NTLIVE: A Street Car Named Desire (15)
2025-06-05 19:00 - 22:00 (Europe/London) | SpArC Theatre
Gillian Anderson (Sex Education), Vanessa Kirby (The Crown), and Ben Foster (Lone Survivor) lead the cast in Tennessee Williams’ timeless masterpiece, returning to cinemas.

As Blanche’s fragile world crumbles, she turns to her sister Stella for solace – but her downward spiral brings her face to face with the brutal, unforgiving Stanley Kowalski.

From visionary director Benedict Andrews, this acclaimed production was filmed live during a sold-out run at the Young Vic Theatre in 2014.

FILM: Conclave (15)
2025-06-12 19:00 - 21:00 | SpArC Theatre
7.4IMDB
“An expertly juicy drama of Catholicism and guilt, built on that loaded question and a crackerjack performance from Ralph Fiennes.” The FT
Multi award winning
Cardinal Lawrence has one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events, participating in the selection of a new pope. Surrounded by powerful religious leaders in the halls of the Vatican, he soon uncovers a trail of deep secrets that could shake the very foundation of the Roman Catholic Church.

Afternoon Film: Here (12A)
2025-06-17 14:00 - 15:45 | SpArC Theatre
Reuniting the director, writer and stars of Forrest Gump, Here is an original film about multiple families and a special place they inhabit.

” Hanks and Wright add folksy charm to Robert Zemeckis single-place dramaSet in the same spot – from prehistory onwards – Zemeckis’s sentimental drama is an odd combination of cosmic ambition and domestic intimacy.” The Guardian
Multiple generations of couples and families inhabit the same home over the course of a century.

Supported by the Friends of Bishop’s Castle Community, Care Home and Hospital.
Tea and biscuits £1,
No stairs, tables & chairs,
Hearing loop,
Free Dial–a-ride bus service from Bishops Castle and Lydbury North please phone 01588 638350
All Tickets £4 Accompanying Carers FREE

EXHIBITION ON SCREEN : Michelangelo - Love and Death
2025-07-03 19:00 - 20:30 | SpArC Theatre
EXHIBITION ON SCREEN : Michelangelo – Love and Death
We will explore the life and work of renowned sculptor, painter, architect and poet Michelangelo. Michelangelo – Love and Death offers a cinematic journey through the great chapels and museums of Florence, Rome and the Vatican, to the print and drawing rooms of Europe, to explore Michelangelo’s tempestuous life.
The film goes in search of a greater understanding of this charismatic and enigmatic figure, both through his relationships with his contemporaries and his ongoing artistic legacy.
The film invites audiences to intimately examine Michelangelo’s art and artistic process – from the Carrara quarries where Michelangelo sourced his marble, to the new technology being used to attribute works. The film also offers a rare chance to get up close to the mesmerising
Rothschild Bronzes, which, following an extensive research project carried out by
Academics in Cambridge in 2015, were positively attributed to Michelangelo after over a century
of debate.
Key contributors to the film include art critics Martin Gayford and Jonathan Jones, Deputy
Director of the Vatican Museums Professor Arnold Nesselrath and contemporary artist
Tania Kovats.
Filming locations include Casa Buonarroti in Florence, Carrara marble mines, the Medici Chapel and the Vatican. These beautiful locations, combined with high-resolution views of Michelangelo’s greatest works, convene to create a staggering visual experience.

Film: Architecton (U)
2025-07-10 19:00 - 20:40 | SpArC Theatre
Architecture reflects humanity’s rise and fall. Ancient ruins and recent destruction showcase the relationship between humans and building materials. The cyclical nature of civilizations raises questions about sustainable construction.

★★★★ Poetic study of humankind’s bricks-and-mortar impact on the Earth. Victor Kossakovsky’s follow-up to Gunda is a gorgeously shot reverie about our use of materials such as stone and concrete. The Guardian
“Victor Kossakovsky’s Mesmerizing Documentary on What We Take From the Earth to Build Upon It. Following his 2020 farm pig portrait ‘Gunda’ and his 2018 ode to water ‘Aquarela,’ the Russian docmaker offers another ravishing examination of the tension between human nature and nature itself. “Variety

Architecton is a 2024 documentary film written and directed by Viktor Kossakovsky. It is an extraordinary journey through the material that makes up our habitat: concrete and its ancestor, stone.
The international co-production between Germany, France and United States, was selected in the Competition at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, where it competed for the Golden Bear and had first screening on 19 February 2024 at Berlinale Palast.The film was also nominated for the Berlinale Documentary Film Award.

