Category: entertainment and leisure news

HADDENHAM based singer/songwriter Toby Dawkins is to take the 10 o?clock Feature Spot at the First Thursday Music Club at the James Figg in Thame, on Thursday, October 4.

Having started out playing covers at local open mic nights and, more recently, drumming in Aylesbury band The Raketts, Toby has moved up comfortably to centre stage with his acoustic guitar and an ever-growing amount of original material. Drawing influence from a wide variety of artists and musical styles, he is very engaging performer with lots of energy and plenty of crowd involvement. For more details, check out Toby on Facebook at ‘tobydawkinsmusic’ and in Twitter (@tobydawkins).

The September edition of the FTMC was one of the biggest nights for club. A crowd of 170 saw The Drakes, Strings Attached, 2 AM Blue, Sir Walter J Wallis as well as 10 other acts perform. The First Thursday Music Club is Thame?s biggest monthly music event and is held at The Stables at the James Figg. Anyone can play just by signing up at the venue from 7.45pm.

Check out the club on Facebook ?The First Thursday Music Club? or at www.firstthursdaymusicclub.com where you can find more info? including contact numbers and addresses for the organisers.

SOURCE: Contributed

WHERE? The Players Theatre, Nelson Street, Thame. WHEN? Sunday, September 30, at 7.45pm

ACCLAIMED PERFORMANCE COMING TO THAME
This new two-handed version of Stephen Lowe?s play based on Robert Tressell?s classic book received a rave review by Libby Purves in The Times a few weeks ago after she saw it at the Edinburgh fringe. The same paper has now put the production in its top 10 shows to see.

Directed by Louise Townsend and featuring Neil Gore and Fine Time Fontayne, the show is witty, fast paced and hard hitting. It tells the story of a group of decorators who are joined by Owen, and artist and journeyman-prophet with a vision of a just society. Owen?s spirited attacks on the greed and dishonesty of the capitalist system attempts to rouse his fellow men, the ?philanthropists? (working for poverty wages to generate wealth for their masters), from their complacency.

The show is on a national tour from Edinburgh to Devon and lots of places in between and is coming to The Players Theatre in Nelson Street, Thame at 7.45pm on Sunday 30th September. Tickets for this highly professional production are

AS part of this year’s Thame Food Festival, Thame Cinema will be screening a short comedy filmed in Oxfordshire. Cook Book is currently touring the festival circuit, having been selected for competition internationally, and comes to Thame following a screening at Cambridge Film Festival.

Life looks bleak for a hapless bachelor who spectacularly fails when cooking a romantic dinner. Some unexpected help from his kitchen appliances unleashes a surprising transformation and a culinary adventure that leaves him in need of just a little more magic. Inspiration for this film came from a chain of events in writer Andrew William Robb’s own kitchen that nearly resulted in the second Great Fire of London.

Out of that came this simple little story, a parable about something unexpected that gives our character the confidence to ‘get cooking’. Whether it is just a bump on the head or something more magical the audience is left to decide.

The film will be screened before the main feature, The Imposter, on Saturday, September 29, and Thame Cinema hopes to welcome the producers to introduce Cook book to the audience.

A very tasty opening to Thame Cinema’s Autumn season!

THAME CINEMA will be showing THE IMPOSTER on Saturday, September 29, 2012 – UK 2012, 95 minutes, 15 certificate, Directed by Bart Layton, Starring Adam O’Brian, Alan Teichman, Anna Ruben, Cathy Dresbach.

Fakes imposters and con artists have long entertained us in fact and in fiction, and have proved an irresistible subject for the movies. Think of Gerard Depardieu in The Return of Martin Guerre, a man who returns to his village in medieval France having been long presumed dead in a prolonged war. The story was remade as Somersby, with Richard Gere as another man apparently returning from the dead this time in the wake of the American civil war.

There are the dazzling exploits of Frank Abagnale, played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can, who engineered a glamorous career as pilot, paediatrician and lawyer all on the back of his skills in forgery. Or David Hampton who passed himself off as Sidney Poitier?s son and charmed his way into the liberal mega-rich elite, and whose story was told in Six Degrees of Separation with Will Smith in the starring role.

There is a compelling duality in such narratives: on the one hand the brazen and often dangerously charismatic chutzpah of the imposter; on the other the desperately humiliating and painful betrayal of those who are taken in, often out of a desperate need to believe ? and often with a staggering willingness to deceive themselves. This astonishing British documentary tells the story of French con man Fr

Tiddington Village Hall -10am ? 1pm. Coffee & cake in aid of Macmillan cancer care.

CHINNOR Rugby Club’s Oktoberfest Beer Festival is on September 29 – Book your place now by calling 01844 213735.

Chinnor RFC – 11am ’til late. Email: clubhouse@chinnor-rfc.com

THE 23rd Annual Watlington Art Exhibition will be held at Watlington Primary School, Love Lane,Watlington on Saturday, 22nd September, (10am ? 5pm) and Sunday, 23rd September (11am ? 3pm).

Professional and amateur artists from Oxfordshire and beyond will offer for sale a wide range of original work in watercolours, oils and acrylics, plus a selection of limited-edition prints, including lithographs and photography. The exhibition also boasts an ever-increasing range of 3D works in ceramic, wood, iron and stone. It is expected that there will be around 400 pieces on display.

All proceeds from the event are given to Watlington Primary School to support the artistic development of the children. Watlington Primary School holds the prestigious Artsmark Gold award and offers pupils a rich and diverse range of arts opportunities. A special display of pupils? artwork will be on show throughout the exhibition.

Art-based activities will be available for children during the exhibition.

Refreshments and delicious home-made cakes will be on sale all weekend.

WHERE? Chinnor Village Hall; WHAT? ‘All Aboard’ – A Musical Tour around the World; WHEN? November 28 – December 1, 2012.

This November, Chinnor Musical Theatre invite you on a trip around the World through music. They will be presenting a mix of songs featuring place names from around the World and even beyond…

The ticket price includes a light supper, and if you book before the October 16, tickets are only

THAME’S Lord Williams?s Festival Chorus is looking for new ?soldiers and cigarette girls? for their concert performance of the famous opera Carmen, in December.

In a passionate story of flirting, fighting and tobacco, Bizet?s glorious opera will fill the Thame Leisure Centre stage with gypsies and toreadors.
Choir chair, Claire Humphries, says: “We?re a friendly choir looking for anyone who loves singing to come and revel in some of the best-loved music ever written. There?s no audition, and we have a lot of fun. This term we are also singing Delius? Sea Drift ? which you might have seen on the first night of the Proms this summer ? and we?ve been awarded a very generous grant by the Delius Trust to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the composer?s birth.”

Rehearsals are at Lord Williams?s Upper School hall, Oxford Road, Thame, on Monday nights from 7.30. Call Claire on 01844 215205 if you would like to try a session.

Conducted by John Gibbons, the concert will take place at 7.30pm on December 8, at Thame Leisure Centre. Tickets cost

THAME Choral Society will be starting rehearsals for their Christmas concert programme on Wednesday, September 12.

This year’s concert will include Dvorak Mass in D, Rutter’s Magnificat and of course, carols. The concert is on December 15.

Just turn up for a 7.30pm start, at the Methodist Church in Haddenham. Contact Liz via: e-h_18@tiscali.co.uk for more information.