24 things to do in Bristol this week, March 4-10 2024

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Monday-Sunday: Oscars® 2024, Watershed
In the run-up to the 96th Academy Awards®, Watershed are giving you another chance to watch (or re-watch) some of the nominees for Best Picture this year. Will Barbie dance the night away? Or did Past Lives capture your heart? The only way to find out is to give it a watch at Watershed.

Barbie – photo: Watershed

Monday-Wednesday: The Three Photographers exhibition, Centrespace Gallery
Each year, Bristol photographers Ken Abbott, Jean Hulford and Jeremy Fennell come together to form The Three Photographers. They take over The Leonard Lane gallery for six days, each demonstrating a separate mini exhibition in tandem with each other – the topics varied, yet all curiosity-inspiring.

This year’s Three Photographers exhibition focusses on that famous royal queue from 2022, Blaise Estate and macro photography – photo: Centrespace Gallery

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Monday-Thursday: Four Daughters, Watershed
Director Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin, Beauty and the Dogs) blends documentary and drama to explore the case of two missing sisters in Tunisia, and the family that mourns them.

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Monday-Saturday: Dear Young Monster, Bristol Old Vic
Struggling at the beginning of his medical transition, a young trans man catches a midnight screening of Frankenstein. Pete MacHale’s (Doctor Who) debut solo show pulls apart fear, otherness, and what it means to embrace being the monster that the world keeps telling you that you are.

Dear Young Monster – photo: Bristol Old Vic

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Monday-March 30: Starter For Ten, Bristol Old Vic
Adapted from the hilarious novel by David Nicholls and the subsequent film, Starter for Ten is a bright, big-hearted new musical. Featuring an irresistible ’80s-inspired original score, this coming-of-age comedy is about love, belonging and the all-important difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Starter for Ten – photo: Bristol Old Vic

Tuesday: Raise The Bar: Poetry Against Patriarchy, Strange Brew
An evening celebrating poetry in all its forms, hosted by the South West’s leading poetry night. Hosted by rising star in the local scene Kat Lyons, you can expect bars from Bristol, beatboxing from Birmingham and bangers from Booty Bass – all raising money for AKT and Refugee Women of Bristol.

Poetry Against the Patriarchy – photo: Raise The Bar

Wednesday: Cheese & beer tasting with The Cheese Connection, Wiper & True Barrel Store
It’s hard to imagine a better combination than the exceedingly high quality cheeses from mobile cheese slingers The Cheese Connection and the always delicious local beers from Wiper & True. They’re teaming up this week to celebrate the launch of Orchard Ale, a new 6.0% blend aged in the barrels in their St Werburghs barrel store.

Wiper and True Barrel Store – photo: Wiper and True

Thursday: Bristol language exchange, Zerodegrees
Whether learning a new language was your new year’s resolution, or you’ve been at it for longer, there’s really no replacement for real life, in person conversation when it comes to picking a language up quickly and effectively. And if you can do this with a pint of beer brewed metres away from where you’re standing, too, that’s never a bad thing.

Zerodegrees is a microbrewery on Park Row/Colston St – photo: Meg HG

Friday: Kitten Club presents: International Women’s Day, Attic Bar
Kitten Club have been leading the charge for inclusivity in the dance music space since their inception in 2020. Pushing fast, rave-ready drum & bass sounds, their roster of female DJs is backed up by their equally impressive dancers, and promises to be one hell of a show whenever their name is on a lineup.

Kitten Club International Women’s Day – photo: Attic Bar

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Saturday: Hania Rani, Bristol Beacon
Hania Rani reintroduced herself this spring with Hello, the preliminary taster for her new album, Ghosts. The pianist and composer’s supernatural talent is apparent over 13 tracks of unfolding ambience and endlessly refracting synths, which pass gracefully between distinct, richly textured worlds and feature a host of guest musicians including Patrick Watson, Portico Quartet’s Duncan Bellamy and Ólafur Arnalds.

Hania Rani – photo: Bristol Beacon

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Saturday-March 16: Old Vic Theatre School: Tiger Country, Tobacco Factory Theatres
Take a glimpse inside a hospital at Christmastime: Exhausted A&E staff power through gruelling shifts, caring for patients and navigating relationships whilst management cracks the whip. Tiger Country spotlights the hectic days of NHS heroes as a witty and moving portrait of embattled frontline workers soldiering on whatever the season.

Tiger Country – photo: BOVTS

Saturday: AnExperience: A Fairly Feral Fable warm up party, Trinity Centre
AnExperience are known across the city for putting on parties with diverse, exciting lineups, championing the fusion between world and soundsystem music. This year, they’re entering the festival space with “A Fairly Feral Fable”, and if you want a taste of what to expect before buying your ticket, Trinity is the place to be this Saturday.

A Fairly Feral Fable launch party at Trinity Centre – photo: AnExperience

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Saturday: Spot’s Birthday Party, Redgrave Theatre
Spot is having a very special party and you’re invited! With party hats, songs, dancing and lots of interactive party games, this is going to be the best birthday party ever! Join Steve the Monkey, Tom the Crocodile and Helen the Hippo to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPOT!

