Interest area: culture

Return of the Gods: Zeus, Athena, Herc...

Return of the Gods: Zeus, Athena, Hercules will open at World Museum on 28 April 2023 and will run until 25 February 2024.

Featuring a stunning collection of sculpture and antiquities, the exhibition will immerse you in the ancient world through the words of poets, music and drama.

Exploring the legends of the gods, goddesses and mortals from Ancient Greece and Rome, and including some of the most well-known characters such as the king of the gods Zeus, Athena the goddess of wisdom and war and the hero, Hercules, the exhibition will draw you into a fascinating world where the ancient gods were an important part of everyday life.

Follow the stories of birth, love and rivalry of the Olympian gods, and explore their characters and powers. The exhibition will explain how the Greek gods were adopted by the Romans and how they were worshipped publicly and in private.

Visitors can enter a Roman villa to discover how Emperors and the Imperial families were immortalised after death, before entering a dark and ethereal space to explore the underworld in a theatrical display featuring the three-headed dog, Cerberus, guardian of the gates of Hades.

If visitors enjoy The Return of the Gods: Zeus, Athena, Hercules, they’re asking them to pay what they think is appropriate, to support their museums and art galleries. Visitor contributions enable them to offer a rich programme of exhibitions and events, supports us in caring for our internationally known collections and reaching thousands of young people each year.

Drunk Women Solving Crime

On the back of their Edinburgh Festival run and double British Podcast Award nominations, the true crime podcast with a twist of lime takes to the road for its first full tour.

Each episode sees the boozed-up panel of writer/comedian hosts Hannah George, Catie Wilkins and Taylor Glenn test out their drunk detective skills and solve true crime cases, along with a star-studded roster of guests, who have included Katherine Ryan, Ricki Lake, Deborah Frances -White, Sara Pascoe, and Shazia Mirza among many others.

Plus, the audience gets the chance to have any unresolved crimes against them solved by their sloshed sleuths….whatever happens, they won’t make things worse.

Serious Nonsense Festival

Shakespeare North Playhouse and Prescot Town Centre will be packed with nonsense for this massive three-day adventure celebrating Edward Lear’s connection to Knowsley.

Lear lived at Knowsley Hall and wrote his world-famous poem The Owl and the Pussycat there. To celebrate his love of all things nonsense and the fact that Knowsley is the Liverpool City Region Borough of Culture in 2022, the Serious Nonsense festival is coming to Prescot.

Experience Prescot as never before…

Flock to a giant birdcage where a tap-dancing canary is being chased by two feisty acrobatic cats. Explore the belly of a 50 ft sperm whale, mop the brow of a giant Hippochondriac Hippopotamus as he stumbles through the town centre nursing a toothache, or book into the smallest Hotel in the world featuring trumpeting bell boys and acrobatic chambermaids.

You can even watch a real-life owl and pussycat tell tales of the sea in their own pea green boat!

There will be live music and comedy and a very special programme of readings, performances and talks, curated in association with Writing on the Wall, featuring favourite authors such as Frank Cottrell Boyce, John Dougherty, Sarah Asuquo, Michael Rosen and Lemn Sissay.

This is a weekend not to be missed – for all ages!

Festival highlights include Storytime with Frank Cottrell Boyce, stand-up comedy with Shappi Khorsandi and a conversation with Brookside favourite Eithne Brown who will be considering the similarities between Shakespeare and soap!

How to book tickets

Tickets for the Festival Highlights will go on sale soon, but all other acts across the weekend are FREE to enjoy and no booking is required.

Visit Culture Knowsley (www.cultureknowsley.co.uk) for the full programme and to book your tickets.

The Serious Nonsense Festival is part of Knowsley’s year as the Liverpool City Region Borough of Culture and is delivered in partnership with Shakespeare North Playhouse, Writing on the Wall and Milapfest.

