Our indispensable guide to the best of what’s on in Bedford over the next 10 days. Featuring live music, theatre, film, comedy, exhibitions and family-friendly fun.
Enjoy!
Friday 13 January 2023
Live music: Noasis + Bowfinger
Bedford Esquires @ 8pm
Tickets: £14
The mighty Noasis touch down again at Bedford Esquires this month for one giant party and a celebration of one of the greatest bands this country has ever produced.
Noasis is the definitive tribute band to Manchester’s five-piece super group Oasis. Since their formation in 2006 and with over 800 performances to date, Noasis has justly earned its reputation as the best tribute on the circuit packing out venues up and down the UK.
With a huge back catalogue from Oasis to choose from the band create huge crowd-pleasing sets taking tracks Definitely Maybe, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory, Be Here Now, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, Heathen Chemistry, Don’t Believe the Truth and Dig Out Your Own Soul delivering a supersonic show of the very best Oasis anthems.
Saturday’s show has already sold out, so get your tickets now!
Friday 13 January 2023
Classical music: Philharmonia Orchestra – Nodoka Okisawa
Bedford Corn Exchange @
Tickets: £15 – £39
Nodoka Okisawa – conductor
Michael Collins – clarinet
Programme:
Weber Overture, Der Freischütz
Weber Clarinet Concerto No. 1
-interval-
Brahms Symphony No. 1
Nodoka Okisawa won the Besançon competition in 2019 and in 2018 she won the Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting. From 2020 until 2022 she was assistant to Kirill Petrenko and stepped in for Petrenko with Berlin Phil in March. Nodoka has been appointed 14th Chief Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra from March 2023 and is the Münchner Symphoniker’s Artist in Residence for 22/23.
The spotlight is then on the brilliant Michael Collins as he demonstrates all that the clarinet has to offer in Weber’s radiant first clarinet concerto. The work was embellished by Weber’s clarinettist friend Heinrich Baermann, for whom it was written, and the result is abundant in melody playing to the clarinet’s strengths.
Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 is full of in melting lyricism and dynamic expansion. Brahms looked to Beethoven for inspiration, and his own version of the Ode to Joy (taken from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony) can be heard in the final movement.
Free Insights Talk
6.30-7pm, Harpur Suite
Michael Collins (clarinet) in conversation with Bekah Cork (Head of Concerts & Residencies)
Friday 13 January 2023
Film: Friday The 13th (1980)
The Quarry Theatre @ 7.30pm
Tickets: £5
Join the Quarry for a screening of this 1980’s horror classic on a very significant date!
They were warned…They are doomed…And on Friday the 13th, nothing will save them.
A group of camp counsellors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp which was the site of a child’s drowning and a grisly double murder years before.
Fridays will never be the same again…
Friday 13 January 2023
Theatre: Two by Jim Cartwright
The Place Theatre @ 7.30pm
Tickets: from £10
Join The Place for their 20th Anniversary celebration with a revival of the very first show to appear on their stage in January 2002! Featuring the original cast of that show and bringing together the same team who supported the debut show at the venue.
Two actors, fourteen characters and one dark secret. Jim Cartwright’s Two gives us a busy evening in a Northern pub as the landlord and landlady serve a collection of locals, giving us a small insight into the dreams, desires and disappointments of their lives.
Funny, disturbing and poignant, Two Is a wonderful portrait of humanity and the strength of the
human spirit.
Saturday 14 January 2023
Art: Beds Urban Sketchers meet up
The Higgins Bedford, Castle Lane @ 11am
Free to attend
Or, if the weather is fine, why not sketch outside?
Saturday 14 January 2023
Family-friendly: SEND family fun day
Alexandra Sports Centre, Sidney Road @ 1.3pm
Entry is free but you must register in advance at the Eventbrite page here
A free family fun day, aimed at children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) up to the age of 25, is being held by the Bedford Borough Parent Carer Forum (BBPCF) in the new year.
