London.

Many interests include, sports, cheese, hearing laughter and prompting encores. Seeks free thinking, slim audience, with nice legs, 18-75, must be willing to go to Warwick Arts Centre on 24 Oct, to watch comedian Stewart Francis, who you may have seen before on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, Mock the Week and 8 Out of 10 Cats.

Could lead to sore cheeks.

“A brilliant comic brain… this stand-up cracks some of the best one liners I’ve ever heard.” The Guardian

Following their critically acclaimed, smash-hit debut School of Pop, F&M are back.

Every truly great high-school show needs a kick-ass college sequel. This year, the dynamite duo are throwing down the intellectual gauntlet and inviting you to The College Years. A thesis in pop dialectics focusing on collision theory, and covering great pairings from Brandy and Monica, to Freddie Mercury and What’s-her-face Operabitch.

“A musical wake-up like a cold shower in a hot disco” New Zealand Herald

“Joyous” The Guardian

“Undisputed hit” ***** The Herald

“Wildly talented” **** The Independent

“Pure exhilarating brilliance” ***** Chortle

“A complete triumph” ***** Time Out Sydney

Official website

Fritz Lang’s 1927 masterpiece now with 25 minutes of lost footage.

The resurrection of Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent futuristic thriller follows the discovery in Buenos Aires two years ago of scenes that were thought lost forever on the cutting room floor.

Film historians say the restored version gives more depth and new meaning to the cult movie, set in a futuristic city-state where the ruling class amuse themselves in ‘pleasure parlours’ while the poor slave away underground.

Metropolis is seen as the mother of sci-fi movies, an inspiration for filmmakers such as George Lucas and Ridley Scott.

Based on the classic story by Hans Christian Andersen
Adapted and directed by Emma Rice

Red shoes. Don’t you just love them? They make you dance with delight and spin with possibilities. Your tapping toes teeter on the top of the world.

But what happens when you lose your footing? Would you dare to turn to a butcher to rid you of your heart-stoppingly beautiful red shoes? That’s just what our desperate heroine is compelled to do…

The acclaimed Kneehigh bring you a cracked cabaret where anything is possible and nothing is probable. Surreal and sensuous, bloody and bare – the menacing and profound world of the fairy story is revealed.

Adapted from Hans Christian Andersen, this freshly revived production of The Red Shoes is passionate, irreverent, funny and rude. Like a gust of salty sea air, this award-winning piece fuses live and recorded sound, visually and physically powerful images and a story to make your heart pound.

Kneehigh remain a weather beaten force to be reckoned with.

Dance you shall and Dance you must!

“ their magic makes the theatre crackle with the heat of obsession… a thrilling and unnerving piece of theatre.” Evening Standard

“…giddy, grisly and gorgeous” The Observer

“Delirious, witty, macabre… A show to die for.” The Guardian

Post-Show Talk Wed 27 Oct

Official website

Kneehigh will also be back for Christmas with
Hansel & Gretel
Fri 26 Nov – Fri 10 Dec
Click here for further details

Crossing the state border in a stolen Ford V-8, with a trunk full of sawn-off shotguns and bootleg whiskey, Bonnie and Clyde have found one last place to hide. Time is ticking… they’re on the run from the law and from reality, but which one will catch them first?

Following their “wonderfully warped adult fairytale” (*****Metro, on The Red Man), and last year’s hugely successful Out Of Touch (****Venue), Fairground presents Bonnie and Clyde, a story about two twenty-somethings who’ll stop at nothing to realise their American dreams in the era of the Great Depression.

Fairground makes “juicy, seductive, high-octane work” that exists between physical theatre and new writing. Combining live music, daring physicality and original scripts.

Fairground on Facebook

Grieg – Peer Gynt Suite
Sibelius – Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.47
Interval
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No.4 in F minor, Op.36

The Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra was recently awarded the distinction of being renamed the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio, reflecting their great contribution to Russian music. Since then, they have toured the world performing definitive interpretations of Tchaikovsky’s orchestral music.

Their programme commences with Grieg’s dramatic and enduringly popular Peer Gynt Suite.
This is followed by Sibelius’ Violin Concerto; a piece demanding great virtuosity, which the multi-award winning Russian violinist, Alina Baeva, is certain to achieve.

The evening ends with Tchaikovsky’s elemental Symphony No.4 with its famous fate motif which is echoed throughout this symphonic masterpiece full of great drama and pathos.

Pre-Concert Talk
Conference Room 6.45pm
Tickets £2, Subscribers £1
Brian Midgley, lecturer in Music at the University of Warwick, talks about the works in tonight’s programme.

Age: 8+
limited availability so book early

This is a day of transformation! You’ll start with a plain and simple piece of furniture and by the end of the day you will have created something spectacular and extraordinary. Your everyday chair will become something gorgeous or scary or funny or fit for a queen or a wizard or Dr Who or…?

Throughout the day you will take over our Creative Space and turn it into your own gallery, where family and friends can come and experience your art. Afterwards, take home a memento of the day and take away your artwork – which may or may not still look like a chair…

A guilty New York liberal decides to practice what he preaches for one year. Turns off the electricity; stops creating rubbish; gives up TV, taxis and take-aways; becomes a walking, bicycling, composting, tree-hugging, polar bear saving, local food-eating citizen. All while taking his baby daughter and caffeine loving retail-obsessed television-addicted wife along with him.

This is an intriguing inside look into the experiment that became a national fascination and media sensation, while examining the familial strains and strengthened bonds that result from Colin and Michelle’s struggle with their radical lifestyle change.

Post Screening Discussion – Wed 27 Oct

Winston Churchill hides out in lawless Scotland, as an all-star cast voices a radical alternative history of the Normandy landings.

While the British army is assembled at Dunkirk, the Nazis execute a plan to drill under the English Channel and emerge in the heart of London.

All seems lost, a full invasion looms, and the retirement plans of beleaguered PM Winston Churchill have begun to look distinctly wobbly…

With terrifically detailed settings and figurines, this wonderfully eccentric and uncompromised labour of love takes merciless pot shots at every hackneyed cinematic exploitation of the iconography of World War II.

This event is sold out. Please contact the Box Office on 024 7652 4524 for returns.

The multi-award winning comedian and star of Live At The Apollo, Michael McIntyre’s Roadshow, Skins, Mock The Week and 8 Out of 10 Cats, performs his brand new show.

Official Website

“Bishop has funny bones” The Times
“Frankly hilarious” The Telegraph
“I can’t help falling in love with this open, optimistic show” Guardian
“A gloriously gifted storyteller” Evening Standard

Since the birth of movies, New York has long been cinema’s dream city, immortalised on screen in hundreds of different ways in thousands of movies. But now comes a fresh, diverse and unabashedly romantic window into the city – seen entirely through the eyes of love.

Directed by an eclectic group of some of today’s most imaginative filmmakers including Jiang Wen, Mira Nair, Yvan Attal, Natalie Portman, and Joshua Marston, New York, I Love You invites the audience into the intimate lives of New Yorkers as they grapple with, delight in and search for love.

Following on the heels of the acclaimed Paris Je T’aime, this is the second episode of the Cities of Love series of collective feature films conceived by Emmanuel Benbihy.

Join us for a spooky selection of classic witches, monsters, ghosties and ghoulies including tales from Simon and the Witch, Grotbags, Count Duckula and Rentaghost.

Dress to impress – or wear to scare! A Halloween film feast not to be missed!

By turns vibrant and despairing, Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita is a soul-searching portrait of a celebrity-obsessed culture, perhaps more relevant today than on its initial release in 1960.

Marcello Mastroianni stars as a fluff-peddling journalist caught up in the social whirl of the crème de la crème while slipping deeper into self-loathing.

