First Word

News from around the region

Warwick Arts Centre reveals its autumn season programme

National Theatre commission Kin and the European premiere of Rewards For The Tribe (pictured) - featuring performers with and without disability - are among the theatrical highlights of Warwick Arts Centre’s autumn season. The Coventry venue’s eclectic programme also features a number of Fierce festival events, a line-up of comedians including Dawn French, Sofie Hagen, Lucy Porter and Shappi Khorsandi, and a major exhibition reconsidering landscape art as a progressive genre. Freckle Productions’ ever-popular adaptation of Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler’s muchloved children’s book, Stick Man, promises plenty of fun for younger audiences over the Christmas period. For full details of the venue’s autumn season, visit warwickartscentre.co.uk

Ballet company hit the ground running with autumn season line-up

Birmingham Royal Ballet will hit the ground running with their autumn programme next month. Starting with a triple bill celebrating ‘the marriage of music and movement’, the company then present two critically acclaimed Sir Peter Wright productions: Coppelia and The Nutcracker. The latter has just received a million-pound refurbishment. To find out more and book tickets, visit birminghamhippodrome.com

Coventry playwright explores climate change and mental health

A ‘powerful and extraordinary new play’ written by Coventry playwright Vanessa Oakes will show at the city’s Belgrade Theatre next month. Interweaving themes of mental health and climate change, the play centres on the character of Mademoiselle F - who was the first person to be diagnosed with OCD - and her imagined encounters with a 21st-century Canadian polar bear. Mademoiselle F shows at the theatre from Tuesday 4 to Saturday 8 October. For more information and to book tickets, visit belgrade.co.uk

UK tour of Twopence To Cross The Mersey stops off at Midlands theatres

The first-ever UK tour of Helen Forrester’s Great Depression-era drama, Twopence To Cross The Mersey, will make two Midlands stop-offs next month. The production visits Coventry’s Albany Theatre from Wednesday 19 to Friday 21 October, and then Lichfield Garrick on Saturday the 22nd & Sunday the 23rd.

SVR to host part of oneoff anniversary rail tour

The Severn Valley Railway (SVR), based in Worcestershire and Shropshire, is hosting part of a one-off anniversary rail tour on Tuesday 27 September. The event is being organised by Modern Railways magazine in partnership with CrossCountry trains, using one of the operator’s High Speed Trains (HST). A limited number of tickets are available to join the HST at the SVR’s Kidderminster Town station, just for the SVR leg of the journey. The tickets are all situated in the first-class section of the train. For more information and to book tickets, visit svr.co.uk

Having a whale of a time in Tewkesbury

A show combining puppets, comedy and music - and exploring the story of sea creatures’ battle to survive in an ocean full of rubbish - is being presented at Tewkesbury Town Hall & Gardens this month (Sunday 25 September). Titled Whale and performed by theatre company Circo Rum Ba Ba, the production sees the audience ‘help to save the turtle and the whale from a deluge of plastic’, and then ‘travel from the Indian Ocean to a coral reef, leaving there feeling empowered that everyone can make a difference’. To find out more, visit rosestheatre.org

Leamington Music 2022/23

Leamington Music’s 2022/23 season gets under way next month with an Early Music concert at St Mary’s Church in Warwick featuring the Marian Consort (pictured), recorder player Tabea Debus and the Cedar Consort (on Tuesday 4 October). The organisation’s international string quartet concert series is then kickstarted three days later when the Brodsky Quartet visits the region. In total Leamington Music will be hosting 20 concerts across the autumn/winter period. For more information about the whole programme and to book tickets, visit leamingtonmusic.org

Young actors needed for threeday tragedy

Young Warwickshire-located performers aged from 12 to 18 are being invited to create a dynamic new version of Sophocles’ classic tragedy, Antigone, over a long winter weekend. From Friday 16 to Monday 19 December, the Bridge House Theatre in Warwick will host the Bridge House Young Company’s inaugural ThreeDay Play project. Expertly guided by professional theatre practitioners, the company of young performers will read through the script on the Friday evening, rehearse intensively Saturday and Sunday, and perform the play on Monday evening. For more information and to reserve a place, visit bridgehousetheatre.co.uk The world-renowned Cirque Du Soleil is bringing its brand-new show to Birmingham’s Utilita Arena next month. Titled Corteo, which means cortege in Italian, the production is described as ‘bringing together the passion of the actor with the grace and power of the acrobat to plunge the audience into a theatrical world of fun, comedy and spontaneity, situated in a mysterious space between heaven and earth’. The show stops off at the Utilita Arena from Wednesday 19 to Sunday 23 October. For tickets, visit ticketmaster.co.uk

