Because it’s almost next year already.
Spring 2015 is just around the corner, and Warwick Arts Centre is launching into the New Year with some ground-breaking live performances and big nights out – still sprightly as ever in its 40th anniversary year!
Head of Programme and Audiences Matt Burman says: “Our programme this spring showcases all that we do so well: I’m looking forward to big gigs from the Waterboys and Jose Gonzalez and Paul Weller, and to the beautiful sounds of King Creosote. I’ll be bringing my son to see shows about dinosaurs and pigeons and a whole load of shoes!
“I’m thrilled we’ve got Dara O Briain and Stewart Lee returning to us as well as shows from Josie Long and Mark Thomas that were the hits of last year’s Edinburgh Fringe. We’ve got a stunning exhibition of Russian photography, and musicians from across Europe playing great classical music to soothe your soul and dancers and actors performing radical contemporary work to inspire adventurous minds and bodies. Perhaps Warwick Arts Centre’s life really does begin at forty”
DV8 Physical Theatre will be stopping off at Warwick Arts Centre as part of a UK tour, fresh from a sell-out run at the National Theatre with their bold, invigorating journey through one man’s eventful life, in JOHN. There’s also some fantastically fun entertainment in Forever Young, a musical set in the Warwick Arts Centre Home for
Ageing Thespians. Concrete blocks fly through the air, and life balances on a knife-edge in the thrilling dance hit What the Body Does Not Remember from Ultima Vez, which returns to the stage 28 years after it first blew the dance world away.
The Mead Gallery will be presenting two intriguing new exhibitions. Close and Far: Russian Photography Now features astonishing colour photographs from the start of the 20th century alongside pictures of contemporary Russia. Running alongside this is The Unfinished Conversation, a film by the artist John Akomfrah, which uses archival footage of Professor Stuart Hall, news reel from the 60s and 70s and a soundtrack of spoken word, gospel and jazz to illustrate the concept of an ever-fluid identity and ethnicity.
Young theatre-goers will be spoilt for choice this season with no less than six new family theatre shows suitable for a range of ages. Oily Cart returns with a multi-sensory journey for ages 3 to 5 in There was an Old Woman. Visit the battlefields of 1917 with The Muddy Choir, a story about growing up and the humanising power of music, suitable for ages 13+. Experience a show full of fun & feathers for children 3+ with the book adaptation Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and see extraordinary life-like dinosaurs in the hugely popular Dinosaur Zoo.
Warwick Arts Centre’s music programme continues to bring some of the biggest, brightest live artists to area. The Modfather Paul Weller will raise the roof in March with a gig that cements his position as the best British songwriter of his generation. Critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter José González returns to the live scene with a new album under his belt. The Unthanks sisters bring their beguiling folk sound to Coventry, and the Levellers perform a live acoustic set after a special screening of the documentary charting their rise to fame, A Curious Life.
The acclaimed classical Concert Series continues with the arrival of the Royal Northern Sinfonia and clarinettist Emma Johnson. A newly developed season of digital screenings boasts the addition of live broadcasts from the English National Opera and the Royal Opera House, whilst the Met Opera season continues with performances beamed live and direct from New York.
The comedy programme is as rammed as ever with top names, guaranteeing a great night out this spring. Big-hitting comedians like Dara O Briain and Jimmy Carr return to their favourite Midlands venue, and the effervescent stand-up Josie Long will be joined by some very special guests for a show in celebration of International Women’s Day.
Full details can be obtained from www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
