Potted Potter The Unauthorised Harry Experience - A Parody by Dan and Jeff

Monday 20 October | 4.30pm

Tickets £9 Children £7

Potted Potter returns to the Arts Centre after many requests following their sold out performances in March earlier this year.

All the Potter books in eighty minutes? Watch comic double act Dan and Jeff take on the ultimate challenge, with the help of endless costumes, brilliant songs, ridiculous props, and a generous helping of Hogwarts magic. This fantastically funny show features all your favourite characters, a special appearance from a very frightening fire-breathing dragon, and even a game of Quidditch involving the audience!

Following sell-out seasons at the Edinburgh Festival and in London, this national tour is a must-see for Potter addicts, and a great introduction to the series for anyone who’s ever wondered what all the fuss is about.

Dan and Jeff are best known for their storytelling appearances on Blue Peter, and have also performed part of the show on Channel 4’s Richard and Judy programme.

‘A fabulously funny parody, with serious Jeff taking the Ernie Wise role and silly Dan as a latterday Eric Morecambe.’ Daily Telegraph

‘Inventive, daft fun for all the family that doesn't feel the slightest bit cynical.’

The Guardian

Age guidance 6+

Please note that there are a limited number of tickets permitted to be sold for each performance.

To buy tickets please contact the Box Office on 01793 614837

If you would like any further information please contact Nicki Western on 07786 020958 or email nwestern@swindon.gov.uk

www.iconicmusic.com

Derrin Nauendorf Band Saturday 4 October | 8pm

Tickets £10

Derrin Nauendorf treats his audience to a simply spellbinding performance with vocals that will instantly set the hairs on the back of your neck on end.

Derrin proceeds to create sounds, with both his guitar and feedback that you in all probability have never heard before or have even the slightest clue how they were being fashioned.

Playing spine-tingling songs from his recent live album together with songs from previous albums and a few well thought out and brilliantly performed covers, his show simply has to be experienced to be believed. Derrin creates a really friendly, intimate atmosphere throughout with the occasional banter with the audience as he acquaints them with a few amusing anecdotes between songs.  You are almost guaranteed to applaud all evening, as his songs, and his performance of those songs, are just so ineffably good.

‘Do not pass up the chance to see Derrin live; your life will be all the fuller because of it!’
Darren Howells - BluesMatters Magazine

‘Derrin is finally breaking through, an excellent album!’
Bob Harris BBC Radio 2

To buy tickets please contact the Box Office on 01793 614837

Ends

If you would like any further information or to set up an interview please contact Nicki Western on 07786 020958 or email nwestern@swindon.gov.uk

Heidi Talbot

Thursday 18 September | 8pm: Tickets £12

Launching her forthcoming album In' Love and Light', former Cherish the Ladies vocalist Heidi Talbot, will appear at the Arts Centre featuring the considerable talents of singer-songwriter Boo Hewerdine.

Heidi has the personality, the presence and, especially, the voice to carry off her mix of traditional and more mainstream songs. Her take on Glenlogie, her beautiful cover of the Tom Waits tune, Time, both of which are on the album, highlights both the power and the subtlety of her delivery.

Look out for a new star in the glittering firmament of great Irish singers. Heidi Talbot is truly set to shine. After five years as lead singer with the Irish-American supergroup Cherish the Ladies, and high praise for her previous solo outing, 2004's Distant Future, Heidi now extends her talents over a broader, bolder musical canvas, in company with a stellar cast of guests.

'the impossibly lovely voice of Heidi Talbot'

All Music Guide

'Heidi Talbot sings in a voice that's both awestruck and tender'

New York Times

To book tickets call the Box Office on 01793 614837

Ends

For more information please contact Nicki Western, Art Centre on 07786 020958 or email nwestern@swindon.gov.uk

Ruby Turner

Ruby Turner was born in Jamaica where she lived until the age of 9, when she moved to Birmingham. Her career to date has always had unexpected twists and turns but with major tours, TV and theatre appearances, and a new Album just out, the future continues to look positive.