FILM: Holy Cow (15)
2025-07-17 19:00 - 20:30 | SpArC Theatre
7.1 IMDB
★★★★ “warmhearted story of small town teen turned competition cheesemaker.
An 18-year-old from a family of comté-makers is left alone to look after his little sister in Louise Courvoisier’s warm-hearted and optimistic drama” The Guardian
Filmed on location in the western French Alps, this earthy romp offers a realistic insight into the hardscrabble life of French agriculture, a moving romance and an ode to the love of cheese. 18-year-old Totone spends most of his time drinking beer and partying with his friends in the Jura region of France. But when he’s unexpectedly faced with taking care of his young sister and making a living, he decides to enter a competition for the best Comté cheese in the region – hoping to win gold and a 30,000 euro prize.
“Lovingly shot in warm natural light, and accompanied by a gentle, lilting soundtrack” Screen International
Featuring a lively ensemble cast of first-time actors drawn from the region with an especially charming performance from its young lead.
In French with Subtitles

Film: Flow (U)
2025-07-20 14:00 - 15:30 | SpArC Theatre
7.9 IMDB
Everyone is welcome to come and watch this beautiful animated film.
A courageous cat loses his home in a great flood so teams up with a other animals , they must rely on trust, courage, and wits to survive in a newly aquatic planet. A thrilling animated spectacle, Flow is a feast for the senses and a treasure for the heart.
When a flood of biblical proportions washes its home away, a solitary cat must seek refuge with a motley crew of animals, who gradually learn to get along in this endearing, Oscar-winning animation.

Wunderkind director Gints Zilbalodis has taken the animation world by storm with his beautifully crafted sophomore feature Flow, which has received a multitude of awards and nominations to date, including two nominations for both BAFTA and the Academy Awards.
The mystical world he creates in Flow is in peril. There are traces of human inhabitants, but they are now nowhere to be seen as water begins to flood the landscape. The story begins following a small, solitary cat as the shoreline rises and the home where it once lived is submerged underwater. Forced to flee, he happens upon a refuge boat containing a calm and unperturbed Cabybarre who seems amenable to his presence, and the two begin a journey on the water towards higher ground. Along the way they cross paths with a lemur, obsessed with collecting shiny objects, a boisterous and excitable dog and a stoic, mysterious secretary bird. Together, as they traverse the landscape on their fable-like quest, the ragtag team of animals must learn to trust each other and work together to survive.
Flow pushes the boundaries of animation, immersing audiences in a world before unseen.

Afternoon Film: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (PG)
2025-07-22 14:00 - 15:30 | SpArC Theatre
Special screening with Support from Bishop’s Castle Library Friends
FREE Cake and Hot drink
After being dismissed for the fourth time, a governess is desperately in need of work. However, in haste, an attempt to gain new employment catapults her into the glamorous world, which ends up changing her life forever.
A major film to be released in 2008 and starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a delightful, funny, lighthearted novel.
7.1 IMDB
Supported by the Friends of Bishop’s Castle Community, Care Home and Hospital.
No stairs, tables & chairs,
Hearing loop,
Free Dial–a-ride bus service from Bishops Castle and Lydbury North please phone 01588 638350
All Tickets £4 Accompanying Carers FREE

Film: Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (15 )
2025-07-24 19:00 - 21:00 | SpArC Theatre
RESCHEDULED DATE THURSDAY 24 JULY 7PM

Bridget navigates life as a widow and single mum with the help of her family, friends, and former lover, Daniel ( Hugh Grant). Back to work and on the apps, she’s pursued by a younger man and maybe – just maybe – her son’s science teache….in this sparkling fourth outing for this loveable mess.
Cast Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Isla Fisher, Leo Woodall, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nico Parker, Shirley Henderson, Jim Broadbent, Celia Imrie, Leila Farzad, James Callis, Joanna Scanlan, Gemma Jones, Sally Phillips, Sarah Solemani, Josette Simon

