what’s on


BBC PROMS AT ABERYSTWYTH: GESUALDO SIX


Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Sun 30 July Tickets: £15. Info: aberystwythartscentre. co.uk. Early afternoon performance (a 2pm start to be exact) from a sextet who specialise in madrigals: early-17th century composers Thomas Weelkes and Orlando Gibbons feature in the programme alongside Ligeti, Monteverdi and several more. Owain Park is on conducting duties.


young boy of her acquaintance. It’s also at the Welfare, Ystradgynlais on Mon 14 Aug.


HORRIBLE HISTORIES: TERRIBLE TUDORS


Pembroke Castle, Sun 2 July Tickets: £18/£15. Info: pembrokecastle. co.uk. Two shows (at 2pm and 6pm) for this enduring onstage adaption of the Terry Deary books which made various bits of history more entertaining and young person- friendly. Pembroke Castle rather shrewdly point out that the Tudor dynasty began within their very walls, when Henry VII was born there in 1457.


stage FIREMAN SAM SAVES THE CIRCUS


New Theatre, Cardiff, Sun 2 July; Theatr Clwyd, Mold, Wed 2 Aug Tickets: £15.50-£20.50. Info: newtheatrecardiff.co.uk / theatrclwyd.com. Common innuendos about the conduct of Valleys emergency worker Fireman Sam – it’s been observed that, in a town this small, infernos break out in his presence with suspicious frequency – will not be quelled by his latest escapade, where he joins the circus in Pontypandy before reckoning with an electrical fire and an escaped tiger…


ONE ACT OPERAS Robin Hood HENRY HOUSE: BOUNCEBACK


Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham, Sat 1 July Tickets: £10. Info: typawb.wales. This is a variety night aiming to raise funds for the production of a pilot episode of Henry House, a comedy drama set in a Wrexham care home. Basically Peter Purves was in it, then got injured and couldn’t finish recording his scenes, so they need to be redone. NB this show is giving acting opportunities to local youth actors with disabilities, so amounts to a good cause.


ROBIN HOOD


Wepre Park, Connah’s Quay, Sat 1 July Tickets: £8-£16. Info: illyriatourdates. co.uk. Top-rated family theatre company Illyria’s first Welsh date of July is up north for a show based on ancient ballads about Robin Hood, and I don’t mean (Everything I Do) I Do It For You by Bryan Adams. Bit of cutting-edge humour for you there. This show promises songs, comedy and an archery contest, and is aimed at ages five and up.


HÄNSEL UND GRETEL


Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama, Cardiff, Sat 1-Wed 5 July Tickets: £11-£22. Info: rwcmd.ac.uk. Engelbert Humperdinck, who I reluctantly have to mention is the 19th-century German composer rather than the 1960s pop singer who appropriated his name, adapted this Grimm fairy tale in operatic form, 130 years ago. Students at the RWCMD’s David Seligman Opera School adapt it in turn here, while still singing in the original language.


FIRST THREE DROPS


Galeri, Caernarfon, Sat 1 July; Theatr Felinfach, Dyffryn Aeron, Fri 28 July; Theatr Soar, Merthyr Tydfil, Sat 29 July; National Museum, Cardiff, Mon 31 July + Tue 1 Aug Tickets: £8/£6. Info: takingflighttheatre. org.uk. This touring production by Cardiff- based Taking Flight, who produce physical theatre with a cast made up primarily of Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent and non- disabled performers, is about a witch who unwisely entrusts the stirring of potion to a


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Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama, Cardiff, Tue 4 + Wed 5 July Tickets: £10-£12. Info: rwcmd.ac.uk. More Teutonic operatic delight from the students at the David Seligman School, as the RWCMD summer term draws to a close. This one’s a double bill of Handel’s The Choice Of Hercules and Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor; it’s on in the evening on Tue 4 July, afternoon on Wed 5.


LEILA NAVABI


Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Wed 5 + Thurs 6 July Tickets: £15. Info: wmc.org.uk. South Wales standup comedian who’s been getting noticed in the right places over recent months, it seems; her debut show proper, Composition (about “artistically exploiting marginalised identities for social gain” in her words), is at the Edinburgh Fringe next month, and gets a trial run in the WMC’s Cabaret room first.


so I am still going to point out that as rodeos do in fact have health and safety measures, this is saying that political correctness is an essential component of live comedy.


