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NEWBURYNEWS ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT n 2

Thursday, October 29, 2020 33

Newbury Weekly News

Christmacsomes toBasildoPnark BASILDON Park is always good on glam at Christmas time and, despite everything, this year’s no exception. The illuminated woodland walk to the mansion is back, there’ll be sumptuously decorated trees, twinkling fairy lights and lavish house displays. The winter activity trail with Peter Rabbit around the parkland – in partnership with Penguin Random House UK – will keep children bright- eyed and bushy tailed and there are Christmas afternoon teas too. Peter Rabbit’s friends need some help finding items to see them through the colder winter months. Young nature adventurers can lend a hand to some of Beatrix Potter’s well-loved characters such as Squirrel Nutkin, Mr Jeremy Fisher and Jemima Puddleduck, and solve the clues to earn their special trail badge and certificate. There will be nature- themed active challenges to try along the way, as well as a Peter Rabbit selfie station at the end of the trail where everyone can take a picture with their favourite storybook rabbit. Visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ basildon-park •Price: £2 per trail pack, plus normal admission applies. •Trails will run from November 23, throughout winter •Pre-booking is required to visit some National Trust places, please check the web page for details. •When planning your visit, please ensure that you check local and national guidance before travelling.

Festivaplresents risingstarpianist SamsonTsoy NEWBURY Spring Festival welcomes a rising star, the young pianist Samson Tsoy, to the Corn Exchange to perform a special one-hour lunchtime recital at 12.30pm on Monday, November 16. This will be a live event at the Corn Exchange, following social-distancing regulations. Both as a soloist and chamber musician, Tsoy has appeared in prestigious venues and festivals around the world, including the Barbican, Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. The 2020 global pandemic changed the calendar of every artist – during the summer of 2020 Tsoy performed at the Wigmore Hall lockdown recital series in June, at Fidelio Orchestra Cafe in July and at Bold Tendencies’ multi- storey car park in August and September. Each recital was highly praised by the London press with five- star reviews in the national press. The Corn Exchange recital includes works by Schubert and Brahms and replaces the 2020 Sheepdrove Piano Competition Prize Winner’s recital as the 2020 piano competition was cancelled. Visit www.newburyspringfestival. org.uk

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IntrepidAmy...whaat gal! AMY Johnson was the first woman to fly solo from London to Sydney and Ade Morris’s intriguing play, The Lone Flyer – The Last Flight of Amy Johnson , retells her remarkable courageous story. Theatre Lone Flyer – The Last Flight of Amy Johnson, at The Water- mill, Bagnor, until November 21 Revival of Ade Morris’ play about the remarkable aviator Amy Johnson

suitcases and trunks scattered around the stage and a revolving trolley that becomes Johnson’s Gypsy Moth plane, is striking. It’s complemented by Harry Armytage’s lighting which places each scene in Morris’ clever use of switching the timescale between Johnson’s last flight delivering a plane to wartime Kidlington and her earlier life. Jamie Kubisch-Wiles and Thom Townsend’s sound design enhances the atmosphere with a powerfully created soundscape. One of Johnson’s biggest fears was going down in water – the fate she was to experience in 1941, on that final flight, aged 37, when she was overcome by bad weather and crashed into the sea. Lucy Betts’ assured direction zings with energy, revealing the incredible achievement of this extraordinary woman. Playhouse and TORCH are delighted to have commissioned this online theatre piece. “It embodies everything we love and miss most about theatre – authenticity, liveness and connection. “In a world where we are currently struggling to stay connected, we hope this show provides an uplifting reminder of the beauty of the human spirit.” Do You Love Me Yet? is part of OP’s autumn 2020 Meanwhile Season, a programme of work that embraces live socially-distanced shows, live streaming, digital commissions, great talks, and family theatre, along with a full participation programme for everyone to get involved and stay connected while the theatre is closed due to Covid-19 restrictions. OP aims to engage and entertain loyal and new audiences this autumn with a programme that includes digital world premieres, a great line-up of comedy, It’s slice of history, beautifully performed by a superb company. ROBIN STRAPP

This is the second production of The Watermill’s autumn indoor season, with both the audience and the cast conforming to Covid secure social distancing. Hannah Edwards is inspiring as the heroic, intrepid aviator whose winning smile and gritty determination wins our hearts. Amy was a remarkable pioneering woman, who grew up in Hull watching Zeppelins flying overhead, losing her teeth playing cricket as a youngster and eventually going to Sheffield university. After graduating, she has a series of unfulfilling jobs. She meets Franz, a feckless Swiss businessman, but has an unhappy love affair with him. With her passion for flying and insatiable longing for adventure,

she joins the London Flying Club and became the first woman to gain both an aero engineering ticket and her pilot’s licence. Benedict Salter impressively portrays all the other roles in the play, including Amy’s loving father, her feminist best friend Winifred and fellow pilot Jim Mollison, ‘the playboy of the air’, who she sensationally marries. Amy wants to “change the world” and her incredible achievements were honoured with a CBE. She became a famous international celebrity, but shunned publicity – “Fame is like battery acid – use it, don’t drink it” she said. Isobel Nicholson’s imaginative set design, comprising brick walls with YouTube, the show explores what love is and whether human vulnerability leads to closeness. Each performance will feature two different cast members, who meet for the first time and are then prompted to answer questions, complete tasks and tell stories about themselves. With no rehearsal, the actors are invited to be brave and spontaneous. Every performance is unique for both the actors and the audience. The co-creators of the show said: “ Do You Love Me Yet? is an invitation for two actors to reach out to each other. To be playful. To be spontaneous. To be brave. To be kind. “It’s also a chance for an audience to consider the ways in which intimacies have formed within their own lives, as well as asking some important questions about the way we live and what we live for.” Laura Elliott, programme director at Oxford Playhouse, said: “Oxford

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DO You Love Me Yet? a live, theatrical experiment about human intimacy, commissioned by Oxford Playhouse with support from TORCH Oxford and Ferment, Bristol Old Vic, will premiere online from Monday to Saturday next week.

Created by Jocelyn Cox and Samuel E Taylor and designed by Grace Venning, Do You Love Me Yet? is a funny and touching theatrical experience with spontaneity and unpredictability at its heart. Live streamed to audiences over

immersive listening events, and real- time Zoom experiments. TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities) aims at being a nucleus of intellectual energy for the humanities, and a place to develop new ideas and collaborations both within and beyond academia. Formed in 2013, TORCH provides an important opportunity for Oxford’s humanities scholars to collaborate with researchers across other disciplines and institutions. TORCH is led by an academic director Professor Wes Williams. Bristol Ferment is the artist development programme for Bristol Old Vic. Every year, they work with artists and companies in a variety of ways to support and develop their work and practice. To book tickets for any of the performances, activities and events at Oxford Playhouse, go to www.oxfordplayhouse.com