But rather than wallow in cynicism, Fellini’s genius is characterised by a zest for life – albeit a tragically insatiable one – as he sprinkles dreamlike snapshots like glitter in the darkness.

“… an awesome picture, licentious in content but moral and vastly sophisticated in its attitude and what it says.” New York Times

The hotly anticipated solo show from Greg Davies. As the psychotic Head of Sixth Form, Mr Gilbert in The Inbetweeners and the most out-of-shape member of We Are Klang, Greg has been an increasingly familiar face on TV screens; regularly appearing on shows Mock The Week, 8 Out Of 10 Cats and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

His first solo stand-up show promises to address every single issue important to the human race. But it lies – it won’t address any. Come though, it’ll be funny.

“Compelling, memorable and hilarious.” Chortle

“Stunning.” Time Out

A singer songwriter of astonishing emotional eloquence, and one half of the art-rock band Frou Frou, Imogen Heap is the Grammy Award winning artist whose latest album, Ellipse, has had North American chart success and earned two further Grammy nominations.

Classically trained when she was younger, her own songs explore electronica, alternative pop and rock and Euro-pop.

After the leaps she made on the release of her breakthrough album Speak For Yourself, Imogen Heap remained true to her do-it yourself ethos, building her own studio in the old family home in Essex.

With 2009’s Ellipse she enlisted the help of her huge fanbase to write the biography for the new album via Tweets submitted by her 650,000 odd followers on Twitter, to contribute artwork designs, and by keeping her fans up-to-date on the recording of the new album over 38 vBlogs, all available on her website. She even invited fans to complete an unfinished track “The Song That Never Was”, providing the lyrics, with over 500 fans adding backing music for their own versions.

“Although she employs bells and whistles from equipment I can’t comprehend and instruments I can’t pronounce, the songs are so well-written, they would stand on their own” Performing Songwriter

Official website

Jean Epstein’s mesmerising adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s famous story.

A man arrives at the eerie house of Roderick Usher, to find that Roderick is painting a portrait of his sick wife Madeleine – but the faster he tries to complete the picture, the more ill his wife becomes.

“One of the most imaginative and entrancing horror movies of the silent era.” Time Out

Epstein uses a variety of techniques including slow motion, superimposed images and expressionist sets to create a dreamy, chilling, surreal masterpiece.

The Southwell Collective writes and performs new music to accompany classic and archive silent films whilst remaining sympathetic to the original content.

In just a few short years, the Neil Cowley Trio have carved out a reputation as one of Britain’s most exciting live bands, and this autumn they return to the stage performing tracks from their new and most cohesive recording to date, Radio Silence.

Blurring the boundaries between classical, rock, funk and jazz, pianist and band leader Cowley creates music that is both poignant and powerful.

Delivered with a distinct streak of endearing English eccentricity, he and his bandmates, Evan Jenkins on drums and Richard Sadler on bass, take the audience on an enthralling sonic journey of ferocious exhilaration and heart-shattering tenderness in one dizzy sitting.

Official website

Five years ago the last of the world’s ice disappeared.
A year after that the sport of ice dancing went with it.

Tonight Heap Krusiak and Pebble Adverati, the greatest ice dancers the world has ever known, will attempt, against all odds, to bring back what the world took away by competing again, and proving once and for all that they will not be beaten. They face the greatest challenge of their careers, and the world is watching.

This is their incredible story, the story of sportsmen and women who never say die, the story of friendship and love when everything else has disappeared, and the story of how we cope when our environment stops providing us with what we need.

Following the success of 21:13, Dancing Brick is excited to present the company’s second smash-hit show, a beautiful play about loss, love, human survival and ice dance.

Winner of the Arches Brick Award (Edinburgh Fringe).

Shortlisted for a Total Theatre Award.

Five Stars Edinburgh Guide
Five Stars Fringe Review
Five Stars Three Weeks

“… brilliant… it’s intelligent and rather poignant too, in the way it shows two people beaming with misguided optimism in the face of calamity. Like all of us, Heap and Pebble just carry on regardless; their fixed smiles never slip even as the polar ice cap melts.” The Guardian

Official website

Virtuoso musicianship and dance combine with depth, intensity, heat and passion in flamenco Paco Pena’s new show_Flamenco sin Fronteras_.

Paco Pena, recognised as one of the world’s leading exponents of flamenco, combines sensational flamenco dancers, singers and musicians with some special guests from Venezuela to revisit an often overlooked part of the flamenco repertoire.

“A genuine virtuoso capable of dazzling an audience with technical abilities beyond the frets of mortal man.” New York Times

The show is a feast for the ears and eyes. Passionate and dramatic, gripping and joyful, Flamenco sin Fronteras will leave you in awe of the amazing talent live on stage. As the nights draw in and the damp British winter takes hold, be transported to the sun, heat, sounds and sights of Andalucia.

“There is surely no other guitarist with Pena’s range – a master of limpid classical lyricism who can also open up raw wounds.” The Guardian

Official website

Star of the recent critically acclaimed BBC4 documentary, How the West Was Lost, Edinburgh fringe favourite and Perrier Award winner Rich Hall is back on the road.

Rich will be performing in his usual style as the grouchy, deadpan comic genius.

Looking like a Pearl Jam roadie, Rich is a master of absurdist irony – he particularly likes to lay into Americans and life across the Pond at every opportunity. He has been charming sell-out audiences each year at the Edinburgh Festival, on tours throughout the UK, at several festivals in Australia including Adelaide and Melbourne and at London’s famous Comedy Store. At the 2000 Edinburgh Festival, Rich Hall is Otis Lee Crenshaw won the highly prestigious Perrier Award. Rich Hall’s TV work includes; Rich Hall’s Cattle Drive (BBC4), Rich Hall’s Fishing Show (BBC4) plus numerous appearances on BBC2 panel show QI, hosted by Stephen Fry.

“Now is the time to grab this chance to see the great man at work” The Guardian

“As close as it gets to a guaranteed good show” Scotland on Sunday

“Intelligent, passionate and angry comedy” Evening Standard

Miracle birth of a new collection and an evening of poems to amaze and delight! McGough wrestles with mortality, seeks love in the launderette, perspires in the Foreign Legion and jives in Macca’s trousers. He shares the pain of Lord Godiva and Mr Nightingale, considers his Final Poem and shakes a fist at Alzheimer’s. Addresses, elegies and ever perceptive playfulness make this a must-go.

The beat goes on, Lily the Pink, the Aintree Iron, Scaffold, GRIMMS, The Mersey Sound with Adrian Henri & Brian Patten, Words On The Run, Poetry Please and autobiography Said and Done. Roger McGough was honoured with a CBE for services to literature and the Freedom of the City of Liverpool for good behaviour. There’s poetry in the house and McGough fitted it.

“His poetry is like a supermodel who can complete a Sudoku puzzle moments before swishing down the catwalk – easy on the eye and smart as a whip.” Birmingham Daily Post

“He is a true original and more than one generation would be much the poorer without him.” The Times

Followed by book signing

Official website

adapted from the book by Eileen Browne
Ages: 2-5 30mins

Travel to Kenya and follow in Handa’s footsteps as she journeys to see her best friend Akeyo, in the next village. Handa is taking 7 delicious fruits as a surprise – but 7 different animals have 7 very different ideas… could you resist the sweet-smelling guava? How about a ripe red mango or a tangy purple passion fruit?

A blend of physical performance, puppetry, live music and song combine to create an intimate, magical production with audience participation. Come and share in the magical tangerine surprise!

Due to the phenomenal demand for tickets for his 55 date Summer UK tour, Reginald D Hunter has extended the tour into Autumn 2010.

