Pick of the Week: 29 September - 5 October

Playing silly boggers

Playworks Celebration Day
This charitable organisation focuses on ensuring the ankle biters of Nottingham have always got a chance to play. Because, let’s face it, childhood would have been rubbish without a little dilly-dallying along the way. Playworks are celebrating their 21 years in residence on Alfred Street North with a day full of activities for big dippers and little nippers alike. The road will be closed off to cars for the day so we can all have a go at hop scotch, arts, crafts, and loads more traditional kids’ activities. Bring the whippersnappers down to have fun with the Sheriff of Nottingham, Councillor Jackie Morris, Reverend Claire Goode and long-time play activist Ethel Swann.
Monday 29 September, 9.30am – 6pm, free, Playworks, Alfred Street North

A Taste of Honey
People's Theatre Company present a play set in Salford during the fifties, following the tale of single mother Helen and teenage daughter Jo, who've got more problems between them than an Eastenders Christmas special. At a time when racial tensions were high and homophobia was rife, the plot goes that Jo asks her black naval boyfriend Jimmie to stay with her while her mam buggers off with her rich, alcoholic toy boy. After Jimmie gets called away to sea, Jo learns that she’s pregnant and moves in with an art student who was shunned by his family because they suspect he is gay. This Shelagh Delaney production is certainly one to get lost in and learn something from.
Tuesday 30 September – Friday 3 October, 7.30pm, £8 – £12, Nottingham Arts Theatre

Oddball

Sounddhism: Low Leaf
The soul-dispatchers have ditched the confines of their usual Pelham Street venue for a special artist nestled in the belly of the LA music scene. No ordinary beat maker, multi-instrumentalist Low Leaf is gracing The Running Horse with a wowing technical ability and a style that’ll tickle the tabs of anyone into the sounds of Flying Lotus, Tokimonsta and Little Dragon. An organic, electronic space mission awaits. Support for the evening includes Sicilian hip hop and soul outfit, Retrospective for Love; a second experimental hip hop LA beauty, Zeroh, and local lass Hannah Heartshape, a girl with a voice to blow you to the edges of the universe.
Tuesday 30 September, 8pm, £8, The Running Horse

Krautlöunge presents…
Who in their right Gedanken doesn’t like a bit of electronic German rock music every now and again? There aren’t exactly a ton of places you can go nuts to the niche, but luckily the Krautlöunge crew bring Deutsch sounds from the sixties onwards to Nottingham so we don’t go stir crazy. Headlining the evening are mischievous Berlin trio Camera, particular favourites of the krautrock curators who went from playing train stations to festivals in just a couple of years. Joining them are local guitar and electronic duo I Am Lono, and the shadowy guitar drones of Apalusa. Get kracking.
Wednesday 1 October, 8pm, £5/£6, The Chameleon

Stephen Fry
To mark the publication of his new volume of memoirs, the multi-award-winning legend is doing a live show, streamed by satellite to a select few locations. Whether it’s for his skills as a comedian, actor, presenter or writer, everyone loves the Fryster. His new book, More Fool Me, will detail his journey through the late eighties to the early nineties where his drive to entertain allowed him to shine – not without its consequences, of course. An exclusive look into the life of a true genius, it’d be daft not to snap up a ticket to the one-man comedy show.
Wednesday 1 October, 7.15pm, £10/£12, Broadway Cinema

Joy to the world

Joy Mumford
Over the past few months, there’s been a string of amazing local artists headlining The Bodega, and the latest lady to do so, Joy Mumford, will keep up the ridiculously high standard that’s been set. Having won the FSN final at Rock City with her soulful folk earlier this year, Joy went onto open the biggest stage in Notts at Splendour Festival and bleddy smashed it. Now that she’s got loads of new songs together to dazzle with, she’s ready for her own headline show. Right by her side are the equally awesome locals Beth Frisby and Jamie Moon - a lovely little Nottingham love fest.
Thursday 2 October, 7pm, £5, The Bodega

The Oska Bright Film Festival
A special session of screenings is hitting Broadway this Thursday. Oska Bright is an international film festival run and produced by people with learning disabilities, currently touring the UK. One for the early birds, the morning will be broken up into a few different sections. There will be an introduction to the first screening, which is a collection of music videos, and then there will be a short break. After, there will be another introduction to the second batch of screenings, films about people. Two members of the Oska Bright Committee will be on hand for a presentation and Q&A after all the videos, so hang on if you fancy learning a thing or two about them.
Thursday 2 October, 10am, £3, Broadway Cinema

Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition 2014
This weekend sees Notts play host to one of the world’s best loved solo jazz piano competitions. Twelve young jazz improvisation pianists from eight different countries all fight for the top spot in the Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition 2014. It’s been quoted as an “international X-Factor based around solo jazz piano,” but it’s bound to be better than that tosh. The comp will be judged by David Newton, Andrea Vicari, Tim Richards and Jamil Sherif, all expert pianists in their own right. Simon Cowell, eat your heart out. You can also catch David Newton at Bonington Theatre on Tuesday night, should you need your jazz fix a bit earlier.
Friday 3 - Sunday 5 October, various times, £5 - £7.50, Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham Albert Hall

La la la

BamalamaSingsong
If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that we all love a bit of a sing song. We love shouting along to Livin’ On A Prayer at the top of our lungs, but we don’t always want to be the laughing stock that gets up on stage at karaoke. The solution is simple: group karaoke. The Bamalama band play all your favourite rock hits with a massive screen bearing the lyrics, so there’s no singing the wrong verse. Everyone gets to have a good owd fashioned singalong, and there’ll be so many people there you won’t have to hear your own voice. Win win.
Friday 4 October, 6.30pm - 10pm, £5, The Rescue Rooms

Hoodies Casting
Calling all young actors. Reckon you can put on a badman limp, throw up your hood and portray the real side of the streets? Good, cos there’s a casting over at Broadway for a brand new teen comedy film called Hoodies and you could end up with a starring role. They’re after five people (four males and one female) to play characters aged around sixteen. They’re after people over the age of eighteen, but if you’re not quite there yet then don’t worry, you could still get the role. You’ll just need a chaperone during filming. But you’re way too hood for that… Right?
Saturday 4 October, 10am - 4pm, free, Broadway Cinema

Just The Tonic
Those funny-boned folk over at JTT are about to hit the grand old age of twenty and they’re
throwing a massive blowout to say goodbye to their teen years. While they probably won’t end their party in the gutter at four in the morning, comedy megastars Johnny Vegas, Paul Foot, and more secret guests will be cracking gags all over the place. Don’t head down to The Forum - they’re not daft and know not to throw parties in your own gaff. Instead they’re doing it across the road at The Royal Concert Hall. In true form, the bash will having you splitting sides left, right and - erm, centre isn’t a side, but you catch our drift.
Saturday 4 October, 7.30pm, £15 - £17, Royal Concert Hall

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

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