Aylesbury’s theatre celebrates four decades in the limelight with month-long festival of live entertainment

Aylesbury’s Limelight Theatre will be celebrating its 40th birthday in style with a month-long festival of live entertainment.

The intimate 120-seater theatre space has attracted numerous star names over the years, including Eddie Izzard, Lee Evans, Shaun Hughes and Jo Brand.

To kickstart activities the Queens Park Arts Centre’s venue welcomes the return of John Otway, who went to school at Queens Park before it was converted into an arts centre.

Otway, who takes great pride in knowing his old classroom is now the bar, returns to the Limelight Theatre with a sell-out gig on October 6. This will be followed by an evening of live music on October 7 with rock and soul classics from nine-piece cover band The BBs.

The following weekend the ever-popular Comedy Club night returns on October 13, hosted by Ryan Mold featuring Jessica Fostekew, Robyn Perkins and Matt Adlington.

There’s another evening of live music on October 14 with “a must-see band for all Beatles fans” from The Dung Beatles with an incredible repertoire of over 100 songs.

On Friday, October 20, the Limelight Theatre is to host to a special interactive murder mystery evening with ‘Death at the Tenth’ which also includes a fish and chip supper.

And on Saturday, October 21, Texas born singer/songwriter “Mr” Paul Adams takes to the stage with a night of original country music.

For the final weekend in the month-long festival, QPAC’s very own award-winning in-house theatre company, Unbound, take to the stage in a brand-new one act pay ‘More Fool Me’ by Dario Knight.

October one-day creative courses and half-term workshops

QPAC are running a series of artistic one-day courses and half-term workshops throughout October.

On October 6, local artist Leila Ward leads two starter courses with Drawing for Beginners and Watercolour for Beginners.

On October 7 and October 8 there’s a weekend full of special one-day courses where budding art and crafters can learn how to throw pots on the pottery wheel, take part in a clay portrait bust sculpture workshop and a ceramic collage workshop.

Alongside the different ceramic courses, there are one-day courses in the textile art of needle felting with embroidery embellishment plus a number of creative opportunities for children to learn how to explore painting techniques with coloured inks and different pottery workshops running throughout the week.

Weekly workshops

In addition to the special one-day courses in October, the creative programme of weekly workshops continues with over 60 weekly drop-in workshops suitable for both beginners and improvers. The sessions are pay-as-you-go classes.

Exhibitions and events

QPAC’s Artisan project, which celebrates local artists and makers, features a number of free-to-view exhibitions in October from local artists Alexandra Rendle-Short, Sarah Rupesinghe and Evi Chatziioannnidou with artworks exploring different themes and mediums from contemporary oil paintings through to clay and mixed media.

Storytelling

Queens Park Arts Centre’s award-winning storytelling company Unbound continues to unveil exciting projects throughout October, starting with an immersive theatre experience on October 14 and 15 in Aylesbury town centre.

Unbound then take part in the Limelight Theatre’s 40th anniversary celebrations with two performances of the brand-new play ‘More Fool Me’ on October 27 and 28.

Further details can be found here .