“Few acts nestle a crowd in the palms of their hands quite like this… comically astute, rewardingly provocative” Time

A regular performer at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 2002, Reginald’s career has led to him being invited to perform in venues the world over in places such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and South Africa. He is one of the few performers to have been nominated for the Perrier Award in three consecutive years.

He is a well-known face on primetime television shows such as 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and QI and is a frequent guest on Have I Got News For You. He has also just finished starring alongside Andy Hamilton in BBC4’s It’s Only A Theory and appeared most recently on The Bubble, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and the hugely popular Live At The Apollo.

“His presence and intelligence make him one of the most brilliantly unpredictable comics in the country” Sunday Times

“He shimmers with stage presence and his comic timing is sharp enough to burst balloons” The Independent

Official website

In his new stand-up show,Ardal O’Hanlon laughs in the face of mounting adversity – recession, inclement weather, an ageing body, and impending doom. He fearlessly turns the spotlight on surviving relationships, raising children and…the Swiss.

A highly acclaimed stand up, Ardal has toured to sell out audiences internationally (including extensive live work across the US, Canada, Australia, Far East and Europe) and has released two Top ten stand up DVD’s (Ardal O’Hanlon Live and Ardal O’Hanlon Live in Dublin). He continues to be one of the most sought after comedians working.

Perhaps best known on TV for his much loved role Father Dougal Maguire in Channel 4’s BAFTA winning series Father Ted, Ardal’s acclaimed roles also include George Sunday/ Thermoman in My Hero (BBC 1) and Eamon in Big Bad World (ITV); with guest leads in Dr Who (BBC1) and Channel 4’s Skins.

“Displays a proficiency of delivery which puts him well ahead of the pack. He is a complete joy to watch, planting the sort of silly images that bump around in your head forever.” The Guardian

“..Skilfully handled running jokes, his manipulation of a capacity crowd is just as impressive. sharp and genial observation . O’Hanlon is certainly a comedian to be reckoned with” Daily Telegraph

Way Out West, the Sea Whispered Me studies the action of the sea, both as mythology and as awesome presence, and asks: why is it that people are drawn to the sea?

From British Edwardian seaside resorts and surrounding ‘work towns’, to the disappeared seaside town of Hallsands, to 1930s dustbowl Kansas, Cupola Bobber use their home-spun aesthetic and poker-faced charm to investigate how the seaside functions as a muse of contemplation, a place of leisure, and a heartless destroyer.

“This pair of Chicago-based 30-year-olds can lay claim to a special talent for alternative performance-making of disarmingly odd, cosmic charm.” The Times

Post-Show Talk Mon 8 Nov

Official website

To name something is to call it into life, to determine its future. If we let our children name themselves, will they author their own destinies? Will the nameless ones be free?

Untitled is a magical realist story set in Nigeria and England, of identical twin boys separated at infancy. In the quarrel after the marred naming ceremony, the mother grabs the titled child and flees leaving the unnamed brother to lead an impetuous, chaotic, blasphemous existence until the spirits of the land make their stand.

Inua Ellams is a poet and graphic artist. He was born in Nigeria and now lives and works in London. His debut play The 14th Tale won a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival 2009, toured and ran at the National Theatre in Spring 2010.

“Ellams’ poetry is smooth enough to melt in the ear, yet packed full of snap, crackle and pop.” Time Out (on The 14th Tale)

Official website

Co-commissioned by Soho Theatre, Fuel and Contact. Developed as part of Fuel at the Roundhouse and at Cove Park.

Coull Quartet with Mark Bebbington, Piano.

Mozart – Quartet in E flat K.428
Venables – Quintet for Piano and Strings
Elgar – Quintet for Piano and Strings Op.83

Pre-Concert Talk
Conference Room 1 hour before the concert
Tickets £1, Subscribers free
Mark Bebbington in conversation with composer Ian Venables.

Alec Dankworth – Bass
Mark Lockheart – Tenor Sax
Andy Panayi – Flute
Phil Robson – Guitar
Demi Garcia – Drums
Emily Dankworth – Voice

Alec Dankworth’s longstanding love of all things Spanish provided the inspiration for this band. Metheny, Corea, even Rodrigo are reinvented alongside traditional folksongs and originals in Flamenco rhythms creating a wonderful and genuinely Spanish world.

A heady mixture of top British players with the genuinely Spanish drumming of Demi Garcia and guitar of Phil Robson make this an unusual line up. A new addition to the band is singer Emily Dankworth, continuing a family tradition of vocalists.

Official website

What happens when you spend most of your childhood in a cinema? Does it mean movies become more real than ‘real life’?

Film critic Mark Kermode talks about some real life scenes that he remembers with cinematic clarity: getting shot while interviewing Werner Herzog in Hollywood, being handbagged by Helen Mirren at the BAFTAs, being thrown out of the Cannes Film Festival for heckling in very bad French.

Outspoken, opinionated and never lost for words, Kermode gives a hilarious account of a life obsessed with film that will appeal to anyone who’s ever wondered: ‘Who would play me in a film of my life?’

Followed by book signing

Let’s raise our glasses to long lost loves and current lovers, to mums, to dads and to absent friends.

Uninvited Guests stage an event that is somewhere between a wedding reception, a wake and a radio dedication show. We speak of our own and other’s loves – deep, passionate, ambivalent and unrequited – and dedicate songs to them.

If you want to join in with this happy occasion, send a dedication to someone you love to info@uninvited-guests.net – explain what they mean to you and why you’ve chosen that particular piece of music.

Your letters of love may become part of the show, romantic gestures or signs of friendship, shared publicly.

“You can’t help but fall in love with it.” ***** Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

Official website

A BAC Scratch and an Arnolfini We Live Here commission. Also commissioned by Leeds Met Studio Theatre. Uninvited Guests are Arnolfini Associate Artists and are supported by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

In 1960 the world was changing from post-war austerity and heralding a flowering of new young talent and a renaissance of older, established artists. This was the birth of the French New Wave, of British social realism and three extraordinary horror films which changed the face of cinema; Psycho, Les Yeux sans Visage and Peeping Tom.

In this talk, writer and editor of the International Film Guide, Ian Haydn Smith reviews a unique year and introduces an exclusive screening of the newly restored print of one of British cinema’s most controversial films, Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom.

Peeping Tom
50 years after its release it’s hard now to appreciate the fury that greeted Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom. Although we can look at it more dispassionately now, Peeping Tom was then, and still is, a highly disturbing film.

This event is sold out. Please contact the Box Office on 024 7652 4524 for returns.

Following the resounding success of BBC One’s BAFTA-nominated Armstrong & Miller Show, Ben Miller (Moving Wallpaper) and Alexander Armstrong (Mutual Friends) will be hitting the road in Autumn 2010 and touring a brand new live show.

With their usual mix of the beautifully observed and the utterly barmy, Ben and Xander will be performing a parade of characters from their extensive dressing-up box and wig-store including; The street-talking WWII chav pilots; Brabbins and Fyffe, the filthy alter-egos of Flanders and Swann; Jilted Jim, dumped at the altar but still on his honeymoon; Terry Devlin, the royal correspondent who really KNOWS the royals; Dennis Lincoln-Park, the accident-prone culture buff; the Frank Dad; and so many more…

“Armstrong & Miller are both exceptionally good comic performers” Time Out

Armstrong & Miller at BBC Online

Star of BBC1’s Live at the Apollo and Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Best Newcomer Nominee Kevin Bridges is on tour.

Kevin’s delightfully well observed debut show reveals his inner-most thoughts on a variety of topics from his homeland of Scotland to the world beyond. His unique brand of social commentary, astute observations and sharp one-liners arguably make him the hottest act to come out of Scotland in the last ten years.

“… master of stand up at just 22. This is unmissable stuff.” *****The Mirror

“Observational comedy at its very best.” ***** Edinburgh Evening News

Kevin had not set foot in a comedy club before his first open mic spot in 2004. Now aged just 23, Kevin’s natural gift for comedy makes him a regular at major comedy clubs up and down the country.

