Take a look at what's coming up this March in our three arts centres across Hampshire and the events at The Arc Winchester.
Ashcroft Arts Centre, Fareham
Music
Mike Dawes (3 March) is an English guitarist known for composing, arranging and performing multiple parts simultaneously on one instrument. He is hailed as one of the world’s most creative modern fingerstyle guitarist with a repertoire spanning solo viral video hits alongside mainstream chart success performing with Justin Hayward from The Moody Blues.
As part of our International Women’s Day celebrations, the UK’s foremost authentic Rhythm & Blue vocalist Laura B (10 Mar) Join us with her all-star band.
Finishing off our musical month we have two returning favourites. Powerful singer-songwriter Luke Jackson (15 Mar) is back on the road with his show stopping vocals, emotive storytelling and captivating stage presence! Goodtime Rhythm & Blues from King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys (18 Mar) These rough, tough and always rocking, kings of swing are not to be missed.
Special Events
If you’re looking for something a little different why not Learn The Art Of The Tease (4 March) with Hundred Watt Club. This relaxed and fun workshop focuses on building and expressing your confidence using classic techniques from the wonderful world of burlesque such as the shimmy, the sashay and of course, the bump n grind! Then later that evening catch your very tutor’s perform with Hundred Watt Club (4 March) one of the longest-running and most highly esteemed burlesque and cabaret shows in the UK!
Another celebration of International Women’s Day comes in the form of Words For Women, Poetry and Prose (8 March) as we celebrate women through the written work with Louise Jordan!
Theatre
On Track (9 March) follows Kit, who’s world shrank in March of 2020. Dynamic single mother Kit's world suddenly shrinks. Staying at home to save lives means a retreat back to the role of mother and homemaker. With the walls closing in, the garage and 2 wheels become her sanctuary...
A special Fareham Musical Society Double bill (23-25 March) see’s enigmatic performances of Agatha Christies ‘The Wasps’ Nest’ and ‘Yellow Iris’.
Rounding off our theatre we follow one woman’s she tells of her extraordinary journey to overcome the brutality of slavery and becoming a beacon for the British anti-slavery movement. Kuumba Nia Arts and Unlock The Chains Collective present SOLD! (29 March).
Comedy
Award-winning comedian, tap dancer and Talksport radio host Charlie Baker ( 17 March) brings an hour of 'genuinely funny ★★★★' (The Herald) stand-up drenched in manure, cider and clotted cream to your village/town/cattle market. Comedy with a countryside accent. Imagine Jethro and Jack Black had a son. Job’s a good'un. Proper job.
More information about Ashcroft Arts Centre and the programme of events and activities is available at https://www.ashcroft.org.uk/.
Forest Arts Centre, New Milton
Music
Mike Dawes(1 March) is an English guitarist known for composing, arranging and performing multiple parts simultaneously on one instrument. He is hailed as one of the world’s most creative modern fingerstyle guitarist with a repertoire spanning solo viral video hits alongside mainstream chart success performing with Justin Hayward from The Moody Blues.
In celebration of International Women’s Day, we have a Green Room Live Special with Hannah Scott (9 March) as she performs contemporary folk with her strong distinctive voice and thought-provoking lyrics. Finishing off our musical month we have two returning favourites. Powerful singer-songwriter Luke Jackson(16 Mar) is back on the road with his show stopping vocals, emotive storytelling and captivating stage presence!
Comedy
A bumper month of comedy kicks off at Forest Arts Centre with Sofie Hagen (11 March). Sofie returns to their craft of devastatingly brilliant joke-writing and storytelling and has created this collection of fat jokes and unforgettable moments that you can laugh at without feeling like s***.
After a successful opening night, our very own Forest Arts Comedy Club (21 March) returns with Sunjai Arif, Tom Toal all hosted by the brilliant Joe Wells.
Rosie Jones (24 March – now sold out) embarks on her first ever UK tour, This show is guaranteed to be full of unapologetic cheekiness, nonsensical fun and unadulterated JOY from the triple threat herself. Zoe Lyons (31 March – now sold out) finished off our month of hilarity, she’s kept herself busy in the last couple of years by having what can best be described as a monumental midlife crisis. It involved buying a sports car, having a brief marital separation and running a 100k ultra marathon which really didn’t end well.
Theatre
On Track(10 March) follows Kit, who’s world shrank in March of 2020. Dynamic single mother Kit's world suddenly shrinks. Staying at home to save lives means a retreat back to the role of mother and homemaker. With the walls closing in, the garage and 2 wheels become her sanctuary...
What would you do if a neighbour started to leave food on your doorstep? It’s the first national lockdown, two women, both strangers, step out and across the line that divides them. Lasagna (22 March) is based on the true-life experiences of women who have lost multiple children to the care system. It celebrates community, generosity and humanity.
More information about Forest Arts Centre and the programme of events and activities is available at https://www.forest-arts.co.uk/.
West End Centre, Aldershot
Comedy
Rob Auton (2 March) is an award-winning writer, actor and podcaster, named the "Brian Cox of Comedy" by The Guardian. The Crowd Show is a comedy/theatre/spoken word show about crowds, people and connection – suitable for anybody who has been in a crowd or wants to be in the crowd for this show. Sofie Hagen (16 March) returns to their craft of devastatingly brilliant joke-writing and storytelling and has created this collection of fat jokes and unforgettable moments that you can laugh at without feeling like s***.
Eshaan Akbar (24 March) brings his debut tour ‘The Pretender’ to the West End Centre. Whether it’s you, the person you go on a date with, your boss, or the opinion-makers on TV, we’re all pretending we know what we’re doing. We don’t. And it’s about time we all had a proper laugh about it.
