Pick of the Week: 22 - 28 December

Frozen Sing-Along
If you’ve not heard of the film that’s taken kids and adults by the hand and whisked them away to the depths of the Arctic, you’ve possibly been buried underneath the greatest rock of all time. There’s no escaping the merchandise. The songs are everywhere. Olaf the snowman is a celebrity in his own right. It’s crack for the kiddies, but big kids are jumping on the Frozen bandwagon too – possibly because the traditional Disney plotlines have been well and truly overthrown with the first badass sister-sister dream team, and not even a whisper of a damsel in distress. Get dahn t’cinema and sing along to the bangers with no shame. Don’t blame us when you’re warbling them way into 2015…
Sunday 21 - Wednesday 31 December, various times, £3.60, Broadway Cinema

Acoustic Rooms Christmas Party 
If you like acoustic music and you like rooms, listen up. The infamous Monday session at Rescue is getting all festive with some lovely local talent in the form of Frankie Rudolf, Anwyn Williams, Josh Kemp and Connor Spray - a consortium of folky goodness to warm up your numb tabs, all the way down to yer chilly toes. Grab a Christmas jumper, some mulled wine, your best reindeer antlers, and leave your inner-Scrooge at home. Unlike every other thing that makes you bleed cash in December, it won’t cost you a penny. If that doesn’t deserve some festive cheer, we don’t know what does.
Monday 22 December, 8pm, free, Rescue Rooms

It’s a Wonderful Life
There are a few traditions that really make Christmas feel like Christmas. Even if the warm weather is throwing off your festive feelings, or work is so much of a grind you’ve not quite managed to get as excited as you should, there are things you can do to launch yourself right in to the moment. As much as the Ebenezers among us might try to deny it, everyone loves a Christmas film – especially one as feel-good as this classic. So if, like many of us, you’re feeling a bit down in the dumps about maxing out your credit card, get yourself sat down, relax and find out what the holiday season is really all about with our George.
Monday 22 - Wednesday 24 December, 12.30pm and 5.30pm, £4 - £8, Broadway Cinema

A Symphony of Curves: Geoffrey Preston 
The Harley Gallery is a bit out of town but if you have access to a car, you’ve no excuse. Their current exhibition, for those that appreciate a good bit of plasterwork, is a perfect way to escape the chaos of the city. We’re not talking your common or garden ceiling rose, or that artex malarky that is the bane of any home buyers existence, Geoffrey Preston is an architectural sculptor who specialises in decorative plasterwork and, in particular, the art of stucco. The smooth white plaster and the delicate curves of his work have a serenity about them, and you can see why rich folk were particularly fond of tarting up their pads with this sort of thing. The pieces on display range from small relief panels to a wildly exuberant new Rococo ceiling, plus you get to see some of his design drawings and photographs.
Runs until Wednesday 24 December, free, Harley Gallery, Worksop

The Maze’s Christmas Eve
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Notts, not a creature was stirring, apart from a few nutters in a pub on Mansfield Road. Become part of the legendary tale – they’ve got board games, card games, a rockin’ jukebox, a magical, musical jam session and loads of booze. It’s vital that your hangover is beasting enough to devour its way through a mountain of food the next day, so you might as well have a merry owd time while you’re working on it. But be careful - there’s a fine line between wanting the contents of your plate in your stomach and wanting the contents of your stomach on your plate.
Wednesday 24 December, 6pm, free, The Maze

Yer mam's yard

Christmas Day
Even though you were up all night singing Christmas songs down the pub, you bounce out of bed at an hour that would normally be unthinkable. The morning starts off decent. You get a new Lego set, enough shower gel to start fretting that people don’t think much of your personal hygiene, some pants, some socks, and you get to have chocolate and booze for breakfast. Someone’s face drops when they realise they’ve left a present at home, and your sister’s new fella is looking slightly awkward in the ill-fitting Christmas jumper your mam bought him, but everyone’s pretty happy and taking it in turns to chip in with making the Christmas dinner. Then someone realises they’ve chucked a gift voucher out with the wrapping paper but doesn’t want to dive in the bin, there’s bickering over the last dregs of gravy, Queen Liz natters on, your mardy, shift-working uncle falls asleep in his stuffing and your pissed-up nan whacks The Pogues on repeat. You’re not quite sure how you’ve consumed so much alcohol without feeling the effects, so decide to test out your liver’s new super powers by having another top up and a cheeky glass of port on the side. If your head isn’t pounding by this point, someone suggests a game of charades – which actually turns out to be a right laugh and you remember why you were looking forward to Christmas after all. Cheers! And don’t burn the turkeh!
Thursday 25 December, 6am, free, Mam’s yard

Sounddhism Christmas After Party
The days sandwiched between Christmas and New Year are usually filled to the brim with turkey cobs, purple Quality Streets and those relatives who just won’t leave. Bit dull. But fear ye not. Sounddhism are coming to the rescue with the biggest Crimbo after party this side of Lapland. Featuring the likes of K.O.G. and the Zongo Brigade, Hallouminati, Ashmore and Motormouf, you won’t be disappointed by the fourth and final Sounddhism session of the year. Go on, shake the tinsel off your dancing shoes and party your way through to the New Year.
Saturday 27 December, 8.30pm, £5, The Bodega

RubberDub
Your wallet’s no doubt feeling rather saggy after all your generosity this festive season, so bag yourself a cheap yet chuffin’ brilliant night out to reward yourself. Our mates at RubberDub are on standby to give you the Xmas party you deserve with three quid entry. Get all mucky with the bassline and fill your boots with a free shot on arrival – as if you hadn’t drank enough this Christmas. They’ll be skanking on until the early hours so it’s not one for a quick stop-by. If you’re going in, you’re in for the long haul.
Saturday 27 December, 11pm, £3, The Maze

George Green: Nottingham’s Magnificent Mathematician
A right clever clogs used to work in that Sneinton windmill. Having a father who owned it, it’s puzzling to know that George Green, a working man, managed to get himself massively clued up on complex maths and physics. Even with just a year at school, his techniques are still used 170 years after he popped his clogs, so he must have been doing summat right. Explore the mystery using research gathered by his biographers and members of the George Green Memorial Fund in an exhibition curated by University of Nottingham members. The gallery is shut for Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, and the day after that, so pop in on an other day if you’ve got a bit of time off over the next couple of weeks.
Runs until Sunday 4 January, 12pm – 4pm, free, Weston Gallery

Sleeping Beauty
Everyone loves a bit of panto action. Even the grumblers can’t resist a cheeky trip down the theatre to shout at a bloke dressed as an owd broad. This year, the Playhouse is host to a production of Sleeping Beauty, and although Kenneth Alan Taylor hung up his Dame stockings last year, he’s directing it, so the old magic will still be there. With all the normal get-up of a huge, beautiful set and totally over-the-top costumes, it’d be a shame not to treat the little people in your life, or even the big ‘uns. The tale goes that a lovely princess is cursed by a proper dutty witch, meaning she’s conked out for an age. Luckily, a dashing chap wants to wake her up with cheesy pick-up lines, screamed at the top of his lungs, and we get to follow him on his endeavour. Or something like that. 
Until Saturday 17 January, £22.50 - £29.50, Nottingham Playhouse

For the motherload of everything else going on this week check out our comprehensive Nottingham events listings.

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