Out & About July 2017

53 / 60

Arts editor Trish Lee picks four of the best events on the arts scene in April.
Reviews of all of these – and for more arts news – see N2 in
the Newbury Weekly News each week
May dates for your diary
Plunge into a world of
visual vernacular
& physical theatre
Cirque VV Arlington Arts
Cirque VV is a cabaret show that seamlessly
integrates physical theatre, comedy clowning and
British Sign Language and it’s one of the first British
productions to be fully-performed in visual
vernacular – encompassing elements of poetry
and mime to create a theatrical art form of
physical expression and storytelling, based on
body movements, iconic signs, gestures and
facial expressions.
It’s being presented at Arlington Arts, on May 10 (8pm) by
D-Live!, a company that aim to make theatre of a high standard
for deaf audiences, at the same time being fully accessible for any
audience. Great stuff – pushing the boundaries – just what you’d
expect from the arts centre at Snelsmore.
Tickets are Pay What You Think. For more information, visit the
website. All profits from Arlington Arts go directly to Mary Hare,
a school and national charity supporting deaf children.
And back in the house
House and Garden by
Alan Ayckbourn
at The Watermill
What better way to celebrate The Watermill’s 50th year – yes really
– than with the work of national treasure Alan Ayckbourn. House
and Garden is a pair of comedies performed simultaneously by the
same cast between the theatre and covered seating in its beautiful
gardens. With hilarious consequences, one character’s entrance
to House in the theatre is another’s exit outside from Garden in
this fast-paced duo of plays. House and Garden ’s storyline can be
enjoyed through the eyes of different characters in either setting.
Both are complete plays with an interval. You watch either House
or Garden or both on separate occasions – it doesn’t matter in
which order.
This will be the first time that
Ayckbourn’s plays have been
performed both inside and out,
promising to be very special
productions, epic and intimate in
equal measure. The production
opens on May 25 and runs to July 1.
It’s what the Watermill does so well…
Feast for music lovers
Newbury Spring Festival
Newbury Spring Festival (May 6 to 20) is a glorious fortnight of
world class music in and around Newbury, with some 45 events in
18 venues, where international symphony orchestras, ensembles
and soloists rub shoulders with jazz legends, world music artists
and the stars of tomorrow – Bournemouth Symphony, Royal
Philharmonic and Moscow Philharmonic, plus Britain’s finest
choral company, The Sixteen. Stephen Hough, Alice Coote,
Alison Balsom, Sir Thomas Allen, Tasmin Little, Noriko Ogawa,
John Lill and Susan Bullock are some of the greatest classical
musicians of our time returning
this year. But there’s more than
classical music: trad jazz Dutch
Swing College Band, Black
Dyke brass and Indian-style
Bollywood Brass Band; sparky
comedy with sensational piano
playing by Worbey & Farrell
and Ghanaian drumming and
dancing from Kakatsitsi. Plus
more… Pick up a programme
or visit the website for full
details.
Step into the garden
At Bohun Gallery, Henley-on-Thames
Head out to Henley’s Bohun Gallery, one
of the leading ‘out-of-London’ art
galleries since 1973, which regularly
exhibits work celebrating the British
garden, and this May is no exception.
A joint exhibition of paintings opens
on May 6, featuring the popular
Scottish artist Shona Barr who,
using luscious colour and texture,
explores the flora and fauna of her
native isles, accompanied by Clare
Bigger, one of the UK’s leading sculptors,
whose work in stainless steel and bronze
has featured in several award-winning RHS
Chelsea show gardens and numerous
commissions, including Priors Court, Hermitage.
This is a cracking little gallery and you can catch this
spring show right through to June 3. Why not make a day of it and
picnic along the picturesque riverbank that is home to the world-
famous Royal Regatta later in the summer.
15 Reading Road, Henley-on-Thames,
Oxon RG9 1AB; Telephone 01491 576228.
53