The Capstone Theatre, Liverpool’s innovative international arts venue is getting ready for another exciting season and audiences are in for a real treat; the finest in live music, dance and theatre will feature in a programme that includes a remarkable wealth of diverse and entertaining shows to mark on your calendar.
The new season kicks off on Thursday 12th September with two ‘performances’ from Manchester based electro-acoustic collective MANTIS. A different and unique experience for audiences, these concerts will present a purely sound-based experience, with no performer in the traditional sense or other visual stimuli.
In a build up to the highly anticipated Liverpool International Jazz Festival in 2014 at The Capstone, the venue’s Autumn 2013 season will continue to champion new jazz music and has a fantastic array of concerts from some of the genre’s finest exponents: On Wednesday 18th September, you can enjoy an exciting evening with former EST drummer Magnus Öström’s quartet as he presents tracks from his new album Searching for Jupiter. ParrJazz presents The Robert Castelli Boom Quartet on Thursday 3rd October introducing an element of funk. On Friday 4thOctober continuing the jazz vibe is the distinguished and multi award-winning John Turville Trio, one of the leading contemporary jazz trios in the U.K.
The jazz celebration continues into the season with Martin Speake Trio on Friday 11th October, the classical and rock fused stylings of John Law’s Congregation on Friday 25th October, and finally Darius Brubeck collaborator bassist Matt Ridley brings his Quartet to the theatre on Friday 8th November, performing original compositions that encompass the exotic flavours and emotions of Middle Eastern music, with the jazz sensibility of improvisation on complex structures.
A new strand of the Autumn programme is the introduction and championing of Early and baroque music. On Wednesday 2nd October, the audience will be transported back to the Middle Ages with Mediva: A Dance to the Music of Time. The evening takes you on a European grand tour of rich culture and high society as the concert looks at songs and instrumentals that would have provided music for dancing in the 12th-15th centuries, featuring pilgrim songs, May Day celebrations and even reconstructing some of the first choreographies ever recorded in writing. Later in the season, this theme is continued with Northern Baroque: Baroque and Roll on Tuesday 5th November and How to Flee from Sorrow: Corelli Talks to Stradella on Thursday 21st November, featuring writer Frank Cottrell Boyce (part of the Cornerstone Festival).
A series of contemporary music from a range of International artists takes place throughout the Season with music for bass clarinet and electronics from Dutch musician Marij Van Gorkom (Sonic Interactions on Monday 28th October), revolutionary Australian improvising trio The Necks on Friday 1st November and a rare concert by Serbian pianist Branka Parlić on Tuesday 12th November. Branka Parlić’s programme will include works by Erik Satie, Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt and Graham Fitkin. She has established herself as one of the leading interpreters of these composers’ works.
Alongside the variety of musical performances this Autumn there is plenty of theatre and dance to enjoy. Sell a Door continues its on-going collaboration with The Capstone on Monday 7th October with a performance of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts. In this adaptation by Alfred Enoch from William Archer’s translation, Helen is desperately trying to conceal her husband’s philandering past by building an orphanage in his name, under Pastor Manders’ guiding hand. But the celebrated return of her estranged son Oswald brings Helen’s ghosts back to haunt her.
Later in the season, Uncanny Theatre presents Instructions for a Better Life on Thursday 24th October. Part “choose-your-own-adventure”, part shadow play and part manic romp through human psychology. This company stretches logic to breaking point in a show that is visually arresting, absurdly funny and full of low-tech interventions. Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is staged replete with swordfights and flamenco dancing by Traffic of the Stage on Thursday 14th November and performance artists Natasha Davis and Two Destination Language present an exciting double bill performance on Friday 15th November.
Tickets are available by calling TicketQuarter on 0844 8000 410* or in person at TicketQuarter Box Office, Queen Square, Liverpool, L1 1RJ or online at www.thecapstonetheatre.com* *No booking fees. (A handling fee of £2.25 per transaction applies when paying with a debit/credit card. There are no handling fees for cash bookings at the TicketQuarter Box Office).