A merry month of May at South Hill Park
THERE won’t be a dull moment at South Hill Park this May as South Hill Park Arts Centre have a variety of entertaining productions including sexy circus, outrageous puppets and celebrations of musical milestones from the 1920s and thirties to the seventies.
Setting May up for a sizzling start is Forbidden Nights (Thursday, May 2 and Friday, May 3, 7.45pm) returning for not one but two heart-racing shows.
Abandon your inhibitions at the door as this talented cast of male acrobats, fire acts, aerial artists and worldrenowned circus performers flip, dazzle and mesmerise in this high-octane show.
So grab a group of your friends together for this sexy, but classy evening guaranteed to get your pulses racing and leave you begging for more. Yes ladies, circus just got sexy.
The puppets are coming to South
Hill Park’s Wilde Theatre. Join a host of fluffy friends on a trip to Avenue Q (Tuesday, May 7-Saturday, May 11, 7.45pm, Saturday matinee 2.30pm), which tells the timeless story of a
recent college graduate, Princeton, trying to find his way in the world.
Set in New York City, he struggles to find his purpose: meeting friends, losing love, and finding it again along the way. Inspired by Sesame Street, but with a twist, Avenue Q creates a puppet-filled world more reflective of the difficult realities we face when we learn real life isn’t as simple as we dreamed, but perhaps all the more colourful and worthwhile for it. For ages 15+ only.
If you fancy more of a swing into the month of May then head to South Hill Park Arts Centre to be transported back in time to the 1920s and 30s New York City hottest nightclub in Swinging at the Cotton Club (Thu 23 May, 7.45pm).
Performances by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday would have had the club swinging – while dancers such as Bojangles Robinson and the Nicholas Brothers would light-up the stage with their breathtaking routines all of which is channelled in this action-packed show.
Paying tribute to the decade of disco and funk comes the Supersonic 70s Show (Saturday, May 25, 7.45pm) which is GLAM packed with incredible hits from one of the greatest musical decades of them all… the seventies!
From the towering might of Queen and ELO, the ‘pin-up pop’ of David Cassidy and Donny Osmond and the foot stompin’ sounds of Sweet and T.Rex, to classics by The Carpenters and10cc – the band even add a touch of ‘Grease’ and the Eurovision Song Contest to the mix.
It’s no wonder it’s being called, “the greatest 70s show in theatre land” and “a stunning celebration to the golden age of pop”.
Grown-ups can delight in equal parts historical and hysterical, as they lose themselves in the company of sailors, barmaids and bootleggers in Mother’s Ruin: A Cabaret about Gin (Tuesday, May 28, 7.45pm) a darkly comic cabaret.
It stars Maeve Marsden and Libby Wood lead you on a raucous journey through 18th century London, a few New York speakeasies, the Australian bush and the jungles of Peru.
Discover a little more about your favourite drop, delivered with dry wit and almost symbiotic harmonies.
With music originally performed by Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone and Tom Waits, Mother’s Ruin moves from misery to vaudeville in a moment, intertwining excess and prohibition, history and (re)invention.
It’s guaranteed to be a tipsy turvey journey packed with laughs and merriment.
South Hill Park aims to support local arts groups and schools and give the opportunity for friends, families and those passionate about the arts to come and see emerging artists and creatives in a variety of fields.
In May, South Hill Park will showcase Hawthorne School of Dance’s The Dance Show (Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, 10.30am, 1.30pm and 4.30pm), Bedivere Arts Presents (Thursday, May 30, 7.30pm) and SOTA goes to the Movies (Friday, May 31– Saturday, June 1, Saturday matinee 2.30pm, Friday, May 31 7pm - BSL signed performance).
For more details, or to book tickets, visit southhillpark.org.uk, or call the Box Office on 01344 484123.