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First Word
News from around the region
Compton Verney to host Winter Festival
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Compton Verney is hosting a Winter Festival in December. The event’s highlights include a chance to explore the popular Warwickshire attraction’s ‘enchanted woodlands’ , reindeer trail and indoor forest. Visitors can also try something new at festive workshops, enjoy some seasonal shopping at a Christmas gift market and say hello to Father Christmas in his woodland grotto. Carol concerts and seasonal fare also feature... The Winter Festival runs from Friday 3 to Friday 24 December. For more information, visit comptonverney.org.uk
V&A exhibition adapted for the big screen
The V&A’s blockbuster exhibition, Alice: Curiouser And Curiouser, has been made into a documentary film which will be screened at selected West Midlands cinemas from 14 October. The documentary follows V&A Senior Curator Kate Bailey and broadcaster Andi Oliver as they explore how the titular character from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland has become a cultural icon throughout art. The film shows at Cineworld Birmingham, Midlands Arts Centre, Showcase in Coventry and Dudley, and Solihull Cineworld.
Severn Valley Railway scoops top award
The Severn Valley Railway (SVR) has scooped a TripAdvisor Traveller’s Choice Award for the second year running. The prize puts SVR in the top 10% of all visitor attractions worldwide, based on reviews and feedback submitted via the online platform. Alongside the railway as a wholereceiving the award, its local sites at The Engine House Visitor Centre at Highley and The King & Castle pub in Kidderminster were also recipients of the accolade.
Harry Potter Platform 93/4 Trolley heading for the Midlands region
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter film, the iconic Platform 9¾ Trolley will be stopping off at Birmingham New Street Station from 23 to 25 October. The installation allows fans to recreate the moment when Harry first made it onto Platform 9¾ by running through a magical brick wall in London’s King’s Cross station. Muggles, witches and wizards alike will be able to get a photo of themselves appearing to emulate Harry by running through the wall.
Brand-new In Paint We Trust mural revealed
The latest mural to be created as part of Coventry’s In Paint We Trust initiative has been revealed showcasing the city’s Caribbean culture. Dubbed the wall of the Caribbean Association’s community centre. The work has been produced in collaboration with Midlandsborn artist Carleen DeSozer.
Coventry to host arts & culture Citizens’ Assembly
Coventry is to host what is believed to be the UK’s first Citizens’ Assembly on art & culture. Fifty people, selected by democratic lottery, will take part in the event, which is called Art For The People. The assembly, which will run between late October and late November, will be posing the question: How will arts, culture & creativity shape a better future for Coventry?.
Classic Motor Show returns to the Midlands
The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show is returning to the NEC next month (12 - 14 November). The ever-popular event brings together the world’s largest gathering of car & motorcycle clubs with over 3,000 classic and vintage cars and bikes. Live auctions, talks and an autojumble also feature. For more information, visit thenec.co.uk
Dr Richard talks dead bodies
A forensic pathologist who worked on some of the highest profile cases of recent times including the Princess Diana Inquiry, 9/11 and the Hungerford Massacre - is visiting Midlands theatres this autumn with his first-ever touring show. Dr Richard Shepherd: Unnatural Causes ‘tells the stories of the cases and bodies that have both fascinated and haunted him the most’ . The show opens at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, on Tuesday 5 October, then visits the Royal Spa Centre in Leamington (Sunday 10 October) and the Forum Theatre, Malvern (Monday 18 October).
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Denzil Forrester, ‘Still Here’ , 2019. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Photo by Stephen White & Co.
Coventry’s third Biennial to focus on ‘radical futures’
The third Coventry Biennial launches this month at seven exhibition venues across Coventry & Warwickshire. Taking the title Hyper-Possible, the Biennial will include developed artworks that ‘imagine radical futures, enable new forms of knowledge production, reflect on our relationships to the places that we live, and explore the social and political impact of our identities and the impact that human activity is having on the planet’ . The Biennial runs from 8 October to 23 January, with its major exhibition at Herbert Art Gallery & Museum remaining open until 6 February.
