Ten things coming up in the Worthing and Brighton area

Ten things you won't want to miss...
Charlotte GlassonCharlotte Glasson
Charlotte Glasson

1 Music. Golden Years: A Homage to David Bowie plays at Shoreham’s Ropetackle on Friday, January 11 at 8pm. The Brighton Beach Boys return to Ropetackle with their quick-to-sell-out show to mark the third anniversary of Bowie’s passing on January 10 2016. This is a musical celebration of some of the great songs left behind by the pioneering rock legend. Expect songs from Bowie’s eclectic career, including Space Oddity, Heroes, Lazarus, Rebel Rebel, Star Man, Ziggy Stardust, Kooks, Star Man and many more… With Glen Richardson on lead vocals, Steve Wrigley on guitar and Charlotte Glasson on saxophones.

2 Panto. Arundel’s Nineveh House Players present their panto version of Hansel and Gretyl, to be staged at Climping Village hall for three days on January 10, 11 and 12. Spokesman James Clevett said: “This coming year’s is being held to raise funds for the Aldingbourne Trust Charity. The Players in the main are dealers from the Nineveh House Antiques Centre in Tarrant Street, Arundel and their many supporters. This is their eighth pantomime they are to present.” Tickets are now available through Nineveh House.”

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3 Panto. Lancing Repertory Players’ upcoming, ambitious pantomime features a collection of 80s pop ballads, a chariot and a 100 years’ jump in time. In Sleeping Beauty, the Players’ January show, the fairy Carabosse casts a spell on 18-year-old Beauty that makes her fall asleep for 100 years.The show will play at the Lancing Parish Hall for four performances from January 10-12. The script is written by Peter Denyer and the production is in association with NODA (National Operatic and Dramatic Association). Call the box office (07933 958 823) or lancingrep.co.uk.

4 Music. Basco play Shoreham’s Ropetackle on Monday, January 21 at 8pm. Basco are a fiddle-scraping, box-belting, cittern-smacking folk/roots band with members from Denmark, Sweden and Australia. Basco really just want to tell you some stories.Their music is complex and varied, “from hard-hitting, high-speed reels full of rosin dust and sweat, through sweet and melancholy tunes that tell of loves won and lost, through fitful fever-dreams of fractal complexity and fascinating texture”, they promise.

5 Comedy. Sam Avery, award-winning writer of The Learner Parent blog, will be in stand-up mode as he brings alive the sheer comedy of being a dad. He will be at Brighton’s Komedia on January 16 in a stage show which has grown naturally out of his blog. Sam started The Learner Parent after his twins were born, and it quickly became a viral sensation, translated into 15 languages and eventually becoming a best-selling book. His new stand-up show is named after the blog and is a continuation of the book.

6 Anniversary. Keats in Chichester offers a bicentennial celebration at St Pancras Church on Saturday, January 19 from 5.15-8pm. Free event. Register at Eventbrite: https://tinyurl.com/keatschi The celebration of the bicentennial of Keats’s visit to Chichester will form the first event in the South Downs Poetry Festival for 2019. 5.15pm. Introduction: Professor Fiona Price, Keats and History; 5.25pm. Guest Speaker: Professor Nicholas Roe, John Keats and The Eve of St Agnes; Comfort Break; 6.15pm. Outdoor performance – Keats’s statue in Eastgate; 6.30-8pm. Keats in Chichester and the Eve of St Agnes: A Dramatic Reading.

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7 Theatre. Jodie Prenger (lower circle) leads the cast as Beverly in Mike Leigh’s ground-breaking comedy classic Abigail’s Party which begins a major UK tour at Theatre Royal Brighton (January 10-19). Beverly and her husband Laurence are throwing a party for their newlywed neighbours, Tony and Angela. Joining them is highly-strung Susan who’s been banished from the party of her teenage daughter Abigail.

8 Talk. The Arts Society Steyning (TASS) meets on Monday, January 14 when Giles Ramsay will give an illustrated talk on Oscar Wilde: Up Close. Giles is course lecturer in theatre at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, an accredited Arts Society lecturer and a former fellow of St Chad’s College, Durham University. He regularly lectures on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth and has given numerous talks at institutions ranging from The Foundation for Mexican Literature in Mexico City to The Royal College of Physicians in London. Giles combines academic analysis with hands on experience to bring insight to the world of theatre. Coffee is served at 10am. The talk is 10.30-12 noon and the venue will be The Steyning Centre, Fletchers Croft, Church Street, Steyning, BN44 3XZ.

9 Music. The buzz is huge when young children hear an orchestra perform live before their very eyes for the very first time. And that, as conductor Jonathan Willcocks points out, is the whole point of the Children’s Concert which returns to Chichester Festival Theatre for two performances on January 15. Mostly the audience is made up of school groups, but Jonathan stresses individuals are very welcome to book (01243 781312). Aimed at ages five to 11, the entertainment comes from Southern Pro Musica who are promising the perfect introduction to live music played by a full professional orchestra. Tickets from the CFT.

10 Music. China Crisis play Shoreham’s Ropetackle on Saturday, January 12 at 8pm. Eddie Lundon and Gary Daly are the founder members of the band which started in Kirkby, Merseyside back in 1979. China Crisis found major success in the UK with five top 40 singles, 10 top 50 singles and three top 40 albums and hits across Australia, Europe and the Americas. The band, known for their string of hit singles African & White, Christian, Working with Fire and Steel, Black Man Ray and Wishful Thinking, will be performing the classics and more, alongside tracks from the new album Autumn in the Neighbourhood. Tickets are available from the Ropetackle box office.

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