Round-up of shows and events

Kinch’s latest album, The New Emancipation, draws inspiration from 19th-century work songs and early blues and traces modern resonances through debt/wage slavery and creative oppression to post-Obama optimism, says spokeswoman Shelley Bennett.

“Kinch has tackled this rich musical inheritance with his particular brand of muscular post-bop alto sax with erudite rap and is now lined up to present this work at the London Jazz Festival at Queen Elizabeth Hall before bringing it to Brighton.

“As a saxophone player, Soweto has rapidly developed his own sound that is rich, energetic and dynamic.

“With a clear respect for tradition, he is also continually exploring his jazz inheritance.

“His aim is to move audiences with the simplicity of his jazz quartet, discovering the breadth of sounds and dynamics he can achieve with these basic elements.”

n BE Dazzled by B Dazzled is the show at Bognor’s Regis Centre on Saturday at 7.30pm. Director Sandra Whiteway explains: “It’s an evening of sketches and song and dance.

The musical director is Will Fryer.”

Tickets are £5 for adults and £3 for children and OAPs.

n STUDENTS from Sir Robert Woodard Academy in Lancing will be transported back to the 18th century for their production of Coram Boy (November 23, 24 and 26, 7.30pm and a matinee performance at 4pm on Thursday, November 25)

Adapted from the Whitbread award-winning book by Jamila Gavin, the play is an epic adventure which sheds light on child cruelty, previously a hidden part of the time.

The play begins after the benevolent Thomas Coram has opened a Foundling Hospital in London called the Coram Hospital For Deserted Children.

Spokesman Ian Tout said: “Unscrupulous men, known as Coram men, take advantage of the situation by promising desperate mothers to take their unwanted children to the hospital for a fee.

“The story follows a range of characters, focusing on two orphans: Toby, saved from an African slave ship, and Aaron, the deserted son of the heir to an estate, as their lives become closely involved with this true and tragic episode of British social history.”

Tickets priced at adults £5, concessions £4 available from the Academy box office on 01903 851827 or email [email protected].

n FERRING Amateur Dramatic Society (FADS) offer the comedy Busybody as their November production at Ferring Village Hall (Wednesday, November 24 to Saturday, November 27 inclusive at 7.45pm with a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm).

The play, written by Jack Popplewell, will be directed by Alan Fryar. D S Baxter is plagued by a head cold and two busybodies - a corpse that vanishes and the officious cleaner who discovers it.

The cast is Sam Wood, Jo White, Karen Franklin, Linda Fryar, Vic Moss, Alan Barlow, Bob Wakefield and Luke Charles.

Tickets £6 from Ferring Library between 10am and midday, Monday to Thursday, also on Saturday by personal application only. Telephone bookings between 2pm to 5pm weekdays only 01903 245973.

n ECLIPSE Productions bring The Flint Street Nativity to The Barn, Southwick, from November 30 to December 4.

Based on the 1999 ITV comedy starring Dervla Kirwan, Josie Lawrence, Jane Horrocks, Frank Skinner, Stephen Tompkinson and Neil Morrissey, The Flint Street Nativity offers an hilarious journey through the mayhem of pre-Christmas at Flint Street Junior School.

Mizzis Horrocks’ class of seven-year-olds is earnestly getting ready to present their nativity play to the proud mums and dads - and a social worker or two.

It’s all going well except that the Angel Gabriel will go to any lengths to play Mary, the Inn Keeper won’t emerge from his lair in the home corner, Herod has chicken pox and Peter Crouch, the class stick insect, has escaped from his tank.

Tickets are available now 01444 244778 or www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/10129.

n STORRINGTON Dramatic Society is promising inspired mayhem when they stage David Swan’s Frankenstein The Pantomime from Wednesday, December 1 to Saturday, December 4.

Spokesman Graeme Jenkins said: “This light-hearted, very funny and well-written pantomime is directed by David Chinn, featuring many well-known Society members together with some very welcome new faces.

