Your guide to What's On this weekend

Making plans for the Bank Holiday weekend? You’ll find something for all the family in our round-up of what’s on in and around Exeter.

THEATRE

Ed Byrne: Roaring Forties
Friday, 8pm, Exeter Corn Exchange
A self-confessed "miserable old git" since the age of 23, Ed Byrne is now in his 40s.
While for others this might result in a crisis that prompts the purchase of a sportscar, Ed embraces middle age with open arms. Join him, as he truly comes of age and gives out his clarion cry: "I am in my Forties. HEAR ME ROAR!" Tickets £23.
www.exeter.gov.uk/cornexchange

Under Milk Wood
Friday & Saturday, 7.30pm, Northcott Theatre, Exeter
Under Milk Wood is a work of genius; ripe with vitality, rich in humour and populated by sublime, eccentric, enchanting characters. Come to Llareggub, a small Welsh town by the sea.  Meet blind Captain Cat, Mog Edwards and his sweetheart Miss Price, Sinbad Sailor, Dai Bread, Polly Garter, Nogood Boyo and Lord Cut Glass.  Walk along Coronation Street, Cockle Row and Donkey Street, down to the little fishing harbour and back to Milk Wood.  Dylan Thomas explores their lives, hopes and thoughts in the dreams of a night and the rhythm of a day. 7.30pm daily with a matinee (audio described) at 2.30pm on Saturday. Tickets: £16.50-£27. www.exeternorthcott.co.uk

Playful Acts of Rebellion
Friday & Saturday, Bike Shed Theatre, Exeter
Inspired by courageous protesters who risk everything for what they believe in, three women decided to take action. These women resolve to stop their ineffectual moaning and complaining and to find playful ways to stand up for what they believe in. Playful Acts of Rebellion questions what makes something worth the fight, what effect can an individual have? and how does trying to change the world end up changing us? Tickets: £12/£8 conc. www.bikeshedtheatre.co.uk

The Simon and Garfunkel Story
Saturday, 7.30pm, Barnfield Theatre, Exeter
Has it really been 50 years since the most successful Folk/Rock Duo of all time recorded their first No.1 hit single The Sound of Silence? With standing ovations at every performance, The Simon and Garfunkel Story’ is currently the biggest and the most successful touring theatre show celebrating the lives and career of Folk/Rock sensation Simon and Garfunkel. Tickets: £14.70 (£12.60). www.barnfieldtheatre.org.uk

Rosie Wilby – Nineties Woman
Sunday, 8pm, Exeter Phoenix
Nineties Woman is a new show from award winning comedian Rosie Wilby using live interactive storytelling interspersed with video interviews, music and photo archive to trace a journey through early 90s feminism, refracted through a very personal lens. Tickets £8 (£6). www.exeterphoenix.org.uk

Macbeth
Beer Quarry Caves
Four of Sword's spooky subterranean version of Macbeth will be performed in historic Beer Quarry Caves. Audiences will be led by the witches deep inside the earth and through the blood-spattered passageways of Macbeth’s regicidal ambition. Tickets £10. Performances: 30 April – 10 May (8pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; 5pm and 8pm on Saturday). Tickets: http://four-of-swords.com/

MUSIC

Lack of Afro
Friday, 7.30pm, The Exeter Daily Auditorium, Exeter Phoenix
Wide ranging, eclectic and progressive musical outlook has always been the Lack of Afro approach. Harnessing disparate musical styles including funk, soul and hip-hop to create a contemporary yet vintage musical escapade of superb songs, he has DJ’d across the world, producing and remixing everyone from The Pharcyde to Tom Jones. Tickets £7.50. www.exeterphoenix.org.uk

A J’s Big Band
Friday, 8pm, Barnfield Theatre, Exeter
The popular 17 piece returns to the Barnfield Theatre stage for another packed programme of swing and jazz classics alongside some more contemporary pieces. The combination of new and exciting arrangements will blend seamlessly with the all time favourites from Miller, Goodman, Ellington and other giants of the screen era. Tickets £15.50. www.barnfieldtheatre.org.uk

