So the weather’s taken the inevitable turn for the worse, with rain forecast for much of the weekend. That’s February for you. Fortunately there’s plenty of stuff going on around the UK to make you forget that we’ve just entered what Garfield called “the Monday of months”. Like taking the kids down to East London to teach them how to make Chinese Lanterns; or a child-friendly session at the Comedy Club…
With Chinese New Year just around the corner (February 10 2013), the Geffrye Museum is running a Chinese Lantern workshop for 5-11 year olds. All children must be accompanied by an adult. There are two sessions of the workshop, both on Saturday Feb 2: the first starts at 10.30 am and finishes at 12.30 pm; the second starts at 2.00 pm and finishes and 4.00 pm. Places for each session are allocated on the day, on a first come first served basis.
If you’ve ever wished you could take your grandkids to a show you know you’ll enjoy too, without having to worry about whether all the content is suitable – then the Soho Theatre is the place to be this weekend. Its Comedy Club 4 Kids runs on Saturdays. The club features stand up performances by some of the most famous funny men and women in the business, carefully put together to ensure the humour is suited to anyone over the age of 8. Before the stand up routine, the Comedy Club 4 Kids includes a fortnightly comedy workshop for children and teenagers, with a chance for young hopefuls to get on stage with the pros. Call the box office for specific details on which weekends host the workshop as well as the show.
The laughs keep coming in other corners of the country too. The Exeter Corn Exchange sees funnyman Lee Hurst coming back after a 10 year hiatus running his own comedy club. Lee’s new show, “Too Scared to Leave the House”, takes audience members on a journey through global warming; Bird Flu; and the rest of the apocalyptic stuff that didn’t quite manage to finish us all off. Expect to chuckle hard and think too. Grandparents and grandkids over the age of 18 only, 16 at the adult’s discretion.
Cinema continues to please, delivering more meaty movies for what looks like a rainy start to February. For the grandparents (if you’ve got a strong stomach), the much-vaunted Zero Dark Thirty is making an impression on box office figures already. It’s a cold hard look at a war we’re all guilty about so don’t expect an easy watch.
Lincoln, Spielberg’s latest and Oscar-fodder for sure, features Daniel Day Lewis transforming himself into the legendary President. The question – whether there’s much interest in the story of the 13th Amendment on this side of the pond. You decide…
For the whole family, you could do a lot worse than Cirque du Soleil – a 3D cinema presentation mixing live footage of the extraordinary show with a cinematic love story. The made-up bits are a little hokey, but kids and adults alike will be enthralled by the circus action.
