What’s on Bedford: 9 – 19 March 2023

Exhibition: Illustrate featuring David Litchfield, Katie Allen, Marisa Straccia and Todd Robinson
Goldington Academy Art Centre, Haylands Way @ 5pm – 7.30pm
Free entry

We are excited to be hosting ‘Illustrate’, an exhibition composing of four very talented, local artists, on Thursday, 9 March.

Come along to the Arts Centre anytime between 5.00 pm – 7.30 pm for a viewing of spectacular work on display in our exhibition space by David Litchfield, Todd Robinson, Marisa Straccia and Katie Allen.

Read:Bedford artists in the spotlight at “Illustrate” exhibition at Goldington Academy

This is a great opportunity for the local community to gather for an evening of art, meeting the artists and of course for children to experience the arts. The exhibition can be accessed through the side entrance of the school on Haylands Way, following signage.

Thursday 9 March 2023

Quiz: Esquires’ monthly music quiz
Bedford Esquires @ 8.30pm
Teams of up to six people £2/person

Thursday 9 March 2023

Theatre: NTLive – The Seagull
The Quarry Theatre @ 7pm
Tickets: from £12

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.

Thursday 9 March 2023

Live music: Dub War + guests
Bedford Esquires @ 7.30pm
Tickets: £20

Originally formed in 1993 in Newport, Wales, DUB WAR were a band that tore into the atmosphere with a unique, head- turning fusion of rock, punk, hip-hop and reggae dub – efforts which, in 2020, Metal Hammer declared as ‘tiresomely overlooked’ and alike to the genius of Rage Against The Machine and Faith No More.

Since then, frontman Benji Webbe has worked his revolutionary ways within the folds of the legendary Welsh metalband Skindred.

Theatre: Hidden Stories: Now You See Me and Darlint Peidi
The Place Theatre @ 7.30pm
Tickets: from £10

Hidden Stories is a double bill of exciting and empowering new one-act plays by female playwrights, directors, and performers, exploring little-told and unseen stories.

Now You See Me by Carly Halse is “hidden story” of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in England.

Darlint Peidi by Rosemary Hill tells the story of Edith Thompson who was executed in 1923 alongside her young lover Frederick Bywaters.  Was she executed for adultery rather than murder, a victim of the social climate of the time? If she had lived through the swinging sixties would society have judged her differently?

Friday 10 March 2023

Theatre: Sold
The Quarry Theatre @7.30pm
Tickets: from £12

When one woman tells of her extraordinary journey to overcome the brutality of slavery, she becomes a beacon for the British anti-slavery movement.

Born into slavery in the British colony of Bermuda, Mary Prince went on to become an auto-biographer and champion of freedom. Her book had an electrifying effect on the abolitionist movement helping to free many Africans in bondage.

Through theatre, song, music, drumming and dance, this masterpiece of Black British theatre is inspired by the storytelling traditions of the West African griot.

Age Suitability: 11+ (there are descriptions of beatings and punishments and a visual image of a noose on set).

Friday 10 March 2023

Live music: Funke and the Two-Tone Baby
Bedford Esquires @ 8pm
Tickets: £10

Friday 10 March 2023

Dance music: International Women’s Day Weekender feat Jamz Supernova
Herd, St Cuthbert’s Street @ 8pm – 3am
Tickets: £10

As part of Herd’s International Women’s day Weekender they will be kicking things off in fine style with an all female line up of super talented Dj’s headlined by the one and only Jamz Supernova.

Jamz has graced the stages at Sonar, Parklife, Glastonbury, Detonate, Outlook, Kala, Lovebox, Beat Herder, Lost Village, We Out Here, Lost & Found, Warehouse Project and is no stranger to the European circuit with regular slots away including Berlin, Lisbon, Copenhagen, Budapest, Barcelona, Porto, Paris, Amsterdam and Oslo.

Jamz is a tastemaker and her melting pot of club sounds can be heard on her weekly Saturday daytime BBC 6MUSIC show.

Friday 10 March 2023

Live music: LTJ Bukem + Ruthless MC
Bedford Esquires @ 10pm
Tickets: £15

Saturday 11 March 2023

Drawing: Beds Urban Sketchers present Saturday Sketchcrawl
St Cuthbert’s Street @ 10.30am (meet outside Woodfines Solicitors)
Free to attend

Saturday 11 March 2023

Live music: Saturday organ recital
St Paul’s church, St Paul’s Square @ 1pm
Free entry with retiring collection (suggested donation £5)

Featuring Dr Anthony Gritten (Royal Academy of Music).

Saturday 11 March 2023

Science: Bedford Science Lab 2023
The Higgins Bedford / John Bunyan Museum / The Panacea Museum @ all day
Free entry (some events are bookable, so visit the Higgins website for information)

Science Labs are back in Bedford to celebrate STEM during British Science Week. Head to the Higgins, the Panacea Museum and the John Bunyan Museum for a wealth of hands-on activities, workshops and demonstrations bringing science to life.

Saturday 11 March 2023

Children: The Bubble Show
The Quarry Theatre @ 2pm
Tickets: from £11

Join Mr. Bubbles with his extraordinary soap bubbles in all shapes and sizes!  The Bubble Show uniquely combines magic, storytelling, and bubble art! Enjoy bouncy bubbles, bubbles inside bubbles, smoke bubbles, square bubbles, giant bubbles, and even fire bubbles!

Actor, storyteller, and Guinness World Record holder, The Highland Joker, is one of the top bubble artists in the world, bringing you an interactive, fun, international award-winning bubble extravaganza!
Age guidance: 3-12 years.

