Arts and Cultural Events Diary

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Here's a snapshot of what's on in the arts during the next few weeks.

The cornerHOUSE
Friday 3 September - Saturday 4 September

Talk About Productions will be recording two brand new audio comedies before a live theatre audience in Surbiton.One has been written by local playwright, Tim Burton (whose first audio play HAVING was performed at The CornerHOUSE last year) and the other by his daughter Emma, whose short comedy IT SUPPORT was chosen for ‘One Act Wonders 2007’ at the CornerHOUSE.
The two comedies that comprise “GARDEN PATH” share the same title, theme and opening and closing lines, the settings could not be more different. Tim’s play is set in an MP’s main residence in early 2009, and Emma’s in a second-hand lunar ferry almost ninety years later. When it comes to telling the truth though, it seems nothing much changes.

Times: 7:45pm
Tickets: £7 (£5 concession)
Box Office: 020 8296 9012

Sunday 5 September

                                     

          All Communities Together Making Friends and Having Fun!

Kingston Carnival 2010 will see new innovations with a bigger procession and a longer route taking centre stage. The action starts at 12.00pm with music and  Mas bands processing through the centre of town ending at the Guildhall.  Two performance stages with fantastic artists will keep everyone entertained all day.There will be the Colin Bloxham Stage in front of  the Rose Theatre, which will have the best of Carnival performers, complemented by the Market Place Stage, featuring music from diverse musicians and dancers from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Other Exciting Activities

Visitors will also get the chance to enjoy many other activities such as Indian Head Massage, Reflexology, Martial Arts, Capoeira, Street Dance, Face Painting, Henna, Tarot Cards, Salsa dances, and lots more in Clarence Street and the Market Place.

Special activities will be provided for children in a specially designated Children’s Area in the Memorial Gardens and in the grassed entrance to All Saints Church opposite John Lewis. For further information, please phone 020 8547 2332 / 07711 037181 or email: john.azah@kingstonrec.org

A rare opportunity to enjoy free entry to significant buildings in Kingston upon Thames not normally open to the public. The Kingston upon Thames Society and the Royal Borough of Kingston are greatful to the owners who have agreed to open over the English Heritage co-ordinated HOD weekend. For more information on Heritage open days visit: www.kingstonuponthamessociety.co.uk

Tour of the Magistrates’ Court;  9 —10 September 2010

Tours of a fully functioning Magistrates' Court, housed in the lower ground level of the Grade II listed Guildhall.  Built in 1935.  No children under 14.
Thursday & Friday tours - 10.30am, 11.30am & 12.30pm
9—12 September 2010

All Saints Church; - 9 - 12 September 2010

A church has stood on this site since Saxon times and is where the first Kings of England were crowned.  This Grade I listed building dates back to the 14C if not earlier.
All Saints Church, Market Place
Thursday & Friday 10.30am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 8am - 7pm

Thursday 9 - Sunday 12 September

Rose Theatre, 24-26 High Street, Kingston KT1 1HL

Kings have been crowned, battles have been fought and ordinary people have gone about their business. Brace yourself for an epic sweep through the history that makes Kingston the community it is today. Playwright Ciaran McConville and Director Jamie Harper have harnessed a company of local actors and technicians to create this new play, with people's individual memories forming an integral part of the story. Full of song, dance and dram, Our Town promises to be a unique spectacle for our distinctive theatre.

There still time to get involved for more information email: ourtown@rosetheatrekingston.org

Evenings: 7:30pm, Saturday 2:30pm and 7:30pm, Sunday 2pm and 6pm. Tickets: £10/ £15/ £20. Box office: 0871 230 1552

The cornerHOUSE

The arts centre in Douglas Road, Surbiton, is looking for people who would like to create a play forneACTS 2011, a week-long showcase of original writing which will take place next April.