Spot’s Birthday Party – photo: Redgrave Theatre

Sunday: Barbie Mother’s Day screening, Bristol Aquarium IMAX
Don’t forget! It’s Mother’s Day this Sunday, and what better way to spend it than treating your matriarch to one of the pinkest films of all time, followed by a special “pink party bar”, where you’ll be able to snag yourself some Barbie and Ken themed cock(and mock)tails. It’s also worth noting that an opportunity to pay a visit to the impressive IMAX sitting within Bristol Aquarium should never go amiss.

The Barbie Mother’s Day screening takes place in the IMAX hidden away in Bristol Aquarium – photo: Espensen Spirit

And coming soon…

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March 11: Moor Mother, Bristol Beacon
On her latest album ‘The Great Bailout’, Moor Mother invites you on an evocative trail through themes of Afrofuturism and collective memory with the forebearers of jazz, hip hop and beat poetry in mind. Tender and atmospheric, the album invites listeners to face Britain’s complicity in enslavement and its afterlives, but also its very making as a built environment and social-political formation.

Moor Mother – photo: Bristol Beacon

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March 14: Festival of Sustainable Business, The Bristol Hotel
The MET Office cited 2023 as the warmest year on record. The latest IPCC report underlines the imperative need for the immediate peaking of greenhouse gas emissions if we are to avoid the most devastating impacts of the climate emergency. Despite the ambitious commitments outlined at COP28, the government’s pledges do not align with this imperative. It is therefore up to us as individuals and as a business community to take collective action, and the Festival of Sustainable Business will help you do just that. Get your ticket now!

Festival of Sustainable Business conference – photo: Future Leap

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March 20-21: Self-Raising, Tobacco Factory Theatres
Award-winning Artistic Director, Jenny Sealey, has spent a lifetime championing stories by Deaf and disabled artists. Now she takes to the stage to tell her own. Unravelling the past and facing the future, Self-Raising is a blisteringly honest, laugh-out-loud one-woman show about growing up deaf in a family with secrets.

Self-Raising – photo: Tobacco Factory Theatres

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March 23: Ritual Union Festival, multiple venues
With a variety of top-notch live acts, on Saturday 23rd March music fans will be able discover the next wave of upcoming talent, alongside performances from some old favourites and international guests, across multiple venues in one of the UK’s most vital musical cities.

Ritual Union lineup poster – photo: Crosstown Concerts

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March 27: Goreckis Symphony no. 3 by candlelight, St. George’s
In the candlelight setting of St George’s and with beautiful visuals you will be immersed and transported by the glorious strings of the Bristol Ensemble with Paul Israel dazzling at the piano.

Symphony by candlelight – photo: Bristol Ensemble

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March 29: Hans Rey – Mishaps & Mayhem, Redgrave Theatre
Mountain Bike pioneer, adventurer, former Trials World Champion, Hans ‘No Way’ Rey. Hans will reveal the crazy and whacky that accompanied him on some of his adventures. Behind the scenes stories of his greatest stunts and adventures and how it felt to be lost, haunted, stalked and rescued. You know what they say, an adventure isn’t an adventure until things go wrong.

Hans Rey – photo: Redgrave Theatre

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April 23-27: Community Service, Tobacco Factory Theatres
Inspired by the life of community hero Trevor Prince, Community Service is an emotional and uplifting theatre show, full of live music and wit. It is set against a backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain, the Handsworth Riots, miner’s strikes and casual racism.

Community service – photo: Tobacco Factory Theatres

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May 11: Blown Away, Trinity Henleaze URC
A great programme of music for wind instruments performed by players from the Bristol Ensemble:

• Mozart Serenade for Wind in C minor K.388
• Dvořák Serenade for Winds in D minor Op.44

We’ll hear the powerful and characterful C minor serenade by Mozart, a four movement work full of ingenuity, twists and turns. And also, Dvořák’s Serenade for Winds in D minor, unmistakably Czech, an homage to music-making in Czech palaces and stately homes.

Blown Away – photo: Henleaze Concert Society

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May 15: Einaudi meets Max Richter, St. George’s
A hypnotic evening of music featuring mesmerising works by Ludovico Einaudi, together with Max Richter’s engagingly refreshing reimagining of Vivaldi’s ever popular Four Seasons.

Einaudi mets Richter by candlelight – photo: Bristol Ensemble

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June 8: Summer Serenade, Trinity Henleaze URC
For this last concert of our season, the Bristol Ensemble will perform Schubert’s Trout Quintet and other pieces of light classical music.

Schubert’s enduringly popular Trout Quintet was written by the young composer at just 22 years of age.  It has a freshness and serenity that has engaged players and audiences for nearly 200 years.  Together with other pieces of light classical music, this will be a perfect programme for a Summer’s evening.

Summer Serenade – photo: Henleaze Concert Society

Main photo: Issy Packer

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• Circomedia to celebrate 30th anniversary with extra special gala

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