Boogie for Bristol: Bristol Zoo's annual party featuring street performers, stilt walkers and children's activities
The Week Ahead…
By Susie Weldon
Performance
Blavatsky’s Tower — to Sat 24
Theatre West reprises Moira Buffini’s hilarious dark comedy, about an eccentric family who live at the top of a tower block and shun the modern world. Buffini ‘takes dysfunctionality to a whole new level’ in this gripping show. To Sat 24, no performance Sun. Alma Tavern, £9 (£7 conc). www.almataverntheatre.co.uk
Les Miserables: At the Bristol Hippodrome
Les Miserables — to Sat Aug 7
The UK’s longest-running musical celebrates its Silver Anniversary this year with a national tour. Based on Victor Hugo’s novel of the same name, Les Mis tells the tale of Jean Valjean who is released on parole after 19 years of forced labour for stealing a loaf of bread. Swashbuckling stuff. Bristol Hippodrome, £46.50-£20. (Read our review of the show on Monday…) www.bristolhippodrome.org.uk
Oxfam Bookfest 2010 — tomorrow
Bestselling Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer, 4pm, for 9+ years, £5 for children (accompanying adults free but must reserve a ticket); William Dalrymple with the Bauls of Bengal, with an insight into some of the subcontinent’s fascinating spiritual and musical traditions, 6pm, £5; actor Joss Ackland discusses My Better Half and Me, about his wife who died of Motor Neurone Disease, £5; science writer and Libel reform hero Simon Singh talks about journalistic freedoms and inquiry, 9pm, £5. All at Bristol Old Vic; call 01497 822 629 or visit www.hayfestival.com
Music
Otis Gibbs: At Future Inns
Otis Gibbs — tonight
Otis Gibbs describes himself as a writer of songs, populist agitator, social dissident, planter of over 7,000 trees, musician, iconoclast — and ‘a man trying to live decently in an indecent world’. His gravelly voice and fine guitar-playing are perfectly suited to his role as a protest singer. Part of Jazz @ Future Inn, Bond St South, from 8:30pm, £10. http://www.futureinns.co.uk/
Boogie for Brizzle — tomorrow
Bristol Zoo’s annual party featuring street performers, stilt walkers and children’s activities plus the outdoor gig with dubwise dancability’ from Dreadzone; jazz and soul originals from Miss Cecily; melodious vocals from Pete Josef and feel-good, funky rumba from Vamos. Bristol Zoo, 3pm til late. Advance tickets: adult £11.50, child £7.50, family £30.50, tel: 0117 974 7300. www.bristolzoo.org.uk/wild-nights-0
Draca Folk Day — Sun 18
A ‘delightfully unquantifiable’ day of folk – (‘draca’ is Old English for ‘dragon’) in the gardens of St George’s Bristol, from the pastoral modern ‘space-folkists’ Rivers of England to the celebrated Cotswold songwriter Johnny Coppin and the eccentrically eclectic Pepino Band. Also Jim Tigwell, All-England fiddle champion David Garner, Alan Doyle and Suzy Condrad. St George’s Bristol, £6 day ticket. www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk
Comedy
Bristol BrouHaHa! — tonight to Sat 24
Bristol’s second annual comedy festival kicks off on Friday with some of the best performers in the UK over nine nights and a mix of offerings, from brand new pre- Edinburgh Festival solo shows at the Hen & Chicken and the Tobacco Factory Theatre, to The Best Of UK Stand Up at Redgrave Theatre. www.BristolBrouHaHa.com
Film
Twilight Eclipse: Film of the summer?
Twilight: Eclipse (12A)
They might be the best looking vampires to hit our screens since Bram Stoker’s Dracula but this third instalment of the hugely popular Twilight series teases rather than sizzles as it tries to stay within respectable boundaries for its adolescent audience. Love it or loath it, Twilight Eclipse will be one of the summer’s biggest films. You might want to stand aside from the teenage rush, though.
Inception: (18)
Read Lloyd Rundle’s review by clicking here…