Ruby's break came in the mid 1980's, when she was asked to join Culture Club at the height of their stardom. Ruby very quickly learned how to deal with the routine of gruelling tour schedules and living out of a suitcase. An offer of a solo record deal closely followed and she soon signed to Jive Records. Four albums & the 'Best of Ruby Turner' compilation album were all released to critical acclaim over the next few years.

Ruby has also appeared in the BBC TV's Doctors, Judge John Deed, EastEnders, 'Jeffrey Archer - The Truth', Holby City and the Richard Curtis film 'Love Actually' and given acclaimed appearances at the Brecon Jazz Festival, for BBC Radio's Music Live with Joe Crocker and Michael Bolton at Cardiff Bay. She also performed at the Hay on Wye Festival and attended many other high profile events.

'Truly the genuine article and blessed with a voice that has been likened to Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin, Ruby can breathe life and meaning into a song whether it is a passionate soaring ballad or a soulful up-tempo groove': The Guardian

To buy tickets please contact the Box Office on 01793 614837.

If you would like any further information please contact Nicki Western on 07786 020958 or email nwestern@swindon.gov.uk

www.iconicmusic.com

Elizabeth and Raleigh: Late But Live

The new comedy by Stewart Lee

Tuesday 30 September | 8pm: Tickets £10

Raleigh introduces Elizabeth, the wittiest, wisest and most unforgiving of all English Queens. Walter's in love with Elizabeth, the spiritual embodiment of England. But will he end up in her bed, or will he lose his head? Potatoes, tobacco, Elizabethan dance, cross-dressing, xenophobia and laughs galore from the team behind Johnson And Boswell: Late But Live, which played to critical acclaim at the Traverse Theatre during the 2007 Edinburgh festival.

Stewart Lee was voted the 41^st best stand-up ever in a recent Channel 4 poll. He co-wrote and directed the Olivier award winner Jerry Springer - The Opera. As well as various TV and radio credits both with comedy partner Richard Herring and in his own right, Lee regularly works in the theatre, including with Johnny Vegas on the play Interiors for Manchester International Festival.

Reviews for Johnson and Boswell: Late But Live:

'Snortingly funny is the only way to describe it.' Daily Telegraph

'Theatre at its silly, clever, fun-filled best.' **** Evening Standard

'Very naughty and utterly knowing fun.' **** The Herald

'Gloriously entertaining - literate, political, silly and funny.' **** The Scotsman

Unsuitable for under 16s.

To buy tickets please contact the Box Office on 01793 614837

If you would like any further information please contact Nicki Western on 07786 020958 or email: nwestern@swindon.gov.uk

Karen Matheson

Thursday 2 October | 8pm: Tickets £14

After huge demand Scotland's premier gaelic vocalist, Karen Matheson hits the road for some rare solo performances with her band, James Grant on guitars, Ewen Vernal on double bass and Donald Shaw on piano.

Much of the material will be drawn from Karen's last album release 'Downriver', a stunning acoustic based project which provided the perfect platform for her typically emotional vocal delivery that has stunned audiences around the world and made her a household name in the UK music scene.

Widely recognised as the haunting vocals of Celtic super-group Capercaillie, Karen was given an OBE in the 2006 New Years Honours list, an astonishing achievement to add to her award of  'Best Gaelic singer' from the inaugural Scottish folk awards - just two of many plaudits earned from a career which began with her performing as a child in her local village hall on the West coast of Scotland.

As a solo performer, Karen has been involved in various projects of collaboration including the award winning BBC series Transatlantic Sessions, where she recorded tracks with Emmylou Harris, The McGarrigle Sisters, Nanci Griffith, Rufus Wainright and a host of respected musicians. Karen has been a regular performer at the sold out live shows of this event at the annual Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.

'Karen Matheson has a throat that is surely touched by God' Sean Connery

'A glorious capturing of a singer in her prime' I rish Times

To buy tickets please contact the Box Office on 01793 614837

If you would like any further information please contact Nicki Western on 07786 020958 or email nwestern@swindon.gov.uk