Timetable Date Wed 1 – Sat 4 Feb (Matinee Thu 2 Feb) Fri 3 Feb Sun 5 Feb Thu 9 Feb Fri 10 Feb
Event
Time
Page
My Father and Other Superheroes
8pm (2pm)
2
Kill for a Seat: Jason Cook & John Robins Songs and Music of Bagpuss Paper Birds: Thirsty Making Tracks: SambaSunda Quintet
8pm 2.30pm 8pm 8pm
4 8 2 8
Thu 16 & Fri 17 Feb
Horse + Bamboo: Red Riding Hood
11am & 2.30pm
6
Sat 18 Feb Sun 19 Feb Thu 23 Feb – Sat 3 Mar Fri 2 Mar Wed 7 – Sun 11 Mar
Empirical Mike McGoldrick, John McCusker & John Doyle REP: Gravity Kill for a Seat: Elis James & Dan Mitchell Fevered Sleep: The Forest
Wed 7 Mar
Marlene McKenzie: Lite
Weds 14 - Sun 18 Mar
Flatpack Festival
Tue 13 Mar
Boothby Graffoe & Nick Pynn: ‘Is This Your Vehicle, Sir?’
8pm
4
Sat 17 Mar
The Speech Project
9
Sun 18 Mar
Theatr Na Nog: Aesop’s Fables
Tue 20 – Thu 22 Mar Tue 20 Mar Wed 21 Mar Thu 22 Mar Fri 23 Mar Sat 24 Mar Tue 27 – Thu 29 Mar Thu 29 Mar – Sun 8 April Sat 31 Mar
Me, Myself and Miss Gibbs Shobana Jeyasingh: Classic Cut Robin Ince: Happiness through Science Spiro - with support Cliff Stapleton REP: Wasted Mitch Benn & The Distractions: Ode Warrior For Once Fierce Festival Soumik Datta
8pm 11am & 2.30pm 7.30pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm
Mon 2 Apr
Kid Carpet and the Noisy Animals: A New Rock & Roll Musical for Kids
11am & 2.30pm
7
Wed 4 Apr Fri 6 Apr Mon 9 Apr - Wed 11 Apr Tue 10 & Wed 11 Apr
Aoife Mannix: Misunderstood Monsters Kill for a Seat: Rob Rouse & Rich Wilson Fleur Darkin: Blake Diptych - Innocence Fleur Darkin: Blake Diptych - Experience
2pm 8pm 2.30pm 8pm
7 4 5 5
Thu 12 Apr
Making Tracks: DoubleDuo feat. Allami-AlKhatibHbeisch-Piccioni
8pm
9
REP: Mustafa Idle Motion: The Seagull Effect
8pm 8pm
3 2
12pm - 8pm
11 11 11
Tue 17 - Sat 21 Apr Wed 25 Apr Visual Arts Sat 11 Feb - Sun 15 Apr Sat 28 Jan Sat 21 Apr - Sun 3 Jun
Made in the Middle Allotment Tom Price
8pm 8pm 8pm 8pm various times 2.30pm & 7.30pm
8 8 3 4 6
Spring
Feb - Apr 2012 Empirical: Sat 18 Feb
3 10
8pm
7 2 5 4 9 3 4 3 10 9
Theatre & Spoken Word mac birmingham Cannon Hill Park Birmingham B12 9QH Sales and Information: 0121 446 3232 Follow us Facebook fan page: mac birmingham www.twitter.com/mac_birmingham
Comedy Dance Registered company no: 718349 Registered charity no: 528979
Sales & Information 0121 446 3232 www.macarts.co.uk Cannon Hill Park | Birmingham | B12 9QH
Children & Family Music & Festivals Visual Arts
2
Spring 2012 Sales & Information: 0121 446 3232
Performance Theatre & Spoken Word
Nick Makoha, in association with mac birmingham and Pippa Frith
My Father and Other Superheroes Directed by Benji Reid
Spring 2012 www.macarts.co.uk
Performance Theatre & Spoken Word
3
Birmingham Repertory Theatre presents: Tickets £12 (£7.50) Previews £8 | Children £4.50 Mad to Miss, Mon - Fri eve 14-26 yrs £4.99 | Standby £6
Developed through Spokelab at Theatre Royal Stratford East
Wed 1 – Sat 4 Feb, 8pm (Matinee Thu 2 Feb, 2pm) | Tickets £10 (£7) Post-Show Discussion Thu 2 Feb My Father and Other Superheroes is a moving and powerful story about the journey from childhood to fatherhood. Set across continents and eras, it follows one man’s struggle to come to terms with the responsibilities of being a parent and his confrontation with his own father’s absence. Supported by Contact. Funded by Arts Council England
Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company presents The Sir Barr Jackson Trust Community tour
Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company, Paines Plough, and Roundhouse production in association with NSDF and Latitude Festival
Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Kali present
Gravity
Wasted
Mustafa
by Kate Tempest
by Naylah Ahmed
Thu 23 Feb – Sat 3 Mar, 8pm
Fri 23 Mar, 8pm
Tue 17 - Sat 21 Apr, 8pm
(Matinee Thu 1 & Sat 3 Mar, 2pm) Post-Show Discussion 29 Feb If you could only go back and change things . . that’s all he wanted.David is a good physics teacher struggling to stay afloat in the stressful world of secondary education until colliding personalities in his classroom result in an explosive reaction.
(Matinee Sat 21 Apr 2pm) Post-Show Discussion 19 Apr
by Arzhang Pezhman
Image: Joel Fildes
Theatre: Edinburgh Picks
Check out our stand-out pieces from Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011 right here in Birmingham.
Fancy seeing all 3? We’ll let you see them all for £20 (£14)
Idle Motion
A Play about love, life and losing your mind. Three old friends. One remarkable day. It’s time to seize control. Make a difference. Change things. This is it! A day glo trip through the parks and raves and cafes of South London, where life is what you make it.
Mustafa is in prison for the death of a teenage boy during an attempted exorcism. Is he an evil killer, or a spiritual man who risked his life to deliver the boy from a dangerous entity? A compelling and vivid thriller.
Pentabus in association with Sherman Cymru The Paper Birds
Thirsty Thu 9 Feb, 8pm] Post-show Discussion Tickets £10 (£7) Age 12+ Multi award-winning company The Paper Birds present their critically acclaimed, sell-out show Thirsty based on our nation’s love affair with alcohol. This dynamic theatrical exploration delves beyond statistics, facts and figures and looks to the faces and the voices of everyone who likes a drink and asks why, as a nation, are we so thirsty?
Francesca Millican-Slater, in association with Pippa Frith
Idle Motion
Me, Myself and Miss Gibbs
The Seagull Effect
Tue 20 – Thu 22 Mar 7.30pm Tickets £10 (£7)
Wed 25 Apr, 8pm Tickets £10 (£7) Age 11+
Francesca returns to mac birmingham after a phenomenal run in Edinburgh to take the audience on a fascinating and amusing journey as she investigates the history behind a postcard she found dated from 1910.
As a couple’s relationship crumbles and they’re confronted by its debris, Britain is hit by the unexpected 1987 storm. Using exciting and evocative staging, multimedia and personal recollections, Idle Motion pick their way through the chaos left behind during those remarkable six hours.
Supported by mac birmingham.
* * * * Scotsman * * * * Fringe Review * * * * Three Weeks
For Once by Tim Price
* * * * Time Out, Critics’ Choice
Tue 27 – Thu 29 Mar, 8pm | Tickets £12 (£9) Post Show Discussion Wed 28 Mar Age 14+ Life, love and loss in a picture postcard town are laid bare in this heartbreaking but darkly comic new play. Through a series of intertwining accounts For Once cuts to the heart of a family, and a community, turned upside down by tragedy. Contains a small reference to mild drug taking.