First Word

Cirque Du Soleil to bring brand-new show to the Midlands

Simon Webbe at Twycross Zoo

Blue popstar and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Simon Webbe will headline Twycross Zoo’s final Summer Sundown event early this month. The show takes place afterhours at the zoo on Saturday 3 September. Tickets can be booked by visiting twycrosszoo.org/summersundown

Adrian Edmondson set to star as Dickens’ Scrooge at the RSC

Adrian Edmondson will play Ebenezer Scrooge in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s autumn/winter revival of David Edgar’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic ghost story, A Christmas Carol. The production, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, from 26 October to 1 January. To find out more and book tickets, visit rsc.org.uk

First Word

Machine Memoirs at Coventry’s The Reel Store

Families across Coventry & Warwickshire can step inside the dreams of a machine this autumn at The Reel Store, the UK’s first permanent digital art gallery. Opened in May within the former Coventry Evening Telegraph building, The Reel Store is currently hosting the exhibition Machine Memoirs: Space. The product of a long-term collaboration between artist Rekik Anadol, artificial intelligence and NASA, the mesmerising display transports visitors into a parallel universe of immersive colour, sound and movement. Machine Memoirs is available to experience until Sunday 2 October.

Canaletto exhibition to show at Worcester Museum & Art Gallery

A world-class collection of artwork will go on display at Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum next month. Showing at the venue from 1 October to 7 January, Canaletto: A Venetian’s View features stunning paintings on loan from the Woburn Abbey Collection. The show also includes artworks from Worcester’s Fine Art Collection and loans from Birmingham Museums, Tate and Compton Verney.

Talking serial killers...

Midlands fans of the morbid and macabre have two chances to check out a show about notorious serial killers this month. Hosted by Cheish Merryweather, How To Raise A Serial Killer is presented at Yates in Solihull on Wednesday 7 September and Rialto Plaza, Coventry, on Wednesday 28 September.

News from around the region

Programme revealed for British Science Festival

The British Science Association (BSA) has unveiled the full programme for this year’s British Science Festival. An event dedicated to celebrating ‘the people, stories and ideas at the heart of science’, the festival takes place in Leicester this month (13 - 17 September) and features more than 100 ‘free, engaging and off-thewall installations, performances and activities’. The programme has been curated by BSA in partnership with De Montfort University Leicester and fuses science and research with performance, art and technology. Commenting on the event, its director, Antonio Benitez, said: “The British Science Festival exists to shake up the UK’s scienceengagement landscape in a truly unique, creative and inclusive way. “This year’s line-up - developed in collaboration with De Montfort University alongside dozens of fantastic research institutions, organisations, visual & performance artists, creative researchers and activists - will do just that. We’re excited to deliver a programme of unique events that showcases world-class research taking place in the Midlands and beyond.” For further information and to book tickets, visit britishsciencefestival.org

Words aplenty in Warwick

Warwick Words History Festival returns next month and will be celebrating its 20th anniversary (various venues, 3 - 9 October). Featuring numerous guest speakers, the festival’s wide-ranging programme covers events spanning 1,000 years of history - from the origins of the British monarchy to the present conflict in Ukraine. For more information and to book tickets, visit warwickwords.co.uk

Talking the Tudors and Anne Boleyn at The Hive

A talk about Anne Boleyn by bestselling author Alison Weir is taking place at The Hive in Worcester next month in aid of the Action For Pulmonary Fibrosis charity. The event, which is being held at the venue on the evening of 21 October, will also feature a raffle, with prizes including a family ticket to the Museum of Royal Worcester.