There will be a range of activities to cater to everyone from newborns to 25-year-olds, including inflatables, sporting activities, face painting, a gaming bus, craft activities, messy play for under 5’s, ‘learn a dance routine’ for older children/young adults, a sensory journey for children with PMLD, a quiet room/sensory room and more.
Read more: Giant inflatables and ‘gaming bus’ lined up for SEND family fun day
Saturday 14 January 2023
St Paul’s church, St Paul’s Square @ midday
Free with retiring collection
Featuring organist Justin Waters (Bedford). Free with a retiring collection.
Saturday 14 January 2023
Live Event: Our 20th Anniversary Birthday party
The Place Theatre @ 4pm
Tickets: Free
Join The Place team to help celebrate 20 years of The Place Bedford, whether you’ve been with them since the very beginning or only just found them today!
There will be a new display of images from the renovation and opening of the venue in 2002 – so everyone can see how far the space has travelled in such a short time.
Reminisce, socialise, grab a bite, watch the cutting of the cake, help eat it and raise a glass! They would love to see you there.
Saturday 14 January 2023
Theatre: Buffy Revamped
The Quarry Theatre @ 7.30pm
Tickets: from £16
Seventy minutes. Seven seasons. One Spike.
Fresh from a smash-hit run at Edinburgh Fringe, this fast-paced new production brings you the entire 144 episodes of the hit 90s TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as told through the eyes of the one person who knows it inside out… Spike.
Funny, satirical and bursting with 90s pop-culture references, it’s the perfect parody for Buffy aficionados and those who never enrolled at Sunnydale High alike.
Created by comedian Brendan Murphy whose last show, Friend: The One with Gunther, recently won the award for Best Play in the World Wide Comedy Awards.
Sunday 15 January 2023
Gaming: RPG Youth Club
The Place Theatre @ 10am
Tickets: £4
Aged 10-18?
Love games, fantasy, stories and play?
Want to be the hero (or villain) you’ve always imagined? Want to meet people who share your interests? A great opportunity for young people to engage in creative problem solving in a fun, welcoming, supervised space. Great for developing speaking and listening skills, team building and developing storytelling and creativity.
Dungeons & Dragons and other Table Top Role Playing Games (TTRPGs) are a great alternative to videogames, challenging young people to work together, teaching English and Maths skills, and helping young people socialise with like- minded young people.
A great low-cost hobby, where all necessary equipment will be provided and young people will get hands-on learning in how to play these entertaining, player-led, story-based games. No prior experience necessary.
Tuesday 17 January 2023
Theatre: Living It Up Performing Arts Centre presents: Alice in Murderland
University of Bedfordshire Theatre, Polhill Avenue @ 6.30pm
Tickets: £5 (carers go free)
A magical, musical murder mystery theatre show from Living It Up Performing Arts Centre.
Who gets killed? Who is the killer? Can the audience guess the killer?
Wednesday 18 January 2023
Storytime: Jackastory
The Place Theatre @ 10.30am
Pay what you can
Listen to members of The Place team read their chosen children’s stories and discover some new favourites of your own. You are welcome to bring your own book suggestions with you too. Each session runs for forty-five minutes to an hour, with a break for refreshments.
This will be a very relaxed event with young, and old, being invited to join the readers on the stage in an intimate and friendly atmosphere, on a mound of comfortable cushions.
(Aimed at 2-5-year olds, but all ages welcome).
Friday 20 January 2023
Music: The Jive Aces
The Quarry Theatre @ 7.30pm
Tickets: from £22
Back by popular demand!
Renowned worldwide for their high-energy spectacular showmanship, their viral video Bring Me Sunshine and for being the first live band to reach the final rounds of Britain’s Got Talent, The Jive Aces have firmly established themselves the UK’s No.1Jive & Swing band.