Moo Ville in association with sampad & mac birmingham
Marlene McKenzie: Lite Wed 7 Mar, 2.30pm & 7.30pm Tickets £9 (£7)
First Bite Festival Warwick Arts Centre
Sat 10 Mar Box Office: 024 7652 4524 www.warwickartscentre.co.uk China Plate, Warwick Arts Centre and mac birmingham bring you a day long showcase of new work from some of the most original and intrepid theatremakers working in the West Midlands.
4
Performance Comedy
Spring 2012 Sales & Information: 0121 446 3232
Kill for a Seat Comedy Club
Spring 2012 www.macarts.co.uk
5
Performance Dance
Shobana Jeyasingh: Classic Cut In association with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
First Friday of every month | Tickets £11 (£8)
Tue 20 Mar, 8pm | Tickets £13 (£10)
We’ve teamed up with laughter specialists to bring you a monthly comedy club held on the first Friday of every month and hosted by Silky. Fri 6 Jan, 8pm
Fri 3 Feb, 8pm
Rob Deering & Isma Almas
Jason Cook & John Robins
Fri 2 Mar, 8pm
Fri 6 Apr, 8pm
Elis James & Dan Mitchell
Rob Rouse & Rich Wilson
GRAB SOME FOOD? Grab a selected main meal and side for just £5. This offer is available to pre-book at Sales & Information alongside your ticket. Please call Sales & Info on 0121 446 3232*
An intriguing new show from choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh – revisiting the past and boldly stepping into the new. Classic Cut presents Configurations, a work celebrated for bravura use of speed and stunning detail. Created in 1989 with iconic composer Michael Nyman, it shows us a pioneering work from the very beginning of the Company’s life. Nyman’s score (which became his acclaimed String Quartet No. 2) will be played live on stage. Alongside this Jeyasingh presents an atmospheric new work that draws on the colourful theatrical genre of classical Indian dance. It features music by young composer Niraj Chag whose credits include the BAFTA-nominated Simon Schama’s Power of Art series for BBC2.
Fleur Darkin: Blake Diptych - Innocence and Experience Fleur Darkin presents a show for all ages. Inspired by William Blake’s boyhood visions this dance piece is split into two shows specially designed for two different age groups.
EVEN MORE COMEDY
All Tickets £7 (Adult ticket for both performances £10) James Cook plus support
Boothby Graffoe & Nick Pynn: ‘Is This Your Vehicle, Sir?’
Robin Ince: Happiness through Science
Fri 27 Jan, 7.30pm | Tickets £7 (£5)
Tue 13 Mar, 8pm | Tickets £12 (£9)
Wed 21 Mar, 8pm | Tickets £13 (£10)
Patrick Monahan: Hug Me I Feel Good!
Boothby & Nick follow on from the success of their The Return Of Boothby Graffoe 2011 tour by having another jolly trip up and down the country to promote the new studio album ‘Is This Your Vehicle Sir?’ ‘If I had to compare him to anyone, it would be Spike Milligan.’ - Omid Djalili
Wed 8 Feb, 8pm | Tickets £13 (£10) The winner of ITV One’s Show Me The Funny! returns with his new show.
Mitch Benn & The Distractions: Ode Warrior Sat 24 Mar, 8pm | Tickets £13 (£10)
Innocence
Experience
Age 0-5yrs Mon 9 Apr - Wed 11 Apr 2.30pm
Age 14+ Tue 10 & Wed 11 Apr, 8pm
Come and meet the Tyger and the Lamb as well as young William himself. Children and their parents will experience Innocence in a unique and intimate space, exploring the childhood visions of William Blake. The matinee will inspire young imaginations and give children the freedom and confidence to explore dance and music.
Inspired by the ‘glorious luminary’ William Blake, and following his inquiry into the human imagination as the body of God, the Blake Diptych brings together a company of world class dancers and musicians to inquire into the mystery of being.
BOOK NOW!
6
Performance Children & Family
Spring 2012 Sales & Information: 0121 446 3232
Spring 2012 www.macarts.co.uk
Performance Children & Family
7
Fevered Sleep: The Forest
Theatr Na Nog: Aesop’s Fables
Wed 7 – Sun 11 Mar, various times | All Tickets £8 | Recommended Age 5-7yrs
Sun 18 Mar, 11am & 2.30pm | Tickets £8 (£6) | Age 3+
There is a place at the very heart of the forest. People become animals, birds become music, day becomes night-time, leaves become light. It’s full of adventure. It’s always changing. It’s The Forest.
