22 things to do in Bristol this week, February 12-18 2024

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Monday-Sunday: Turning Red, Watershed
Screening for Half Term, Disney Pixar’s Turning Red comes to Watershed for the very first time. Mei Lee is a confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between being her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos that comes with adolescence. And as if changes to her interests, relationships and body weren’t enough, whenever she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS), she “poofs” into a giant red panda!

Monday: Deaf conversations about cinema: Your Fat Friend, Watershed
Part of Watershed’s inclusive film screenings series for the visually impaired comes the documentary detailing the rise of writer and activist Aubrey Gordon as she becomes known for her writing, examining the way we perceive weight. The film will be fully BSL interpreted, and will be followed by a discussion about the topics involved.

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Monday-Sunday: Victorian flower crafting, SS Great Britain
Unleash your inner botanist at Brunel’s SS Great Britain this half term. For children of all ages and their families, you can make your very own Victorian inspired paper flower or beautiful pressed flower bookmark to take home. The activity is free with admission.

Victorian Flower Crafting – photo: SS Great Britain

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Monday-Thursday: The Iron Claw, Watershed
Kevin (Zac Efron), Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), David (Harris Dickinson) and Mike (Stanley Simons) are the inseparable Von Erich brothers – a family of wrestlers in the late 1970s and 1980s who were going to obey the will of their father, even if it killed them.

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Monday-Saturday: Black is the color of my voice, Bristol Old Vic
Inspired by the life of Nina Simone, and featuring many of her most iconic songs performed live, Black is the Color of my Voice is “nothing short of sensational” (★★★★★ Broadway Baby). The show has toured the UK to standing ovations and played sell-out seasons worldwide.

Black is the color of my voice – photo: Bristol Old Vic

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Monday: Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Bristol Beacon
Four masterpieces of the French repertoire are here presented alongside Rachmaninov’s impossibly romantic piano concerto. Berlioz’s vibrant Roman Carnival Overture is a colourful symphonic firework, based on material Berlioz had written for an earlier, ill-fated opera. It includes a folk dance from the opera’s second act featuring a carnival scene in Rome’s Piazza Colonna. One of the world’s greatest pianists, Nikolai Lugansky, performs Rachmaninov’s enduringly popular second piano concerto. Brooding, emotional, and passionate, the concerto was ecstatically received at its premiere in 1901 and has been a staple of the piano repertoire ever since. Ravel’s serene Mother Goose Suite and his dramatic evocation of the waltz, La Valse, round off this concert along with Franck’s symphonic poem evoking the dark, fantastic atmosphere of an infernal chase.

Strasbourg Philarmonic Orchestra – photo: Bristol Beacon

Tuesday: CIEL + Night Swimming, The Louisiana
With their three members hailing from Spain, the Netherlands and the UK respectively, the Brighton born indie rock trio intertwines soundscapes from the three European countries into their work. Off the back of an international tour and two new EPs in 2023, they head to The Louisiana for an intimate show.

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Tuesday: Exciting Science, Redgrave Theatre
This brand new, exciting and educational show will amaze & astound all ages from 4 years and upwards, as we put the ‘Exciting’ back into Science. With fun and fact filled experiments, watch in amazement as we recreate a volcanic eruption; turn a vacuum cleaner into a missile launcher or take aim at you with our smoke blaster!

Exciting Science – photo: Redgrave Theatre

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Wednesday-Saturday: The Farmer and The Clown, Bristol Old Vic
Adapted from the charming picture-book by author and illustrator Marla Frazee (The Boss Baby), this wordless, heartwarming show is a story of unexpected friendship told through physical comedy and dance, accompanied by an original live score. Half Term fun for ages 3+.

The Farmer and The Clown – photo: Bristol Old Vic

Wednesday: Music masterclass: Crack Magazine, Trinity Centre
The rescheduled talk sees the senior graphic designer and editor of the Bristol born counterculture magazine discuss their journeys so far, reflections on running a music magazine and time for questions from the audience. A must for anyone aspiring to enter the music/culture journalism space.

Crack magazine have hosted many masterclasses in the past – photo: Crack Magazine

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Wednesday: The Beatles: Love Songs, St George’s
The Bristol Ensemble celebrate Valentine’s Day with the ultimate Beatles special, featuring their best love songs in an hour-long concert that will give you a Valentines Night to remember! Immerse yourself in the magical atmosphere of St. George’s Bristol, bathed in the romantic glow of candlelight. It doesn’t get more romantic than this!

The Beatles by Candlelight – photo: Bristol Ensemble

Thursday: Trust no_004: Dylan Fogarty, The Crown
No_one continues their stellar run of bookings as part of the trust no_one series, where the outfit brings DJs to the city that have yet to play here. This one is perhaps the most surprising instalment yet, as Irish hardgroove/techno wizard Dylan Fogarty comes to one of Bristol’s smallest rave caves for a super intimate, super sweaty party.