Music
A March full of music at the West End Centre starts off with North Walian musician and songwriter Stephen Black AKA Sweet Baboo (4 March) as he performs live for the first time since 2018! Mike Dawes(5 March) is an English guitarist known for composing, arranging, and performing multiple parts simultaneously on one instrument. He is hailed as one of the world’s most creative modern fingerstyle guitarist with a repertoire spanning solo viral video hits alongside mainstream chart success performing with Justin Hayward from The Moody Blues.
Described as an “avant-garde musical utopia”, The Blackheart Orchestra (10 March) perform in their ‘musical space station’ of 13 instruments including guitar, bass, percussion, mandola, piano, organ, omnichord and vintage synthesisers. March also see’s the return of Westy Favourite Martin Simpson (17 March).
Set to blow you away Jekyll Wood (18 March) is sometimes Mr Wood, an acoustic songwriter dandy way with electro-folk melodies, and sometimes Mr Jekyll, a follower of more chill-rock atmospheres. His guitar quickly transforms into a multifunctional hybrid instrument, making him a prodigious human Swiss Army knife that composes, plays and loops guitars, drums, basses, keyboards, beatbox, backing vocals and lead vocals in real-time.
We Are The Ocean frontman Liam Cromby (25 March) has seen great success with the band, but that was all practice for what was to come…On the same night Lucy Farrell (25 March) brings her mesmerising songs on the human confddition, with simple tenor guitar and viola.
Last but not least Martin Turner (31 March) and his band return to the stage for another evening of classic Wishbone Ash music.
Theatre
On Track(8 March) follows Kit, who’s world shrank in March of 2020. Dynamic single mother Kit's world suddenly shrinks. Staying at home to save lives means a retreat back to the role of mother and homemaker. With the walls closing in, the garage and 2 wheels become her sanctuary...
Rounding off our theatre we follow one woman’s she tells of her extraordinary journey to overcome the brutality of slavery and becoming a beacon for the British anti-slavery movement. Kuumba Nia Arts and Unlock The Chains Collective present SOLD! (29 March).
For more information about any of these events and to book tickets, please visit https://www.westendcentre.co.uk/events.
The Arc, Winchester
Comedy
Our monthly Barnstormers Comedy (17 March) returns with MC Kevin Precious which boasts top acts from the London comedy circuit and beyond. Eshaan Akbar (23 March) brings his debut tour ‘ The Pretender’ to the west end centre. Whether it’s you, the person you go on a date with, your boss, or the opinion-makers on TV, we’re all pretending we know what we’re doing. We don’t. And it’s about time we all had a proper laugh about it.
Ray Bradshaw (30 March) follows up his ground-breaking 2018 show, Deaf Comedy Fam, with a new stand up ‘Deaf Com 1’. Ray is a CODA (like in the Oscar-winning film) and grew up with deaf parents. All of his shows are performed in both BSL and English, with Deaf Comedy Fam becoming the first-ever live comedy experience for more than 800 deaf audience members.
Music
Mike Dawes (2 March) is an English guitarist known for composing, arranging, and performing multiple parts simultaneously on one instrument. He is hailed as one of the world’s most creative modern fingerstyle guitarist with a repertoire spanning solo viral video hits alongside mainstream chart success performing with Justin Hayward from The Moody Blues.
Our monthly intimate Acoustic Café (3 March) hosts a strong line up of local tallent. Calum Lintott, Milly Thimaras and Rizzla B. Described as an ”avant-garde musical utopia”, The Blackheart Orchestra (11 March) perform in their ‘musical space station’ of 13 instruments including guitar, bass, percussion, mandola, piano, organ, omnichord and vintage synthesisers.
Uncompromising writer, Chris Wood (19 March) whose music reveals his love for the un-official history of the English speaking people. With gentle intelligence he weaves the tradition with his own contemporary parables.
Special Events
Meet me a Tree (4 March) is an interactive first opera for 0-2 year olds and their carers with music by Schumann, Delibes and Handel as well as words and music created by the company. HurlyBurly invites you and your baby on a multisensory journey through a year in the life of a tree: singing with blackbirds, marching through fallen leaves, smelling new blossom and feeling the wind on your cheeks.
Join us for two special events in our Arc After Dark Series, both inspired by our exhibition Sin (24 February – 14 May). A chocolate masterclass (24 March) where participants will learn all about chocolate craft from professional chocolatiers ‘Chocolate Craft’ and an evening with National Gallery Curator Joost Joustra (31 March) in 2020, he curated the exhibition Sin at the National Gallery and authored the accompanying book, Sin: The Art of Transgression, exploring how sin has been depicted in art for centuries. At King’s, he teaches on the Christianity & the Arts MA. Previously, Joost was the Sackler Research Forum Postdoctoral Fellow at The Courtauld Institute of Art, where he also wrote his doctoral thesis, titled Pictorial Space and Sacred Subject Matter in Florentine Painting, 1425-1466.
More interactive and thought-provoking theatre in Georgia and the Iceberg (26 March) join us for a brrr-iliant adventure filled with puppetry, jokes, and a heartwarming original story. When Georgia goes to visit her big sister Helena, all she wants is to explore the big frozen continent outside her bedroom window. While Helena is focused on completing her chores, Georgia discovers a giant iceberg on a collision course with the nearby penguin colony. If she can't journey across the ice in time to warn them, then everyone's in danger. She might need some help... Suitable for ages 7 and over.
For more information about any of these events and to book tickets, please visit https://www.arcwinchester.org.uk/events.
