Arts and Cultural Events Diary

• Home
• Leisure and Culture
• Arts
• Arts and Cultural Events Diary

Saturday 2 June, Market Place 12noon

To celebrate the London 2012 Games and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee an extraordinary range of events are planned during Kingston’s 14 week Cultural Programme. Opening on 2 June in the Market Place, live music and dance performances will take centre stage alongside the four day Aviation Festival. Attractions include a full scale Sopwith Camel, cockpits, flight simulators and a fascinating exhibition. Other highlights for the weekend include the lighting of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Beacons on 4 June, 10pm at Coombe Wood Golf Club,  the fabulous Botown band at the Rose Theatre, a dynamic fusion of Bollywood and Motown presented by Global Arts on 3 June and All Saints Church Summer Fete on 5 June where visitors can take a trip through town from the 1950s through to the present day.

A Souvenir Brochure detailing all events, as well as the Olympic Road Cycling Races and torch relays, will be distributed shortly. All of which goes to show what an amazingly creative place Kingston is!

Market House and Market Place

Your chance to feel like Biggles! Hunter, Harrier and Hawk Jet aircraft cockpits for children and enthusiasts of all ages to sit in. £1 per person.  Also don’t miss your chance to see the extraordinary Sopwith Camel, on display for the first time in Kingston since 1918, together with a fascinating exhibition. From 10am to 5pm every day.

The Rose Theatre, 24 -26 High Street, Kingston KT1 1HL
Sunday 3^rd June 6.30pm

Dubbed as Bollywood’s answer to The Commitments - catch the band that has sold out venues across London for the ultimate Bollywood experience! Imagine if Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder took a flight from Memphis to Mumbai and met up with RD Burman, Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle, what would you get? Soul, but spicy style! Brought to Kingston by Global Arts, the borough’s leading multicultural Arts organisation, this is one event guaranteed to get you dancing. Fantastic tickets prices from just £5 to £10. Hurry though they’re selling fast!

Performances in Clarence Street, 6 -14 June & Finale 16 June 3pm

Photo courtesy of Ed Moore

Come down to Clarence Street and discover the vivid colours of our celebration of dance in Kingston. Luca Silvestrini’s award winning dance company Protein is joined by a host of musicians and local dancers, who will sweep you away with a spectacular street show on 16 June. You might even learn the moves and join in yourself.  Keep your eyes peeled in the lead up from 6 June - you might notice some unusual, but familiar, characters as you nip to the shops on your lunch break or on your way home from work. Everyday life is not always as it seems... Organised in collaboration with RBK Arts Office, Protein Dance, Arts Council England

The Arts Office has been working with the Stanley Picker Gallery on an innovative, interactive project to encourage visitors to discover Kingston’s hidden histories. Developed by designer, Paul Farrington, the Kingston Navigation Wheel turns the town centre into a ‘live’ board game in which players are taken on 5 themed walks: 3 Fishes, Bridges, Made Here, Death and Muybridge all of which relate to Kingston’s myriad histories. Funded by the Outer London Fund, the  revolvable paper disc maps out the walking trails using a highly original approach. Available from the Rose Theatre, Tourist Information Centre (Market House) Kingston Museum and the Stanley Picker Gallery.

The project forms part of Stanley Pickers, No Competition off-site programme, while the gallery is closed for refurbishment – with all three projects included as part of the Cultural Programme. Watch out for Charlie Murphy’s cartwheels during the International Youth Arts Festival. Please visit the Stanley Picker Gallery website for more details and updates.

May-June
Guided tours following the five cultural walking trails mapped on Paul Farrington’sKingston Navigation Wheel, on the themes of Bridges, Death, Muybridge, 3 Fishes and Made Here will start from the Market House at 1pm & 3pm on the following dates.Email the Stanley Picker Gallery to reserve your FREE place or call 020 8417 4074.
Mon 7 May Muybridge Walk
Wed 23 May 3 Fishes Walk
Sat 2 Jun Bridges Walk
Sat 16 Jun Made Here Walk