Keziah Thomas (harp) & Katherine Bicknell (flute)
Saturday, 7.30pm, St Stephen’s Church, High Street, Exeter
Programme: Harp Concerto in Bb Major, Op. 4 No. 6 (G. F. Handel 1685-1759); Naiades Fantasy-Sonata (William Alwyn 1905-1985); Sonata for Flute and Harp (2003) (Andy Scott - b.1966); Syrinx, Clair de lune (Claude Debussy 1892-1918); Suite Paysanne Hongroise (Béla Bartok 1881-1945) arranged by Paul Arma; Music from Scotland: Farewell to Stromness (Peter Maxwell Davies - b.1934), Lochaber No More (Trad. Scotland), Glenlivit arranged by Staneslow; Bordello 1900, Café 1930, Nightclub 1960, Concert d’Aujourd’hui from Histoire du Tango (Astor Piazzolla 1921-1992).  Tickets £14, box office: 01392 667080.

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
Saturday, 8pm, Riverside Leisure Centre, Exeter
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is warm, entertaining and funny. This all-strumming, all-plucking, all singing ensemble is an unforgettable musical force. If you have never seen the Ukes - it's time you did, you definitely won't regret it! Tickets £21. Box office: 01392 665938. www.exeter.gov.uk/cornexchange

EVENTS

Toby Buckland’s Garden Festival
Friday & Saturday, Powderham Castle
Enjoy a spectacular display of extraordinary, unusual and beautiful plants with over 100 exhibitors showing across the Castle estate, children's gardening activities, food and craft stalls and live music to help create a garden party atmosphere. Celebrate some of the West Country’s finest nurseries with a packed programme of talks, demos, and plenty of family fun to make this one of the finest and friendliest plant fairs of the year. Ample free parking and tractor-trailer service between the car park and Festival ground. £5 adults, children under 16 free, entry includes admission to the castle. Open Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday 10am-6pm. www.tobygardenfest.co.uk

Flower Festival and Scarecrow Extravaganza
Saturday, Sunday & Monday, Church of the Holy Cross, Cruwys Morchard, Tiverton EX16 6LD
Beautiful flowers will fill this historic church and the scarecrows will be parish-wide, in the theme of nursery rhymes (map provided). A hunt the clue based around both flowers and scarecrows will keep the whole family absorbed. In the new Parish Hall next to the church will be an arts and craft exhibition, plant and cake stalls and refreshments- ploughman's lunches, cream teas cake and beverages. 10am-4pm daily.

Exeter Record Fair
Saturday, Exeter Corn Exchange, Market Street, Exeter
A full house of all your favourite regular vinyl and CD dealers. Tom from Exeter Local Music and Andrew from Specialist Music will be at the fair promoting local bands and their music, and Roy with his Record and CD protective covers and sleeves. With all dealers having masses of good quality Vinyl Records, CDs and much more to choose from and following on from the success of the last fair, it should be another good event for everyone. Doors open 9.30am, £1 entry, early entry from 8am £3.

Explore Exeter University grounds in aid of Hospiscare
Saturday, 10am, University of Exeter's Streatham Campus
Streatham Campus will become a hive of activity as gardening enthusiasts and families flock to explore some of the hidden gems of the 280 acre estate.  The day forms part of Hospiscare’s series of Open Garden events. Between 10amd and 3pm visitors are invited to meet at the Forum Piazza where there will be a range of activities taking place, including floral and arboriculture demonstrations, craft stalls and plant sales as well as organised tours. Places are limited, call 01392 688020 to bok a place, £5.

George's Marvellous Medicine
Saturday, 6.30pm, West Town Farm, Ide
For the third summer in a row the amazing Illyria are back at West Town Farm to perform another terrific children's classic. Suitable for children aged five and over. Tickets £12 adults, £7 children (under 18) or £35 for two adults and two children. For tickets email  events@westtownfarm.co.uk or call 01392 811 257. www.westtownfarm.co.uk/farm-events

Pirates Treasure Hunt
Sunday, 11am, Escot Estate, Ottery St Mary
This is a fun, active, action-packed event for children aged eight and over. Booking required. Muster at 11am at the Kiosk (session lasts for 2 hours). Members £7, non-members £8. Pirates outfit desirable, sturdy footwear and an ability to say “ooo arrr” required. www.escotcampwild.co.uk

Topsham Bowling Club Open Day
Sunday, The Green, Fore Street, Topsham
A chance to see Topsham Bowling Club, meet new friends and have fun. Coaches on hand to assist - why not learn to play a new sport! For more information call 01392 274922 and ask for Adrian. The club is located between the Fire Station and Matthews Hall. 10am-1pm.