POP-UP PARKOUR
2025-07-30 10:00 - 16:00 | SpArC Theatre
10.00 am Session
11.00 am Session
2.00pm Session
2.45pm Session
Pop-Up Parkour brings the excitement of parkour, free running, and dynamic movement directly to local community parks and events across the region.
Using a variety of purpose-built equipment and obstacles, it offers young people a unique opportunity to explore Parkour movement techniques through jumps, vaults, rolls, and slides with professional coaches in high energy sessions.
Workshop 1 / 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM £5
Workshop 2 / 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM £5
Drop in 1 / 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM FREE
(Lunch Break / 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM)
Workshop 3 / 2:00 PM – 2:45 PM £5
Workshop 4 / 2:45 PM – 3:30 PM £5
Drop in 2 / 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM FREE
The workshops will be bookable and led by Ascension Dance Parkour coaches. Each one will have different skills to learn for variety.
The drop-in session will be open to all on the day and will need to be supervised by a parent or guardian at all times
Age: 7 – 16
You can book for as many sessions as you want
Combining structured workshops with supervised open play, Pop-Up Parkour is an, inclusive activity that invites young people to challenge their physical abilities in a fun, high-energy environment. Whether climbing scaffolding structures or navigating creative vaulting setups, participants are not only building strength, coordination, and agility, but also developing problem-solving skills and confidence.
Pop-Up Parkour turns public spaces into movement playgrounds—sparking curiosity, creativity, and community through motion.

COMMUNITY FILM: The Seeds of Vandana Shiva
2025-08-14 18:30 - 20:30 | SpArC Theatre
Join us for a community evening coming together to share, learn and celebrate.
In collaboration with Shropshire Good Food Trail, Bishop’s Castle Food Bank and Flicks in the Sticks and Bishop’s Castle Seed Bank
Adult £6 Child/Student £2 /PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN -ON-THE-DAY
The Seeds of Vandana Shiva
8.8 IMDB
How did the willful daughter of a Himalayan forest guard become Monsanto’s worst nightmare? The Seeds of Vandana Shiva tells the remarkable life story of Gandhian eco-activist Dr. Vandana Shiva, how she stood up to the corporate Goliaths of industrial agriculture, rose to prominence in the food justice movement, and inspired an international crusade for change.

What she says is educational, scientific and sensible, and of course, controversial. She is fighting big companies, such as Monsanto, and hoping to protect the small individual farmer, whom she explains, is truly the most free and unencumbered entrepreneur in the world. A farmer can take a little bit of soil, some water and some seed, and create his own food and be independent of anyone else or any other big company. And people are threatened by that.
If you don’t know her name, you should. WEBSITE MORE INFO
The Shropshire Good Food Trail runs from July 21st to August 31st 2025, in collaboration with Sustain: The Alliance for Better Food and Farming and the Bertha Foundation.
​The Good Food Trail is a celebration of relocalising the food system – shaping into one that is that is good for people, the planet and the local economy. Join the Good Food Trail to connect with the people who make, grow, sell, share and serve food, and who are building the more resilient food future we all need. WEBSITE MORE INFO
BISHOP’S CASTLE FOOD BANK
Set up in 2020- The food bank has been running for 5 years in Bishop’s Castle and offers much more than food find out out more from the amazing team who run it!

FILM: Mr Burton (12A)
2025-08-28 19:00 - 21:00 | SpArC Theatre
7.4 IMDB
The story of the wild school boy Rich Jenkins-son of a boozy miner- and an English teacher who recognized his talent, Philip Burton. A moving, untold story of how Rich Jenkins became Richard Burton the biggest star Wales has ever produced.
“The teacher who inspired and encouraged screen legend Richard Burton Toby Jones plays the spaniel-eyed schoolmaster setting Harry Lawtey’s needy young pupil on course for haughty international stardom.” The Guardian

Starring Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey, Lesley Manville

NTLIVE: Inter Alia (15)
2025-09-04 19:00 - 20:50 | SpArC Theatre
Inter Alia
a new play by Suzie Miller
Oscar-nominated Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl, Saltburn) is Jessica in the much-anticipated next play from the team behind Prima Facie.
Jessica Parks is a smart Crown Court Judge at the top of her career. Behind the robe, she is a karaoke fiend, a loving wife and a supportive parent. When an event threatens to throw her life completely off balance, can she hold her family upright?
Writer Suzie Miller and director Justin Martin reunite following their global phenomenon Prima Facie, with this searing examination of modern motherhood and masculinity.
Suitability:
Please note: Recommended for ages 14+
This production contains references to sensitive subject matter including to sex, violence, rape and other criminal activity.

Afternoon Film : Oceans With David Attenborough (PG)
2025-09-16 14:00 - 15:45 | SpArC Theatre
Stunning, immersive cinematography showcases the wonder of life under the seas and exposes the realities and challenges facing our ocean as never-before-seen, …
Tickets £4 Carers FREE
Supported by Arts alive & the Friends of Bishop’s Castle Community, Care Home and Hospital.
Tea & Biscuits £1 Accessible Cabaret seating/no steps/ hearing loop/ /local Free Bus available

FILM: The Salt Path (12A)
2025-09-25 19:00 - 21:00 | SpArC Theatre
THE SALT PATH is the story of husband and wife, Raynor and Moth Winn’s 630-mile trek along the beautiful but rugged Cornish, Devon and Dorset coastline.

After losing their home, they make the decision to walk in the hope that, in nature, they will find solace and a sense of acceptance. With depleted resources, only a tent and some essentials between them, every step along the path is a testament to their growing strength and determination.
THE SALT PATH is a journey that is exhilarating, challenging, and liberating in equal measure – a portrayal of home, how it can be lost and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.

“Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs Lead a Sentimental Story of a Married Couple Removed From Their Home. A husband and wife rediscover nature’s beauty and a renewed sense of vitality in this predictably heartstring-pulling adaptation of a true-life tale.” Variety

LIVE THEATRE: Gobbess
2025-10-02 19:30 - 20:45 | SpArC Theatre
A mesmerising one-creature spectacle that defies the ordinary.
‘Hilarious, wholesome, powerful’
‘A mic drop on women’s experiences in a patriarchal world, a call to action’
‘We laughed,we cried, I was covered in goosebumps the entire show. Such a raw, beautiful, poetic masterpiece.’
Prepare to be enchanted by a kaleidoscopic fusion of circus, spoken word, and storytelling. This show explores lightness & depth amid curiosity, creativity & cat-calling, blending circus skills with powerful spoken word to tell a story of rage, resilience, & transformation.
Visually stunning, Gobbess seamlessly transitions from commanding on-stage performance to poetic storytelling while performing aerial hoop. It’s a captivating experience that promises to leave you spellbound and uplifted.
Gobbess is a hilarious and heart-warming kaleidoscopic one-creature spoken word show. It’s a story about creativity and identity, of queerness & self-expression & one person’s rage and resilience, amongst existential curiosity, mental chaos and cat-calling.
Ages 12+
Audience Quotes:
“charismatic, beautiful and bewildering journey”
“Inspirational, interesting, intriguing, important”
“Naomi’s evolution has been stratospheric. What a raw, powerful, incisive and authentic talent. Loved every minute. Will continue following her around and being delighted we share the same ground. Brilliant woman. Gobbess is a triumph for every woman, every identity, that breaks free of the chains we were born in. Thank you.”

ROYAL OPERA & BALLET : TOSCA (Puccini)
2025-10-05 14:00 - 17:00 | SpArC Theatre
In war-torn Rome, Floria Tosca and Mario Cavaradossi live for each other and for their art. But whenCavaradossi helps an escaped prisoner, the lovers make a deadly enemy in the form of Baron Scarpia,Chief of Police.
At the mercy of Scarpia’s twisted desires, Tosca is forced to make a horrific bargain:
sleeping with the man she hates in order to save the man she loves. Can she find a way out?
A star-studded cast includes soprano Anna Netrebko performing the role of Tosca, tenor Freddie De Tommaso as Cavaradossi, and bass-baritone Gerald Finley as Scarpia, with Music Director of The Royal Opera Jakub Hrůša conducting his first new production in the role. An alternative, modern-day Rome provides the backdrop for Oliver Mears’ unmissable, gripping new production of Puccini’s thriller.

FILM: The Marching Band (15)
2025-10-09 19:00 - 20:45 | SpArC Theatre
7.4 IMDB
When acclaimed conductor Thibaut needs a bone marrow donor he learns he was adopted, and has an older brother. Their reunion sparks a fraternal, musical journey in this tender french comedy drama. With English Subtitles

FILM: How to Train Your Dragon (PG)
2025-10-11 14:00 - 16:00 | Sparc Theatre, Bishop's Castle, United Kingdom
7.8 IMDB
On the rugged isle of Berk, a Viking boy named Hiccup defies centuries of tradition by befriending a dragon named Toothless. However, when an ancient threat emerges that endangers both species, Hiccup’s friendship with Toothless becomes the key to forging a new future. Together, they must navigate the delicate path toward peace, soaring beyond the boundaries of their worlds and redefining what it means to be a hero and a leader.

The Ballad of Wallis Island (12A)
2025-10-16 19:00 - 20:40 | SpArC Theatre
7.4 IMDB
British comedy drama about a strange lottery winner who lives alone on a secluded island, tries to make his fantasies come true by getting his favorite singer to perform
★★★★ Empire
“James Griffiths’ Soulful and Winsome Crowd-Pleaser Makes the Heart Sing. Tim Key, Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan are a disarmingly delightful trio in a quirky and music-filled comedy set on picturesque Welsh shores. “ Variety
★★★★”Whimsical, low-budget British comedies can be a recipe for irritation — but this is perfectly judged.
The wordplay is fun. What you also don’t anticipate is how poignant it all gets — a melancholy farce with an oddly pure soul.” The Financial Times
★★★★ “funny, melancholy yarn of a folk duo reunited by oddball superfan. Tim Key bring his trademark pleasant awkwardness to the island-owner who pays Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan to come and play for him” The Guardian

LIVE COMEDY: Box of Frogs
2025-10-18 19:30 - 21:30 | SpArC Theatre
LIVE IMPROV COMEDY
High-octane improvised comedy nonsense, based on your suggestions from this award winning group . Expect the unexpected as quick-witted players conjure up hilarious spontaneous songs, sketches and scenes !
Box of Frogs is Birmingham’s premier improvised comedy group, making up sketches, scenes and songs based entirely on suggestions from the audience!
After a whole summer run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival they are back in the Midlands !
★★★★★ “A Box of Stars here” Derek Awards
★★★★★ “Hilariously funny” Moreish TV
14 + but it is improvised so content varies

NTLIVE: Mrs. Warren’s Profession (12A)
2025-10-23 19:00 - 21:00 | SpArC Theatre
Mrs. Warren’s Profession by Bernard Shaw
Directed by Dominic Cooke
★★★★ Radio Time ★★★★ WhatsOnStage ★★★★ London Theatre
“Imelda Staunton is magnificent” Independent
“An extraordinary tour de force” WhatsOnStage
Five-time Olivier Award winner Imelda Staunton (The Crown) joins forces with her real-life
daughter Bessie Carter (Bridgerton) for the very first time, playing mother and daughter in
Bernard Shaw’s incendiary moral classic.
Vivie Warren is a woman ahead of her time. Her mother, however, is a product of that old
patriarchal order. Exploiting it has earned Mrs. Warren a fortune – but at what cost?
Filmed live from the West End, this new production reunites Staunton with director Dominic
Cooke (Follies, Good), exploring the clash between morality and independence, traditions
and progress.
“Imelda Staunton in formidable form”Guardian
“Startlingly fresh” Time Out
“Carter gleams with candour and intelligence” Observer
“Imelda Staunton and real-life daughter Bessie Carter are both forces to be reckoned with”Radio Times

D&D - Create and Paint Your Own Hero
2025-10-31 13:00 - 16:00 | SpArC Theatre
Dungeons & Dragons – Paint you own Mini Figure & Create a Character profile
Create your D&D heroes’ character sheet and paint your chosen mini figure, under the instruction of experienced D&D Gamemaster Once complete you can take them home and be ready for your next adventure
This special session will be led by an experienced Dungeon Master where you will learn the delicate techniques to paint your own D&D Mini figure to keep. Then The Dungeon master will help you to create a character profile for your figure .
by Mimic Merch
(Age 9 + Under 11 should be accompanied by a willing helper)
Only £4 per session
Part of our Commission for This is Shropshire

LIVE THEATRE: Grandad Anansi
2025-11-01 15:00 - 16:00 | SpArC Theatre
An uplifting tale of love, courage and letting go.
“A colourful, amazing production” The Guardian

Abi and her Grandad tell each other Anansi folktales. They play games as they work together in the garden among the beautiful flowers and tasty vegetables. As they plant memories, they share secrets and develop a bond that nothing can break. Grandad is as smart and mischievous as the wily Anansi legend. Can he find a way to tell his granddaughter about his plans to return to Jamaica, his beloved homeland?

★★★★”Storytelling, and its extraordinary power, is at the centre of the piece” Sardines
Join our intrepid characters in this humorous and heartfelt intergenerational adventure, as they step into the unexpected. With evocative live music, Grandad Anansi is an uplifting tale of love, courage and letting go.
Written by award-winning children’s author Elayne Ogbeta, Grandad Anansi is a Half Moon and Z-arts co-production: an exciting collaboration by the UK’s leading small-scale young people’s venue and touring company and Manchester’s award-winning venue for children and families.
“Half Moon are creating important, beautiful and powerful work for young people” Children’s Theatre Reviews
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LIVE MUSIC : No 1 Ladies Accordion Orchestra
2025-11-08 19:30 - 21:30 | SpArC Theatre
Link for booking is direct with the orchestra.
JOIN US FOR A DELIGHTFUL EVENING WITH CAKE !!
Any misgivings about this particular instrument (particularly played en masse) were well and truly banished. We were treated to an amazing range of tunes played with great skill and enthusiasm by the No 1. Ladies Accordion Orchestra, comprised of no less than 15 accordions and one drum kit. The accordions are arranged in sections, each taking different parts to produce a seamless combination of interesting melodies and harmonies. During the second half, the introduction of a basso accordion added an outstandingly beautiful resonance and depth to the overall sound.
In a wide-ranging repertoire, pure joy was to be had from the group’s accomplished rendition of the fabulous Astor Piazzolla’s ‘Liber Tango’, played with great style and energy. Other musical influences included jazz, blues and Eastern European music with one of my favourites, a Macedonian piece called ‘Jovano Jovanka’, hidden in the midst of a Jewish folk dance. Some familiar tunes, such as ‘Loch Lomond’ and ‘Scarborough Fair’, were interestingly arranged and well produced, and Robbie Burns’ ‘A Fond Kiss’ was set to music with heartrending effect. I also loved the ‘Beguine for Bert’, a melodic and gentle piece written and arranged by the orchestra’s leader, Jane Ward, which demonstrated well the accordion’s capability for subtle harmonies, crescendos and diminuendos.
The accordions (mostly 120 bass and with a wide range of reeds or ‘voices’) come from Italy, whilst their players are from all over the UK. They meet approximately six times a year to engage in intense weekends of music making and rehearsal (apparently interspersed with much jollity and fine dining) in order to put on performances such as this one.
By the end of the evening, the audience had been treated to a unique and detailed tour of the accordion, with all its quirks and intricacies, through both the music and some informative banter between numbers. Those of us who have one languishing in a cupboard somewhere should retrieve it, dust it down and start playing again, preferably with as many other accordions as possible!

The Royal Ballet: La Fille Mal Gardée
2025-11-09 14:00 - 16:30 | SpArC Theatre
Screening Via Satellite
Escape to the countryside with Frederick Ashton’s ballet about a capricious girl who hopes to marry her love. Brimming with humour and choreographic invention, La Fille mal gardée is the perfect ballet for all the family.
Lise, the only daughter of Widow Simone, is in love with the young farmer Colas, but her mother has far more ambitious plans for her. Simone hopes to marry her off to Alain, the son of the wealthy proprietor Thomas. Desperate to marry Colas rather than Alain, Lise contrives to outwit her mother’s plans.
65 years after its premiere, The Royal Ballet presents Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée. This affectionate portrayal of village life combines exuberant good humour and brilliantly inventive choreography in what is undoubtedly Ashton’s love letter to the English countryside. La Fille mal gardée whisks us away into pastoral bliss with Ferdinand Hérold’s cheerful score and Osbert Lancaster’s colourful designs.

LIVE MUSIC : WILL BARNES QUARTET - OUTSIDE THE LIGHT TOUR
2025-11-14 19:30 - 21:30 | SpArC Theatre
★★★★ “Springy deftness… Cool precision… Serious chops…” Andy Cowan, Mojo
“Playfulness and invention throughout” Soweto Kinch, BBC Radio 3
Fresh off the success of their debut, Outside the Light—a powerful new set of original jazz. Inspired by the wild beauty of Mid Wales, their sound is sharp, lyrical, and rhythmically bold. With deep musical connection and refined touch, the quartet invites you into a world where emotion and improvisation flow as one.
Following the critical acclaim of their debut album Source of the Severn, the Will Barnes Quartet returns with Outside the Light—a bold and expressive new chapter in their artistic journey. This second album deepens the group’s exploration of the interplay between jazz improvisation and the evocative landscapes of Mid Wales and the Welsh Marches. Through a collection of original compositions, the album weaves lyrical beauty with intricate rhythmic interplay.
Adults £15 Under 18 £5
Group Ticket 4 adults available £50

Afternoon Film: The Last Journey (PG)
2025-11-18 14:00 - 15:30 | SpArC Theatre
7.8 IMDB
An emotional and hilarious story with a life-affirming message, The Last Journey is a cinematic experience that explores a loving son’s attempts to coax his aging father into reengaging with life by embarking on a joyous, heartfelt road trip through the South of France.
In Swedish with Subtitles
Tickets £4 Carers FREE
Supported by Arts alive & the Friends of Bishop’s Castle Community, Care Home and Hospital.
Tea & Biscuits £1 Accessible Cabaret seating/no steps/ hearing loop/ /local Free Bus available

LIVE MUSIC : Širom
2025-11-20 19:30 - 21:30 | SpArC Theatre
“Širom fashion maximalist avant-garde soundscapes from antique acoustic instruments like the balafon and hurdy gurdy. Their artfully rootless roots music makes an impassioned statement both aesthetically and, more opaquely, politically too.” — Uncut
The Slovenian avant-folk trio Širom are back with a sonically and thematically expansive 5th album; a thrilling follow-up to their widely praised 2022 release The Liquified Throne of Simplicity. Navigating almost two dozen instruments (some of which they’ve handcrafted), and hypnotic compositions that often exceed ten minutes in length, Ana Kravanja, Iztok Koren and Samo Kutin court patient, deep-dive listeners via intricately woven atmospheres, rhythms and sonics.
In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper is arguably the sharpest evocation yet of the group’s highly collective music process, enveloping rustic melodic folklore, outernational textures, non-linear song structures and dissonance, and a buzzing ambiance that can at times feel like an ecstatic ritual.
Few experimental ensembles from the last decade have created an ouevre as singular and unmistakable as that of this far-sighted trio from the disparate landscapes of Slovenia. Širom truly sound like no one else.
Ana Kravanja: violin, viola, ribab, qeychak, balafon, frame drum, chimes, various objects, percussion, fipple flute, voice
Iztok Koren: banjo, three-string banjo, gembri, morin khuur, balafon, percussion
Samo Kutin: hurdy gurdy, bass harp, harmonium, lyres, frame drum, tampura brač, brač, lute, chimes, balafon, acoustic resonator, various objects, voice

Adults £15 Under 18 £5
Group Ticket 4 adults available £50

NTLIVE: The Fifth Step (15)
2025-11-27 19:00 - 20:30 | SpArC Theatre
The Fifth Step
by David Ireland
Directed by Finn den Hertog

★★★★★ ‘Raw, excruciating and alarmingly funny’ Daily Mail

★★★★ ‘Jack Lowden and Martin Freeman are superb’ Financial Times

Olivier Award-winner Jack Lowden (Slow Horses, Dunkirk) is joined by Emmy and BAFTA-winner Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, The Responder) in the critically acclaimed and subversively funny new play by David Ireland.
After years in the 12-step programme of Alcoholics Anonymous, James becomes a sponsor to newcomer Luka. The pair bond over black coffee, trade stories and build a fragile friendship out of their shared experiences. But as Luka approaches step five – the moment of confession – dangerous truths emerge, threatening the trust on which both of their recoveries depend.
Finn den Hertog directs the provocative and entertaining production filmed live from @sohoplace on London’s West End.
