Laugh, dance, learn and get right into the Christmas spirit with the host of treats and activities Canterbury has on offer this week (Monday 8th – Sunday 14th December).
Kick your Monday off with the annual festive delight that is the University Carol Service at Canterbury Cathedral. Every year nearly 2000 students and staff from the University fill the Cathedral to its capacity in order to join in with a truly spectacular evening of carol-singing and readings. Although the event is free, you must make sure you get your tickets early for guaranteed admission.
On Tuesday, comedienne and television comedy panel regular Sara Pascoe comes to the Marlowe Theatre with her debut stand-up show Sara Pascoe VS History. Expect funny and open conversations about romance, history and culture.
For those of you who like to do their Christmas shopping with a good conscience, head over to Keynes Foyer on Wednesday between 12:30-5:30pm for UKC Amnesty International’s Alternative Christmas Market. With a plethora of ethical goodies, games, prizes, food, decorations, artwork, clothes and jewellery on offer, it is set to be a hugely enjoyable afternoon and the perfect opportunity to finish buying presents for Christmas. If you’re not partaking in Venue’s annual Snowball – this year featuring an appearance from notorious Made in Chelsea playboy Spencer Matthews – take a bus into Canterbury and head to the Marlowe Theatre, where you can sit back and enjoy the thought-provoking Theatre Uncut 2014. Five short political plays form one captivating performance, followed by a Q&A to debate the issues raised in the plays. It makes for the perfect alternative to Snowball if sweating it out while some semi-famous reality ‘star’ looking down on you from the DJ booth just really ain’t your thing.
Following in Wednesday’s footsteps, go and enjoy five more short plays without the political edge with T24 Presents: Chekhov Shorts at 8pm on Thursday in Darwin College. Showcasing the work of ‘naturalism’s best loved playwright’, prepare for a delightful night of comedy and drama. If you can’t make Thursday, the performances run at the same times on Friday and Saturday too!
If you haven’t heard of or already attended one of No-Wave’s weekly artist tribute nights at Alberry’s, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? One of their funnest and most popular nights over the past couple of years has been their tribute to pop-punk kings, Blink-182. Take a trip down memory lane this Friday and head bop the night away to the likes of Sum 41, Blink-182, Green Day, New Found Glory and all those other bands you used to listen to when you were fifteen with pink hair and full of angst at No-Wave Presents: Dammit – A Tribute to Blink-182.
If you’re a big Scrooge and hate Christmas and everything it stands for, just don’t even bother leaving the house this weekend. If not, you are going to have SO MUCH FUN. There are two great big balls of festive joy this weekend to enjoy at the Gulbenkian and the Marlowe. The interactive show Snow Play is at the Gulbenkian, which runs until 21 December, and on Sunday, the Christmas concert Jingle All The Way arrives at the Marlowe. How much more Christmas fun can you fit into two days!?
Enjoy!