Spring Gardening Weekend
Sunday & Monday, Pecorama, Beer
Pecorama's head gardener will be giving expert tuition on how to produce beautiful hanging baskets and troughs.  The workshop will take place in the Top Spot Marquee between 11am and 4.30pm on both days. Visitors can join in at any time during each session. Participants can bring their own planters and troughs, or these can be purchased along with a wide variety of plants at Pecorama. For further information and costs visit  www.pecorama.info

Beneath the Blitz at Exeter’s Underground Passages
Monday, Underground Passages, Paris Street, Exeter
Taking place between 10am – 5.30pm, there will be Blitz related guided tours, along with events, displays, blackout games and more in the adjoining interpretation centre. Booking is essential. Exeter’s Underground Passages were built in the 14th and 15th centuries to bring a supply of fresh drinking water in to the city. Exeter is the only city in the UK to have underground passages of this type. Highlights include interactive exhibits, a film presentation and guided tours beneath the city’s streets. Call 01392 665887, email underground.passages@exeter.gov.uk or visit www.exeter.gov.uk/passages for further information and conditions of access.

Spring Craft Fair
Monday, The Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth
A unique craft fair held in our large events marquee full of local traders with their lovely handmade goods. Why not go along and treat yourself? £2 per person, under 12s are free.

Viva Espana!
Monday, 12.30pm, The Magdalen Chapter, Exeter
Showcasing all that's Spanish from BBQ grilled lamb kebabs, seafood paella to crema catalana all washed down with a glass of chilled sangria whilst listening to Spanish Guitarist Jon Boyles. We are hoping for a little Spanish weather too to truly enjoy the garden.  £18.95 per person.  To book telephone 01392 288177. www.themagdalenchapter.com

Albert Einstein: Relativitively Speaking
Monday, 7.30pm The Bike Shed Theatre
Join Albert, the genius behind the übercoolest moustache in science, for a lecture like none you’ve ever attended. The eccentric theoretical physicist is accompanied by his two wives and mum on the piano, and by guest rapper MC Squared, as he quantum leaps us through two world wars, two theories of relativity, and the deployment of two very big bombs.   http://www.bikeshedtheatre.co.uk/

EXHIBITIONS

Elizabeth Jardine
Cafe Bar Gallery, Exeter Phoenix
Elizabeth Jardine is a British artist who has recently relocated to Exeter from the South East. This new body of work explores the interplay of structural and architectural elements within a nebulous and ambiguous painterly landscape. Elizabeth’s work is concerned with the in-between-space, with limbo and wilderness. She oscillates between negotiating a balance and accepting a dichotomy, reconciling presence and absence, choice and chance, belonging and un-belonging. The exhibition runs until 24 May.  www.exeterphoenix.org.uk/events/elizabeth-jardine/

Soft Estate: Edward Chell
Spacex Gallery, Preston Street, Exeter
The exhibition ‘Soft Estate’, the title of which derives from the Highways Agency term used to describe the natural habitats that have evolved along motorways and trunk roads, looks at how green borders offer a refuge for wildlife and a modern form of wilderness in the midst of intense urbanisation and agrochemical farming. Artist and academic Edward Chell investigates these contemporary motorway landscapes, linking them to 18th century ideas of the picturesque to explore the interface between history, ecology, roads and travel through a series of new works. The gallery is open 10am-5pm Tuesday to Saturday. Admission is free.

The Nature of Fashion
Killerton House, National Trust, Broadclyst
Find timeless, historical garments transformed from natural fibres to catwalk fashion in our latest costume exhibition 'the nature of fashion'. This latest exhibition highlights the skills and processes involved in creating intricate cotton, wool, linen and silk garments from raw materials. Open daily.