Page 14 - Phonebox Magazine September 2016

The Buzz
What’s on in your area this September?
The Girl From Mars
Getting ahead of the wave of interest in 90s nostalgia, a new jukebox rock show with an anthemic Britpop soundtrack is heading to The Craufurd Arms, Wolverton on 25th September following a highly acclaimed premiere at Brighton Fringe Festival 2016 back in June; the opening night featured an exclusive appearance by Saffron from iconic Britpop band, Republica. Written, produced and directed by Julia Collar, who’s been a youth worker in the city for over ten years, the show was inspired by the 1954 B-Movie ‘The Devil Girl From Mars’ and the song ‘Girl From Mars’ by Britpop pioneers, Ash. This is a special show with support from Euan Emerton and The Relights, in aid of Musicians Against Homelessness; a nationwide charity music festival established by Emma Rule and Alan McKee, former manager of Oasis, Primal Scream, and one of the founding fathers of the Britpop era. All proceeds from the evening will go to Crisis. The Musicians Against Homelessness gigs in Milton Keynes have been organised and coordinated by Steve Wells, frontman with The Vision and now with Colony.
The Plot: It’s 1999. On a snowy evening in rural Bedfordshire, barmaid Sally is preparing her pub for the shift ahead and helping a band, led by wannabe rock star Leon, to set up. In the elds beyond the pub, a ying saucer crashes. Its occupant, PVC-clad Martian dominatrix Nyah, is on a mission to kidnap human men to use in a breeding programme to save her species. In real time, two worlds collide as Sally and Leon attempt to thwart Nyah’s mission and save the world by confronting their own identities and desires... and, as always, the path of true love never runs straight!
The Show: With a nod to two other great musicals delivering retro sci- brilliance on stage – Return To The Forbidden Planet and The Rocky Horror Picture Show – The Girl From Mars uses a live rock band not only to provide the soundtrack but as an essential part of the action. Add to this three charismatic vocalist-actors and two burlesque dancers, and you have a visual and auditory experience that crosses raucously from theatre into conceptual stadium rock show. The Girl From Mars also makes use of incredible stage
14 Phonebox Magazine | September 2016
effects including a UFO drone that circles the venue, an 18 foot robot inspired by acclaimed visual artist Fergus Dunnet’s work, and even live snow!
The music includes every Britpop anthem you can think of with hits from Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Catatonia, Republica, Dodgy, Supergrass, and many more. You may not know the song names, but it’s guaranteed that everyone in the audience will be able to sing every chorus; singing and dancing along is strongly encouraged and the event will be unseated to create an informal atmosphere and a rock concert feel.The comic script is packed full of 90s cultural references from lms such as Pulp Fiction, The Matrix, Men in Black and Alien Resurrection; television classics from Blackadder to Friends; and era-based fashion including Union Jack dresses, tattoo chokers, and Adidas striped tracksuit tops!
MK Geek Night
Meet up, network and chat about technology on September 8th at MK Gallery! This interesting, quarterly event is for the creative community who are interested in web design, development or computing. There will also be guest speakers including Harry Roberts, an award-winning Consultant Architect; Ruth John, a Google Developer Expert; Axel Segebrecht, who supports Cran eld University’s digital transformation programme; Ben Seymour, Director of Solution Consulting; and Mark Goodwin, a security engineer at Mozilla.
Open Air Cinema: The Imitation Game
The Imitation Game is a true WWII story about mathematician, Alan Turing, who was working in a Government Code and Cypher code school during WWII in Bletchley Park. While there, he worked on an electromechanical machine to find settings for the Enigma Machine. The film was a great success, winning the Empire Award for Best Thriller. On 2nd September, Bletchley Park is showing The Imitation Game. On this late summer evening, you can spend some time walking around Bletchley Park and, while watching the lm, you will literally be on the grounds where Alan Turing created the electromechanical machine. They are airing the lm from 6pm to 11pm.
Tickets are £14.50 for adults, £8.00 for children (12-17 years of age), or £13.00 for Friends of Bletchley Park. Just a word of warning: the lm is not suitable for children under the age of 12 years old!
Competition
Win tickets to see The Girl From Mars at The Craufurd Arms, Wolverton on Sunday 25th September. We’ve got one pair of tickets to give away. All you have to do is answer the following question:
The Girl From Mars features music from which popular culture? A. Europop B. Britpop C. Chinapop
Send your answer along with your name, email address and home address to competition@phoneboxmagazine.com, or post your entry to Competitions, Phonebox Magazine, Unit 2 Stanley Court, Olney, MK46 5NH. Competition ends Monday 19th September 2016 at midday.