Posted: 26/04/16
Festival of creativity to boom
Performances and exhibitions of university-level students’ final artistic projects will be shown off to their best over the next two weeks as the academic year draws to a close at West Nottinghamshire College.
All performances and exhibitions are open to the public as well as students’ families and friends.
Kicking the festival off will be the BA Applied Theatre Studies students with their performance of The Merchant of Venice on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7.30pm (3 and 4 May). Shakespeare’s well-known play is being given a 20th century twist by the students.
Set in 1938 a young man named Bassanio is in the city of Venice seeking a guarantor for a loan of three thousand ducats to court a wealthy heiress called Portia. Bassanio approaches his friend Antonio for help.
Antonio's recent ventures have left him short of money so the pair meet with the money lender Shylock, who despises Antonio and his support for the Nazi party. Shylock agrees to a short term loan, grasping his opportunity to exact his revenge upon Antonio and expresses that should the debt not be paid back on time, the forfeit will be a pound of Antonio's flesh.
Fans of local live music can hear degree-level music students perform in the college’s Create Hub on Thursday (5 May) at a special free gig.
The performance, starting at 2.30pm, will feature three student bands – Spegettie Cable – an acoustic folk band. The band will play melodic, rootsy acoustic songs with dynamic and emotional harmonies. The band features Abbie Bingham on vocals, Ashley Lewis on vocals and guitar and Heather Barlow on second guitar.
High Strung will play indie-influenced pop and rock. Featuring lead singer Daniel Haynes whose voice has been compared to Morrissey. Rob Fuller will play guitar and Jonathan Lee on piano. This band are influenced by Imagine Dragons and Oasis.
BAHND2 will be the third band at the gig playing melodic pop via jazzy, laid-back soul. The band is fronted by Jess Lander on vocals and Damien Perez on guitar, Taanal Wilson on Bass and Dan Wozniak on keyboard.
Music tutor Liam Maloy said: “I’m proud to showcase these students’ talents on their home turf. I know the audience will be blown away by the vocal harmonies and strong songwriting of Spegettie Cable, the melodic power of High Strung and the ambitious range of BAHND2.”
Performing arts students will be taking to the stage again on Tuesday 10 May for another Shakespeare classic. HND year two students will perform Measure For Measure set in the city of Vienna.
The audience will follow the story of the duke and Angelo facing the wrath of the city folk. The show starts at 7.30pm.
From 10 to 13 May a selection of the finest work by final year HND Interactive Media and BA Creative Digital Media students will be on show in the Create mini hub at the Derby Road campus.
The work on show will include original game designs for mobile phones and PC, interactive 3D architecture design, 2D and 3D animation. Student showreels and portfolios will also be on display showcasing the cutting-edge skills they have developed on their programmes.
On Thursday 12 May it will be the turn of HND year one performing arts students to stage Look Back in Anger by John Osborne. The play features Jimmy Porter, an obnoxious and angry young man who is married to a dainty and passive Alison. Cliff, Porter’s best friend and lodger attempts to keep the peace between the two polar opposites.
The show starts at 7.30pm and tickets for this and all other student performances can be purchased for £5 or £4 for concessions by visiting http://www.createtheatre.co.uk/Whats-On.aspx or by calling 01623 413363.