Official website

Sarah Millican, star of Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week and if.comedy Best Newcomer, announces her debut UK tour.

The sweet and filthy Geordie’s stand-up show promises jokes about life, love and what to do when your boyfriend puts a sock on your boob during sex.

“Probably the finest female comedian working at the moment” Time Out

“Wonderfully wrong… incredibly funny” Metro

Official website

Since the turn of the century Jimmy has been a ‘fun slinger’ of international repute.

Laughter Therapy is his ninth solo show. It’ll be an evening of none stop jokes, gags and banter.

If you’ve got a sick sense of humour then maybe laughter is the best medicine.

Not to be taken if you have a sensitive disposition or an overactive moral compass.

Recommended dose: one brand new show to be taken annually (I said annually).

Official website

Edward Gregson – Festivo!
Philip Sparke – Fiesta de la Vida

Philip Sparke’s Fiesta de la Vida is an exuberant affirmation of joy in music and in Latin American music in particular. At times lyrical, at times minimalist, Edward Gregson’s Festivo! builds up and up to end in a blaze of colour.

Joyful and celebratory in mood, this concert promises to be a fun and entertaining evening not to be missed.

William Carlisle. The world at his feet. Its weight on his shoulders. Intelligent. Articulate. F***ed.

As the end of term approaches, a group of sixth-formers prepare themselves for the end of their school lives. But as the world begins to open up before them, they are faced with the very real danger it could swallow them whole.

Having received great critical and audience acclaim a raw young cast expose the violence simmering under the surface of achieving success in a blistering new play by Simon Stephens, writer of Pornography and the Olivier Award-winning On the Shore of the Wide World.

“Riveting to watch and superbly acted.” **** The Guardian

“Superb… Punk Rock combines emotional truth and raw intensity to thrilling theatrical effect.” ***** The Daily Telegraph

Post-Show Talk Wed 17 Nov

Recommended for ages 14+

“I love my family… What’s different about me, see, is that I love them more than what you might call normal…”

Whilst a man is having a severe epileptic fit, his two daughters take his gun and shoot him. The police arrive and the women confess to his murder without coercion. The strange nature of this confession sparks a series of interrogations and examinations which reveal that these are no ordinary murderers… they are the victims.

A twisted history of degradation and control unfolds; of love and obsession at its darkest. This is about the untold stories, the ones you don’t hear on the news. In this story, the dead do tell tales.

Fresh off the back of a well-deserved Ivor Novello nomination for his work with his cricket-crazy side project, the Duckworth Lewis Method, The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon is hitting the road on a UK tour this Autumn.

The Divine Comedy is Neil Hannon. Over the years the name has encompassed other musicians, but the driving force of the band and its main (sometimes only!) member has always been Neil Hannon.

Hannon’s new single I Like is released on 1 August 2010. The opposite of a soppy, sappy ballad, it’s set to the kind of ecstatic motown stomp that makes toe-tapping an inevitability.

Official website

The multi-award winning comedian and host of BBC’s We Need Answers, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and a Mock The Week regular and star of cult Radio 4 series Mark Watson Makes The World Substantially Better, Mark Watson finally returns to the road in the UK, with his most personal, most surprising, and funniest show yet. Total sell-out seasons at the Montreal, Melbourne, Sydney and Edinburgh Festivals.

“A classic observational humorist, a stand-up superstar” Time Out New York

“By the end, the audience is in danger of collapsing with laughter” Evening Standard

“The highest achiever the Edinburgh Festival has seen this decade” The Times

Official website

Based on the novel by celebrated children’s author Leon Garfield, this children’s adventure set in 1750s York was Ken Loach’s fourth feature. The film’s witty dialogue and enchanting performances from its charismatic young cast led to the film being presented with the Critics Award at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival.

Huge Frenchman Black Jack miraculously survives a hanging by the British authorities in Yorkshire and takes to the countryside in the company of Tolly, a teenage boy who is able to translate Black Jack’s odd speech into something comprehensible.

They join up with Belle, an aristocratic teenager who has escaped from the madhouse where her family had her imprisoned. Together, the three join a carnival.

A historic meeting bringing the warmth and optimism of South African music to the stage through two of the Rainbow Nation’s finest artists.

Hugh Masekela has been at the heart of the music of his country through the years of struggle to liberation; his soaring, joyful trumpet sound nourishes the soul and frees the spirit.

This is the first opportunity for a number of years to catch South Africa’s most enduring musical ambassador with his full band, following his World Cup opening concert performance.

The Mahotella Queens have exerted enormous influence on the musical life of South Africa. Recognised for three decades of energetic and emancipating music, their mesmerising sound inspired the people of their country to dance and dream through the dark years of apartheid.

Alan Barnes – Baritone & Alto Sax
Graeme Flowers – Trumpet
Ian Price – Tenor Sax
Spike Wells – Drums
Paul Whitten – Bass
Terry Seabrook – Piano

Milestones is a new jazz group formed this year to celebrate the music of Miles Davis. Leader/pianist Terry Seabrook has assembled 6 musicians to perform the classic topselling jazz album by Miles, Kind of Blue, which was released in 1959.

In addition to the set performing the 5 pieces from Kind of Blue, Terry has written new arrangements of other songs associated with Miles including Boplicity, Milestones, Nardis, 7 Steps to Heaven and Prince of Darkness.

She once made the news,
then she wrote the news,
now she writes poems about it.
But what is news?
Everybody’s life story is a news story,
this is Kate’s.

She wished Tony Blair was her Dad, found out the Yorkshire Ripper worked for her Auntie and watched the Satanic Verses being burned through the window of the 576 bus.

Kate’s journeys through news saw her looking for a voice, a father and a snappy headline.

This is the story of what she found and what she lost.

Kate Fox is a Newcastle based writer, comedian and poet. Poet in residence on Radio 4’s Saturday Live, she has written and performed poems for BBC2’s Daily Politics Show and BBC2’s Chelsea Flower Show coverage.

“… funny, quirky and a wonderful writer.” Sarah Millican

Official website

Choreography is more that something to look at. DisGo is vibration, sensation and chaos.

Dance at DisGo and create a unique piece of live theatre. Bringing you together with the Darkin Ensemble dancers, DisGo is framed by a combination of music, light, digital design and cutting edge contemporary dance.

Based on the spontaneous choreographies that happen on the nightclub dancefloors every Friday and Saturday night, the heart of DisGo is within the individual experiencing it. There are some rules and some mysteries. The cast dance raw and virtuosic choreography and the audience do as much, or as little, as they please, making DisGo an incredible interactive experience.

In the darkness and light, we play.

“slivers of sweetness, humour and fantasy that emerge, along with liberating energy.” The Guardian

DisGo has no conventional seating. Please mention any specific access requirements when booking.

The unmistakeable sound of Brooklyn-based indie rock band The National make this a must-see gig.

Formed in 1999, the Ohio-raised, Brooklyn-based band consists of vocalist Matt Berninger plus two pairs of brothers: Aaron Dessner (guitar, bass, piano) and Bryce Dessner (guitar), and Scott Devendorf (bass, guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums).

High Violet, the fifth full album by The National has recently been released. It’s an astonishingly powerful record, sometimes cathartic and sometimes unresolved, sometimes raw and sometimes reflective, which reveals deeper musical hues and lyrical riches upon every listen. Brilliant and shadowy it feels like The National’s best yet.

Official website

“The Arts Centre was packed on the first night of their quirky, irreverent and often hilarious adaption of the macabre Brothers Grimm fairy tale. It’s like Monty Python-meets-children’s theatre.” Coventry Telegraph

Times are tough for the family in the wood
They’d eat like kings if they only could

But hunger gnaws – famine stalks the land
Something quite wicked has the upper hand!