Falconry at the castle

Kenilworth Castle is this month providing visitors with the chance to learn all about Elizabethan falconry. An expert-led event takes place across the weekend of Saturday 17 & Sunday 18 September. To find out more and book tickets, visit english-heritage.org.uk

News from around the region

A cathedral Christmas for The Snowman

Coventry Cathedral will this Christmas host a special screening of much-loved animated film The Snowman. First televised in 1982 and inspired by the late Raymond Briggs’ 1978 picture book of the same name, the film will be accompanied by a live orchestra (Saturday 17 December). As an extra-special treat, the event will also feature The Flight Before Christmas - a new Shaun the Sheep film which is being staged with a live orchestra for the first time. To find out more and book tickets, visit coventrycathedral.org

The Lavender Hill Mob coming to Malvern

A stage adaptation of classic Ealing Comedy The Lavender Hill Mob is heading to Malvern Theatres. The fast-paced tale, which stars Miles Jupp and Justin Edwards, will stop off at the venue from 7 to 12 November. For more information and to book tickets, visit malvern-theatres.co.uk

Magic of the musicals at the Coventry Belgrade

The Coventry Belgrade’s autumn season kicks off this month - and there’s plenty to delight fans of musical theatre. The programme includes Six, The Rocky Horror Show (pictured), Beautiful-The Carole King Musical and Bugsy Malone. The Belgrade will also be presenting the world premiere of brand-new Bollywood musical Bombay Superstar next month. For more information about these and all other shows taking place at the venue during the autumn, visit belgrade.co.uk

First Word

Motionhouse moon mission in new family show

Leamington-based dance company Motionhouse make a welcome return to Coventry’s Warwick Arts Centre next month with a brand-new family show. Telling the story of five children who dream of reaching the moon from their bedroom, Starchitects shows at the venue from Thursday 27 to Sunday 30 October. For more information and to book tickets, visit motionhouse.co.uk

Poetry & performance festival makes a return

The UK’s biggest poetry & performance festival of new writing returns to Birmingham from 8 to 11 September as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival. The BBC’s Contains Strong Language (CSL) provides a platform ‘for the most exciting, existing and emerging artists in the region’. The event also collaborates with artists from the Commonwealth in an eclectic variety of programmes broadcast across BBC Radio networks. To find out more, visit bbc.co.uk/events

Death Drop - Again!

Following three sold-out West End runs and a smash-hit UK tour, the drag-act murdermystery comedy show, Death Drop, is making a return. The new production, titled Death Drop: Back In The Habit, sees comedy character Sis Marple investigating as ‘a gaggle of fabulous nuns are trapped in their convent, with a serial slayer slashing their way through the sisters’. The show runs at Birmingham’s The Alexandra from Monday 13 to Saturday 18 March. For more information and to book tickets, visit atgtickets.com

Carole King celebrated at the Albany Theatre

Coventry’s Albany Theatre is next month hosting a show to mark the 80th birthday earlier this year of Carole King (13 October). Covering six decades of iconic songs, Carole - The Music Of Carole King takes its audience on a memorable journey from the prolific songwriter’s beginnings in New York, to life in Los Angeles’ Laurel Canyon, where she became a leading light in California’s singersongwriter movement of the early 1970s. Commenting on the show, co-producer Ged Graham said: “This production not only showcases Carole’s music but also illustrates just how much of a force she has been in shaping pop music.”

Big changes are planned for Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre as it approaches its 65th anniversary, with a youthful new leadership team creating a vision for a modern, exciting venue that stages modern, exciting productions. Laura Elliot and Corey Campbell give What’s On a flavour of what to expect...

