Category: entertainment and leisure news

TWO, by Jim Cartwright’s award winning play, is coming to Thame Players theatre, in Nelson Street, Thame, from March 5-9, 2019.

Two won the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best New Play in 1990, just after its opening in Bolton in 1989. It then went straight to the Old Vic in London and so has an excellent pedigree. are working very hard to bring you the best show they can.

Between them, Andy Dale and Jude Rogers will act out 14 different characters with lots of drama, humour and a little pathos as their lives re explored through the different characters.

Tickets are available now. For Tuesday, March 5th and Wednesday, 6th, all seats are £8. For the rest of the week it is £10 with £9 concessions. Tickets are available from Spear Travels on 01844 217228 or at www.thameplayers.co.uk

DEMONS, goblins, elves, werewolves ….. and teddy bears! These and more can be found in the (musical) woods at Thame Chamber Choir’s unique concert on Saturday, March 16, at St Mary’s Church, Thame.

Myths and Legends is the title of the concert which, for the first time, features former BBC Young Musician (and choir member) Anna Markland who will play piano solos by Debussy, Rachmaninov Mussorgsky and Ginastera. Meanwhile the choir, and its children’s choir, TCC2, will contribute pieces by Ravel, Schumann, Weelkes and Whitacre, including the intriguingly-named “Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine”!

This year, 2019, is Thame Chamber Choir’s 20th anniversary season, and to celebrate this, there will be one more surprise – and another first – only to be revealed on the night! Tickets can be purchased in advance from The Book House, Thame, tel: 213032, price £10, and on the door, price £12. Under 18s are admitted free, and students for £5 (on the door only)

THIS year, once again, Towersey Festival is offering Thame residents exclusive 25% discounted tickets across the board! From as little as £35 for a day or just £112 for all four days, local people can enjoy wall to wall music, dance, song and entertainment in over 14 hours of programmed events daily, across nine venues and stages.

Headliners this year include the Ska/Two Tone legends, The Selecter, and Indie chart toppers Hot House Flowers. The number one selling Steve Harley and welcome returns for the Sea Shanty kings, Fisherman’s Friends and the world’s number one Ukulele Group The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. They are joined by some of the biggest names from the acoustic music scene such as Seth Lakemen, The Unthanks, Oysterband and Show of Hands very own Steve Knightly. Add to that some amazing contemporary acts like Beans on Toast, Will Varley, Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys, Kitty McFarlane and many more.

All this – and a Saturday night headliner is still to be announced!

The Towersey weekend, Friday 23 – Monday 26 August 2019, includes over 48hrs of Ceilidh and Dance, Hands-On Workshops, Cinema, Arts and Crafts and the amazing All About Children programme for your kids. You can see the full line up HERE

So, book now for Thame’s biggest festival of music and arts and end the summer holidays the right way on your very own doorstep.

Residents tickets are limited, so do BOOK NOW to avoid disappointment! Scroll down to find the drop down for residents tickets.

THAME’S Music in the Park has donated £430 to Thame Youth Café for the purchase of a Nintendo Switch gaming console, a game and two additional controllers.

This grant comes shortly after the generous supporters of the Facebook page, Spotted:Thame, donated £834 to the Youth Café.

The success of Thame Youth Café, which has an average of attendance of 55 young people and regularly attracts 70, meant that it was in need of the additional equipment to enable more of its visitors to participate in the fun. The Thame Youth Café is in Christchurch Methodist Church on Thame Upper High Street. Unlike traditional youth clubs, the Youth Café concept is not solely about entertaining young people but rather to provide a safe place for them to gather and, through leisure activities, bring about real transformation by promoting values and personal development to enable them to reach their full potential, both as individuals and within the community.

There are different activities each week from cooking and mindfulness drawing to a graffiti wall and science experiments. It runs two Youth Cafés: one for 11-14s and one for 14-16s.

Music in the Park Chair, Chris Fram, said: “Music in the Park is dedicated to supporting good causes in the local community. Thame Youth Café is a marvellous example of a charity that provides an invaluable service to the youth of Thame and we are delighted to support it again this year, following on from our previous donation in 2016. “

Youth Café Manager, Nick Francis, added: “The Youth Café is very popular, and we aim to provide every visitor with an absorbing and interesting experience. The new gaming equipment will help us serve more young people.”

DEBRA Granik’s last feature was the film that launched Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone, back in 2010. Her second film shares the earlier story’s concern with the experience of living on the margins, and the moral choices of those who live outside the codes and values and structures that constiute “civilised” society.

Will is a traumatised and profoundly disillusioned ex-military man, who lives with his teenage daughter, Tom, in a huge national park in Oregon. He has raised her in a manner that explicitly rejects what he sees as the intellectual and moral corruptions of state and society. They live undercover, with only a tent and the rudiments of equipment, reading books and treading lightly on their surroundings, attempting to ‘leave no trace’ on the environment. From time to time, they venture into the city, where Will sells some of his prescription meds for cash with which they get basic supplies.

Will has taught Tom how to remain invisible from the authorities, but one day she is seen by a hiker, and their cover is blown. The two of them are subjected to the ‘caring’ examinations and ministrations of social services bureaucracy, apparently acquiescent to the demands of child protection authories, all the while planning to escape once again. The tests they are subjected to, and the questions that are asked of them, serve only to prove that in so many ways they are not victims to the miseries that plague many regular lives – Tom is safe, well educated, well fed, she is loved. They sleep well and are content and happy. However, Tom finds that for the first time she has to wonder what it might be like to live like a regular child, to have a home and a pet rabbit, or the company of one’s peers. Might there be another way to live?