Poor mother and father must do “what is best”…
And Hansel and Gretel will be put to the test!

Armed with their very last slice of bread
will they eat to survive or leave a trail home instead?

Let the irrepressible Kneehigh take you by the hand and lead you into the deepest part of the forest! Prepare for a world of darkness, wit and wonder, of earthy delights and crooked shadows. A world that is sweet but never sugary.

This tender, tasty and terrifying re-telling of the classic story is told through lively music, rough poetry, the most amazing gadgets and gizmos… and with the help of some rather unlucky rabbits.

Join Kneehigh for temptations impossible to resist.

For children and brave adults everywhere.

First Night review in The Times:http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article6950401.ece

“Finger licking fun…spellbinding” ****The Daily Mail

“Full of merry grotesquerie” **** The Guardian

“Raucous and skilfully rough-hewn” The Times

Official website

Schumann – Symphony No.2 in C major, Op.61
Mozart – Piano Concerto No.23 in A major, K.488
Interval
Mozart – Symphony No.41 in C major, K.551 (Jupiter)

Tonight we welcome the distinguished Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg on their first visit to Warwick Arts Centre.

The concert opens with a rare opportunity to hear Schumann’s passionate Second Symphony. This bright and lyrical work combines romantic melodies with Bach style fugues, before coming to a triumphant conclusion in the final allegro.

The orchestra will then be joined by one of this country’s most popular pianists, Freddy Kempf, who will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23 in A major. The piece illustrates emphatically why Mozart’s piano works have been beloved since their first performances.

The second half features Mozart’s final symphonic masterpiece, Symphony No.41, known as the Jupiter.

Pre-Concert Talk
Conference Room 6.45pm
Tickets £2, Subscribers £1
Brian Midgley, lecturer in Music at the University of Warwick, talks about the works in tonight’s programme.

Coventry ‘songbird’ and critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Emma McGann has made her music known to many in the Midlands and beyond.

Emma was awarded StudyvoxFM Musician of the Year 2010 by none other than Kylie Minogue and announced Band of the Month, June 2010 by BBC Coventry and Warwickshire Introducing.

Carly Ryder’s songs are evocative and funny with more than a little shot of teenage angst and adolescent melodrama thrown in for good measure. Her husky-sweet delivery is a perfect partner for her superb rhythmic guitar sound. She will tease you with a peek into her secret world (but only a peek mind), and that’s all you will need to fall in love with Carly, her songs and her talent.

Following an extremely busy 2009 supporting Rob Brydon on his sold out UK tour and a critically acclaimed performance on The Royal Variety Show Hal Cruttenden is one of the UK’s fastest rising comedy stars. And now, he’s coming to Warwick Arts Centre to present his own unique comic vision. He’s angry… but not sure why!

“A delightful surprise… warm-hearted, quick-witted observations about being a camp, middle class heterosexual.” The Daily Telegraph

“Go and see Hal Cruttenden, he’s got something to say and he’ll make you laugh; a lot.” **** The Daily Mirror

Official website

A unique celebratory show of Christmas music. Renowned folk singer Maddy Prior joins up once again with the Carnival Band, who mix renaissance, modern and ethnic instruments with a refreshing cavalier attitude and plenty of humour.

Together they put their inimitable stamp on a range of familiar and not-so-familiar festive fare, from favourites like The Holly and the Ivy and I Saw Three Ships to secular carols such as The Boar’s Head, dance tunes, and specially composed songs from their latest album.

It’s the night before Hogswatch, usually a time of joy on Discworld. A night when over-excited children are kept awake by the thoughts of what presents they may find inside their stockings, once they are allowed to stop pretending to be asleep. But this year, all is not right with the holiday season!

This first live-action adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s fantastical novel with a stellar cast is not to be missed on the big screen this Christmas.

This promises to be a moving and rousing Sunday afternoon of music in the Butterworth Hall.

For more than two hundred years, Mozart’s Requiem has remained one of the most beautiful and moving works of the choral/orchestral repertoire, with glorious vocal solos, magnificent choruses and wonderful orchestral writing.

Preceded by two of Sibelius’ most famous works, both evoking the Finnish landscape and character, everyone is sure to be going home whistling a tune!

A note from Alun:

An envelope stuffed full of my own hand-chiselled lovingly created jokes, versus a bag of ‘life’ (not insulin: anecdotes, observations). But which is funniest?

Let’s decide together.

“filled with prime laugh-out-loud stupid moments” ***** List

“the best, as well as the most natural stand-up I’ve seen at the Fringe this year… Expect Alun Cochrane to be filling arenas soon.” The Independent

NB: I don’t really fancy playing Arena’s but I’d love to sell-out bigger theatres so I’m prepared to take this compliment on my comedy potential in the spirit it was intended.

Official website

As seen on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News For You and Mock The Week, 8 Out Of 10 Cats and Radio 4’s Just A Minute.

O, that this too too solid flesh would melt

Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, sees his father’s ghost. Tormented with loathing and consumed by grief, he must avenge his father’s murder. What he cannot foresee is the destruction that ensues.

Following celebrated performances at the National in Burnt by the Sun, The Revenger’s Tragedy, Philistines and The Man of Mode, Rory Kinnear plays Hamlet.

He is joined by Claire Higgins (Gertrude), Patrick Malahide (Claudius), David Calder (Polonius), James Laurenson (Ghost/Player) and Ruth Negga (Ophelia).

Official website

Ring in the Christmas season with the London Mozart Players as they perform Handel’s beloved oratorio, Messiah.

Four superb soloists join the University of Warwick Chamber Choir under Paul McGrath for this seasonal masterpiece.

Messiah is divided into three parts. Part I – The prophecy and nativity of Christ as redeemer of the world. Part II – The Passion and its redemptive meaning, with the stirring ‘Hallelujah Chorus’. Part III – An affirmation of faith and the promise of redemption, resurrection and eternal life.

The Met Opera bring a selection from their award-winning series of live, high-definition performance transmissions to Warwick Arts Centre.

Conducted by: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Directed by: Nicholas Hytner
Featuring: Marina Poplavskaya, Anna Smirnova, Roberto Alagna, Simon Keenlyside, Ferruccio Furlanetto

Director Nicholas Hytner makes his Met debut with this new production of Verdi’s profound, beautiful and most ambitious opera. Roberto Alagna leads the cast, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, Marina Poplavskaya, Anna Smirnova and Simon Keenlyside also star.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, back after his triumphant debut leading Carmen, conducts.

“I think Don Carlo is the quintessential Verdi opera,” Hytner says. “Right through this opera there is, on the one hand, an implacable expression of impending doom and, on the other hand, a succession of the most gloriously open-throated arias, the most fantastically determined music.”

Book early for this one. Runrig have just announced their traditional end of year UK tour.

There’s added significance this time as it might be the last chance for a while to catch Runrig ‘live’. The band has decided to take a break from touring in 2011, in order to write, to re-charge the batteries, to get involved in various individual projects and to look and plan towards the next big milestone in their remarkable career – in 2013 they will be celebrating 40 years in the music industry.

Don’t miss this show as it promises to be quite a night.

Official Website

Michael Janisch – Bass
Paul Booth – Tenor Sax
Jay Phelps – Trumpet
Jim Hart – Vibes
Andrew Bain – Drums

American bassist Michael Janisch is building a reputation for putting together varied and exciting bands to play contemporary jazz mixing standards and originals. This new quintet brings a mouthwatering line up of young musicians who have come to prominence in the last 10 years.

