What's On This Week

Theatre: John Peel's Shed

In 2002, John Osborne won a competition on John Peel's Radio One show. His prize was a box of records that took eight years to listen to. John Peel’s Shed is an ode to radio, those records and anyone who's ever sought solace in the wireless with a script edited by Joe Dunthorne (writer of the novel Submarine).

Follwing a five-star, complete sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last year, John Osborne's debut storytelling hour partly adapted from his acclaimed book Radio Head (Radio 4's Book Of The Week) comes to  Rosehill as part of a nation wide tour.

"Shy and awkward but with a keen eye for a killer line and the significance of the trivia of daily life, Osborne sits somewhere between Tom Wrigglesworth and Daniel Kitson, which a very good place to sit. I could have listened for hours" – 
***** The Independent

"Beautifully-written, funny and poignant... Just as John Peel's records changed his life this lovely, simple, beautifully executed show has enriched ours"
***** The Scotsman

"One of the Top Ten Theatre Highlights of the Edinburgh Festival... Funny, perceptive and charming"
**** The Daily Telegraph

"One of the loveliest things you'll see all year"
**** The Herald

"Genius... A comic highlight"
The Guardian

"I heartily recommend John Peel's Shed. It is a gentle tale of one man's passion for obscure music and the radio which has been compared to the work of Daniel Kitson"
Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard

"John Osborne captures the intimacy of the medium, the startling human connections and priceless stories. Its an uplifting if occasionally twee story that makes a classic, nostalgic fringe piece"
Total Theatre

Music: The Houghton Weavers & The Tannahill Weavers

Appearing together for the first time, with an exciting exploration of British folk music are the Houghton Weavers and the Tannahill Weavers. 

The Houghton Weavers are a Lancashire band who bring a fine blend of comedy and contemporary and traditional folk music to the table. Noted for their popular television series 'Sit thi Deawn', along with a popular national Radio 2 series. They ensure a toe tapping sing along experience that will take you on a nostalgic trip down memory lane. 

The Tannahill Weavers are one of Scotland's premier traditional bands, Their diverse repertoire spans the centuries with fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, and original ballads and lullabies. Their music demonstrates to old and young alike the rich and varied musical heritage of the Celtic people. 

Talks: Oliver Messel exhibition talks

The Beacon and Rosehill are presenting an exhibition of the highly acclaimed Stage Designer Oliver Messel at the Beacon Museum in Whitehaven from 11 February-25 March 2012 which will open with a series of talks on Saturday 11 February.

England's most celebrated theatrical designer was without doubt Oliver Messel, a world in which he was pre-eminent throughout most of the 20th Century. His talents extended beyond the theatre and encompassed painting, film, interior design and architecture, all of which were inspired with his own enchanting vision of beauty, romance, wit and fun.

His stage career started with the great impresario of ballet, Serge Diaghilev in 1925, and his 1946 designs for The Sleeping Beauty are universally regarded as the iconic high point of that ballet's history. His stage and film career was widely celebrated both sides of the Atlantic, with award winning stage productions like The House of Flowers in the USA and films such as Suddenly Last Summer, starring Katherine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor.

His design for opera at Covent Garden and at Glyndebourne in the 1950's brought him into contact with Sir Nicholas Sekers, for whom he created the Coronation Silk collection in 1953. Messel extensively used Sekers Silks for costumes and for interior decoration. The "silk lined jewel box" of Rosehill, designed by Messel for Sekers, is one of the few remaining extant examples of his work in the UK and is much loved.

From 1966 until his death in 1978, Messel lived on Barbados where he went on to be a distinguished architect.

This exhibition at the Beacon follows the publication by Rizzoli of New York of a definitive book on Oliver Messel's work, and the talks on Saturday 11 February at the Beacon will be given by its editor, Thomas Messel (Oliver Messel's nephew) and his colleagues:

Thomas Messel 10.30am to 11am

Jeremy Musson (Architecture and Historian) 11am to 12.45pm

LUNCH

Keith Lodwick (Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum) 1.45pm to 2.45pm

Sarah Woodcock (Costume Historian) 3.00pm to 4.00pm

Tickets available from the Beacon on 01946 592302.