A celebration of community through dance

An intergenerational community dance project and moving prayer. Through the act of gathering, holding and passing along of individual dreams, a collective dream will emerge. Dream Torches is part of Big Dance 201 2 a celebration of dance throughout London. Events will be held for the Kingston Olympiad and Aviation Festival and The Queen's Jubilee. Creative workshops will begin in May are open to all interested individuals. All that is needed is a desire to create a collective dream and there are several ways to participate. For more details and information on the free workshops visit Apryl Renee's website (see link below) or email:

29 June - 22 July 2012

The amazingly diverse International Youth Arts Festival returns this summer to showcase the very best in youth arts, selected from the UK and Internationally. This year's programme includes a fantastic selection of companies from Europe, Africa and the USA. With the success of young companies previewing their work in Kingston before the Edinburgh Festival, IYAF has some of the hottest tickets in town! Catch up with emerging young talent that will surprise, delight and move you. With some 300 events across 15 venues and performances ranging from electro-swing nights, to carnival parades and beautiful puppetry, there's something for everyone.

This year will also feature the 2nd Birdies Film Festival. Closing date for film submissions is 1 July - for full details check out the IYAF website. The full programme can be viewed on the Rose Theatre or IYAF website or by clicking this link:

Published programmes are now available from the Rose Theatre, Visitor Information in the Market House, libraries or online. A Festival pass costs £80 (£40 conc) to see as many productions as you can fit in!

All tickets available from the Rose Theatre Box Office or tel: 08444 821 556

116 Douglas Road Surbiton, KT6 7SB

Sunday 29 April – Friday 25 May at The cornerHOUSE

Edna Dumas’ current collection of paintings and work leans towards a poetical message in which the human being’s vulnerability appears in the centre of the art scene.

The work featured in the exhibition is for sale. More details at:

Friday 18th to Saturday 19th at 7.30pm

Strap yourselves in, you're in for a bumpy ride, promises Royad's Golden Key Theatre. The company will be presenting its new musical variety show Surprise, Surprise about a group of friends preparing for a surprise party for special friend, who doesn't turn up when expected.

"Come and see this talented and happy bunch of young adults with learning disabilities enjoying themselves and performing with all their heart and soul!" said musical director Keesha Mclean.

The show is directed by Les Hutchinson and Richard Williams and includes popular musical numbers from Grease, Glee, Annie Get Your Gun, Fiddler On The Roof, Spamalot, Beatles and Westlife. Tickets £7. To book phone 020 8397 9050 or email:

5 May, 7pm - 9pm

Come along to an evening of networking and engaging with your arts community. Enjoy light refreshments, arts exhibits and varied entertainment with performances by Sophie Plummer (ITVs 'Born to Shine') and Billie Wackrill (NYJO), Kingston Junior Drama Company will perform a short extract from a new play, 'Not Just A Number.' Complimentary tickets are limited to 2 per person. To reserve your ticketsand for further information, email

Contact Aine Lark if you would like to display or showcase your work at email above.

Thursday 31st to Saturday June 2nd at 7.45pm

Be afraid. Be very afraid. The Hound of the Baskervilles is bounding towards Surbiton. This stage version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mystery is the first production by the Green Theatre Company since quitting its old home in New Malden. The youth drama company, which has been running for a quarter of a century, encourages 14 to 25-year-olds to get involved in shows.

Director Maria Clinton said: This will be my first full-length production and I am looking forward to working with the cornerHOUSE to produce what should be a spine-tingling evening’s entertainment.”

As the hound terrifies the countryside, the sleuthing begins and suspicion falls on sinister servants, butterfly collectors, ladies in distress and escaped convicts.

Tickets (£8, £6 concessions) from the Green Theare website (see in Related External Links below), by calling 07587 196 378 or by emailing:

 

2 May and 6 June,  7.30pm Garrick's Temple, Garrick's Lawn, Hampton Riverside

This will include music by Croft, Eccles, Pepusch and Daniel Purcell, with performers  Hollie Ann Clark (Soprano), William Summers (Recorder, Flute) and Stephen Carpenter (Theorbo).

And on 6th June Stephen Carpenter will play English lute music by John Dowland and his contemporaries. He will be joined by William Summers and Jennifer Bennett (Violin, Viol) to play and improvise upon English tunes by Playford and Italian trios and madrigals.

Admission on the door costs £12, advance tickets cost £10 each, students and sixth-formers pay £5 and those aged 16 and under pay nothing. Food and drink will be served.

For booking and enquiries contact: