FAMILIES are being invited to enjoy stage shows and live music as a rural touring theatre programme returns this autumn.
Cheshire Rural Touring Arts, a partnership between Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East councils, has launched its 2024 programme bringing shows to community venues across the county.
Cllr Lisa Denson, CWAC cabinet member for a Fairer Future said: “A new selection of theatre; music, comedy and drama for all ages is coming to a venue near you.
“Thanks to the Rural Touring Arts there is no need to travel to larger towns, these performances are in village halls, community centres and libraries. Book early to avoid disappointment.”
Events will include a dark murder mystery, spooky after supper ghost stories, Gypsy jazz and swing songs, Tibetan monks - plus much more.
Online bookings are available via cheshireruraltouringarts.co.uk/.
A full performance programme is listed below:
Devilled Eggs by Black Liver (Suitable for 12+)
B&B owners Roman and Prudence (AKA Keith & Ruth from Black Liver) offer you ‘Devilled Eggs’; tales gathered from their world of small-town hospitality and the souls who passed over their threshold.
This evening of entertainment will include songs, stories, poetry, audience participation - and a competition in the interval for good measure. Come try their ‘Devilled Eggs’ and soon you’ll feel like one of the family.
Saturday, September 21 - 7.30pm
Upton Village Hall, CH2 1HX
Sunday, September 22 - 7.30pm
1st Weaverham Sea Scout Hall, CW8 3NJ
Saturday, September 28 - 8pm
Great Budworth Parish Hall, CW9 6HL
Friday, November 29 - 7.30pm
Farndon Community Club, CH3 6NX
Saturday, November 30 - 7.30pm
Hoole Community Centre, CH2 3AP
Sunday, December 1 - 7.30pm
Gawsworth Village Hall, SK11 9QY
Wanderlust by Lara Deutsch and Adam Cicchillitti (Suitable for all)
Canadian musician, Lara Deutsch, collaborates with the guitarist Adam Cicchillitti on ‘Wanderlust’.
Through the evocative sounds of the flute and guitar, this performance immerses you in a rich tapestry of folkloric music from around the world, conjuring images of natural landscapes and historical events.
The voyage encompasses compositions by Canadian artists Jason Noble and John Armstrong, as well as renowned names like Bartok, Chopin, Piazzolla, Toru Takemitsu, and Gabriela Ortiz.
The duo resonates with the diverse flavours of these musical traditions, creating a unique and captivating experience.
Thursday, October 3 - 7.30pm
Ellesmere Port Library CH65 0BG
Friday, October 4 - 7.30pm
Train Community Centre, CH3 8LY
AFTER ALL by Selene Weinachter (Suitable for adults and 12+)
From the Rural Touring Dance Initiative comes, ‘AFTER ALL’ by Solène Weinachter.
Solène melds together comedy, storytelling and dance theatre to ask; what happens in the end?
Through a series of comedic re-enactments of the funerals of those she’s loved, as well as imagining her own, Solène celebrates our vulnerable and courageous existence. ‘AFTER ALL’ is a heartfelt exploration of the death rituals we have; the ones lost and those that need to be invented.
Friday, October 4 - 7.30pm
Theatre Porto, Ellesmere Port, CH65 6QY
Saturday, October 5 - 7.30pm
Hoole Community Centre, CH2 3AP
Kathleen Ferrier Whattalife! by Lucy Stevens, accompanied by Elizabeth Marcus (Suitable for adults and 11+)
‘Kathleen Ferrier Whattalife!’ evokes the spirit of the war and post-war years.
It follows Kathleen from her debut as a singer in 1940, through her meteoric rise, to her tragic death in 1953.
Kathleen was a Lancastrian who became a household name and her death, from cancer, came as a huge shock to the nation.
A play with music performed by Lucy Stevens with pianist Elizabeth Marcus on piano/keyboard.
Friday, October 11 - 7pm
Macclesfield Library, SK10 1EE
Saturday, October 12 - 7.30pm
Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE
Sunday, October 13 - 3pm
Neston Town Hall, CH64 9TR
The Hidden Garden by Blah Blah Blah Theatre (Suitable for 5+)
‘The Hidden Garden’, is a heart-warming show exploring food poverty, community, migration and growing as activism.
