Out & About November 2017

OA what’s on

Want to see something different? Theatre without words, an adaptation of a children’s classic, a Scandi weaver’s first UK show and a fun journey with a couple of ambassadors of alcohol are Arts Editor Trish Lee’s November entertainment picks. For arts news and reviews see N2 in the Newbury Weekly News each week November dates for your diary

Little people head for Bagnor The Borrowers The Watermill, Bagnor November 16 to December 31, relaxed performance on December 9 (2.30pm) www.watermill.org.uk The Watermill Christmas show is upon us – a guaranteed annual treat and an antidote to pantomime. This year it’s a big-hearted adventure story full of magical live music, an adaptation of Mary Norton’s much-loved book The Borrowers . Quick, clever and only four inches tall, the Borrowers live happily under

Fearless full-mask theatre Vamos Theatre: Finding Joy Corn Exchange, Newbury. November 14 and 15, 7.45pm Bookings: 0845 5218 218 www.cornexchangenew.com Newbury audiences love Vamos, the country’s leading full-mask theatre company, who return to the Corn Exchange with their award-winning Finding Joy, the heartwarming, true story of 18-year-old Danny, a dabbler in drugs and petty crime, who looked after his grandmother Joy through middle and late-stage dementia. His methods

were unorthodox, but he was a natural carer and looked after her with an inspiring freshness and positivity. Finding Joy recreates their relationship in a life-affirming performance that has been received to critical acclaim. Vamos’ work is humorous and rooted in social research.

the floorboards of a huge house. Bold young Arietty dreams of exploring the big blue-skied world above their cosy home, but when she finally does, she’s spotted by a frightening ‘human bean’ and the Borrowers are thrown into peril. Will the tiny family escape before it’s too late? And are they ready for their greatest adventure yet?

This show speaks to anyone, from carers, family members and people who have seen the effects of dementia first-hand, to those who have no knowledge of it,

but are interested in a touching, original piece of theatre. The wordless nature of Finding Joy also makes the show fully accessible to d/Deaf audiences without the need of a signer.

Suitable for children aged 4+ and their larger ‘human beans’. Comedy cocktail The Thinking Drinkers: History of Alcohol Arlington Arts, Snelsmore. November 18 www.arlingtonarts.co.uk

Political weaver Hannah Ryggen Modern Art Oxford, 30 Pembroke St, Oxford

November 11 - February 18 www.modernartoxford.org.uk

Enjoy five free drinks as these award-winning professional drink experts definitively prove that alcohol has influenced everything that has ever happened. Ever. Their new show is an intoxicating, hilarious time-travelling journey through our drink-drenched past, pouring the entire history of human civilisation into a shot glass. You’ll laugh a lot, you’ll learn a lot and, if that’s not enough, you get five free drinks. The perfect aperitif to any evening. You may have caught the pair on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch , Jamie Oliver’s Drinks Tube or this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. Did someone mention free drinks…?

The region’s flagship contemporary gallery, Modern Art Oxford, is presenting the first major UK show of the work of Swedish artist Hannah Ryggen, from an early painted portrait created in 1914, to the intricate tapestries that

characterised her extraordinary career from the 1920s onward. The exhibition celebrates both the processes involved in her weaving practice as well as the political activism that was so vital to her finished works. While Ryggen was included in several major international exhibitions in the 1950s and 60s, she remains largely unknown outside of Scandinavia. Her work demonstrated her impassioned responses to the socio-political events of her time, dealing with issues from the rise of fascism and the Nazi occupation of Norway, including its impact on her own family, to the post-war growth of nuclear power and media coverage of the Vietnam War.

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