Event Cinema for June 2015

Another packed month of music, opera, theatre, documentary and satellite filmmaker Q&As at Bristol cinemas. As ever, check the what’s on section for further information and trailers.

ENO: The Pirates of Penzance – Encore Screening

Topsy-Turvy director and all-round Gilbert and Sullivan enthusiast Mike Leigh directs his first opera for the stage, which should help to revive the fortunes of the ailing English National Opera. Leigh’s production of the popular G&S comic opera stars Andrew Shore as the very model of a modern Major-General, Jonathan Lemalu as the affectionate parody of the British bobby, Robert Murray as the innocent pirate-apprentice Frederic, and Rebecca de Pont Davies as the older woman who has designs on him. Songs include such favourites as A Policeman’s Lot is Not a Happy One and I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General. The opera was recorded live at the London Coliseum.

Screening June 2: Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green

Gascoigne + Live Satellite Q&A

TV documentarian Jane Preston, whose credits include that Graffiti Wars film about the feud between Bansky and King Robbo, makes her big-screen debut with this documentary focusing on the troubled life of footballer Paul Gascoigne. Contributors include Gary Lineker, Jose Mourinho and spud-faced Wayne Rooney. This screening will be followed by a live satellite Q&A with Gascoigne himself and as-yet-undisclosed friends.

Screening June 8: Cinema De Lux, Cineworld, Vue Cribbs Causeway

Royal Opera House: La Boheme

A quartet of bohos share a grim garret in 1830s Paris. On Christmas Eve, poet Rodolfo is visited by neighbour Mimi and they promptly fall in love. But – hey! – this is opera, so misery can’t be far away. First staged back in 1974, John Copley’s definitive production of Puccini’s romantic opera has become a Royal Opera staple. Returning for this very last staging are Anna Netrebko as Mimi and Joseph Calleja as Rodolfo, under Israeli conductor Dan Ettinger.

Screening June 10: Cinema De Lux, Cineworld, Odeon, Orpheus, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green

Encore screening June 14: Cinema De Lux, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green

Shakespeare’s Globe: Antony and Cleopatra

Eve Best’s alluring Cleopatra bewitches Clive Wood’s aging Mark Antony, their romance threatening to split the mighty Roman Empire in two. Despite Wood’s ill-health, the Globe’s mildly comedic 2014 production received good reviews, with the Guardian swooning that Olivier Award-winner Best’s Cleopatra “kisses the audience” (not literally, presumably).

Screening June 18: Cinema De Lux, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green

Take That Live from the O2

The remaining members of the boy band celebrate their 25th anniversary with a concert broadcast live by satellite from the 02. Fans are promised “dancing jellyfish, beautifully choreographed puppetry and a contemporary dance routine performed by Mark and Howard to a flying tandem sidecar that soars out over the crowd, a burning globe, pyros, fireworks and indoor rain.” Are these people on drugs?

Screening June 19: Cineworld, Cinema De Lux, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green

Julie Taymor’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Lion King director Julie Taymor, who gave us those striking film versions of Titus Andronicus and The Tempest, delivers a stage adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that’s been described as “visually breathtaking, funny, sexy, and darkly poetic.” The music is by Oscar-winning composer Elliot Goldenthal. This immersive film of the production, shot by Frida cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, was recorded during the show’s New York run in 2013.

Screening June 21: Cinema De Lux

Screening June 22: Vue Longwell Green