Stirling Entertainments: 10th – 16th Nov

Swan Lake – Albert Halls, 12^th November

The Rudolf Nureyev Russian State Ballet Academy will be appearing at the Albert Halls on Friday night with their production of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake”.

Swan Lake is the story of a Prince and two girls, Odette and Odile, who are so similar in appearance that they are easily mistaken for each other.  Prince Seigfried has just come of age and his mother has told him it’s time to choose a wife, which he’ll have to do at a lavish party.  The night before, he and his friends go hunting and just as he’s about to shoot a swan, it transforms into a beautiful woman named Odette.  She explains that she’s been cursed to be a swan by day and a woman by night, with the only hope of a release being marriage.  The Prince falls in love and vows to help.  At the party the next night, Odile appears and the Prince is so convinced it’s Odette that he proposes.  I’m not going to give away the rest of the plot in case you’ve not seen the show, but by the final curtain you’ll either love it or be thoroughly depressed.

The Ballet Academy is named after the legendary dancer who was the permanent partner of Margot Fonteyn and arguably one of the best dancers of the twentieth century.  His legacy lives on in the academy, which trains some of the best dancers in the world.

“Swan Lake” is considered by many to be the greatest ballet of all time and, with exceptional choreography and elegant dancers, this should be an excellent night out.

Tickets, priced £17.50, are available from the box office on 01786 473544.  The show starts at 7.30pm.

Let’s Hang On – Albert halls, 13^th November

The music of Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons is currently wowing audiences in the West End of London, but its not the only show telling the story of the band.  “Let’s Hang On” is another and it’s coming to the Albert Halls on Saturday night (13^th).

The show promises the full story of the blue collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks who wrote their own songs, invented their own sound and took the world by storm all before they were thirty years old.

In the first part of the show you’ll be taken back to the early fifties, when Frankie first joined the group along with Bob Gaudio, still recognised today as one of the greatest song writers of all time.  The singers will also attempt something rarely seen in a tribute show:  they’re going to recreate the accapella singing that The Four Seasons are so famous for.

In the second part of the show, it’s simply party time with all of the hits from the seventies that filled the disco dancefloors of the time, including Dec 63, Grease, You Loves You and more.

It sounds like a fun show.  Tickets, priced £16, are available from the box office on 01786 473544.

New Films – MacRobert Cinema (12^th – 16^th Nov)

This week at the MacRobert cinema you can see “Made IN Dagenham”, “Warren Miller’s Wintervention”, “Despicable Me”, and “Skeletons”.

“Made In Dagenham” is directed by “Calendar Girls” Nigel Cole and has an all star British cast including Bob Hoskins.  Sally Hawkins is Rita O’Grady, a worker at the Ford Dagenham plant in 1968.  When she and her female coworkers are reclassified as “unskilled”, it’s the final straw for the women who work in extremely impoverished conditions for long, arduous hours with little pay.  With humour, common sense and courage, the women take on their bosses, the community and finally the government and their efforts led to the advent of the Equal Pay Act.

Warren Miller’s Wintervention is more than just a film, its part of a roadshow showcasing the best snowboarding and skiing places in the world and some of the top sportsmen who use them.  From Argentina to Antarctica, the skiers and snowboarders travel the world looking for the last untouched descents in the world.  The MacRobert’s Markus Stitz says, “far more than just a regular screening, Warren Miller’s 61^st nationwide ski and snowboard road show will give every filmgoer who attends a free goodie bad and a place in a draw to win prizes ranging from ski jackets to rucksacks.

“Despicable Me” is an animated adventure about Gru, a man planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He’s going to steal the moon.  Armed with an arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays and battle ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way.  Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has eve seen, a potential dad.

“Skeletons” won the “Best British Film” award at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival.  It’s a dark comedy about two exorcists who literally remove the skeletons from the cupboards of people’s homes and come across some fairly embarrassing secrets along the way.

For more information on films showing at the MacRobert, contact the box office on 01786 466666.

Stirling Observer Entertainments 3rd – 9th Nov

For ten years Chris Kane has kept readers of his local newspaper, the Stirling Observer, up to date with what’s happening in theatre, films, music and more across the city.  Published in the paper on Wednesday, you’ll get a sneak preview of the column every Monday from 3pm here on the Bee Herd website.

John Etheridge

On Saturday night the Tolbooth welcomes one of the world’s most respected guitarists to the stage.  John Etheridge promise an evening of uplifting blues, jazz, rock and folk with a helping of African grooves thrown in for good measures.

John was the guitarist for the celebrated jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli and has also performed with the likes of Soft Machine, Pat Metheny, Andy Summers, Nigel Kennedy and John Williams.

He’ll be joined on stage by Kit Holmes, a musician once described as “Macy Gray meets Nick Drake”.  Her trademark sultry vocals and virtuoso guitar playing have wowed audiences across the UK.

The event will be preceded by a guitar workshop where John and Kit will be giving a masterclass in their techniques.  It’s a workshop that will suit beginners right through to more experienced guitar players;  as long as you are older than ten, John and Kit would love to see you there.

