Infotainment: your guide to what’s on over the coming weeks
Music
Sunday, January 19 American Four Tops Show The Hexagon
Travel on a journey through all the hits of the Four Tops with tribute band Soul Satisfaction’s Motown Show singing hits such as Reach Out, Baby I Need Your Loving, Walk Away Renee, Same Old
Song and Loco in Acapulco along with other classic hits from the likes of Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Ben E King and many more.
Sunday, January 19 Young Winners! Norden Farm
Two young winners of local classical music competitions will dazzle you with their young talent and musicality playing a selection of romantic and virtuoso classical pieces.
First Emily Ambrose on bassoon will perform Jacob, Weber and Saint-Saens and then Oliver Simpson on cello will perform Bach, Elgar,
Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky.
Monday, January 20 The Bully Wee Band Nettlebed Folk Club
A force to be reckoned with in British folk music, Ian Cutler of Feast of Fiddles on violin and keyboards, Fergus Feeley playing the cello mandolin, Colin Reece on guitar and Jim Yardley on mandolin and whistles.
Fergus, Colin and Jim are all on vocals – a great way to start the new year.
Thursday, January 30 If Music Be The Food of Love The Old Court
International singer and actress Margaret Preece takes you through the roller-coaster journey to finding true love, celebrating the music of some of the greatest operatic and musical theatre composers – Mozart, Sondheim, Gershwin, Rodgers, Puccini and Lloyd Webber.
Theatre
Until Friday, January 25 The Cat and the Canary Theatre Royal
Twenty years after the death of Mr West, his descendants gather at a remote mansion to learn who will inherit his vast wealth and the hidden family jewels.
When the heir is revealed, the heritage hunters turn to prey and a chain of macabre events is set in motion.
Will the heirs dare to face the haunting presence toying with them? When the cat prowls, the flock takes fright.
Starring Britt Eckland, Mark Jordon, Tracy Shaw and Marti Webb.
Until Saturday February 8 Singin’ in the Rain The Mill at Sonning
Watch out – a thousand litres of rain is promised in this exuberant production.
Based on the classic Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds’ film, this Singin’ in the Rain features all the favourite songs, You Were Meant for Me, You Are My Lucky Star, Make ’Em Laugh, Good Mornin’ and others.
Set in Hollywood as silent movies were giving way to the new ‘talkies’, 14 performers and a band bring full sound and song.
Thursday, January 23 Showstopper! The Improvised Musical
Wycombe Swan
A brand new musical comedy is created from scratch at each performance of this awardwinning show as audience suggestions are transformed on the spot into all-singing, alldancing productions with hilarious results.
So whether you fancy Hamilton in a hospital or Sondheim in the Sahara, you suggest it and The Showstoppers will sing it. Friday, January 24 & Saturday, January 25
Jane Eyre
Kenton Theatre
The story of an orphan girl and her journey from a childhood of loneliness and cruelty to a life at Thornfield Hall and an unlikely relationship with the mysterious Mr Rochester.
Falling in love, she gradually uncovers a hidden past to the gloomy, forbidding house, a terrible secret that forces her to make a heart-wrenching choice.
Don’t miss Blackeyed Theatre’s brand new stage adaptation of this moving portrayal of one woman’s quest for equality and freedom.
Sunday, January 26 Circus of Horrors – The 25th Anniversary Show
The Hexagon
The Circus of Horrors began at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival and has gone on to tour the world, achieving cult status and dragging circus screaming and shouting into the 21st century.
The Circus of Horrors contains some nudity and language of an adult nature.
It is not suitable for children or people of a nervous disposition.
Thursday, January 30 Kaleidoscope Norden Farm
Theatre for babies aged six to 18 months inspired by research into how a baby’s sense of sight develops and how they instinctively categorise colour.
Blink. Blink again. What do you see?
Day by day your world is filling up with colour, little one. Reds and blues, yellows and greens. Twinkling lights that glisten and gleam.
Discover the multi-coloured world of Kaleidoscope in this gentle, playful performance.
Tuesday, February 4 The Tempest South Hill Park
A crash of waves. A ship torn in two. A family broken.
Set sail into the mysterious and magical world of The
Tempest with South Hill Park’s retelling of Shakespeare’s famous last play – a story of love, magic, revenge and forgiveness that promises to bewitch audiences both new, and well versed, in the Bard.
Comedy
Monday, January 20 Comedy Night
The Mill at Sonning
With faces you know from TV and names you know from the circuit, you’re promised a hilarious time.
Laugh the night away as you enjoy entertainment from some of the UK’s finest stand-up comedians.
Ticket price includes a buffet dinner before the show.
Saturday, January 25 Stephen K Amos Wycombe Swan
Everywhere you turn, we are being divided into ‘us’ and ‘them’. It’s time for an everyman to remind us of all that we have in common.
Picking apart the silliness of life with his trademark smile, let Stephen K Amos bring us together with the universal language of laughter.
Thursday, January 30 Sandi Toksvig Live! National Trevor Wycombe Swan
Sandi Toksvig is touring a brand new, one-woman comedy show. Sandi realises some people harbour an ambition to be a National Treasure but following a misunderstanding with a friend has decided instead to become a National Trevor – half misprint, half Danish comedian, novelist, actor and broadcaster.
Expect tall stories, fascinatingly funny facts, really silly jokes, a quick-fire Q&A and a quiz.
Don’t expect tap-dancing, leotards or a forward roll.
Wednesday, February 5 Laura Lexx – Knee Jerk Norden Farm
The stand-up comedian shines a light on how hard it is to be a good person these days.
Why don’t we just leave each other alone and get on with the big stuff?
Laura takes on society's big issues: social media, mental health, climate change and conceiving. Go for the jokes, not answers.
Laura was Comedians’ Choice Best Performer Winner in 2018 and 2019 and star of Live at the Apollo on BBC2.
Wednesday April 1 & Thursday, April 2 John Bishop: Warm-up 2020 Theatre Royal
There are still tickets left to catch comedy superstar John Bishop as he heads to Windsor to warm up his brand-new show!
This is his eighth stand-up show and the blurb says it’s shaping up to be his best yet.
It's likely to sell out quickly so move fast if you want to catch the Scouse funnyman.