Entertainment highlights in Exeter this weekend
Stuck for something to do this weekend? Here is the editor's pick of the best events going on in and around the city...
Theatre
Alex Horne: Seven Years in the Bathroom
Friday, 8pm, Exeter Corn Exchange
Seven Years In The Bathroom is the ultimate stat-based fun-packed thought-provoking experimental-and-sometimes-stupid comedy show in which Alex aims to recreate your entire life. That's right, he'll do everything you'll ever do but in one evening. So in an average lifetime you'll spend two years shopping, two weeks kissing and eighteen months looking for lost things. You'll also spend quite a while eating, queuing, crying and googling yourself. Alex is going to squeeze all those things into one show and it'll be tremendous. Tickets: £12. Box office: 01392 665938. www.exeter.gov.uk/cornexchange
Exeter University Theatre Company: Amadeus
Friday & Saturday, 7.30pm, Northcott Theatre
Peter Shaffer's Amadeus tells the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his relationship with court composer Salieri – the only man in Vienna who recognises Mozart's true genius and his own mediocrity. Punctuated by Mozart's greatest compositions, Salieri recounts how he fought to understand why genius is gifted to some of us, and not to others. Tickets: £14, students £8. Box office: 01392 493493. www.exeternorthcott.co.uk
LOL Exeter Comedy Festival: Edge Comedy Presents Hal Cruttenden
Sunday, 8pm, Exeter Phoenix
Hal really wanted to be a hard-hitting comic, but he couldn’t be bothered to do all the reading. Unashamedly middle class and middle aged, Hal’s witty and charming comedy has seen him supporting Rob Brydon, Sean Lock, and Omid Djalili on their nationwide tours, selling out his own show in Edinburgh and receiving excellent reviews from the Press. Tickets £12 (£10), 01392 667080 http://www.exeterphoenix.org.uk/
Music
The Zen Hussies
Friday, 8.30pm, Exeter Phoenix
Festival favourites The Zen Hussies blend a diverse range of genres – R&B, ska, swing, rockabilly, calypso – into their own punked-up swingska sound. This six-piece present a high octane music revue, guaranteed to set the even the most troubled feet dancing. Tickets: £9. http://www.exeterphoenix.org.uk/events/the-zen-hussies/
Isca Voices
Saturday, 7pm, Chapter House, Exeter Cathedral
The highly acclaimed group of ex-girl choristers will be performing a selection of spiritual and more light-hearted songs to help raise funds for the Cathedral Choir Tour Fund. Tickets: £8 adults, £5 children (to include interval refreshments) available from Exeter Cathedral Shop, 01392 271354, and Exeter Cathedral School Office, 01392 255298.
Taylor and the Made Gentleman
Saturday, from 10pm, Mama Stone's, Exeter
Infectious, groovy sounds to keep you dancing all night long with support from Paper Plane from 10pm. www.mamastones.com
Events
Topsham Community Market
Saturday, Matthew’s Hall, Topsham.
The Topsham Community Market runs from 8.30am till 1pm every Saturday. There is a good mix of food stalls (Olives, Meat, Fresh Bread and Croissants, Cheese, etc), antiques, clothes, jewellery and craft stalls.
RSPB Avocet Cruises
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, Exe Estuary
The Exe Estuary in winter is one of the best places in the UK to get great views of avocets. With expert commentary on each cruise, you'll learn something new and exciting about the Exe Estuary and its residents. Full cruises lasting three to four hours are running on Friday and Saturday and on Sunday there is a mini cruise of just under two hours duration. Tickets: £14 adults, £7 children under 13 for the full cruises, £11 adults, £4 children under 13 for the mini cruise. Tickets must be booked in advance. For more information call 01392 432691 or visit http://www.rspb.org.uk/
Two for £10 Race Day at Exeter Racecourse
Sunday, first race 2pm
Enjoy a great afternoon of horseracing at the Bathwick Tyres Two for £10 race day. With a listed novice hurdle race on the card and some cracking chases, two years ago this race day attracted superb winners such as Fingal Bay and Spirit Son we are hoping for more of the same this year. With the amazing offer of 2 for £10 and of course the children aged 17 and under coming in free, it’s one not too be missed. The first of six races comes under starters’ orders at 2pm. A free bus service leaves Exeter St David’s at 12.20pm and Exeter Bus and Coach Station at 12.35pm and returns half an hour after the last race. Tickets can be booked online at www.exeter-racecourse.co.uk or through the call centre on 08445 793 005.
Exhibitions
While there’s Tea There’s Hope!
9-24 February, A la Ronde, Summer Lane, Exmouth
Photographer David Garner serves up a delicious feast of images in an exhibition entitled ‘While There’s Tea There’s Hope!’ at A la Ronde, the National Trust property. The photographs were taken as part of David’s ongoing project This Sceptred Isle, which explores a vision of British society that glories in tradition and heritage. A la Ronde is open daily from 9–24 February and entry to the exhibition which is open from 10.30am–5.30pm is free.
BP Portrait Award
From Saturday, Gallery 21, Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery
BP Portrait Awards showcases the very best in contemporary portrait painting from around the world. From informal and personal studies of friends and family, to revealing paintings of famous faces, this year’s exhibition features fifty-five works selected from 2,187 international entries. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-5pm. Closed Mondays and bank holidays. www.rammuseum.org.uk/
