Events marked '§' indicate a Student Show Card may be used.
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§ Monday 4th January • Auditorium
Monday Cinema:
Broken Embraces (15)
Pedro Almodóvar 2009 127 mins
7.30 p.m. £5 / £4
In Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s new film, Penélope Cruz (Volver) plays a secretary, sometime callgirl and mistress to a powerful yet paranoid businessman Ernesto (José Luis Gómez). When she decides to become an actress she falls instantly in love with her director (Lluís Homar) and thus, in classic film noir fashion, incurs the punitive wrath of Ernesto. “Almodóvar has always managed to combine elegance and exuberance, and his latest movie is no exception: a richly enjoyable piece of work, slick and sleek, with a sensuous feel for the cinematic surfaces of things and, as ever, self-reflexively infatuated with the business of cinema itself.” (The Guardian)

§ Monday 11th January • Auditorium
Monday Cinema:
Public Enemies (15)
Michael Mann 2009 140 mins
7.30 p.m. £5 / £4
Michael Mann (Heat) painstakingly recreates the 1930s milieu for his depiction of the life of bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp). Dillinger lit up Depression America and was seen by some as a hero taking on the system. FBI boss J.Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) assigns his best man (Christian Bale) to bring him in. Marion Cottillard (Piaf) gives a wonderful performance as Dillinger’s girlfriend. Shot entirely on an ultra-high resolution digital format, the film marks a new cinematic language and reinvents genre cinema. “Intelligent and challenging, Mann’s crime epic could take two viewings to fully absorb, but it’s worth every devoted minute.” (Empire)

GILAD ATZMON &TOH : SOLD OUT


§ Saturday 16th January
Jazz Notes at the Edge
Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble
8.00 p.m. £10/ £8
Gilad Atzmon saxes
Eddie Hick drums
Yaron Stavi bass
Frank Harrison piano
Saxophonist Gilad Atzmon mixes his euphoric contemporary jazz with moments of brooding melodic reflection. Over the years his music has moved more and more towards a cultural hybrid. As a bandleader and reed player he has been amazing his listeners with his powerful personal style that combines great bebop artistry and Middle-Eastern roots in a sophisticated, sometimes ironical manner. Influenced by Coltrane’s powerful approach on the sax, the Orient House Ensemble’s performances are a tour de force of power and creativity. "Gilad Atzmon, the expat Israeli saxophonist/clarinettist, combines thrilling jazz musicianship with a maverick political intelligence." (The Guardian)
www.gilad.co.uk

GILAD ATZMON &TOH : SOLD OUT

§ Monday 18th January • Auditorium
Monday Cinema: Coco Before Chanel (12A)
Anne Fontaine 2009 105 mins
7.30 p.m. £5 / £4
Anne Fontaine co-wrote this biopic of the formative years of the influential fashion designer, Coco Chanel, played by Audrey Tautou (Amelie). Having grown-up in an orphanage, she makes her way as a seamstress and a cabaret singer. She becomes involved with two men, Etienne Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde) and then English businessman Arthur “Boy” Capel (Alessandro Nivola). Tautou’s Coco “is a boyish wisp of a creature, looking great in mannish clothes that contrasted shockingly with the big flowery hats and corseted finery of her age. Yet her cuteness is offset by square-jawed determination, a sulky demeanour and will of iron. Tautou is just terrific, and to recall an actress who could so dominate your memory of a movie, one needs to think back to Audrey Hepburn.” (Telegraph)

Wednesday 20th – Thursday 21st January • Auditorium
Antigone by Sophocles
WBS Year 12 AS Theatre Studies
7.30 p.m. £5 / £4
Antigone tells the tragic story of the daughter of Oedipus, doomed to condemnation and death by her attempts to reconcile and honour her warring brothers. The play has often been interpreted as a justification for civil disobedience and as a vindication of the unwritten laws of conscience. Performed here by first year A level theatre students.

§ Monday 25th January • Auditorium
Monday Cinema: Moon (15)
Duncan Jones 2009 97 mins
7.30 p.m. £5 / £4
Director Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie, and formerly known as Zowie Bowie) has made a significant contribution to existential science-fiction cinema with this feature starring Sam Rockwell. Owing much in tone to earlier films in the sub-genre - Silent Running, Outland, even 2001, and a nod to Tarkovsky’s Solaris - the film is set on a mining station on the Moon, where Helium-3 is being mined to fuel Earth. Sam Bell (Rockwell) has been alone for three years, when he seems to encounter another version of himself. “Jones's intelligently constructed, distinctly retro film borrows from the best, and is the best kind of paranoia movie, with unfussy dialogue, a heightened sense of isolation and corporate wickedness to the fore.” (Independent)

CANCELLED WITH APOLOGIES, DUE TO UNAVAILABILITY OF INSTRUCTOR
§ Saturday 30th January • Auditorium
Jazz Notes at the Edge
African Drumming Workshop
2.00 p.m. £7
Appropriate for adults and children (aged 7+).
Percussionist Andy Richards leads this enjoyable and stimulating djembe drumming workshop, exploring the roots of Western popular music through African drumming rhythms and techniques. These workshops are now a regular part of our programming, allowing developing drummers to extend their range whilst still being welcoming to newcomers. The workshop is conducted in a drumming circle with participants copying, repeating and varying rhythms.
CANCELLED WITH APOLOGIES, DUE TO UNAVAILABILITY OF INSTRUCTOR