“Janisch seizes the instrument with a blend of speed and energy as if he wants to be melody, harmony and rhythm all at once.” The Telegraph

Join Mouse on an adventurous journey through the deep dark wood… meet a wheeler-dealer Fox, an eccentric old Owl, a maraca-shaking, party-mad Snake! Mouse can scare these hungry animals away with tall stories of the terrifying Gruffalo, but what happens when he comes face to face with the very creature he imagined…?

The award-winning book was recently voted the nation’s number one bedtime story by BBC Radio 2 listeners and even hit the small screens on Christmas Day in a star-studded TV adaptation on BBC1!

“A fine piece of children’s theatre.” The Sunday Times

“Monstrous fun!” The Daily Mail

“Irresistibly charming.” The Times

The Mediaeval Baebes’ storybook opened its pages in 1996, when a group of friends broke into a North London cemetery and sang together, clad in flowing white gowns and crowns of ivy. Fourteen years later, these fair maidens have placed three albums in the top of the classical charts.

Pulling lyrics from mediaeval texts and setting them to original scores using mediaeval and classical instruments, whilst singing in an impressive array of long forgotten languages, the Baebes offer a distinctive musical beauty and outstanding talent.

Experience the Mediaeval Baebes’ fairytale whimsy, otherworldly enchantment and supernatural allure this Christmas as the group perform some traditional festive songs amongst a plethora of material from their extensive back catalogue.

Official website

This heart-warming Christmas tale sees the city of Coventry turned into Tinseltown when locals believe that Hollywood producers are coming to judge the best nativity play from rival schools.

Unmotivated primary school teacher Paul Maddens is assigned the task of putting on St. Bernadette’s nativity play. With the help of his over-enthusiastic classroom assistant Mr Poppy, they set out to put on a Christmas cracker! This musical extravaganza is enough to make every parent proud – but will it win the attention of Hollywood and the coveted 5 star review?

Nativity! stars British comedy favourites Martin Freeman, Ashley Jensen and Marc Wootton alongside a host of children from local Coventry schools.

The Met Opera bring a selection from their award-winning series of live, high-definition performance transmissions to Warwick Arts Centre.

Conducted by: Nicola Luisotti
Featuring: Deborah Voigt, Marcello Giordani, Juha Uusitalo

Puccini’s wild-west opera had its world premiere in 1910 at the Met. Now, on the occasion of its centennial, all-American diva Deborah Voigt sings the title role of the “girl of the golden west”, starring opposite Marcello Giordani.

Rachmaninov – Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, Op.30
Interval
Mahler – Symphony No.1 in D minor (the Titan)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra returns under the charismatic direction of Andris Nelsons. The concert opens in majestic style with Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, performed by Latvian pianist Vestards Shimkus, whose virtuosity reflects the golden age of pianism.

The second performance of this work was conducted by Gustav Mahler in New York, with the composer at the keyboard, so it is fittingly followed in our programme by Mahler’s First Symphony.

One of his most powerful works, it is particularly notable for its energetic fourth movement, concluded with a thrilling finale, led by a huge brass section.

Pre-Concert Talk
Conference Room 6.45pm
Tickets £2, Subscribers £1
Andris Nelsons in conversation with Stephen Maddock, Chief Executive,
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

A provocative and wholly unique hybrid of dance, theatre and music. FELA! explores the extravagant, decadent and rebellious world of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

Winner of three 2010 Tony Awards including Best Choreography (Bill T. Jones).

“Top 10 Shows of 2009. It’s a work of total theatre and a party where the power of the people is unleashed with a contagious jiggle.” Los Angeles Times

Using his pioneering music (a blend of jazz, funk and African rhythm and harmonies), FELA! reveals Kuti’s controversial life as an artist and political activist.

Featuring many of Fela Kuti’s most captivating songs and Bill T. Jones’ visionary staging, FELA! – an original new creation – comes via Broadway to London and the National Theatre.

“There should be dancing in the streets. There has never been anything like this.” New York Times

Official website

In this acclaimed one-man show, a Russian civil servant moves from obsession to psychosis, while two little dogs write letters to each other. Fail Better’s adaptation of Gogol’s Diary of a Madman was first seen in London (Best Fringe Show of 2007, Time Out) and more recently at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2009 with outstanding reviews.

Discords is Fail Better’s devised new work which freely adapts Shakespeare in a theatrical language inspired by the work of Samuel Beckett. A highly innovative staging sees disembodied heads emerging from a cabinet of curiosities to re-tell their ‘rooted sorrow’.

Official website

The Orchestra has seen over 9000 days of ukulele action. It has been playing for one 40th of a millennium. The oldest and the best, it unites fans across the globe in celebration of “one plucking thing after another” on “instruments bought for loose change”. They have sixteen-handedly turned the world on to the ukulele.

The Ukes appear on stage with one ukulele each, no gimmicks, no tricks, no vocal enhancers or overproduced wizardry, then proceed to tear the house down.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll never think about music in the same way once you’ve seen and heard the Ukulele Orchestra.

Official website

Punt & Dennis return to stage after four years with their new show They Should Get Out More.

Hugh Dennis’s popularity has catapulted since their last tour, following his role in the award-winning Outnumbered (BBC1) and his quick-witted quips as a regular panellist on Mock the Week (BBC2). He and Steve Punt also enjoy continued success in the award-winning and acclaimed BBC Radio 4 programme The Now Show.

“The kings of satirical comedy.” The Guardian

“Watching them on stage is like listening to counterpoint harmony. Only a lot funnier.” **** The Scotsman

Established in 1981, Danish Dance Theatre is one of the foremost contemporary dance companies in Scandinavia. Choreographer Tim Rushton became Artistic Director in 2001, bringing a new vision and direction to the company. Today, the company has a strong repertoire that is in demand all over the world, and is continually producing new works to both audience and media acclaim.

Enigma
Inspired by the music of J.S. Bach, Tim Rushton has used the solo cello suites (BWV 1007 – 1012) as the musical grid under his movements. The cello suites have been recorded by the cello player Johan Kulberg with an electronic soundscape by Mathias Friis-Hansen which interacts with the recorded music.

CaDance
A subtle game for six male dancers. Their bodies are like drum sticks; with minor, precise and bone-dry movements they wait for each other – and then in a split second they attach with a punctuality never expected. CaDance starts with the music as the driving force and develops into a virtuoso competition among the men on stage.

“Tim Rushton’s choreographic works become more intense, provocative and courageous. In this universe of pumping muscles and hard core energy, he opens us up to the vulnerability and relieves the pain. Absolutely beautiful.” Information

Kridt (Chalk)
While we hear the sound of someone scratching writing on the wall, a man lies on the floor and prepares to meet his fate. The two people’s eyes meet. In an unspoken, mutual understanding the two begin to rub out the text. This opens the stage for those who will retell his story: women who longed for his love and the men he has been connected with.

Vivaldi – The Goldfinch Concerto for Flute and Orchestra
Mozart – Divertimento K.138
Bach – Suite No.2 in B minor for Flute & Strings
Interval
Vivaldi – Four Seasons

The European Union Chamber Orchestra opens its uplifting programme of music with acclaimed flautist Daniela Koch, who will perform Vivaldi’s Goldfinch Concerto and Bach’s Second Orchestral Suite for Flute & Strings.

The brilliant young violinist Nicola Benedetti will lead in the second half, performing Vivaldi’s ever-popular Four Seasons. On this occasion former Poet Laureate, Sir Andrew Motion, has been commissioned to write a series of poems which he will read during the performance, to illuminate the music’s evocation of the seasons. This concert will be a truly special experience, and a highlight of our season.

Pre-Concert Talk
Conference Room 6.45pm
Tickets £2, Subscribers £1
Sir Andrew Motion in conversation with Paul McGrath, Director of Music, University of Warwick.

