Bristol Old Vic, the stunningly beautiful theatre on Kings Street in the heart of the city centre, has had a very turbulent past few years. For those that need reminding, here’s a little recap of what happened: Having fist opened in 1776, it was one of the oldest continually working theatres in the country until it closed its doors in the summer of 2007 citing desperately needed structural refurbishments and huge debts. Reading between the lines, the theatre had been in a downward spiral for years; the shows they were putting on frankly weren’t very good so the public had just stopped coming and the second large problem was the insular nature of the entire Bristol Old Vic establishment. During these problem years they seemed to regard themselves as some sort of ivory tower, culturally superior to anything else going on in Bristol and so instead of working alongside Bristol’s other theatres, festivals and events, they excluded them and therefore themselves, loosing a lot of friends and support along the way. Their 2007 closure sparked an outcry though and the public came out in force to support the theatre’s future but also demanded changes.
Read the rest of this entry »

Friday 30th July until Sunday 1st August 2010 @ City Centre, Bristol

Read the rest of this entry »

Friday 2nd until Saturday 17th July 2010 @ Bristol Old Vic, Bristol

For the past two weeks, Bristol Old Vic has hosted a selection of plays, poems and performances in different parts of the building. The shows are all at the beginnings of production, therefore devoid of the usual paraphernalia and rather stapled scripts are clutched and stage directions, read aloud. In some cases the shows are just an idea being tested and further considered with a group of people, i.e. the audience. The concept is that by seeing this ultra fresh, new theatre, created by some of the finest and newest writers, actors, dancers, musicians, poets, puppeteers, directors and producers, vital feedback will be gained for the prosperous future of the performance. With every show packed, there was an eagerness to see what no one else has seen before.
Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday 14th until Sunday 18th July 2010 @ Larmer Tree Gardens, Salisbury
Featuring Performances From: Jools Holland, Frank Turner, Emily Barker, Ellen And The Escapades, Kill It Kid, Dr. Butler’s Hat-Stand Medicine Band, Russell Howard, Chumbawumba, Cornershop

Now in its twentieth year, Larmer Tree is certainly one of those smaller festivals that deserves its celebration. Now taking place across an astonishing five days and this year featuring acts as different as Jools Holland and Frank Turner, this brave little festival seems to be really coming of age.

Read the rest of this entry »

Friday 16th until Sunday 18th July 2010 @ Henham Park, Suffolk
Featuring Performances From: Florence And The Machine, Ed Sheeran, Rich Hall, Tongue Fu, Tom Jones

Latitude isn’t really about the music. Of course they have music going on – Florence And The Machine were brilliant live, much better than I expected – but where Latitude excels is in the arts, the poetry, theatre, cabaret, comedy etc.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fundraiser Party – Friday 23rd July 2010 @ The Polish Club, Bristol
Performances – Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th July 2010 @ Bristol Old Vic, Bristol

Tom Wainwright is a Bristol-based writer/performer with a taste for the sinister and the absurd. Pedestrian is his latest project; a dark and brooding one-man fairytale of epic proportions. It’s a journey from a never ending pedestrianised shopping precinct to the gates of heaven and back, forever pursued by a giant goldfish. It’s a perversely comic razor-sharp satire about attempting to suppress ‘The Fear’; about apathy; about wanting to change the world and doing nothing.

Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday 3rd July 2010 @ St Pauls, Bristol

Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday 23rd until Sunday 27th June 2010 @ Worthy Farm, Somerset

Read the rest of this entry »

Monday 28th until Wednesday 30th June 2010 @ Bristol Old Vic, Bristol

Fruit as an edible entity will forever be drowned in sexual connotation, not just because cherries are constantly being popped but the delicacy of a peach or the phallic ingenuity of a banana are fantastic ingredients for the perfect metaphor. It all goes back to the story of human creation and the day freewill gave Eve the apple to bite, thus kissing temptation and giving us the problem of evil.
Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday 26th June 2010 @ Colston Hall, Bristol

The Wiggles are a children’s musical group from Australia consisting of four energetic Aussies, Anthony Field, Sam Moran, Jeff Fatt and Murray Cook. They have been performing for over 19 years and love to tour the world meeting up with their fans. It was the turn of Bristol’s Colston Hall at the end of June. The theme of the show was the circus and the stage was set with an inflatable big top entrance and a cube frame for acrobatics. They were supported by the regular crew of Dorothy the Dinosaur, Captain Feathersword, Henry the Octopus and of course the Wiggly Dancers.
Read the rest of this entry »