The Mouse tells stories because it doesn’t want to get eaten by the Lion, the Lion because it wants to eat the Mouse, and the Tortoise because…well…because it wants to eat its lettuce sandwich. These animal raconteurs take us through a multitude of Fables involving wily wolves, dopey dogs, haring hares, flattering foxes and even silly humans.
The creators of Brilliant and And the Rain Falls Down combine dance, music, sound and light to excite your imagination and tickle your senses.
Theatre of Widdershins: The Elves and the Shoemaker
Horse + Bamboo: Red Riding Hood
Kid Carpet and the Noisy Animals: A New Rock & Roll Musical for Kids
Aoife Mannix: Misunderstood Monsters
Sun 22 Jan, 11am & 2.30pm | Tickets £8 (£6) Age 3+
Thu 16 & Fri 17 Feb, 11am & 2.30pm Tickets £8 (£6) | Age 4+
Mon 2 Apr, 11am & 2.30pm | Tickets £8 (£6) Age: Officially 3 - 8 yrs but adults love it too!
Wed 4 Apr, 2pm | Tickets £8 (£6) Age: 4 - 8 yrs
A gorgeously rendered re-telling of the classic girl-and-the-wolf tale. Exquisite visuals blend with pantomime-style silliness and spooky moments to create an enchanting piece of theatre.
Kid Carpet & the Noisy Animals follows the adventures of the charismatic singer and his animal band (made up of a gorilla, a bear, a hedgehog and a badger) as they make friends, play games, contemplate the world and finally rock out at a grand dance contest.
Overcome your fear of fiends, spiders, aliens, dragons. Through the power of spoken word and music with Aoife Mannix and Janie Armour joined by Andrew Wilson for some digital game playing.
Don’t forget you can also see: The Songs and Music of Bagpuss (p8) & Fleur Darkin’s Blake Diptych inspired by William Blake (p5)
8
Performance Music
Songs and Music of Bagpuss Sun 5 Feb, 2.30pm | Tickets £12 (£9) Suitable for All Ages
Spring 2012 Sales & Information: 0121 446 3232
Making Tracks: SambaSunda Quintet
Spring 2012 www.macarts.co.uk
The Speech Project
Performance Music
9
Spiro - with support Cliff Stapleton Thu 22 Mar, 8pm | Tickets £12 (£9)
Fri 10 Feb, 8pm | Tickets £12 (£9)
Sat 17 Mar, 8pm | Tickets £12 (£9)
Join original cast member Sandra Kerr for an afternoon of nostalgia and audience participation from the hit children’s show. Please note: This is a music performance and there will be no puppetry involved. Also features Nancy Kerr and James Fagan (Best duo, BBC Folk Awards 2003)
In their latest incarnation, SambaSunda strip down to a quintet, reflecting an enduring classical tradition of Sundanese music while at the same time creating something fresh, modern and original.
Four years in the making, The Speech Project is a ground-breaking collection of new musical works by Gerry Diver incorporating recordings of the spoken word of seminal Irish folk musicians including Christy Moore, Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains, Joe Cooley, Danny Meehan and more.
Empirical
Mike McGoldrick, John McCusker & John Doyle
Soumik Datta
Making Tracks: DoubleDuo feat: Allami & Al-Khatib, Hbeisch & Piccioni
Sat 18 Feb, 8pm | Tickets £10 (£7 including Birmingham Jazz members)
Sun 19 Feb, 8pm | Tickets £13 (£10)
Sat 31 Mar, 8pm | Tickets £11 (£8)
Thu 12 Apr, 8pm | Tickets £12 (£9)
2010 MOBO Award-winning British Jazz group Empirical make their debut at mac birmingham this spring following the release of their new album ‘Elements of Truth’.