JOSH ELTON


Globetrotters, Pontypridd, Fri 7 July Tickets: £6. Info: facebook.com/globesbar. Another July preview of a standup show braving Edinburgh in August, the Swansea- born, Cardiff-based Elton’s work-in- progress set is titled Mountain Jew and has flyer artwork featuring a modified version of the similarly named drink’s logo. It relates, one understands, to his identity, lest you think it’s some sort of edgelord thing.


THE TIKTOK SHOW The TikTok Show


Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Fri 7 July Tickets: £15. Info: wmc.org.uk. Whether you think TikTok is encoded using the numerology of Satan himself, or you are a person born this side of 2000, the fact remains it’s a performers’ platform creating a host of stars right now. One example of such, cabaret type from London Bailey J Mills, is here with Welsh TikTokers Ellis Lloyd Jones and Jordropper.


‘SNEB YN BESCO DAM


Pontio, Bangor, Wed 5 + Thurs 6 July Tickets: £12/£7. Info: pontio.co.uk. A musical aimed at a youth audience which is based around the songs of Edward H Dafis, Welsh-language folk-rocker from the 1970s. I had no idea his music was that popular with the kids of today, but there we are! ‘Sneb Yn Besco Dam’s lead character Lisa wishes to gain worldly life experience, and her efforts form the bedrock of the storyline here.


JIMMY CARR


St David’s Hall, Cardiff, Thurs 6 July Tickets: £35.50. Info: stdavidshallcardiff. co.uk. On account of still touring his Terribly Funny show, Carr is still using the line “political correctness at a comedy show is like having health and safety at a rodeo,”


DANCE DAYS


Various locations, Swansea, Sat 8 + Sun 9 July


Admission: FREE. Info: taliesinartscentre. co.uk. This annual outdoorsy event, in its


THE CONJUROR OF CWRTYCADNO


Pontio, Bangor, Sat 8 July Tickets: £7.50/£6.50. Info: takingflighttheatre.org.uk. Taking Flight Theatre once more, with an accessible and interactive family theatre show in which a young woman discovers a book of incantations – written by an ancestor of hers – in a library. Naturally, her reaction is incautious enough to cause a heap of magickal trouble which spectators are called upon to help put right.


Leila Navabi


JACK WHITEHALL


Cardiff International Arena, Tue 4, Sun 9 + Mon 10 July; Venue Cymru, Llandudno, Tue 11 Tickets: from £25 (Cardiff); £38 (Llandudno). Info: cardiffinternationalarena.co.uk / venuecymru.co.uk. Five shows in total across these two venues – Tue 11 July will see a brace of sets from Jack Whitehall, at 6.30 and 9pm – from one of the UK’s more firmly established ‘arena comics’. This show is titled Settle Down, on account of Whitehall having recently grown into a relatively functioning adult, or so he claims.


PATRICK MONAHAN


Tiny Rebel Cardiff, Wed 5 July Tickets: £12.50. Info: twitter.com/ rebelx2comedy. Headlining July’s edition of this bar’s monthly comedy night Rebel Rebel, Patrick Monahan styles himself as an Irish-Iranian comedian from Teesside and living in London, which sounds like a decent springboard material-wise. Support comes from Capriella Monique, Josh Kingsford, Andrew Rutledge and MC Steffan Evans.


CARDIFF OPEN AIR THEATRE FESTIVAL Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, until Sat 29 July Tickets: £12-£20. Info: cardiffopenairtheatrefestival.co.uk


Having opened in late June with a spin on the Addams Family musical, Everyman Theatre continue their annual al fresco run through nearly all of July. Calendar Girls is on from Thurs 6 until Sat 15 July (matinee and evening shows on Sat 8 and Sat 15; no performance on Sun 9), with the first of two Shakespeare adaptions, Macbeth, on Sun 9 and Sun 23. The second, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, runs from Thurs 20-Sat 29 July (matinee and evening shows on Sat 22 and Sat 29; no performance on Sun 23), and to conclude 2023’s offerings there’s also a family show, Matilda Jr, on twice a day from Sat 22-Sat 29 July (no performances on Mon 24).


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