“The inspired mayhem takes us to see Little Orphan Heidi who has a hard life at Pumpernickel’s Tavern where the greedy innkeeper and his bossy wife treat her like a slave.

“But that’s not all, because up in his castle, Gormless Count Dracula and his Gummy Grandmother are planning a dinner party, with Heidi as the main course!

“Luckily, she’s got the audience and many other friends to help: her faithful dog Kodak, her best friend Frankie Stein and the handsome Prince Ludwig. The forces of evil never stand a chance ...especially when Professor Crackpot transforms Frankie into a Superhero!

“The only real horrors are a party of rowdy schoolgirls under the supervision of Miss Nelly, famed pedagogue and pantomime dame. They’re studying how to create havoc, and they’re all fast learners!”

Tickets are available from: Fowlers estate agents in Storrington. Adults £7; child £3.50. Venue: Sullington Parish Hall, Thakeham Road, Storrington. Performances are Wednesday, December 1 to Friday, December 3 at 7.45pm and Saturday, December 4 at 2.30 and 7.30pm. Inquiries to Mike Russell on 01798 875591 or [email protected]. See also www.storringtondramatics.co.uk.

n CHRIS Dean, leader of the Syd Lawrence Orchestra, was on his way to a rather important party when we spoke - his father’s 108th birthday party.

He’s the second oldest man in the UK but only the 69th oldest person, all the rest being women. And already he’s talking about his 109th.

For Chris, who lives in Port Solent, it’s all part of busy and exciting times - despite a recession which he’s expecting will properly hit home next year.

Chris and his band, who play The Hawth, Crawley, on Sunday November 21, have just completed a six-night stint at the Royal Albert Hall with that youngster Cliff Richard, part of Sir Cliff’s 70th birthday celebrations.

“Cliff was wonderful. He is a very very nice guy, really easy. He really enjoyed it. For his 70th birthday, he recorded a big band album in America, and we were doing the live concerts. A DVD of us with Cliff comes out in early December.

“I had worked with him before but only as a trombonist, never putting the band in there before. So that made October extremely busy and November is pretty good too. We have got dates right through. Actually, we never stop touring really. We just keep on playing.

“We’ve been a little bit affected by the recession. It’s difficult keeping the numbers up. You just need to keep on slogging and to work harder at the publicity so that people know that you are coming. But I don’t think anybody is escaping the recession. I think we are on the cusp of it now,” says Chris, who expects things to get worse next year for the arts in general.

“I think that this band will survive the recession, but other bands won’t survive. It comes down to the economics whether a band is viable. I expect we will see a dip next year but come out the other side.”

Confidence comes from the fact that he’s got a good, young band full of young, exciting players - basically a 16-piece plus two vocalists to which, in good times, can be added a string section.

Chris took over the band in 1996, having worked with the late great Syd: “I worked with him for four years before I left the band and went off into the session world. But I knew what the band was about before I came back. I knew the sound and we have taken on in the same way, but we have introduced some slightly-new stuff as well to make sure it appeals to everyone.”

n AFRO-Connect offers a jam-packed African-themed fundraising evening at Fortune Of War, 156-157 Kings Road Arches, Brighton on Thursday, December 2.

It is being presented by Rwandan Youth Information Community Organisation (rYico), a UK-registered charity that works to support and empower vulnerable young people in Rwanda.

A spokesman said: “We do this through Centre Marembo, our youth resource centre in Kigali, which supports young people who have been orphaned, neglected or left in very difficult conditions following the 1994 genocide. We run a drop-in clinic, vocational training and provide residential care

“Headlining the event with their Afro-Colombian roots music are Pollito Boogaloo. Their heavyweight sound is totally infectious and irresistibly danceable. Have a listen and decide for yourself on www.myspace.com/pollitoboogaloo. Special guest DJ Abo will keep the fiesta in swing, playing it up deep into the night.

Tickets in advance from: www.rounderbrighton.co.uk. £5 on the door.