The two must examine their deeply held values and the way they have chosen to live, what is at stake and what is right. To her infinite credit, Granik manages to treat this story with restraint and a quiet introspection, when another story teller might have been tempted towards histrionics and more explicit jerking of tears. The result is all the more poignant and powerful.

Widely acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, this is one that will stay with you.
View the trailer here. LINK

USA 2018, 108 minutes, PG certificate
Directed by Debra Granik, Starring Ben Foster, Thomasin McKenzie,
Jeff Kober, Dale Dickey, Isaiah Stone, Dana Millican

LEAVE NO TRACE This Friday, February 8, 8pm
Film tickets are available on the door or online- Click HERE

HOTHOUSE Flowers, Seth Lakeman, Steve Harley, and The Unthanks are among the acts headlining the 55th Towersey Festival.

The annual four-day folk and roots festival, from 23-26 August 2019, on Thame showground also boasts appearances from folk rock legends, Oysterband, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, Two-Tone heroes, The Selecter, and shanty singers Fisherman’s Friends.

Former buskers, Hothouse Flowers hit the international stage when Dublin hosted the Eurovision Song Content in 1988. Since performing as an ‘interval act’, they’ve forged a reputation as a blistering live band, combining rock, soul and folk.

Steve Harley emerged from the London acoustic scene in the early 1970s and set the charts alight. A contemporary of Bowie and T Rex, his hits have included summer anthem, Here Comes The Sun, and the enduring Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me).

Five years from his last appearance at the festival, Seth Lakeman arrives in the wake of an acclaimed globe-trotting stint as part of Robert Plant’s Sensational Space Shifters. Expect to hear tracks from across the West Country musician’s career, including ninth album, The Well Worn Path.

Remarkably, The Unthanks first ever live gig was at Towersey in 2004. Fifteen years on, and the Mercury Prize-nominated band have established themselves as one of contemporary music’s most inspiring, surprising and enquiring acts.

Also returning are Fisherman’s Friends. A huge success with audiences at 2018’s festival, the story of their incredible rise from Port Issac’s quayside to the UK album charts has now been turned into a film starring James Purefoy and Daniel Mays (in cinemas from March 15, 2019).

Others joining the line-up include Welsh/ African duo, Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita, winners of the Roots Album of the Year 2018, Critics Poll; Show Of Hands’ guitarist Steve Knightly; BBC Scots Trad Music Award 2018’s Best Live Act, Elephant Sessions; and representing an exciting new generation of British singer-songwriters, troubadours Beans On Toast and Will Varley.

Towersey Festival Director Joe Heap, said: “After an amazing 2018, we’ve really set out to capture what people love so much about the festival.

“As a result, 2019 is one of our most exciting and eclectic line-ups, with some of the biggest names in folk and roots music, from Seth and The Unthanks to shanty superstars Fisherman’s Friends, alongside major musicians from across the British Isles, Africa, and North America. There’s also the usual collection of names, such as Beans On Toast, who may be new to Towersey audiences, but who we know they’ll love.

“There’ll be loads of other surprises too,” enthused Joe, adding that further announcements are to follow shortly, including details of Saturday night’s headliner and more information about the festival’s celebration of the life and work of musician, tutor, activist and Towersey Patron, Roy Bailey, who sadly passed away in November.

Established in 1965, Towersey is one of the UK’s longest running independent music festivals. Boasting nine venues, alongside an extensive music programme the festival also features over 30 hours of ceilidh, daily workshops, well-stocked bars, street food, spoken word, film screenings, roaming performers, an acclaimed programme of activities for children and younger festival-goers, and more.

Tickets for Towersey Festival, which runs from Friday, August 23, to Monday, August 26, 2019, are available now (Tier 2) from £129 (adult), £120 (conc), £90 (youth), £65 (child). For further information, and to book, see: www.towerseyfestival.com  

GET your dancing shoes ready! Music in the Park returns to Elms Park on Sunday, May 5, 2019. Featuring more than 30 performers across three stages, Music in the Park offers music and dance acts across a wide range of genres.

Topping the bill on the main stage will be the popular Dung Beatles. If you love Beatles music played the way ‘the Fab Four’ intended, then The Dung Beatles are for you. According to Terry Bloxham of The British Beatles Fan Club: “The Dung Beatles are pure unadulterated fun – definitely not your average Beatles tribute band”.

In 2014 they performed at Liverpool’s world famous Cavern Club and more recently performed to a full house at The Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury, along with pop legends John Otway, Howard Jones and Marillion, in support of the Friars Club tribute to David Bowie and the unveiling of his statue in Market Square, Aylesbury.

Early-bird tickets !

Early-bird tickets are available now on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/music-in-the-park-thame-tickets-50692649078. Until the end of February, you can save up to £8 on your ticket. With a wide variety of music and dance on offer, there’s sure to be something for everyone. The event will feature two main stages with live music and dance, and an acoustic stage.

Have fun dancing the day away or chill out with a leisurely picnic. Of course, there will also be all the usual goodies you’d expect at a festival, including tasty real ales, a wide variety of delicious foods, fun activities for children and adults, and a range of trade stalls.

BLACK Frog Studios near Thame, in association with Thame Music Academy and Thame Institute of Music, are holding a night of live music from local groups and artistes, on Friday, January 25.

The gig will start at 7pm, and on the bill will be the group A Little Bit Country, Jae and Thame Institute of Music. Tickets cost £10 and are available through Thame Players’ website, or from Spear Travels in Greyhound Walk, Thame. These gigs offer a fantastic showcase for bright, up-and-coming local talent, all of whom deserve strong support from the community.