Tickets for the show are £12 each (and £8 for the workshop).  For more information, contact the box office on 01786 274000.

Norma and Eliza

Mother and daughter folk duo Norma Waterson and Eliza Carthy will be stopping off at the Tolbooth next Tuesday night (9^th Nov).

With their rich, distinctive and authentic voices, Norma and Eliza have effortlessly engaged new audiences and admirers across two generations.  Between them, they have three Mercury Prize nominations and have both been presented with BBC Folk Singer of the year award;  Norma in 2001, Eliza in 2003.

Although they have recorded together on many occasions over the years, one has always been a guest on the other’s solo albums.  This time they are touring to promote their first joint album, “the Gift”.  They’ll be performing tracks from the album alongside a six piece band which includes Martin Carthy, and the Tolbooth gig is their only Scottish appearance on their current tour.

The Tolbooth’s Eddie White says, “they will be performing traditional classics as well as some unexpected gems.  Norma and Eliza bring all these songs to life, no matter what the origin, with their wonderfully versatile and compassionate voices.

Prior to the gig Norma and Eliza will be giving a talk about making their new CD, working as mother and daughter, their family’s own traditions and the wider music traditions which influence their work.

Tickets for the show, priced £14, are available from the box office on 01786 274000.

Baby Loves Disco

This Sunday (7^th), parents and toddlers will have another chance to take part in the baby nightclub experience that’s taking the country by storm.  “Baby Loves Disco” has developed a huge reputation since its founders took the concept onto the television show Dragon’s Den, convinced the dragons that is was a great business idea and then turned down the investment that was offered.

Imagine a proper adult nightclub experience.  Now take away the alcohol, move it to the afternoon and keep the DJ but tone down the playlist.  Now here’s the scary bit for those without children;  fill the dancefloor with dozens and dozens of pre-school kids all running about screaming and having fun.  Imagine Fat Boy Slim at the toddler group.

Then add in bubble machines, baskets of instruments, a chill out room with tents, books and puzzles and a full spread of healthy snacks.  Hell for some, but for parents and toddlers, a really good afternoon out.

The MacRobert’s Markus Stitz says, “for this particular event, Baby Loves Disco has teamed up with charity “Tommy’s” and are asking all junior groovers to take part in a national dance-athon to help raise money for Tommy’s vital research into pregnancy complications.  As young ones take to the floor, judges will be looking on to make the tricky decision of who should go through to the final selection.  The overall winner decided on by a panel of judges from Baby Lvoes Disco, Tommy’s and Practical Parenting magazine will be crowned Britain’s Best Little Dance and win a family weekend break as well.”

To book tickets, then contact the MacRobert Theatre on 01786 466666.  The event starts at 1pm.

New Films

This week at the MacRobert cinema you can see “the Illusionist”, “Tamara Drewe”, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, “Alpha and Omega” and “Samson and Delilah”.

“The Illusionist” is the animated adventure that opened this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival to critical acclaim.  It’s an old-style, hand drawn animation that brings to life scenes from Scotland in the 1950s.  A semi silent movie, with rudimentary mumbled fragments of dialogue, it tells the story of an old fashioned variety act conjuror who travels all the way from France to Scotland and teams up with a country girl to perform magic.  However, when he gets to Edinburgh, the illusionist becomes disillusioned, but manages to perform an true act of human magic.  The film is showing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“Tamara Drewe” is the latest movie from Steven Frears.  The title character is a young lady who arrives back at the village of her youth and turns the lives of the locals upside down. Tamara was once an ugly duckling but has been transformed into a devastating beauty.  As infatuations, jealousies, love affairs and career ambitions collide among the villagers, Tamara sets out getting her own way using a bit of good old fashioned sex appeal.  The film is showing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is a live action adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s illustrated novel about a wise cracking sixth grade student who hates being at school.  It’s a place rigged with hundreds of social landmines, not the least of which are morons, wedgies, swirlies, bullies and lunch trays that are always swiped onto the floor.  To survive the never ending ordeal and try to get the recognition and status he feels he deserves, Greg devises a series of plots to make himself popular, with all of them failing miserably.  The film is showing on Saturday and Sunday.

For families on Monday and Tuesday you can see animated adventure “Alpha and Omega”.  It’s the story of two mismatched wolves who are thrown together when they are taken by park rangers from their home in Canada and relocated to Idaho.  A race against time ensues to ensure Kate gets back home in timer for her arranged marriage to Garth, an alpha wolf from a rival pack, to maintain peaces between all the wolves.

Also on Monday and Tuesday is “Samson and Deliah”, a love story with a difference.  It deals with life on a remote Australian community and the ways in which one young couple try to escape from their mundane existence.  When tragedy strikes their isolated Aboriginal community, they turn their backs on home and embark on a journey of survival. Lost and unwanted and alone, they discover that life isn’t always fair, but love never judges.

For more information on films showing at the MacRobert, contact the box office on 01786 466666.

For information on films showing at the Vue cinema, log onto www.myvue.com