Culture Diary w/c 28-10-13
What’s hot this week? Our pick of the listings from around Liverpool, London and Manchester…
PICK OF THE WEEK: Tuesday – 1984 7.30pm @ the Liverpool Playhouse £12-£23
A play performed in 2013 adapted from a book published in 1949, set in 1984. Can this new production of George Orwell’s dystopian vision tell us anything about the present day? We have two words for you: Edward Snowden. In their review, The Daily Telegraph went further, saying “[this adaptation] points us back to the novel, revealing it as fully fit-for-purpose in the 21st century”.
Nosferatu 8.50pm @ FACT
Denied official use of Bram Stoker’s Dracula as source material, Nosferatu remains one of the most accomplished adaptations of the world’s most famous vampire to date. Due in no small part to Max Schreck’s playing of the lead, F. W. Murnau’s 1929 gothic horror more than deserves its iconic status.
Wednesday – Halloween at FACT: (Oc) cult 8pm @ FACT
To mark Hallowe’en, FACT has programmed (Oc) cult, Ryan Jordan’s Possession Trance (‘a live performance project exploring the crossover between cybernetics, underground rave music and (oc)cult rituals’), followed by a screening of Haxan, soundtracked live by Bronnt Industries Kapital.
Thursday – Germ Free Adolescents @ the Met Quarter
Documenting the life and music of Poly Styrene, Germ Free Adolescents was curated by Italian Luca Bartozzi from LJMU’s Special Collections and Archives. Bartozzi said: “The more I was looking at the different items of the archive … the more I got attached… They resonated with some of the issues I faced in my adolescence: coming out as a gay man.” Germ Free Adolescents is part of Homotopia.
Hallows Ritual Hallowe’en Party 8pm @ the Kazimier £6
Druids? Celestial sacrifice? Midnight summoning? Insanity and horror? Yes please! Get your Hallowe’en fix without compromising on taste: atmospheric installation, performance art and live music from everisland and friends (or should we say fiends?). Expect Liverpool stalwarts Zombina & The Skeletones, Lovecraft, Nadine Carina and Bird.
Friday – Sophie Jung: Learning About Heraldry @ Ceri Hand Gallery (London SE1 0EP) 10am-6pm, FREE
We’d love to tell you about this exhibition, but as the press release and website provide us only with a piece of text art as explanation (entertaining as that is), we can’t. We do know, however, that Jung works with video, performance, sculpture, text and photography, reconfiguring recognizable signs, icons and brands ‘as a way to track and record life’. This is the award-winning artist’s first UK solo exhibition premiering new work.
Saturday – The Day of the Dead of Night 10am @ the Bluecoat daytime talks free, but ticketed; evening events £5/£4; full evening programme £10/£8
Running until 3 am, wonderfully titled The Day of the Dead of Night responds to the Bluecoat’s current exhibition 3 am: wonder, paranoia and the restless night. Scheduled speakers deal variously with insomnia and the sociology and philosophy of the night; also expect films including documentary Nostalgia for the Light and Ealing horror Dead of Night. It makes for an ambitious programme with a pleasing sense of quality.
Sunday – The Elephant Man 6pm @ FACT
“I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being! I am a man!” David Lynch’s sensitive take on the life of ‘Elephant Man’ and Victorian side-show freak John Merrick (John Hurt) sees him being rescued from a life of cruelty by surgeon Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins), delivering a lesson in humility and bravery in the process.
