Spring offerings at arts centre

THEATRE, dance, music, art and comedy are all among the new year line-up at Warwick Arts Centre.

On stage first is the West End hit Top Girls, directed by Max Stafford-Clark who also directed the premiere of Caryl Churchill’s seminal play back in 1982. It is followed by Cheek by Jowl’s 'Tis Pity She’s A Whore directed by Declan Donnellan, and then Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith’s Mogadishu, exploring the clash of youth, class, race and justice.

Theatre-wise the arts centre also plays host to Bobby Baker’s Mad Gyms & Kitchens showing how to get better at feeling better, and Bryony Kimmings’ 7 Day Drunk – two parts song and dance routine, one part breakdown and ultimately an investigation into why everyone’s on something.

The season’s NT Live programme brings collection of old and new. Nicholas Wright’s Travelling Light starring Antony Sher follows the pretentious layabout who beat cinematic pioneers to a monumental discovery in 1900.

Lenny Henry tackles Antipholus of Syracuse in one of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors; while the She Stoops To Conquer with Katherine Kelly is a celebration of chaos, courtship and the dysfunctional family.

Dance on the way includes Blanca Li Dance Company with a mix of Parisian street dance, breaking, and disco, while award-winning Canadian choreographer Dave St-Pierre brings his controversial show, Un peu de tendresse bordel de merde! (A little tenderness for crying out loud!) as part of the International Dance Festival Birmingham 2012.

Music in store, includes The Floating Palace which sees sees Robyn Hitchcock, KT Tunstall, Abigail Washburn, Eliza Carthy and Howe Gelb accompanying one another on a range of familiar and unfamiliar songs.

Also collaborating are King Creosote & Jon Hopkins who were recently nominated for a Mercury Music Prize for their Diamond Mine.

Jools Holland also returns with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, and Suggs offers an insight into his mind in My Life Story in Words and Pictures with piano accompaniment.

The classical music season includes a tribute to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Tour as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra present Classic Women, featuring Alison Balsom on trumpet, Nicola Benedetti on violin, Natalie Clein on cello and Lesley Garrett on soprano.

Laughs are brought by Dave Gorman’s with his PowerPoint Presentation show, and Robin Ince brings his comedic exploration of the human condition straight from its success at Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Happiness Through Science.

For children, there's Charlie and Lola’s Best Bestest Play; From Here; One Little Word, and James Campbell’s Comedy 4 Kids.

Visit www.warwickartscentre.co.uk for tickets and further details.

Theatre - 7 Day Drunk. (s)

Music - Suggs. (s)

Dance - Blanca Li Dance Company. (s)

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