CHIO CHIO

Chio Chio tells the story of a village in the middle of a Latin American rain forest where a beautiful bird of paradise lives.

Chio Chio sings the most beautiful songs until she can sing no more. Two young villagers are tasked with travelling to the other end of the rainforest to ask the keeper of the forest for help to get Chio Chio’s voice back. Throughout their journey, they meet amazing characters and face a number of difficult challenges.

Chio Chio is a puppet show with live music and an incredibly colourful, magical set made of recycled materials, and tackles themes such as environmental responsibility, diversity, identity, and finding your own voice.

Loose Ends

Local theatre company Enter Pursuing a Bear are returning to the Hope Street Theatre this August.

After performing a sell out run of Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit last year we are set to return with our first original play. Written by up and coming local poet & spoken word performer Alice Colvin-Cousley (aka Joan Cooper Snark), Loose Ends is a bold one-room play – The Breakfast Club meets An Inspector Calls.

Four strangers from differing classes and backgrounds attempt to drink and make merry on their last night in halls against the backdrop of a missing girl – but each of them are carrying secrets.

Performances will take place on the 4th and 6th August at 7:30pm. Advance tickets are available at https://bit.ly/3HVO2BZ with concessions for students.

Future Station: Group discussions on c...

Over the next 12 months, Future Station will be host to events exploring and challenging the notion of care for artists and arts workers.

The pandemic has given the opportunity to reflect on how care is instilled in the arts, and how to make art with care in the face of broader social issues that have arisen from the pandemic, ranging from social inequality, physical and mental health strains and ensuring our work is accessible to all.

Their first event invites artists and arts workers to discuss what learnings can be taken from the past two years, what resources are needed for all of us to care for ourselves and each other, and how the arts can be a platform for challenging wider issues facing care in society. The event will be hosted by the team at Edge Hill Station and will be animated by your conversations.

This event will be hybrid and will welcome people to join the discussions via Zoom.

Elvis (12A)

Head along to Crosby’s excellent Plaza Community Cinema for screenings of Elvis.

From his childhood in Tupelo, Mississippi to his rise to stardom starting in Memphis, Tennessee and his conquering of Las Vegas, Nevada, Elvis Presley becomes the first rock ‘n roll star and changes the world with his music.

Rated: 12A

Thor: Love & Thunder (12A)

Head along to Crosby’s excellent Plaza Community Cinema for screenings of Thor: Love & Thunder.

Thor enlists the help of Valkyrie, Korg and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster to fight Gorr the God Butcher, who intends to make the gods extinct.

There are additional matinee screenings, see here for full listings.

The Smartest Giant in Town

Based on the bestselling book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

George wishes he wasn’t the scruffiest giant in town. So when he sees a new shop selling giant-sized clothes, he decides it’s time for a new look: smart trousers, smart shirt, stripy tie, shiny shoes. Now he’s the smartest giant in town… until he bumps into some animals who desperately need his help – and his clothes!

This heart-warming tale about friendship and helping those in need is brought to life in a musical, puppet-filled adventure, following on from Little Angel Theatre’s bestselling adaptations of Julia Donaldson’s picture books including The Singing Mermaid and The Everywhere Bear.

Love’s Labour’s Lost (Off ...

A comedy about love in all its forms, this is Shakespeare’s most poetic and colourful play by some distance.

The King of Navarre and his friends swear an oath, to study, to discipline, and to keep away from all women and temptations of love, for three years. Just as they do so, the Princess of France arrives with her ladies-in-waiting.

Forced to camp outside the Kingdom because of the King’s new oath and laws, the ladies toy with the men, who quickly become enamoured with their French counterparts. Games and trickery abound as the men try to win the love of the women, learning plenty about love and themselves in the process, before an unexpected ending…

Please bring along a blanket or something to sit on! Wine and picnics are very much recommended.

Tickets:

Adults – £12

Concessions – £10

Under 21s – £5

Tickets available now from https://www.offtheground.co.uk/