“We want to be a home for world-class transformative, entertaining theatre, which means an exciting mixture of cutting-edge contemporary work, new takes on classic plays, and today’s best musical theatre such as SIX. It’s bringing the best of the best to Coventry and putting on stories - either produced by us or received by us from elsewhere - that are truly distinctive, exciting, momentum building and which bring that moment where you go ‘I just saw something extraordinary’... and that stays with you for weeks.” Laura Elliot, CEO of Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre, is on a roll, and her enthusiasm for the task of revitalising and re-energising the city centre venue is palpable. Since taking over the role at the turn of the year, she’s been working alongside Creative Director Corey Campbell - promoted to his new role at the same time - to hone and develop a new vision for the theatre. That new vision encompasses everything from the quality of the work that appears on its main house and B2 stages, to the food served in its revamped restaurant, to the way the venue engages and interacts with the local community. “We want to be more inclusive and welcoming than anything - that’s our big drive,” she explains. “It’s also being part of that hype where Coventry and the Belgrade is a really exciting place to be.” “We’re here to entertain, we’re here to inspire, we’re here to move, we’re here to challenge, and audiences can pick and choose what they want from that. We want to bring everyone on this journey of the Belgrade being the place to see high-quality work.” The autumn season is already showing signs of that ambition, featuring high-profile shows such as Bugsy Malone, Six, The Rocky Horror Show and Beautiful - The Carole King Musical. A ‘big reveal’ announcement about the spring 2023 season is due to take place later this month. A drip-feed of teasers has already begun, with revelations about exciting contemporary new work such as Family Tree - written by Mojisola Adebayo and Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead, from one of the UK’s most acclaimed theatre companies, Complicité. The Belgrade has even booked alternative comedian Stewart Lee for two nights in January, as the venue rejoins the comedy circuit. All of which suggests a definite sense of moving away from the Belgrade’s typical oldschool theatrical fare. Laura and Corey, though, see it purely as raising the bar in terms of quality. But aren’t they taking the risk that they may alienate some of their traditional (older) audience, many of whom are reliably longstanding subscribers? “No, because what we’re bringing them is better!” exclaims Laura. “I think sometimes really dangerous assumptions can be made about what audiences want. What we’re aiming for is a consistency of quality that will mean we are a trusted and accessible venue for really cutting-edge theatre and brilliant high-quality, joyous musicals as well.” “We’re bringing them high-quality work. That doesn’t mean we’re not going to programme something which that audience may like, or feature so-and-so off the telly - in fact, there will be star names in our new season. That’s part of what we’re trying to do - bring a bit of stardom to Coventry, keep the light on Coventry - but with a consistency of quality that will build a sense of pride in people in their local theatre. This theatre belongs to the people of Coventry and the wide region, and they deserve the best of the best!” Corey, who has been working at the theatre since being made a co-artistic director in 2019, is adamant that the Belgrade audience will embrace what he regards as evolution rather than revolution. “When we talk about how we’re going to bring our audiences on a journey, for me that journey has already started,” he says. “I’ve seen those audiences that you’re talking about, and I’ve managed to build my own relationships with them - whether it’s from turning up to a Tina Turner (tribute act) night, hosting first-night drinks, or putting on pieces of work like Fighting Irish. “We’ve been getting new audiences and also encouraging our existing audiences to come and see the kind of work that we’re going to be putting on, to show them it’s not about being a risk-taker, it’s about being a lover of work, a lover of art and a lover of stories. I think that still exists, and now it’s bigger, it’s better and it’s bolder, and we’re not excluding anybody from that. “That’s what’s important to the vision for me and Laura - come and enjoy a journey, a story. No show is just a show; it’s an event. There’s going to be a beginning, a middle and an end to your night, in just the same way as there will be a beginning, middle and end to the productions themselves.” The notion of treating a trip to the theatre as an ‘event’ is something the duo hope the venue’s refurbished Nineteen 58 restaurant & bar (named after the year the theatre was built) can contribute to. In time, they hope Nineteen 58 can become a destination in its own right. A recent pop-up dining event featuring local chef Sarah Jenkins is something they’d like to repeat in the future. “We’re really excited to be championing local chefs and cooks,” says Laura. “Corey and I view food as a massive part of the experience of going to the theatre - or any event. It’s that nourishment factor; you’re nourished by a show and you’re nourished by the food and you’re nourished by the whole event. “We’re really excited by the potential of our new café-bar, and our ambition is to have it as a restaurant space. We want to curate it in the way we would curate a show, with local chefs and local people who are really passionate about good food.” The ‘local’ angle is crucially important to the ambitious duo. Not only do they want to play a part in ensuring Coventry retains the profile and feelgood factor generated by its year as the UK’s City of Culture, they also want to provide a platform for local talent particularly those under-represented in the past - and to “keep shining a light” on local stories. With all of that in mind, a five-week talentdevelopment season gets under way in the B2 theatre space next month. “We’re handing the Belgrade over to local artists to explore and experiment and try new things,” says Laura. “That’s a marker for the future and an investment for the future.” “We’re just making sure we stay supporting local writers, local devisers and local creators,” adds Corey, who admits he already has his eye on a couple of talented local theatre makers. “Making things better alongside, and with, the communities of Coventry is the important thing for us. It’s not running off and leaving people behind; it’s making sure we’re all on a journey to a better place.”