Dave announces 2022 arena tour
Following the release of his critically acclaimed UK number one album, We’re All Alone In This Together, award-winning rapper Dave is heading out on a UK tour in the new year, stopping off at Birmingham’s Resorts World Arena on 17 February.
Festival Garden back in 2022
Coventry’s Assembly Festival Garden will return next spring, after this summer proving to be a major UK City of Culture hit. The pop-up venue, located on the site of former civic centre buildings now owned by Coventry University, was unveiled in July in a partnership between Coventry City of Culture Trust and Assembly Festival. The summer months saw the Garden play host to some of the biggest acts in music, comedy, circus and more.
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Warwick Arts Centre announces autumn shows
Internationally respected artists, groundbreaking performers and thought-provoking new works all feature in Warwick Arts Centre’s autumn line-up of shows. Music highlights include performances by John Grant, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tricky and Mica Paris. The Coventry venue’s line-up of theatrical productions features Cupid's Revenge - a contemplation on the loss of real love - and Beckett's Room - an exploration of writer Samuel Beckett's Parisian apartment during World War Two. Russell Brand, Sindhu Vee, Bridget Christie and Nina Conti (pictured) are among the comedians aiming to tickle funny bones at the venue over the next few weeks. For more information on autumn-season events and to book tickets, visit warwickartscentre.co.uk
A six-month celebration spotlighting creativity and culture in the West Midlands will run from March to September next year as part of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games programme. Birmingham 2022 Festival will feature hundreds of creative commissions across the region, including art, photography, dance, theatre and digital art. The full festival programme will be launched in January. To find out more, visit birmingham2022.com
News from around the region
BRB to present Royal Albert Hall’s The Nutcracker
Birmingham Royal Ballet will present an exclusive adaptation of Sir David Bintley’s Royal Albert Hall production of The Nutcracker at Birmingham Hippodrome next month. Never before performed outside London, the show replaces for one year only the Peter Wright version which BRB traditionally present pre-Christmas. Sir Peter’s production is currently undergoing a major renovation. The Nutcracker runs at the Hippodrome from Saturday 20 November to Saturday 11 December. Tickets are available now from brb.org.uk
New photographic project launched
A new photographic project has been launched in Coventry. Tiles Of Hope is asking local people to submit a photo conveying what the word ‘hope’ means to them. Selected photos will be printed onto a tile and included in a community mural located on the city’s Priory Street. The deadline for submission is 30 November. To find out more, visit eventsforce.net/tilesofhope.
Twelve-strong singing group Stile Antico, who perform without the assistance of a conductor, will kickstart Leamington Music’s autumn season of concerts this month when they perform in Warwick’s St Mary’s Church on Tuesday 5 October. Their performance is followed three days later (Friday 8 October) by a second Leamington Music concert, this time at the Royal Pump Rooms and featuring the Sacconi Quartet, who will be making their first appearance in the town for 10 years. For more information about the season’s programme, visit leamingtonmusic.org
Light Night Worcester makes a welcome return
Four artists have been commissioned to create brand-new large-scale projectionbased artwork for Light Night Worcester 2021. Taking place each evening between 6pm & 10pm from Tuesday 19 to Thursday 21 October, the event will see city-centre buildings transformed by light projections.
