Dom Joly’s Holiday Snaps
Writer, broadcaster and comedian Dom Joly, best known as the creator of Trigger Happy TV, is back on the road with his one-man theatre tour, giving fans a rare opportunity to see him live. Dom will be talking about his exploits as a serial globe-trotter and seeker of dangerous travel spots when he returns to the road to complete his Dom Joly’s Holiday Snaps tour. From North Korea to Chernobyl, Dom has visited some of the most unusual places on the planet – including, of course, the Australian bush in the 10th series of hit TV show I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here.
“The theme is travel,” says Dom. “The three things I’ll be showing will be my own holiday snaps, holiday snaps from TV shows and holiday snaps from my books. I’ve always loved travel shows. But even though everybody knows how TV works, travel shows always lie. They always show Michael Palin racing for a train while narrating that if he misses it he’ll be stuck in the middle of nowhere for four days. Then they show footage of him catching the train and the train leaving the station. And you think ‘How did do that if there was only one train? How could they be on the train with him and filming it leaving the station?’ So I always wanted to make real travel shows and write honest and authentic books that told people what places were really like.”
Dom hates beaches and normal holidays but he loves going to weird places. So he started visiting obscure places around the globe before writing such hit books as The Dark Tourist: Sightseeing in the World's Most Unlikely Holiday Destinations. In that book, he travelled to Chernobyl, visited his childhood home of Lebanon and went to Iran for a skiing holiday. In his second travel book, Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, he travelled the world in search of mythical monsters such as Bigfoot and the Yeti. At one stage, Dom persuaded the BBC to fly him to the Seven Wonders Of The World, where he filmed stunts at the Great Wall of China, The Grand Canyon, the Taj Mahal and others.
The best-selling author will meet fans after the show to sign copies of his latest book, The Hezbollah Hiking Club in which he convinces his two closest friends to agree to the unthinkable: a challenging hike across Lebanon, from the Israeli border in the south, along the spine of the country's mountain range, all the way to the Syrian border in the north.
Dom Joly’s Holiday Snaps is at the Acorn Theatre, Penzance (theacornpenzance.com) on October 17 and at Launceston Town Hall (comicalentertainment.com) on November 11.
Everyman
After the success of their summer family show, Starcrazy, about Stanley’s obsession with things from outer space, Miracle Theatre have something for the grown-ups with their touring production of Everyman, adapted by former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. She has brought this 15th century English morality play right up to date, creating an intense, exciting, multi-media experience with live music, projection, choreography and a high-energy cast of four. It poses the question: When your time’s up, how will you account for your life on Earth?
Everyman is riding high. He works hard and plays harder. He has success, wealth, good looks and is living the dream… until Death comes calling. Forced to take a chaotic pilgrimage, Everyman becomes a man on the run, frantically attempting to justify his life choices – but who will speak in his defence before his time runs out? Everyman holds an awkward mirror up to humankind and asks whether it is only in death that we understand our lives.
It is directed by Miracle Associate Director Kyla Goodey, with music by Dom Coyote who has worked with The National Theatre, the RSC and Kneehigh. The show takes place in a new portable performance structure – The Fleapit – which will create an intimate and safe performance space and provide a 360-degree canvas for Everyman, transforming it into a completely immersive experience. Everyman contains some strong language and challenging themes, so is recommended for those over 15.
Everyman is at the Eden Project (October 6-10) and St Ives Guildhall (October 15-170. Book online at miracletheatre.co.uk.
Banff Mountain Film Festival
Explore the great outdoors from the comfort of a cinema seat with a brand-new collection of the world’s best mountain and adventure films. This film festival started in 1975 in the Canadian ski resort of Banff and now tours the world to share work by some of the world’s best filmmakers and outdoor heroes to capture that spirit of adventure and a love of the great outdoors. The festival began touring the UK in 2010 there are around a hundred screenings across the country.
The films on show at the Regal Theatre Redruth this year will take the viewer on adventures in Tajikistan, one of Colombia’s wildest rivers El Rio Guayas and through the rocky slopes of Utah by mountain bike.
K2: The Impossible Descent records Polish ski-mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel’s “impossible descent” from its summit – solo and without supplemental oxygen. It’s a nail-biting attempt at one of mountaineering’s most coveted firsts.
In FKT filmmaker Brice Ferre follows trail runner Jeanelle Hazlett on her journey up Mount Brunswick. At 1,788 metres it is the highest peak of the North Shore Mountains in British Columbia – a rugged, spectacular climb that takes regular hikers seven to eight hours complete. Jeanelle is attempting to set a Fastest Known Time (FKT) record on the mountain. A ferocious challenge… and on the knife-edge ridge, one wrong step could mean serious injury or death.