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Friday: Slapstick Gala 2024 – The Gold Rush, Bristol Beacon
Immerse yourself in the comic genius of Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy and Buster Keaton at Slapstick’s screen comedy Gala. For over 20 years, Slapstick have defined themselves as a celebrated Bristol Institution, loved for their programme of screen comedy. The 2024 Gala is no exception and will feature big screen outings of three laugh-out-loud silent comedy classics, all accompanied by live music. Introducing the films and hosting the event is the award-winning actor and star of the Downton Abbey and Paddington film series, Hugh Bonneville.

Slapstick Gala – photo: Bristol Beacon

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Friday-Sunday: Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book, Redgrave Theatre
A Little Angel Theatre and Lowry Co-Production based on the original book Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book – written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Come and delve into a range of books with Charlie Cook, brought to life with puppetry and enchanting songs, and perhaps you will be able to help his sister discover the wonderful world inside a book…

Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book – photo: Redgrave Theatre

Friday: RepresentAsian 2nd birthday, Crofters Rights
The collective pushing the huge amount of undiscovered talent in the Bristol South Asian DJ community celebrates turning two years old. They return to their original stomping grounds of Crofters, and are bringing down Booty Bass’ Adeevah to top the bill with their high energy bass driven sonic journeys.

RepresentAsian 2nd birthday – photo: RepresentAsian

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Saturday-February 24: Old Vic Theatre School: A Very Expensive Poison, Circomedia
Award-winning playwright Lucy Prebble untangles the surreal and shocking events of Alexander Litvinenko’s assassination on Bristol soil. Based on Luke Harding’s novel, this rich, theatrical spy drama – seen profoundly through the eyes of Litvinenko’s grieving wife Marina – will leave you questioning where fact ends and fiction begins.

A Very Expensive Poison – photo: BOVTS

Saturday: Mini Robot Wars BBB Beetle Brawl 2024, St Michael’s Centre Stoke Gifford
This one should be an easy sell – who doesn’t want to see lots of tiny robots charging at each other trying to tear one another to tiny little pieces? If you’ve seen the legendary show, you surely know the score by now – think that, but mini.

Sunday: Intro to field recordings/Expansion workshop, Hamilton House
A workshop from Mixnights and Saffron, two organisations leading the charge in redressing the gender imbalance in the dance music industry. Go on a ‘sound walk’, finding and recording interesting sounds in the world around you, and learn how to load them into a music project and manipulate them to suit your needs.

Saffron runs a multitude of different workshops based around electronic music production and DJing, all aimed at women, trans and non-binary people – photo: Lee Kirby

And coming soon…

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February 27: The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Film and Live Orchestra, St. George’s
An epic experience that combines live orchestra with film! Watch the original Hunchback of Notre Dame film with live symphonic score from the Bristol Ensemble at St George’s Bristol.

Celebrating 100 years since the film was first released in September 1923. Flicker Alley restored and mastered this edition from a multi-tinted 16mm print struck in 1926 from the original camera negative.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame – photo: Bristol Ensemble

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March 9-16: Old Vic Theatre School: Tiger Country, Tobacco Factory Theatres
Take a glimpse inside a hospital at Christmastime: Exhausted A&E staff power through gruelling shifts, caring for patients and navigating relationships whilst management cracks the whip. Tiger Country spotlights the hectic days of NHS heroes as a witty and moving portrait of embattled frontline workers soldiering on whatever the season.

Tiger Country – photo: BOVTS

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March 9: Einaudi meets Richter by Candlelight, Trinity Henleaze URC
This will be a hypnotic evening of music performed by the Bristol Ensemble, featuring mesmerising works by Ludovico Einaudi, and Max Richter’s engagingly refreshing reimagining of Vivaldi’s ever-popular Four Seasons:

• Einaudi Divenire; Primavera; Petricor; I Giorni; Full Moon
• Max Richter: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Reimagined

Einaudi meets Richter by candlelight – photo: Henleaze Concert Society

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May 11: Blown Away, Trinity Henleaze URC
A great programme of music for wind instruments performed by players from the Bristol Ensemble:

• Mozart Serenade for Wind in C minor K.388
• Dvořák Serenade for Winds in D minor Op.44

We’ll hear the powerful and characterful C minor serenade by Mozart, a four movement work full of ingenuity, twists and turns. And also, Dvořák’s Serenade for Winds in D minor, unmistakably Czech, an homage to music-making in Czech palaces and stately homes.

Blown Away – photo: Henleaze Concert Society

Main photo: CRACK Magazine

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