Having sold out his first gig at Warwick Arts Centre, we’re delighted that Micky Flanagan is coming back in the new year for an extra date of his laugh-a-minute show The Out Out Tour.

“Arguably the funniest comedian in the world… the future of comedy.” Frank Skinner

“If there was any justice in the world he’d be a huge star.” Time Out

Official website

Richard Thompson is one of this country’s greatest songwriters and most distinctive of guitar virtuosos, capable of breathtaking drama and sublime delicacy, prompting Rolling Stone to hail him as “a perennial dark-horse contender for the title of greatest living rock guitarist.” His songs have been covered by everyone from David Gilmour to R.E.M. via Elvis Costello.

He returns to the UK to tour with a powerful electric band featuring Pete Zorn (guitars, flute, sax, mandolin), Michael Jerome (drums), Taras Prodaniuk (bass) and Joel Zifkin (violin, mandolin). It’s the same group that plays on the new album (Dream Attic) which was recorded in real time during an inspired three-months touring on the West Coast of America.

Expect shows that are “riveting, enlightening, witty, moving, provocative and entertaining – strongly recommended”, Time Out.

Official website

Star of Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week and if.comedy Best Newcomer, Sarah Millican has announced an extension to her hugely popular debut tour, Chatterbox, which opened to rave reviews in August at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The sweet and filthy Geordie’s show promises jokes about life, love and what to do when your boyfriend puts a sock on your boob during sex.

“… one of the best comedians in the country” The Scotsman

“Sarah Millican’s performance tonight is one of the most consistent and accomplished I have ever seen at the Fringe.” The Independent

University of Warwick’s resident Quartet in the Creative Space.

Brahms – Quartet in C minor Op.51 No.1
Piazzolla – Four for Tango
Judith Weir – Quartet
Haydn – Quartet in G minor Op.20 No3

Pre-Concert Talk
Conference Room 1 hour before the concert
Tickets £1, Subscribers free
An informal talk about the concert will take place with the Coull Quartet before every concert.

The Donmar’s Artistic Director, Michael Grandage directs Derek Jacobi as King Lear.

Who is it that can tell me who I am?

An ageing monarch. A kingdom divided. A child’s love rejected. As Lear’s world descends into chaos, all that he once believed is brought into question.

One of the greatest works in western literature, King Lear explores the very nature of human existence: love and duty, power and loss, good and evil.

Official website

Milton Jones, – you know the weird bloke with the shirts from Mock the Week. As well as star of the Michael Mcintyre Roadshow, and the voice of 8 series for Radio 4 (including The Very World of Milton Jones and Another Case of Milton Jones) and all sorts of other radio and telly as well. Awards too. Well it’s his new show with new stuff, not in his last show. Youtube him or something….

“Sultan of the surreal.” The Guardian

“The best one-liner merchant in British Comedy.” Chortle website.

www.miltonjones.com

Mozart – Overture to The Marriage of Figaro
Beethoven – Piano Concerto No.5 in E flat, Op.73 (Emperor)
Interval
Bruckner – Symphony No.1 in C minor

The Tonkünstler Orchestra, founded just over a century ago, are considered one of Vienna’s most distinguished orchestras. The programme opens with the effervescent Overture to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, followed by a welcome return visit from pianist Natasha Paremski, who gained a rapturous reception performing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra here in March 2010.

In the second half there’s a rare opportunity to hear Bruckner’s First Symphony. Composed in 1866, this marked the start of Bruckner’s epic symphonic journey that continued until 1892. Although infrequently performed, it stands comparison with all the great symphonies that Bruckner was destined to compose in the years to come and the opportunity to hear this work should not be missed.

Pre-Concert Talk
Conference Room 6.45pm
Tickets £2, Subscribers £1
Brian Midgley, lecturer in Music at the University of Warwick, talks about the works in tonight’s programme.

Penguin Cafe’s music has infiltrated daily life from films like Napoleon Dynamite to countless theme tunes, and they’ve played festivals from Bestival and The Big Chill to a sold out Royal Albert Halll as part of the BBC Proms. Their sound is at once familiar and new, combining acoustic power and a beguiling, feisty charm.

“Penguin Cafe continues to occupy a unique place in music: nothing else has ever sounded quite like it. Eccentric, charming, accommodating, surprising, seductive, warm, reliable, modest and unforgettable: it’s a true friend.” Brian Eno, Feb 2010

Official website

Electronica meets 21st century jazz in Portico Quartet’s melodic, rhythmic music that mixes the inspiration of Philip Glass and Steve Reich with a very contemporary kind of improvisation. It’s the blend of ethereal saxophone, splattering electronics, otherworldly Hang, clattering drums and earthy double-bass that gives their music its unique sound.

Their hook-laden, darkly atmospheric post-jazz has pushed them to the forefront of the contemporary music scene and got them nominated for a Mercury Music Prize – their inimitable sound has been compared to Radiohead, E.S.T and The Cinematic Orchestra.

Official website

From their homeland roots of Argyll, Capercaillie have been credited with being the major force in bringing traditional Celtic music to the world stage.

Since the band’s first innovative recordings of 1984, they have toured in 30 countries across the globe, released 10 award-winning albums and had the first ever Gaelic top 40 single.

Capercaillie includes some of the finest musicians on the scene: Manus Lunny, Charlie McKerron, Donald Shaw, Ewen Vernal, Michael McGoldrick, David Robertson, Che Beresford, and the exquisite voice of Karen Matheson.

Their innovative approach to traditional sources and influences and the excitement they create through live performance explains the widespread esteem in which they are held in the current explosive folk scene.

Roger Ruskin Spear – Sax, Clarinet,Trouser Press and Robots
Rodney Slater – Saxophones and Washboard
Sam Spoons – Drums, Electric Spoons and Didgereedon’t
Dave Glasson – Piano, Bass Pullover and Glasses
Andy Roberts – Re-union guest on Guitar, Banjo and Ukulele

Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band fans will be delighted to learn that Roger Ruskin Spear, Rodney Slater and Sam Spoons have teamed up with super-pianist Dave Glasson to create more fun, music and subversive diversion in the spirit of the ageless band.

Diabolical mayhem from the largest number of Bonzos still playing together anywhere on the surface of the earth. Three Bonzos And A Piano unleash their Bonzo Dog classics with energetic zip and palaver. Jollity Farm, Hunting Tigers Out In India, I’m Bored, My Pink Half of the Drainpipe, Monster Mash, The Trouser Press and many more…

Official website

Cradle to Rave is the brand new one man show from Lenny Henry, fresh from his award-winning stint in Northern Broadside’s Othello.

Lenny returns to his roots with a funky, funny and touching show about the thing he loves most: music. Cradle to Rave is a musical journey exploring the role music has played, and will play, at every stage of Lenny’s life from the womb to the tomb. Hit it!

Official website

Award winning stand-up comic Andi Osho (Mock the Week, BBC2, Stand Up For The Week, Channel 4) grew up in an East End Tower Block with Nigerian parents. Now she plots her complicated relationship with race, from her London childhood to the present day, encountering minstrel shows, Lenny Henry, the BNP, political correctness and America’s first black President along the way.

Andi takes her critically acclaimed stand-up show on tour with Afroblighty, her touching and hilarious story of an identity crisis in the cultural crossfire of Modern Britain.

“Recommended” Time Out

“Hilarious” The Sun

“Perfect delivery” The Guardian

Official website

Beethoven – Piano Sonata No.8 in C minor, Op.13 (Pathétique)
Beethoven – Piano Sonata in F sharp major (Für Elise)
Beethoven – Piano Sonata No.14 in C sharp minor Op.27/2 (Moonlight)
Interval
Chopin – Polonaise-Fantasie, Op.61
Chopin – 2 Nocturnes
Chopin – Piano Sonata No.2 in B flat minor, Op.35

We are thrilled to have the highly-regarded Russian pianist, Nikolai Demidenko, as this season’s recitalist. His particular speciality is Beethoven and Chopin, so his choice of repertoire in this evening’s programme will be something truly special.

