Hello one and all and welcome back to another Rural Review. As we are sure many of you will be aware of, today marks the last day of the May/June half term for kids and young people – who will be returning to school next week (we are sure that there is also a large contingent who are slightly relieved about that…) Now we love to embrace a half term here at The Courthouse, which meant this week has been busy and exciting in equal measure! Let’s begin todays post with…
What’s been happening:
Half-Term Wonderland Activities
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| It’s been a ‘mad’ week! |
The Courthouse this week has been a hub of Alice-themed activity, and we would not have bad it any other way! On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we had a craft workshop in the morning, making Wonderland accessories – like hats, tea cups and crowns, and then in the afternoon a very special tea party was hosted for our fabulous participants by the Mad Hatter himself. All of these activities took place in our Courtroom, which had been packed to the rafters with accessories and props which would have had even the Queen of Hearts impressed. We want to thank anyone who attended any of these sessions – it was fantastic to have a week filled with so much creativity, interest and laughter. We will be back with more half term activities throughout the year – so make sure you keep your eyes peeled for that!
On the streets of Thirsk – WE NEED YOU!
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| This was before all the cake was engulfed… |
As we alluded to last week, on Saturday three enthusiastic staff members set about trying to find out how the lovely people of Thirsk view Rural Arts and our building. We had a lot of interest, which we are sure was down to the staff members approachable demeanour and an active interest in the arts, rather than the free cake on offer for a completed survey… In all seriousness, the information collected on that day was incredibly useful to the work that we do, and it is always a great experience to be able to go out and talk to the people who make our existence possible. With that in mind – we are asking a favour of you, our loyal blog readers, by putting a link to our survey on our audiences HERE. We are trying to get as many responses as possible so we can make sure we continue to give everyone who engages with us the highest standard of provision possible (oh god that got a bit official for a second there didn’t it?!) and your feedback helps us do that. You might even win a prize if you do!
The Enchanted Chalk
The final performance of our ON Tour Spring 2016 season is here and we are #totesemosh about it coming to an end (that’s one for the young people – we are so down with it..) What is cheering us up is that the final performance is corker – and one that is different from a lot of the other performances that are part of the ON Tour scheme. If you are one of those people feeling down about the end of half-term (or perhaps are looking after someone who is!) tonight and tomorrow the fabulous Mud Pie Arts are performing their amazing interactive show The Enchanted Chalk at North Stanley Village Hall and the 40th Hartlepool Scout Group tonight and tomorrow. There are still a few tickets available which you can buy HERE – it’s totally worth doing…
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| Look how much fun is being had here! |
What’s coming up
The Audience – TICKET OFFER!
We can’t believe this has come around already! The most special of screenings of the award winning show The Audience starring theatre royalty Dame Helen Mirren is being shown in honour of actual royalty Queen Elizabeth II for her 90th Birthday. If that is not enough, we have been feeling all generous here at Rural Arts and lowered the ticket rates to only £10 for this show – how good is that! But move quickly as tickets are selling fast and it is taking place next Thursday so go and buy your tickets HERE. After that, get yourself in the mood by watching the trailer…
Cheryl Martin – Alaska
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| We are very excited to see |
Talking of performances which are coming around thick and fast – this is taking place exactly a week after Helen Mirren has finished her spectacular show. Cheryl’s show is very different than The Audience but no less fantastic – using music, dance and storytelling Cheryl tackles some difficult issues with warmth humour and honesty. Not only that, but with this being a ‘FRESH’ show, there is no set fee for attendance as it is ‘pay-what-you-think’ event – how good is that?! Even though there is no set fee we strongly suggesting booking as we have had a lot of interest over the last week. All you need to do is just click HERE
Wimbledon Week
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| Get involved! |
What a summer of sport we have in store this year: the European Championships in France, The Olympics in Brazil and of course, THE definitive tennis tournament bar none which is back on our screens at the end of June. But what’s that I hear you cry? I thought Rural Arts was an arts organisation – why are you talking about sports? Well after the success of the Tour de Yorkshire day, and in particular the live streaming of the race – we thought we would bring sports screening back for the top sporting event on British soil this year. So dust off your whites, get the strawberries and cream out and prepare yourself mentally for screaming ‘CMON ANDY’ as we are put through the ringer, yet again, by a British hopeful going from brilliant to racket-smashingly awful in the space of a set point.The stream is on every afternoon of the championships until 4:30 for you to watch. Obviously we can’t force you to get involved – in fact you might say that the ball is firmly in your court with this one (sorry…)
We do love to finish with a terrible pun here at Rural Review HQ. Thanks very much for reading, and we will see you next week!
