23 things to do in Bristol this week, January 30 – February 5 2023

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Monday-Thursday: All The Beauty & The Bloodshed, Watershed
Oscar®-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) presents a stirring portrait of renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin, focussing on her fight against Big Pharma.

Monday: Grindhouse Cinema Club: Akira Kurosawa’s RAN, Sidney & Eden
The popular film club known for showing the best (and often lesser-known) indie, low budget, sometimes crappy movies hosts a screening of the truly magnificent Japanese Samurai epic, now remastered in glorious 4K. Loosely based on Shakespeare’s King Lear, it’s a war flick that you certainly won’t forget in a hurry.

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Monday-Thursday: The Fablemans, Watershed
Steven Spielberg’s warm-hearted coming-of-age drama is a semi-autobiographical story about a young aspiring filmmaker, and a love letter to cinema.

Tuesday: Murder mystery night: Post-apocalyptic prom, Wake The Tiger
Bristol’s amazement park hosts a prom themed murder mystery evening, but with a twist.Bring your own costume, and you’ll be given your own unique character upon arrival, whose identity you will don for the duration of the evening, where you’ll have to figure out whodunnit – or hide the fact that youdunnit.

Wake the Tiger hosts a special murder mystery night – Photo: Yuup

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Various dates: Free Exhibitions, RWA
The RWA presents three free exhibitions and activities as part of its Season of Photography, opening this weekend. Between Work and Window displays the portraits of RWA Academicians by internationally renowned photographer Anne-Katrin Purkiss.

Underexposed by Alice Hendy, documents the brilliant work of individuals who attend Bristol Community Links. Fancy creating your own photographic work? The lower ground floor is home to PhotoLab, an interactive exhibition where you’ll be encouraged to take part, play and explore.

There are a host of free exhibitions at the RWA – photo: RWA

Wednesday afternoon & Thursday morning: Welcoming warm space, The Ardagh
The community centre on Horfield Common is opening its doors to members of the public in need of a warm space this week. Whether you need a place to charge your phone, connect to the internet or simply to stop in for a hot drink, their doors are open.

Cafe on the Common at the Ardagh on Horfield Common – photo: Martin Booth

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Wednesday: Full Moon Women’s Circle, The Mount Without
A beautifully relaxing and restorative evening of meditation, journaling, sharing and a Full Moon releasing ritual. It’s time to let go of all that no longer serves you under the Leo Full Moon.

The Women’s full moon circle at The Mount Without – photo: The Mount Without

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Open now: Season of Photography, RWA
The RWA’s landmark season of photography is a celebration of contemporary photographic practice in all its forms. Your admission ticket covers both Jem Southam’s A Bend in the River, a beautifully observed series of photographs documenting the changes in the environment, and The RWA Photo Open including over 150 works showcasing the sheer quality and range of photographic work being produced by photographers and artists across the UK and abroad today.

Jem Southam: A bend in the river – photo: RWA

Thursday: Puss in Boots: More than a feline, The Wardrobe Theatre
Living Spit’s theatre company brings you an all singing, all dancing rendition of the classic tale of Puss in Boots – but not quite as you know it. Told entirely through song and rhyming couplets, it’s a bizarre take on the well known story, and certainly involves more fishnet vests than the original tale.

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February 3: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons by candlelight, John Wesley’s New Room
The Bristol Ensemble bring their amazing performances of Baroque masterpieces to the magical and intimate candlelight surroundings of the Wesley Chapel.

The Wesley Chapel was built in 1748 so the building is a contemporary of much of the music you will hear tonight. Be transported back to the 1700s in this unique and wonderful evening of baroque music, architecture and candlelight.

Friday-Feb 12: Bristol Light Festival, Various Locations
The incredibly popular Bristol Light Festival returns for its third year, lighting up the city with Bristol-themed exhibits, with everything from “overheard in Bristol” signs to sirens floating around the harbour. The best part? It’s all free, as pieces will be placed throughout the city centre.

Trumpet Flowers (installation to be part of Bristol Light Festival) – photo: Amigo and Amigo

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Friday: Federico Albanese, Bristol Beacon Foyer
Federico Albanese’s contemporary-classical compositions are inflected with jazz, avant-pop and electronica. Whilst piano predominates the Berlin-via-Milan multi-instrumentalist’s work, he also employs a wide range of sounds including tape processing, synthesisers, melodica and electric guitar.

Albanese’s latest album ‘Before and Now Seems Infinite’ is his debut outing on Universal’s genre-defying Mercury RX imprint and features guest vocals from Marika Hackman and Ghostpoet. It also sees him explore memory via striking and haunting compositions that create poignantly vivid soundscapes. Support comes from Julian Zyklus and tickets are running low – don’t miss out.

