Hello,
Hope you are all having a lovely month. February’s newsletter has everything from theatre, ghosts, to a lovely walk from a pub car park, featuring a very well made sausage roll. Hope you enjoy and don’t forget to sign up below.
Love Ben X
Girls & Boys @ Nottingham Playhouse
Dennis Kelly’s shocking, funny and violent monologue, written for one performer, explodes on to stage at the Nottingham Playhouse. It starts as a love story – boy meets girl and sparks fly. But beneath the veneer of normality, a disturbing undercurrent is growing. Nottingham born star, Aisling Lotus, gives a tremendously committed performance, never better than when miming stroking her invisible children’s hair, or playing their imagined games. It’s a potent, but rewarding watch about a disaster waiting to happen and the courage required simply to go on.
Nottingham Playhouse continues to go from strength to strength, and Anna Ledwich’s production is no exception. Ticket prices start from a tenner, and it runs until Saturday 1st March.
Leicester Comedy Festival
Leicester’s annual comedy knees-up is in full swing. February means that a wide array of performing talent assembles along the River Soar, many of them warming up for the Edinburgh Fringe. You’ll find something for all tastes - trad stand up, sketches, musical acts, improv troupes, clowning, and workshops. My full review of this year’s festival will be coming once it’s over - but shows I’m looking forward to are: the witty and brilliant Alison Spittle; Brennan Reece (destined to be a superstar); Kuan-wen Huang’s show about how all Andrews are the worst; and Lucy Pearman, whose hour last year (performing as the moon) was totally absurd, daft and impossible not to fall in love with.
The festival runs until the 23rd February. Of course, go and see your favourite TV comic, but also take a gamble on someone you don’t know, that’s where the hidden gems are.
Ghost Walk in Derby
Less of a ghost tour, and more a paranormal pub crawl, my brother and I ventured into Derby City Centre on a Friday night and came out alive. One of my favourite tales was when we visited Lock Up Yard, situated between the Tiger Bar and Primark, to hear a chilling story at the old fishmongers, involving the only police officer murdered in Derbyshire. Something a little different, but I think the scariest thing about it was the absolutely bladdered Senior Leadership Team from a nearby Catholic secondary school, who spent the entire two hours consumed by their own psycho-dramas, but managed to take a moment out to dance to Sophie Ellis Bextor’s seminal classic Murder on the Dancefloor whilst the guide attempted to tell us about a hundred year old execution.
Tickets were £15. https://richardfelix.co.uk/ghost-walks/
Anchor Church Round - Ingleby (Derbyshire)
A walk of very a different kind. This leisurely 2.5 hours stroll (you’d do it quicker without a cute dog insistent on smelling everything) takes you to Heath Wood, which is the only known Viking Cremation Cemetery in England, and continues on to Anchor Church, the name given to a series of caves carved out of a sandstone outcrop. The caves have been extended by human intervention to form a crude dwelling place, complete with door and window holes. It was to isolated places such as these that the early Christians sought refuge to worship God whilst avoiding persecution.
The walk starts and ends at the John Thompson Inn, which I can confirm is dog friendly and does a well stuffed sausage roll.
Light Up Leicester
Looking ahead slightly to next month, I wanted to include this as it’ll undoubtedly happen before I have chance to get the next newsletter out. From 12-15 March, Leicester’s city centre will come alive with dazzling light installations, vibrant performances, and interactive events for all ages. This FREE festival celebrates community, creativity, and connection, transforming the streets into a glowing celebration of art and culture.
That’s all from me - if you enjoyed this newsletter, sign up below: