What's on where around Luton: listings, April 6 edition

WEDNESDAY APRIL 6

Adults with learning difficulties arts and craft sessions. Every Wednesday 10.30am to 12.30pm and Saturdays from 11am to 1pm at Arttrend, Arundel Road, Luton. Social and creative activity for adults with learning difficulties, engaging in all types of art and craft work such as painting in acrylics, papier mache, salt dough, cross stitch, rug making etc. Please see the website www.arttrend.co.uk and go to Art ALD, then see the gallery of work already done. Tel 07794 987796 if you would like more details. 10.30am to 12.30pm Wednesdays, 11am to 1pm Saturdays – but you can come and go at any time. £6 per session including materials and refreshments.

Luton Irish Forum holds a weekly Tuesday and Wednesday Club from 11am to 1.30pm at 102 Hitchin Road. This is a great chance to meet old friends and make some new ones. Refreshments are all included along with soda bread, scones with jam and monthly chicken and chips. Entry costs £1, plus optional £3 for two games of bingo and a raffle.

Broadcast live from the Royal Opera House to the Grove Theatre, Dunstable, Giselle is the quintessential Romantic classic, a love affair that begins in the real world and continues beyond the grave. The ballet’s title role also offers one of the great challenges of the ballet repertory, as Giselle transforms from an innocent peasant girl, duped into love, to a forgiving spirit who saves her lover from death. It starts at 7.15pm. Tickets: £15. Call 01582 60 20 80 or visit www.grovetheatre.co.uk to book.

Putteridge Bury G&S Society presents Princess Ida at The Queen Mother Theatre, Hitchin. Tickets start at £12. Visit boxoffice.pbgs.org/princess-ida.html or call 07946 264886.

THURSDAY APRIL 7

Putteridge Bury G&S Society presents Princess Ida at The Queen Mother Theatre, Hitchin. Tickets start at £14. Visit boxoffice.pbgs.org/princess-ida.html or call 07946 264886.

FRIDAY APRIL 8

This marks what would have been Roy Orbison’s 80th birthday, and to mark this special year, the Grove Theatre in Dunstable hosts a celebration of The Big O’s musical legacy. Barry Steele takes audiences on a journey in time from the early Sun years right through to the late 1980s. The show starts at 7.30pm. Tickets: £20.50. Call 01582 60 20 80 or visit www.grovetheatre.co.uk to book.

Putteridge Bury G&S Society presents Princess Ida at The Queen Mother Theatre, Hitchin. Tickets start at £12. Visit boxoffice.pbgs.org/princess-ida.html or call 07946 264886.

Some of Luton’s brightest young talents take to the stage in a new show exploring identity and peer pressure. The show, called In Doing Nothing I Found Me, tackles questions confronting youngsters everywhere – what do I want to be and what happens when I don’t know? Call 01582 878100 for tickets.

SATURDAY APRIL 9

Join Ballet Theatre UK at the Grove Theatre, Dunstable as it tells the tale of Pinocchio, a wooden puppet carved from pine with but only one wish – to become a real boy. Follow the cheeky marionette puppet with an unruly nose on his epic quest as he overcomes obstacles, faces consequences and even ends up in the belly of a whale yet proves to all that dreams really do come true. It starts at 7.30pm. Tickets: adults £19, children £10. Call 01582 60 20 80 or visit www.grovetheatre.co.uk to book.

Putteridge Bury G&S Society presents Princess Ida at The Queen Mother Theatre, Hitchin. Tickets start at £12. Visit boxoffice.pbgs.org/princess-ida.html or call 07946 264886.

SUNDAY APRIL 10

The number 1 pop show touring the UK right now, Pop Factor: The Concert comes to the Grove Theatre, Dunstable at 3pm. The show is a celebration of the biggest popstars and current chart hits, from Taylor Swift to Ed Sheeran, Katy Perry to Olly Murs. Tickets: Adults £15, children £13. Call 01582 60 20 80 or visit www.grovetheatre.co.uk to book.