Saturday 11 March 2023

Dance music: International Women’s Weekender
Herd, St Cuthbert’s Street @ 4pm onwards
Free entry

Herd’s International Women’s Day weekender continues with an all female DJ takeover from 4pm til late.

Saturday 11 March 2023

Live music: The 2 Tones Ska Band
Bedford Esquires @ 7pm
Tickets: £12

Live Music: Sophia Soul
The Cellar Bar @ 8.00pm
Free entry

Modern-day Diva SophiaSOUL has had an outstanding career in live vocals spanning over 14 years. Having previously been the frontwoman for several successful groups and bands, she’s currently taking the UK by storm venturing into her solo career.

Sunday 12 March 2023

Live music: PVA
Bedford Esquires @ 7.30pm
Tickets: £10

Live Music: Open Mic Night
The Cellar Bar @ 7.30pm
Free Entry

Mat Roberts hosts Open Mic Night at the Cellar Bar. An opportunity for new and experienced performers to get up on stage and perform.

Monday 13 March 2023

Film: Bedford Film Society presents – Brian & Charles
Main Theatre, University of Bedfordshire, Polhilll Avenue @ 7.30pm
Tickets: Special offer half-season membership £35/day membership £5/free parking

Meet Brian, a lonely, luckless inventor who takes on his most ambitious project yet. Enter Charles, Brian’s extraordinary masterpiece – an artificially intelligent robot made from odds and ends, including an old washing machine, who has an inexplicable obsession with cabbages.

Together, Brian and Charles is a heartwarming and entertaining tale about friendship, family, finding love, and letting go.

Tuesday 14 March 2023

Live music: Tuesday lunchtime concert
St Paul’s church, St Paul’s Square @ 1pm
Free entry with retiring collection (suggested donation £5)

Featuring soprano Annabel Astridge who has performed with Bedfordshire Youth Opera.

Community Theatre: Handbagged
The Place Theatre @ 7.30pm
Tickets: from £10

The monarch – Liz.
Her most powerful subject – Maggie.

One believed there was no such thing as society. The other had vowed to serve it.
Opening the clasp on the antipathy between two giants of the twentieth century, Moira Buffini’s play Handbagged imagines what the world’s most powerful women, Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth II, talked about behind closed palace doors.

Wednesday 15 March 2023

Film: Cinema @ 3 St Peter’s presents – Separation
3 St Peter’s Street @ 7pm
Tickets: £12/£10.50/£9/£6

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and also a nominee for Asghar Farhadi’s triumphant and remarkably authentic screenplay, the Iranian film A Separation is one of the best family dramas in years in any language.

Nader and Simin, a married couple, live in Iran with their daughter Termeh. Simin wants to move out of the country, but Nader is reluctant to do so as he wants to take care of his ailing father.

Wednesday 15 March 2023

Classical music: Bedford School Spring Chamber Concert
Bedford School, Music School Recital Hall @ 6.30pm
Free admission

Bedford School’s wide-ranging chamber groups come together for a varied evening of more intimate instrumental and choral music. Ensembles will include piano trios and string quartets as well as the Guitar Ensemble, New Jazz Collective, and the Consort Choir, amongst others.

Wednesday 15 March 2023

Over 18s: Karaoke and Boozy Bingo with Fanny Burns (Drag Queen)
The Cellar Bar @ 8.00pm
Free entry

Fanny Burns is back in Bedford in her new home at The Cellar Bar and she will be hosting a night of Karaoke with a twist and of course Prize Bingo.

This show contains adult humor and swearing and is strictly an over 18’s event.

Thursday 16 March 2023

Thursday 16 March 2023, 7.45pm

Theatre/Science: Eugene
The Quarry Theatre @ 7.30pm
Tickets: from £12

In the not-too-distant future, millionaire and inventor (think Elon Musk with a further attitude problem) ‘Hugh’ from Hu-Bris industries is launching the first superhuman artificial intelligence at a press conference. And you’re invited.

‘Eugene’ is a show about what happens when we give technology the power over us, with an anthropomorphic power point. Think The Terminator does a Ted Talk with Steve Jobs.

A comedy theatre show with integrated captioning via The Difference Engine, delivering part of the story through your smart device and meaning that every performance is accessible to deaf/hard of hearing people.

Programmed as part of British Science Week

Comedy: Zoe Lyons: Bald Ambition Tour
The Quarry Theatre @ 7.30pm
Tickets: £16

Zoe Lyons has kept herself busy in the last couple of years by having what can best be described as a monumental midlife crisis.

Read our interview with her here.

It involved buying a sports car, having a brief marital separation and running a 100k ultra marathon which really didn’t end well. Along the way her hair decided the best thing to do was abandon ship. It ain’t easy being a middle-aged woman: try doing it with a combover.

Thankfully Zoe has been able to explore the funny side of all these twists and turns.

It’s time to sell the silly car and try and put the wheels back on her life.

Saturday 18 March 2023

Live Music: Last Laugh Lane
The Cellar Bar @ 8.30pm
Free Entry

Last Laugh Lane make their debut at The Cellar Bar.

Classic throwback indie anthems of the 2000’s including The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, Kings of Leon and much more.

Dance music: Hold Down Boss Reggae Club
Dom Polski @ 7pm
Tickets: £6

Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 March 2023

Food & drink: Mixology Masterclass
The Cellar Bar @ 3.00pm
£30 per person

The Cellar Bar’s resident mixologist Marley will explain how to create some outstanding cocktails for your tasting enjoyment. Then, it’s your turn to put what you’ve learned into practice by making (and drinking) three cocktails.

Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 3pm to 5pm. Book online at thecellarbarbedford.co.uk.

To mark International Women’s Day, Herd on St Cuthberts Street has invited local female artists and photographers to display their work within the restaurant throughout the month.

Until April 2023