Theatre company and homeless charity Cardboard Citizens has teamed up with the Belgrade Theatre and Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 to produce a brand-new musical premiering this month. What’s On caught up with Cardboard Citizens’ founder & artistic director, Adrian Jackson, to find out what audiences can expect…
Based on a true story, The Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency is a show which combines music from Boff Whalley - former lead guitarist of anarchist band Chumbawamba with a tale of activism and community spirit. Taking place in London in the 1970s, the story follows a group of revolutionaries who found their own microstate, Frestonia, and set up the world’s first estate agency for squatters. Though times are tough and the nation is in the grip of a housing crisis, at Ruff Tuff there’s no shortage of fun to be had, and the show promises to be a feelgood musical. Based on the work of the late activist, poet & playwright Heathcote Williams, the inspiring story serves as a reminder that change is always possible, something that director Adrian Jackson is keen to highlight: “We thought about what would be a good story to come out of the pandemic with, and this one felt right because it’s uplifting and it’s about the power of community. What’s interesting about the time we’ve just come through is that the government has shown that if they want to solve issues of homelessness, they can. They had this policy of ‘Everyone In’ , where they housed homeless people in hotels for a period of several months, which just shows that where there’s a will, there’s a way. “The story of the Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency connects to that, showing we can do something about the issues that face us. I think homelessness is presented to us as if it’s an insoluble thing, but that’s not true. ” Adrian is founder of Cardboard Citizens, the theatre group performing the play, which strives to achieve social change through its work. Created in 1991, the company was originally intended to be a temporary project, but the venture grew and grew as it discovered more stories to tell and new ways to influence change. This year sees Citizens celebrating its 30th anniversary. Adrian has been artistic director of the company throughout that time, but Ruff Tuff will be the last show he directs for the group. “The production forms part of a wider programme of work we’ve done in Coventry, and it shows how we can integrate trained and untrained actors in a way which works. “We have a choir of homeless people that takes part in several of the numbers, many of whom are people we met earlier in the year when we did a residency in Coventry. ” Adrian is referring to The Choir With No Name, a charity that unites local individuals who have lived experience of being on the streets. Casting a light on what homeless people go through is an important part of what Cardboard Citizens does. The company empowers its members to develop the confidence to tell their own stories through creating theatre, both forand withpeople who have lived experience. But participatory theatre is just one of the ways Cardboard Citizens has an impact on wider society. “A lot of the change we achieve with the company is on an individual level. We have several hundred people who’ve joined and who attend workshops, so there’s a lot of personal and social growth. But we also use this mode called ‘legislative theatre’ , where we invite councillors, MPs and ministers to watch a show involving homeless people and then to join in with the discussion afterwards, where we talk about change and imagine change. “We did a play a few years ago called Cathy which was a revisitation of Ken Loach’s film, Cathy Come Home - where we imagined what would happen to Cathy in today’s society. We toured that show around the country and, at the end of each performance, the audience was invited to make suggestions about how laws could be changed to help Cathy, who finds herself evicted from her home. We were ultimately invited to perform the show at the House of Lords, on the evening of the first reading of the Homelessness Reduction Act. “So, we have the ear of policy makers, and Cathy is one big example of how Cardboard Citizens achieves change. ” The revolutionary theatre company has been working in Coventry since March, and has coproduced the Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency with the Belgrade Theatre as part of Coventry UK City of Culture 2021. As it turns out, the story of Ruff Tuff is more relevant to Coventry than Adrian originally imagined: “There’s a street near where I’m staying in Coventry called Starley Road. In 1978 the council wanted to knock down some of the houses, but the people in the street fought back. They formed a housing association and they won. It’s an amazingly similar story to the one we’re telling, so that’s a nice connection that I’ve discovered. ”
The production forms part of arts & homelessness festival Home, which runs from 8 to 16 October (coinciding with World Homeless Day on the 10th of the month). The festival is the first of its kind in Coventry, providing a week of arts and homelessness projects made by people who have lived experience of being on the streets. “I think the stress which Coventry has laid on the work it’s invited to take place is perhaps slightly different to the stress some of the previous cities of culture have done. They’ve laid a great emphasis on work which involves community with a professional overlap, rather than a separation between community and professional work. “Coventry made a commitment to diversity from the very beginning, and that’s good for us too - diversity across class and race and age, that’s our natural territory. It’s very much been a team effort in Coventry. ” Combining art and activism to tell such stories is something Adrian is passionate about, and he wants the new show to open audience’s eyes to the change that is possible: “I hope the audience will take away a spirit of optimism in the way we can get involved in our communities, and also - and this is the important part - the fact that it can be fun. I think there’s a sense that activism and community work is a very serious, sad business. But what this play demonstrates is a group of people having a huge amount of fun, while at the same time doing a lot of good. The opening song is called Do It Yourself, and that’s what this story is about - do-it-yourself activism. ”
The Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency shows at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, from Saturday 9 - Saturday 16 October
