Find out what’s on in South Wales this week
You don’t need a big budget or George Clooney to make a good film, as the Cardiff Independent Film Festival (Porters + Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Tues 14-Sun 19 April. Tickets: individual events priced separately) continues to prove. This year’s local indy cinema loving festival of screenings, workshops and film competitions includes a Q&A with Point Blank and Deliverance director John Boorman – who will be screening his new film Queen And Country, comedy film showcase, and a masterclass with Stephen Frears (director of Philomena and Dangerous Liaisons) and Paul Andrew Williams (London To Brighton, Cherry Tree Lane).
From the screen to the stage: this week there’s an exciting choice of drama to indulge in, such as The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time (Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Tues 14 – Sat 18 Apr. Tickets: £18 – £37/Premium Seats £47). This ‘whodunit’ drama (adapted from Mark Haddon’s multi-award winning novel of the same name) looks into the mind of fifteen year old Christopher – a fiercely gifted mathematician that struggles to cope with the social and emotional demands of day to day life. Christopher is the neighbour of a recently murdered dog, and is also suspect number one.
Another show that challenges social perceptions is Benefit (Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Wed 15 April. Tickets: £10). Looking at the welfare system through the eyes of three very different people on benefits (A woman left speechless by her disability, a refugee who fled a coup half a century ago and a sex addict whose affliction is killing his relationship) Benefit isn’t just going to tell you about the society we all live in, it wants you think about what you would do differently. The show will welcome people to debate, disagree and participate in the production – perhaps evening changing the plot’s outcome.
She might tackle similar issues but she does so with a good dose of humour: Caitlin Moran (St David’s Hall, Cardiff, Thurs 16 April. Tickets: £25) brings her show How To Build A Girl 2: Oh My God! I Thought Of Some More Things I Want To Say! To Cardiff. The best-selling author will be bringing her funny talk to the stage as she publishers her novel How To Build A Girl.
Humour and silliness don’t have to be stuck to the stage as they are mixed together with bright colours and pop culture characters in art of Barrie J Davies – whose exhibition I Just Stepped Through A Rainbow…(SHO Gallery, Cardiff, Fri 17- Thurs 23 April. Admissions: free) starts this week. Davies’ psychedelic paintings mismash various images from pop culture (ET pops up a few times, as does the Batman symbol. Alf and Tin Tin make an appearance and Snow White is in there somewhere as well) and create a colourful and chaotic assault on the senses.
Also on the art scene this week is the Penarth Art Fair (Penarth Pier Pavilion, Fri 17-Sun 19 Apr. Admission: free) which will run for three days in the town’s delightful Pier Pavilion. The fair, hosted by The Cardiff Arts Collective, will bring together work from many local galleries including Fountain Fine Art, Gallery/Ten, Kooywood Gallery, Fireworks Studios and Oriel Canfas.
Nature will be providing more art as the RHS Flower Show (Bute Park, Cardiff, Fri 17-Sun 19 April. Tickets: £12 (RHS members £10) / £8.50 advance (RHS members £7.50) / Under 16s free) rolls into town. There will be be plenty of flora to fawn over with displays, workshops on Talks & Demonstrations hosted by BBC presenter Toby Buckland.
If you don’t consider Mr Buckland’s voice music to your ears how about some actual music? The Porthcawl Jazz Festival (various venues, Porthcawl Fri 17-Sun 19 Apr Tickets: £40 weekend/under 12s free/individual events priced separately) with its jazz hands at the ready. The festival, in its 15th year, g offers three swinging nights of musicians from all corners. First-time headliners The Temperance Seven (specialising in 1920s/30s trad) will be jiving their swell hits (Driving Me Crazy, Pasadena}) with a dash of comedy. Others appearing include the double-award-winning saxophonist Simon Spillet, multi-instrumentalist fusionist Eddie Parker and 1st-prize Getxo vibraphone master Arturo Serra with pianist Juan Galiardo.
‘Simple minds think alike’ apparently, I don’t know if they do but I do know they are coming to Cardiff this week. Glasgow band Simple Minds (Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Sat 18 Apr. Tickets: £49.50/£39.50) – who have influenced the likes of Primal Scream, Radiohead and The Horrors – will be bringing three decades worth of music to the stage.
That Saturday will also be Record Store Day (Various record shops, Sat 18 Apr. Admission: free) and several local places will be celebrating. Spillers Records, in Morgan Arcade, have a live set from Liverpudlian indie duo The Lovely Eggs and DJ sets from Penarth Soul Club and others. There’ll be a clutch of live bands performing at Queen Street store Retro-Vibe Music, while Oner Signs on Church Street (not a record shop per se, but it does sell a few) has a hip-hop jam afternoon, featuring all or most of the MCs and DJs who are playing the Moon Club in the evening.