A rare chance to see three members of the acclaimed BBC Transatlantic Sessions play together following McGoldrick and McCusker’s American tour with Mark Knopfler and Bob Dylan.
Funk, soul, Indian classical and blues unite with performance poetry and film to tell this unique story of discovery. Four international performers, led by Britain’s rising young star Soumik Datta, present this innovative and contemporary production to pay homage to Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore.
Individual and energetic Iraqi artist Khyam Allami is joined by Palestinian oud player Ahmad Al-Khatib, amazing percussionist Youssef Hbeisch and Italian frame drum master Andrea Piccioni for a performance based on the new 2 x 2 idea of oud versus percussion.
Presented by Birmingham Jazz & mac birmingham
presented by sampad & mac birmimgham
Presented by Moseley Folk & mac birmingham
Recently signed to Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records Spiro are four extraordinary musicians performing compelling, mesmeric music influenced with classical and contemporary influences, but with roots set firmly in the English tradition. Presented by Moseley Folk & mac birmingham
10
Spring 2012 Sales & Information: 0121 446 3232
Performance Festivals
Flatpack Festival
Wed 14 – Sun 18 Mar www.flatpackfestival.org Flatpack returns to mac birmingham. Since 2006 this annual film jamboree has built up a national reputation with an eclectic, informal range of events and screenings in venues across Birmingham. The Flatpack programme brings together the most exciting new shorts, animation, documentaries and independent movies, along with live soundtracks, walking tours and ingenious installations. mac will also play host to the festival’s Colour Box strand, a series of screenings and activities for all ages throughout the weekend of 17 and 18 March. The full lineup will be announced in February.
Fierce Festival
Thu 29 Mar – Sun 8 April www.wearefierce.org Fierce and mac birmingham co-present work and workshops from Fierce Festival artists Subject to_change and Uninvited Guests. Subject to_change’s latest project Cupid, is a meditation on love, the stars and personal mythology. Two shows by Uninvited Guests invite you to provide love song dedications for a heartfelt performance or banish the demons of the day in a town hall meeting and local radio broadcast.
Spring 2012 www.macarts.co.uk
Visual Arts
11
Made in the Middle - Contemporary Craft from across the Midlands Sat 11 Feb - Sun 15 Apr | First Floor Gallery Craftspace introduces a wealth of talented makers from across the Midlands - exploring ‘Pathways to Craft’ careers and featuring digital techniques. This touring exhibition features thirty-five of the best contemporary craft makers from the East and West Midlands. The selection includes a range of objects to buy or commission from ceramics, glass and metalwork to jewellery, textiles, work in wood and mixed media. Made in the Middle is a partnership between Craftspace and mac birmingham in collaboration with The National Centre for Craft & Design.
TBC, courtesy the artist and Hales Gallery
Cupid is co-produced by Subject to_change and BAC. Commissioned by BAC, mac birmingham and Fierce. Uninvited Guests are produced by Fuel
Tom Price
A mac birmingham production with Charlie Levine
Sat 21 Apr – Sun 3 Jun Free Entry
Allotment
Explore and discover a perfect venue.
Open Tue - Sat 12 – 8pm | Sun 11am – 4pm. Closed Mon, except Bank Holidays
Launches Sat 28 Jan | Free Entry Arena Gallery 9am-11pm
Day Delegate Rates from £29.50 plus vat per person including:
In collaboration with Hales Gallery, mac birmingham presents a major solo exhibition of animated works by London-based sculptor Tom Price. With an interest in the minutiae of body language and facial expression, Price crafts and animates a series of clay models which are projected as colossal blinking heads gazing directly at the viewer.
3 servings of tea, coffee and biscuits, hot and cold finger buffet lunch with orange juice, room hire, flipchart, standard audio visual equipment Terms and Conditions apply*
New to 2012 at mac birmingham is ALLOTMENT, an innovative programme which sees our Arena Gallery divided into plots and tended by independent curators. By extending the opportunity to curate to a wider community, the ALLOTMENT plots are imagined as a space to identify, profile and nurture the region’s new and emerging visual art talent.