In the first half of the recital he will perform three Beethoven sonatas, including the ever-popular Pathétique and Moonlight sonatas.
The second half of the concert will be devoted to Chopin and will be concluded with perhaps his greatest piano sonata in B flat minor, with its contrasting shades of darkness and light.

*“His extraordinary intimacy with the piano, which withholds no secrets of keyboard brilliance or expressive colouring from him, maximises the potential in the scoring, however modest or extravagant, of whatever
he chooses to play.”* Gerald Larner, The Times

Pre-Concert Talk
Conference Room 6.45pm
Tickets £2, Subscribers £1
Melvyn Cooper interviews Nikolai Demidenko.

Following the success of Andromaque, Three Sisters and Twelfth Night, Cheek by Jowl present The Tempest performed by their internationally renowned Russian ensemble. This is a new co-production with Moscow’s Chekhov International Festival.

“Whatever Cheek by Jowl does next constitutes a major happening.” The Guardian

“I can’t recommend it enough,it’s poised, it’s intense, it’s raw.” The Times (on Andromaque)

Official website

Adapted from the picture book written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury.

Join our intrepid adventurers on their quest to find a bear; as they wade through the gigantic swishy swashy grass, the splishy splashy river and the thick oozy, squelchy mud!

Expect catchy songs, interactive scenes and plenty of hands-on adventure – plus a few special surprises!

Ages: 3+

“A fun-filled frolic.” The Guardian

“A perfect mini-adventure…” The Daily Mail

University of Warwick’s Quartet in residence.

Haydn – Quartet in F. minor Op.20 No5
Tippett – Quartet No.1
Schubert – Quartete in G major D.887

Mozart – Violin Concerto No.5
Interval
Mahler – Symphony No.5

The Philharmonia’s second visit to Warwick Arts Centre will be led by a conductor who is renowned around the world.

Lorin Maazel has recently completed a long and distinguished tenure as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, although he has a history of conducting the Philharmonia of over fifty years. Despite this tonight will be his first visit to the Butterworth Hall.

As the youngest ever winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, Akiko Suwanai has established a prolific and prestigious international career, performing regularly in the major cities of Europe, the Americas and Asia.

She will begin our concert with Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto, before Maazel leads the orchestra with Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, concluding in a breath-taking finale.

Pre-Concert Talk
Conference Room 6.45pm
Tickets £2, Subscribers £1
A panel of Philharmonia players in conversation with Paul McGrath, Director of Music, University of Warwick.

Fresh from a busy year filming his own BBC2 comedy series ‘The Stephen K Amos Show’, Stephen is back on tour with more melt in the middle, heartfelt humour to warm the very cockles of your heart. Laughter really is the best medicine and the Doctor will see you now!

*“If laughter is the best medicine then Amos should be prescribed by the NHS for his formidable healing powers”*Evening Standard

“Effortless comedy from one of the country’s strongest stand-ups, whether riffing off the crowd or delivering broad, big-grin gags” Sunday Times

“Amos is dynamite” The Guardian

“A joy to behold” The Times

University of Warwick’s Quartet in residence in the theatre.

Ireland – Quartet in D minor
Haydn – Quartet in E flat Op.20 No.1
Beethoven – Quartet in F Op.59 No.1

Pre-Concert Talks
Conference Room 1 hour before the concert
Tickets £1, Subscribers free
An informal talk about the concert will take place with the Coull Quartet before every concert.

“Jesus was cool, it’s just all the people who follow him who are such idiots. He’s like the Fonz in that respect.”

Hitler Moustache star and avowed atheist resurrects and revamps his first and favourite solo show, exploring his strange obsession and affinity with the Messiah. “I’m not saying I am Jesus…. that is for other people to say.” Asking all the great theological questions like “Why did Jesus always call Simon “Peter”? Is it like the way Trigger always calling Rodney “Dave”?”

“Hilarious. Makes the bible something of a comedy classic” The Guardian

“The best comic of his generation” GQ

Official website

Loudon Wainwright III, or LW3 for short, is a cherished icon of American folk music, a darkly witty and touchingly personal songwriter and storyteller.

He started out in the folk clubs of New York and Boston before going on to a long career that has encompassed both music and acting. He has given birth to over 20 albums (as well as fathering some very successful musical offspring), written folk classics including Dead Skunk and The Man Who Couldn’t Cry and created music for film and theatre.

On top of the fearless and often self-deprecating original songs for which he’s best known, LW3 has often delved into traditional folk and country music.

He won a Grammy for last year’s High Wide & Handsome; The Charlie Poole Project, and has just released a brand new album 10 Songs for the New Depression.

Official website

Rimsky-Korsakov – The Tale of Tsar Saltan Suite from Opera, Op.57, Introduction to Act I: The Tsar’s Departure and Farewell, Introduction to Act II: The Tsarina in a Barrel at Sea, Introduction to Act IV: The Three Wonders
Rachmaninov – Piano Concerto No.1
Interval
Tchaikovsky – Extracts from Eugene Onegin, Polonaise, Tatiana’s Letter Scene, Onegin’s Aria (Act I Sc.3), Final Duet

The Bolshoi Opera and Orchestra have been at the centre of Russian musical life for over two centuries. For the finale of our season, they will present a selection of music from three of the greatest composers of their country.

The concert begins with a suite of music from Rimsky Korsakov’s exotic opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, which captures the essence of this story of jealousy, revenge and romance.

The programme continues with Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto (1917), a work with retains the youthful freshness and virtuosity of its first version (1892), enhanced by the matured compositional technique applied in the final version. The result is this lyrical, yet spirited work which will be performed by the award-winning young pianist Ivan Rudin.

Members of the Bolshoi Opera will join the orchestra in the second half, to present highlights from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. The extracts capture the essence of a richly artistic work, which forms a telling social commentary on aristocratic Russia before the revolution.

This evening will truly honour the greatness of Russian music, and provides a spectacular conclusion to our concert series.

Pre-Concert Talk
Conference Room 6.45pm
Tickets £2, Subscribers £1
Brian Midgley, lecturer in Music at the University of Warwick, talks about the works in tonight’s programme.

As you may have recently seen on the news, Jason Manford has been named as the new co-presenter of BBC1’s The One Show. Unfortunately, this means that he has had to postpone any weekday gigs on his Autumn tour – including his December dates at Warwick Arts Centre.

The new dates are Fri 24 & Sat 25 June 2011.

For all ticket holders for the December dates – your tickets will still be valid for the new dates. Our Box Office team will be contacting you within the next 7 – 10 days to arrange a ticket exchange for the revised date, or if you are unable to make the June dates, a full refund.

As seen on Live at the Apollo, BBC1; Walk on the Wild Side, BBC1; As Seen on TV, BBC1; 8 out of 10 Cats, Channel 4; Royal Variety Performance 2009, ITV1; Jason Manford & Friends, BBC Radio 2.

“Sharp observational comedy… inspired one-liners…Manford certainly knows how to get the laughs.” Metro

“Guaranteed to deliver laughs… incredibly funny.” Chortle

“A very funny, very engaging performer… a joy.” Scotsman

“A natural with the audience, warm, fun, engaging” Manchester Evening News

Official website

Coull Quartet with Clelia Iruzun, Piano

Haydn – Quartet in D Op.20 No. 4
Vaughan Williams – Quartet No.1 in G minor
Brahms – Quintet for Piano and Strings Op.34

Pre-Concert Talks

Conference Room 1 hour before the concert.
Tickets £1, Subscribers free
An informal talk about the concert will take place with the Coull Quartet before every concert.