The plays need to be short – 15 to 30 minutes long – so if you have an original idea and would like to see it staged, why not have a go? The deadline for submission of plays is Sunday, October 31. After that, directors will be chosen, actors will be cast and your work will come to life on stage.

Don’t worry if you haven’t attempted anything like this before. You can find all the information you need on the arts centre’s website under the oneACTS 2011 guidance.

“This will be the seventh year the cornerHOUSE has run the festival, which has become a well established and highly respected event in the local arts scene,” said oneACTS chairman Jon Constant. “A number of plays will be selected by a panel of judges out of all those received – and yours may well be the lucky one – and even it isn’t, you will still get feedback to help you with your future writing."

The oneACTS is not just about great original writing, it is about encouraging  everyone to get involved in all aspects of theatre. Anyone can enter a play, volunteer to direct or produce, audition to act or become part of the backstage or front of house crew.”

For further details about writing for the oneACTS or to submit your play, email oneacts2011@thecornerhouse.org

John Lewis - 11 September 2010

To celebrate the 20th anniversary on September 11th 2010 of the opening of the John Lewis building in Kingston, and to coincide with “Muybridge in Kingston” activities in the town, John Lewis is staging an Open Photography Competition.

John Lewis in Kingston is an iconic architectural statement that sits alongside the Thames at the historic Kingston Bridge.  It is fitting, therefore, in its anniversary year that the building itself will be the main theme for photographers to interpret, using the pioneering Victorian photographer, Eadweard Muybridge, as their inspiration. A small collection of his architectural work will be on display at John Lewis to provide inspiration for photographers.The closing date for the competition is Friday 27 August.

Born just down the river from the bridge itself in 1830, Muybridge is the subject of a major retrospective at Tate Britain this coming autumn. Muybridge left a substantial and unique collection of his life’s work to Kingston Museum upon his death in 1904. To link to the retrospective at the Tate, exhibitions of his work will be on show at Kingston Museum, while Kingston University’s Stanley Picker Gallery will feature the work of two artists directly inspired by Muybridge.

Photography competition PDF

Monday 13 September at 7.30pm

Rose Theatre, 24-26 High Street, Kingston KT1 1EU

Take the Space are making their first visit to the Rose Theatre with their sell-out success, Hanging Hooke, to mark the 350th anniversary of The Royal Society.  This tale of intrigue and betrayal is with us for one night only.

Robert Hooke was Curator of Experiment for over twenty years at the Royal Society and is now thought by many to be our English Leonardo; an artist, architect, physicist, chemist, engineer and astronomer.

An ingenious man, undoubtedly our English Leonardo – and yet Robert Hooke was written out of History, even his portrait strangely disappeared.  

Then mysteriously in 2006, three hundred years after his death, a dusty old manuscript was unearthed in a cupboard in a Hampshire country house; it was the long lost folio of Robert Hooke. Weeks later, an auction took place at Bonhams where the now famous papers were expected to fetch four million…

Actor Chris Barnes, who just happens to be an ex Tiffin Boys’ School pupil [Hornblower, Waking the Dead, New Tricks] returns to Kingston to perform this solo play in an extraordinary tour de force, for one night only while on a national tour. Written and directed by Siobhán Nicholas, don’t miss out on a fascinating and utterly beguiling piece of theatre.

Box office: 0871 230 1552 or go to www.rosetheatrekingston.org

19 - 25 September 2010
Hampton Hill Playhouse, 90 High Street, Hampton Hill TW12 1NY

BBC2 commissioned four pieces from Peter Barnes to mark the two hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution. As a result, four uniquely captivating figures emerge from the footnotes of history to relive this “best and worst of times”.  For this production, director Barry Evans blends these four contrasting monologues into a humourously enjoyable evening that still retains a contemporary edge. Produced by Teddington Theatre Club.

Times:
Sunday 19 - 6pm
Weekdays - 7.45pm
Price: £8
Box Office: 0845 838 7529 (10.00 am – 8.00pm)