Banff Mountain Film Festival is at the Regal Theatre, Redruth on November 9. Book online at Banff-uk.com.
Creative Scilly
This eclectic three-week celebration of art, literature, poetry, music, performance and the spoken word returns to the Isles of Scilly with something for all the family. For younger people there is entertainment from Paddleboat Theatre with their highly acclaimed show Margo and Mr Whatsit and Penzance-based Bash Street Theatre bring their new musical comedy The Cameraman set around a seedy French café with live music accompaniment.
Sound artist Justin Wiggan will run a series of family-friendly workshops based in some of Scilly’s loveliest gardens enabling participants to experience impulses and soundwaves from plants using state of the art wearable technology.
Elsewhere there is music from Cornish folk performers Joe Francis, MacQuarrie and Toms and shanty groups Stuns’Is and the all-female Figurehead. Theatre includes Scary Little Girls, making their
debut on the islands and mischievous and racous Story Republic with their blend of spoken word, poetry and theatre, all performed beneath Scilly’s starry skies.There are artist workshops including silk scarf design, pottery and fused glass and a
Paint the Day competition on Tresco when visitors can collect art materials and spend the day painting or drawing the scenery that inspires them. All works will be curated into an exhibition.
You can also expect talks on island life and culture and a packed programme of comedy in Scilly Laughs. Creative Scilly is October 9-30 and a full programme and tickets can be found at visitislesofscilly. There is a discount on travel from Isles of Scilly Travel (islesofscilly-travel.co.uk).
Sarah McQuaid
Cornwall-based musician Sarah is launching her new album on October 15, with a benefit concert for St Buryan Church where it was recorded. Sarah and her family have lived in the village for 14 years and the album, The St Buryan Sessions, has been a chance to give something back. Also released is a track from the album, the poignant Last Song.
“It’s a really special song for me,” she explains. “It’s been in my live set forever and always gets a really strong reaction — I see people crying, and then a lot of the time I wind up crying, too.”
The album was financed through crowdfunding and recorded in the medieval church and includes songs that span her 24-year career – from Charlie’s Gone Home, originally on her 1997 debut album When Two Lovers Meet, to electric guitar based pieces from her most recent studio album If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous. sarahmcquaid.com
Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser
Cinema audiences in Cornwall can travel virtually to the V&A this month to view their landmark 2021 exhibition Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser. This special event will give Alice fans worldwide the opportunity to discover more about the book’s evolution from manuscript to global phenomenon and experience its enduring appeal.
Presented by V&A Senior Curator Kate Bailey and broadcaster Andi Oliver, this informative private view of the exhibition offers stunning close-ups of key objects and insightful interviews. Guest contributors include artists Peter Blake and Ralph Steadman, costume and set designer Bob Crowley and milliner Stephen Jones. Cinema audiences will be transported into a wonderland of five Alice-inspired worlds arranged thematically, spanning film, performance, fashion, art, music and photography to fully explore the cultural impact of Alice in Wonderland. There are screenings at the Plaza, Truro, and Newlyn Filmhouse from October 14. Book at aliceincinemas.com.
Seann Walsh
After a year’s delay, observational comedian Seann Walsh is on tour once more with his show Back From The Bed, retitled after Covid put paid to its original incarnation as Same Again? “Sticking with Same Again? felt a bit triggering after the year we’ve had,” he explains. “So it is now called Back from the Bed. Some of the material will be the same as I had always planned and some of it will be new because it will be difficult to avoid mentioning the last year.”
Seann has starred in Live At The Apollo, Celebrity Juice, 8 Out of 10 Cats and was a celebrity competitor on Strictly Come Dancing in 2018. Seann Walsh is at Launcestown Town Hall on October 15 and the Quad Theatre, Marjon, Plymouth, the following night. Book online at comicalentertainment.com
Tankus the Henge
This hard-working cult British band play two dates in Cornwall this month – at the Watering Hole in Perranporth on October 29 and Calstock Hall the following night. The London-based act are perpetually on the road and often play upwards of a hundred gigs a year in Europe winning fans with their high-energy shows. Originally based around the songwriting of singer/pianist Jaz Delorean, their funk-fuelled repertoire ranges from explosive rock riffs to New Orleans swing with an insatiable love for a good singsong around the piano. With a background in circus and the fairground world, Jaz brings a real sense of showmanship to live performance. Festival dates have included Glastonbury, Montreux Jazz Festival and Womad. The band’s line-up is completed by Tim Fulker (guitar), George Simmonds (trombone), João Mello (sax, keys, guitar), Franco Pellicani (drums) and Dan Hipkin (bass).
Book tickets online at songkick.com.
