The Weekender
As we ease our way into 2025, the first Culture Diary for the year will be with us next week. But, we thought, given a few choice cuts coming this way, it would be remiss of us not to draw them to your attention…
Friday – Dead Pony 7.30pm @ Future Yard, Birkenhead – £17.92
Shake off the working week and hit go on the coming weekend with shouty Scottish four-piece, Dead Pony, who cap Future Yard’s free artist-focused conference, Beacon (Thurs-Fri). Hull MC and Grime artist, Chiedu Oraka, plays tonight (Thursday).
Saturday – Last Chance to See: Alice in Wonderland 1pm/6pm @ Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot – from £5
We all know the tale of Alice, who followed a white rabbit into wonderland, of course – to the extent that such terminology has passed into and steadfastly remained part of wider popular culture. Here, in its final performances, a new production sees a grown up Alice doubting it ever happened at all until, that is, a glimpse of something white and fluffy and distinctly rabbit-shaped lures her back into that most fantastical of realms…
Run Lola Run 6.30pm @ FACT Liverpool – £8.50
A magenta-haired heroine (Franka Potente, top) breathlessly beats the streets of Berlin to come up with a mere 100,000 Deutsche Marks to save the bacon of her small time crook boyfriend. This is the set-up for director Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run which, more than 25 years later, remains one of the most successful foreign language films of all time. Seeing it at the cinema on release, its pounding soundtrack, thrilling concept and, yes, its lead, all left an impression on yours truly. Whether reliving the exhilaration or taking it in for the first time, Run Lola Run is recommended viewing.
Sunday – Last Chance to See: Brickworks @ Tate Liverpool – FREE
“From breeze blocks to dry stone walls, discover artworks that champion the humble brick.” The new exhibition at Tate Liverpool doesn’t exactly scream must-see show, but Brickworks confounds modest expectations. It does so by using some smart selections from the Tate collection; from Kader Attia’s imposing centrepiece, Untitled (Concrete Blocks), to Chris Killip’s bleak Windowless Terrace by way of Saloua Raouda Choucair’s elegant modular Poem Wall, it prods us to ponder – in unusual detail – the meanings imbued in and by that most ubiquitous of building materials.
All Bricks Melt Into Air 11am/2.30pm @ Tate Liverpool – FREE
Theatre maker Josh Coates leads activities, storytelling and conversation across two free sessions to mark the final day of Tate Liverpool exhibition, Brickworks, culminating in the creation of a new artwork.
Mike Pinnington
Images: Run Lola Run film still; Alice in Wonderland trailer; Saloua Raouda Choucair, Poem Wall 1963–5 © Saloua Raouda Choucair Installation view. © Tate (Sam Day)