In a city full of concrete, there is a garden hidden away behind the rows of terraced housing, surrounded by a high fence. It is bursting with flowers, fruit, and vegetables. The man who lives here grows them to brighten up the grey, and to feed himself.
One day, a child accidentally discovers the garden; at first, he is not welcome, but as the seasons change, a friendship blooms.
As the man’s trust in people grows through his friendship with the child, the walls of the garden come down and the man is encouraged to take his first steps out into his local community.
Saturday, October 26 - 12pm and 2pm
Theatre Porto, Ellesmere Port, CH65 6QY
Sunday, October 27 - 12pm and 3pm
Hoole Community Centre, CH2 3AP
The Plot Thickens by Just Some Theatre (Suitable for 10+)
For the Halloween season there’s a dark murder mystery promised to bring a lot of laughs.
In ‘The Plot Thickens’ by Just Some Theatre it’s Alex’s first day on the job, but before he can even get to grips with the tea urn and stationary cupboard, he is given his first task, which proves to be absolute murder.
As secrets are revealed, alliances are tested and backs are stabbed, will his colleague Madeleine succeed in changing the narrative and escaping with her life?
Thursday, October 31 - 7.30pm
Vicars Cross Community Centre, CH3 5LP
Friday, November 1 - 7.30pm
Plumley Village Hall, WA16 0TR
Saturday, November 2 - 7.30pm
Kettleshulme Village Hall, SK23 7QU
Sunday, November 3 - 7.30pm
Kendall Community Centre, CW6 0SB
From the Roof of the World by the Tashi Lhunpo Monks (Suitable for 10+)
All the way from their exiled monastery in India, the Tashi Lhunpo Tibetan Buddhist monks perform ‘From the Roof of the World’.
The monks will share their unique culture with the outside world and present a majestic programme of traditional masked dances and sacred monastic chant, which captivated the pioneering mountaineers of Everest a century ago.
Friday, November 8 - 7.30pm
Five Villages Hall, CH1 6NT
Saturday, November 9 - 7.30pm
Neston Town Hall, CH64 9TR
Christine Tassan and the Imposteures (Suitable for adults)
For an evening of Gypsy jazz and swing songs, Christine Tassan and the Imposteures are visiting Cheshire from Canada.
The show reveals their life on tour across the world, through magnificent landscapes and delightful anecdotes.
Get ready for the ascent of the Great Wall of China, a bike ride in Stanley Park in Vancouver, crossing the Rockies in a snowstorm, or visiting Samois-sur-Seine, Django Reinhardt's village.
Wednesday, November 13 - 7.30pm
Little Sutton Library, CH66 1QQ
Thursday, November 14 - 7.30pm
Bosley St Mary the Virgin Church, SK11 ONX
Silk Street New Orleans Band (Suitable for all)
For a lively, social night of music, friends and neighbours, enjoy a performance by Silk Street New Orleans Jazz Band.
The band formed back in 2003 as a new generation of early jazz band, offering a fresh alternative to other forms of jazz entertainment.
As leading musicians in their field, they have recorded extensively for TV and Film, including programmes and commercials for the BBC and Channel 4, recording at both Abbey Road and Pinewood Studios.
Saturday, December 7 - 7.30pm
Little Budworth Jubilee Hall, CH66 1QQ
After Supper Ghost Stories by Gav Cross (Suitable for all)
Renowned local storyteller, Gav Cross, brings his festive show ‘After Supper Ghost Stories’ as “It always is Christmas Eve, in a Ghost Story…”.
The tradition of gathering together to tell ghost stories in the cold and dark of winter surely stretches back far further to when we first imagined what lurks in the dark corners of the firelight?
The Victorians, however, turned this parlour and party entertainment into an institution and expectation.
First published in 1891, Jerome K. Jerome, famed author of Three Men in a Boat, perfectly parodies this spooky and popular amusement with these comic horror stories.
A portmanteau of ghostly tales, told by an unreliable narrator and tied together with nonsense, noise and whiskey-punch… A Frosty Chiller or a Winter Warmer?
Friday, December 20 - 7.30pm
Audlem Scout and Guide Hall, CW3 0AL
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