Friday 20 January 2023
Live Music: Adrian Stranik
The Cellar Bar @ 8.30pm
Free Entry
The Cellar Bar is excited to welcome Adrian Stranik for a night of rockin’ 50’s classics, bringing his unique take on Existential Urban-Cowboy songs, Rockabilly-Noir and Psychedelic Bluegrass.
If you love Elvis, you’ll love Adrian Stranik.
Saturday 21 January 2023
National Theatre Live: The Seagull
The Quarry Theatre @ 7pm
Tickets: from £12.50
Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) makes her West End debut in this 21st century retelling of Anton Chekhov’s tale of love and loneliness.
A young woman is desperate for fame and a way out. A young man is pining after the woman of his dreams. A successful writer longs for a sense of achievement. An actress wants to fight the changing of the times. In an isolated home in the countryside, dreams lie in tatters, hopes are dashed, and hearts broken. With nowhere left to turn, the only option is to turn on each other.
Saturday 21 January 2023
Classical music: Bedford Sinfonia
Bedford Corn Exchange @ 7.30pm
Tickets: £6 – £17
Join the Bedford Sinfonia and guests to enjoy a captivating programme in their first concert of 2023.
Soloists Peter Hoare (Tenor) and Brendan Thomas (Horn)
Conductor Michael Rose
Mozart Serenade for winds, in E flat, K375
Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings
Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eroica)
Mozart’s lively and lyrical serenade for winds (K375) opens the concert. Star Tenor Peter Hoare and eminent horn player Brendan Thomas then join the Sinfonia to perform Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, a beguiling setting of six poems about the Night, framed by a Prologue and Epilogue performed by solo horn.
The concert concludes with a perennial favourite – Beethoven’s celebrated ‘Eroica’ symphony. Groundbreaking in its time, this expansive work, rich in emotion and inspired by the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte, arguably heralds the start of the Romantic era.
Saturday 21 January 2023
Live music: Firefall EP launch show + Peril + Spacejunkie
Bedford Esquires @ 7.30pm
Tickets: TBC
Fire Fall brings the Metal and their brand new EP to Bedford Esquires for there EP Launch Show. Fire Fall push the boundaries bringing a mixture of Hard Rock/Metal with groovy riff & powerful vocals.
Saturday 21 January 2023
Live Music: Meg Sentance
The Cellar Bar @ 8.30pm
Free Entry
Meg Sentance performs at the Cellar Bar tonight. Meg is an incredibly versatile singer, and they promise you won’t be disappointed!
Sunday 22 April 2023
The Higgins Bedford @ 2pm – 4pm
Free drop-in (children must be accompanied by an adult)
Join in monthly creative activities for families to enjoy together.
Explore the amazing art and fascinating artefacts on display around the building, then use your imagination and a range of media and materials to get arty.
Sunday 22 January 2023
Live Music: Open Mic Night
The Cellar Bar @ 7.30pm
Free Entry
Mat Roberts hosts Open Mic nights at The Cellar Bar, so you know you’re in safe hands – and he might even be persuaded to do some gigging himself.
The Cellar Bar was made for nights like this, an opportunity for new and experienced performers to get up on stage and perform. So whether you think you are the next Tom Grennan or just want a good night of entertainment, The Cellar Bar every Sunday night is the place to be.
Until April 2023
Art and culture: Changing Times: A century of modern British art
The Higgins Bedford
Free entry
Some of the most well-loved British artists of the 20th and 21st centuries feature in a new exhibition at the Higgins Bedford on Castle Lane this autumn.
From Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden and Paul Nash to Elisabeth Frink, David Hockney and Lucian Freud, the exhibition brings together some of the biggest names in British art, and explores its history since the 20th century.
Changing Times: A Century of Modern British Art is the first large-scale exhibition since the post-pandemic reopening of The Higgins Bedford.
Read more: David Hockney and Lucian Freud shine in new Higgins autumn exhibition
Theatre highlights by Paula Walker