TUESDAY APRIL 12

Shakespeare evening to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, 8pm to 10pm at High Town Community Sports and Arts Centre, Concorde St, LU2 0JD. Bring sonnets or speeches to share (not more than 20 lines), or poems about Shakespeare. An evening hosted by Toddington Poetry Society in Luton. Entrance free for first-time visitors.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 13

Pam Ayres has been making the nation laugh for over 40 years. Her work is funny, and approachable. Her hair-trigger timing and her eye for the detail of everyday life and the absurdity therein have ensured her enduring popularity. The show at the Grove Theatre, Dunstable starts at 7.30pm. Tickets: £22.50. Call 01582 60 20 80 or visit www.grovetheatre.co.uk to book.

Critically acclaimed comedian Dane Baptiste is bringing his hit new show Reasonable Doubts to Luton Library Theatre at 8pm. Dane has just finished recording his own BBC Three sitcom, Sunny D, and has recently appeared on Live at the Apollo. His new show is all about doubt. Dane’s life has changed in the last 12 months, and he has achieved things that he had previously only ever dreamt about. But now he has doubts and is questioning everything. Dane’s Luton show starts at 8pm. Tickets are £10 or £8 concessions. Booking fees may apply.

Visit www.lutonculture.com or call 01582 878100 to book.

THURSDAY APRIL 14

Theatre show Swing is coming to The Hat Factory, Luton. Swing is a comedy about dancing, music and love. It starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are £10, £8 concessions and are available from www.lutonculture.com or the box office on 01582 878100. Booking fees may apply.

Marking Rod Stewart’s 70th birthday year in 2015, a brand new theatrical production celebrating his career comes to the Grove Theatre, Dunstable. The production, featuring Paul Metcalfe, will tell the story of Rod from street busker through to international superstar. It starts at 7.30pm. Tickets: £18.50. Call 01582 60 20 80 or visit www.grovetheatre.co.uk to book.

FRIDAY APRIL 15

The Phoenix Players are staging Musical Moments 4 at the Luton Library Theatre, Luton at 7.30pm. It features songs from musicals such as West Side Story, Hairspray, Sweeney Todd, Les Miserables, Guys & Dolls, and many more. With an overall cast of more than 50, it’s sure to be a busy night. Visit ticketsource.co.uk/lutonphoenixplayers to book.

Lee Memphis King, Europe’s most successful Elvis Presley tribute artist, recreates the essence of the King, The ’68 Comeback Special and the Vegas years at the Grove Theatre, Dunstable at 7.45pm. Tickets: £24 or £21. Call 01582 60 20 80 or visit www.grovetheatre.co.uk to book.

SATURDAY APRIL 16

The Phoenix Players are staging Musical Moments 4 at the Luton Library Theatre, Luton at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. It features songs from musicals such as West Side Story, Hairspray, Sweeney Todd, Les Miserables, Guys & Dolls, and many more. With an overall cast of more than 50, it’s sure to be a busy night. Visit ticketsource.co.uk/lutonphoenixplayers to book.

St Augustine’s Church in Icknield Way, hosts a concert by Luton Choral Society, which will be performing Music of Six Centuries: ten resounding, evocative pieces from the great classic tradition of European choral music. The oldest dates from the 1400s: the most modern was published in 1993. Some are heard only rarely. The concert starts at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £12 each or £10 for concessions and £5 for under 21s. Visit www.lutonchoralsociety.org.uk/lcsconcerts.htm for more information.

Tell Me on a Sunday charts the romantic misadventures of a young English girl in New York in the heady days of the 1980s. Brimming with optimism, she seeks success and love. But as she weaves her way through the maze of the city and her own anxieties, frustrations and heartaches she begins to wonder whether she’s been looking for love in all the wrong places. This musical features Unexpected Song, the chart-topping Take That Look Off Your Face and title track Tell Me On A Sunday. It is being staged at the Grove Theatre, Dunstable from 7.30pm. Tickets: £27 or £25. Call 01582 60 20 80 or visit www.grovetheatre.co.uk to book.