Arts, culture and entertainment play a massive role in our lives, so it's only fitting that they will be centre stage in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Andrew Clarke takes a look at some of the events in the Festival of Suffolk
The arts in Suffolk have really grown during the Queen’s reign, both at a grass-roots, community engagement level, and as a top-flight professional endeavour. Arts and culture now forms an important part of the Suffolk economy. The county has 11 National Portfolio Organisations working in the county – nationally recognised, Arts Council-funded arts producers. That's more than Essex, Norfolk or Cambridgeshire.
So, it only seems right that the county’s cultural community should play a significant role in this summer’s Festival of Suffolk to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. As Chairman of the Festival of Suffolk Mark Pendlington says: “It’s a celebration of Suffolk, all that’s best about Suffolk in the platinum jubilee year.” Events are continually being added to the line-up - here is a selection what we can enjoy this spring and summer.
Ipswich Printweek
May 21-28
Organised by Tower Street’s Oyster Community Press CIC, Ipswich PrintWeek 2022 is an ambitious and inspiring community printmaking festival for Ipswich, with free arts activities for all ages being staged in venues across the town. Along with an exhibition in The Whistler Gallery at DanceEast, there will be printmakers studios to visit and a pop-up studio to explore in the Sailmakers Shopping Centre.
If you fancy having a go at printmaking yourself, then there will be opportunities to get hands-on experience at the Tower Street Print studio, and you can make your own greetings cards at The Hold in Fore Street. On Saturday May 28, everyone can join a group of printmakers on the Ipswich Waterfront and witness the creation of a new public artwork for Ipswich, using a two-ton road roller. Yes, really.
For more information visit: towerstprintproject.org.uk
Come Back To The Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Ipswich
May 23-28
A celebration of the very best in amateur theatre at the Gallery Studio in St George’s Street, Ipswich, with an atmospheric production of an iconic play about an iconic figure in cinema culture. Set in West Texas, the action moves between 1955 and 1975. In 1955 James Dean is finishing work on Giant, his final film. Jump ahead 20 years and we discover that his fans, the Disciples of James Dean, are meeting up at a ramshackle Five and Dime store to renew friendships and to celebrate the life of their idol. Between hugs, old songs, a few beers and the sultry Texan heat, as the women talk, dream, and reconnect, old memories bubble to the surface and have present day implications. Tickets: gallerystudiotheatre.co.uk
Into the Light, St Edmundsbury Cathedral
May 28
On Saturday May 28, the Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra will be staging Into the Light, a combined celebration of 1000 years of the Abbey of St Edmund and the 10th Anniversary of the Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra. Tickets: whatsonwestsuffolk.co.uk
Jubilee Celebration Week, Southwold
June 1-3
Matthew Townshend Productions (mtp), producers of the Southwold Summer Theatre season, is staging three days of events at Southwold Arts Centre which has been designed to appeal to the whole family from eight to 80. The week starts off on Wednesday June 1 with Schools Do Shakespeare which will provide local children with the opportunity to work with professional actors and musicians. Local schools have been working to present a showcase of scenes featuring a raft of Shakespearean royalty – and their courtiers. In the evening award-winning author Stewart Ross is in conversation, launching his new book a 'For Dummies’ guide to The Queen, Britain’s longest reigning monarch, in her platinum jubilee year.
Thursday June 2 sees two performances from Perrier-nominated comedian, actor and writer Tim FitzHigham. He once rowed a copper bath across The Channel, sailed a paper boat the length of the Thames and Morris danced in the footsteps of Shakespearean fool Will Kemp from London to Norwich.
Finally, Friday June 3 sees two performances from popular cabaret duo Westdal and Hayward. They describe themselves as “Two middle-aged women, who between them have three dogs, two kids but only one fully functioning pelvic floor. They’re a tiny bit cross and they’re not going to take it anymore, so they’re dishing it out instead.” Beth Hayward and Freyja Westdal have performed alongside and written songs for 4 Poofs and a Piano, and 2019 saw their sell-out Edinburgh Fringe debut. They were among the top three finalists for the Funny Women Best Show award.
Tickets: southwoldartscentre.co.uk
Best of British Show, Thorington Theatre, Southwold
June 4
Suffolk-based, internationally-renowned coloratura soprano Christina Johnston, and an ensemble of classical musicians, will bring the very ‘best of British’ to Thorington to honour the Queen’s Jubilee.
The open-air venue in the Suffolk countryside will host a spectacular evening celebrating Her Majesty’s 70th year of service with such patriotic anthems as Land of Hope and Glory, Rule Britannia, God Save the Queen, You’ll Never Walk Alone, and many more glorious songs from the Proms and the West End as well as classical and operatic hits.
Tickets: thoringtontheatre.co.uk
St Mary le Tower Choir: A Festival of Royal Music, Ipswich
June 10
On the eve of Her Majesty's official birthday, the choirs of St Mary le Tower, Tower Chamber Choir and Tower Symphonia will be performing for you popular and uplifting royal music. Tickets: stmaryletower.org
Felixstowe Book Festival
June 25-26
The festival returns to mark its tenth anniversary this year and will be hosting events relating to the monarchy in the stunning heritage building Harvest House. Saturday June 25 will have a dinsttinctly nautical theme as they celebrate Suffolk and the Sea – a day devoted to books and boats.
There will also be a short story writing competition in collaboration with The University of Suffolk and a half day of events under the banner of Suffolk and the sea. In addition, the festival will be welcoming writers from all over the UK to talk about their fiction and non-fiction books. Tickets: felixstowebookfestival.co.uk
The Larks Flight over Suffolk Concert Tour, various Suffolk venues
June – July 10
The Lark Ascending, by Ralph Vaughan Williams, is one of the best-loved pieces of classical music in the UK. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the composer, Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra aims to bring this glorious music within reach of everyone in Suffolk. The concert will tell the story of The Lark Ascending and of Vaughan Williams’ life, his triumphs and disappointments, in music and words. It will feature along with his Oboe Concerto, some of the Suffolk folk songs he collected in 1903 and 1907, and saved from obscurity.
The tour will take in Bury St Edmunds, Eye, Carlton Marshes, Aldeburgh, Felixstowe and Hadleigh.
Tickets: Available from individual venues- details at suffolkphil.org
Seafront Concert, Felixstowe
Bank Holiday Monday August 29
The Spa Gardens on Felixstowe seafront, just below the Clifftop Café, will be the venue for a free open-air concert with the Festival Orchestra and the local community choir. The theme is TV and film music from the past 70 years.
Felixstowe Community Choir celebrates 10 years this year. It has donated more than £35,000 to charity in that time, as well as performed in charity concerts, so this is a joint celebration for the choir and the Queen. Tickets: Free
Let’s Rock: The Retro Festival, Ipswich
September 10
Let's Rock will be a fitting finale for the Festival of Suffolk. The family friendly 80s pop celebration will feature icons from the decade including Adam Ant and electropop pioneers Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Other artists on the bill include a who’s who of 80s pop titans including Toyah, Howard Jones, Heaven 17, Go West and Ipswich’s own Nik Kershaw.
Tickets: lr.gigantic.com/lets-rock