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Saturday: Lila: A Gnawa Ritual Tradition, Trinity Centre
The Lila tradition is recognised to be a manifestation of the expressive culture of the historical Gnawa. It is a rich ceremony of song, music, dance, costume and incense that takes place over the course of an entire night ending around dawn.

Artists Mohamed Errebba and Chloe Rose Laing will be hosting a condensed version of a Lila at Trinity for Bristol’s communities. All are welcome including children and families.

Lila celebrations at Trinity Centre – photo: Trinity Centre

February 4: Bedminster Lantern Parade, North St
The always popular winter lantern parade promises to bring the South Bristol community together with volunteers and ten local schools aiding this year’s efforts.

2022 Bedminster lantern parade – photo: Robert Browne

Saturday: Illustrated pottery workshop: Make a fruit bowl, The Cadbury
The Montpelier pub hosts a make your own fruit bowl workshop. As part of a collaboration between two local ceramics artists, you’ll create your own bowl yourself, and then decorate it with illustrations of fruit and veg, handpicked by your hosts. You’ll then, of course, be able to take the bowl home with you.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn1YaDOtmHJ/

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Saturday: Sofa Sound, Trinity Centre
Sofa Sound links up with Alternate again, and returns for their biggest collaboration party to date. The 2022 winter show sold out quickly, and we expect their 2023 party to do so even faster. Featuring a packed-out lineup including DLR, Benny L, Rider Shafique and many more.

Sofa sound system – photo: Trinity Centre

Sunday: Noods Radio & Dance Policy: Communal Throb, Centrespace Gallery
Top underground Bristol radio station Noods Radio are hosting a free photography exhibition in collaboration with youth magazine Dance Policy.

The exhibition features work from a multitude of exciting rising photographers from the youth dance space, and aims to shine a light on corners of these scenes often left unexplored.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnjW5HWAahw/?hl=en

Sunday: Special Collections Sunday: Early Printed Books, Bristol Central Library

This event is an opportunity for book lovers from around the city to take a close look at the best of Bristol Central Library’s early printed books. You can expect to see a number of archaic reads including the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493), the first Book of Common Prayer (1549) and a number of seventeenth-century tracts printed in Bristol.

And coming soon…

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February 8: Siv Jakobsen, The Louisiana
Norwegian musician Siv Jakobsen ushers in a hushed and breath-taking reverence with her song writing. Her delicate vocals convey an emotive poignancy, underpinned by instrumental accompaniments that take in Jakobsen’s finger-picked guitar playing, soaring strings and striking harp and brass arrangements.

Now gearing up to release her third album ‘Gardening’, Jakobsen wrote the recent single ‘Romain’s Place’ whilst touring. The track, taken from her upcoming record highlights Jakobsen’s acute, affecting lyricism and her gracefully haunting folk intonations. Jakobsen has also spent a lot of time on the road, playing shows alongside the likes of Damien Jurado, José González and Susanne Sundfør. Support comes from Bristol-based bands Ead Wood and Deadheading.

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February 11: Tom Stade – The High Road, Redgrave Theatre
With impeccable style, and his usual sense of mischief, the Canadian comedy legend goes to places that others dare not tread. Join this hilarious trip as Tom travels the High Road…

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February 11 & 12: The Smartest Giant in Town, Redgrave Theatre
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 best selling adaptations of Julia Donaldson’s picture books including The Singing Mermaid and The Everywhere Bear.

The Smartest Giant in Town comes to Redgrave Theatre this February – photo: Redgrave Theatre

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February 14: Valentines Concert, St George’s
A Valentine’s night to remember, featuring some of the most romantic pieces of music ever written, from the worlds of film, opera and classical music performed by the Bristol Ensemble – Bristol’s only professional chamber orchestra. Enjoy well-known themes from Lala Land, Doctor Zhivago, The Godfather and Romeo and Juliet as well as much-loved classics by Beethoven, Elgar, Mascagni, Einaudi and more.

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February 17-25: Emilia, Circomedia (Old Vic Theatre School)
In 1611 Emilia Bassano becomes the first woman to have poetry published in England – but why do we seldom celebrate this feminist icon? Morgan Lloyd Malcom’s Olivier Award-winning comedy storms into Circomedia this February. Directed by Sally Cookson, Emilia is a riotous and vivid theatrical journey from page to stage.

Emilia is one of the latest productions from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School – photo: BOVTS

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March 10-18: This House, Tobacco Factory Theatres (Old Vic Theatre School)
UK politics is in crisis. The country is in economic peril. Sound familiar? Well, this time it’s 1974 and a hung parliament means those in power will do anything to survive. At a time when every vote counts, James Graham’s explosive comedy-thriller This House propels into the world of 1970s Westminster.

This House, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School – photo: BOVTS

Main photo: Andre Pattenden

Read next:

• Grounded circus bring drag royalty to late night queer cabaret
• In photos: Jem Southam: A Bend in the River at the RWA
• Get To Know: Brazen Records

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