Nottingham Central Library

The 19th Century saw dramatic changes in society’s treatment of both mental illness and poverty. L C Winter burrowed into the topic to research her debut novel Spider, Spider and talks to us about the Victorians and their attempts to treat, restrain and hide the most disadvantaged in society. Come with us on a journey to discover Victorian’s experiences of mental illness as part of our Mental Health Awareness Week programme, with an in-depth talk and Q&A with L C Winter.

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The Studio Theatre, Stamford Rd, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 6LS, UK

It is December 1936, and Broadway star William Gillette, admired the world over for his leading role in the play Sherlock Holmes, has invited his fellow cast members to his Connecticut castle for a weekend of revelry. But when one of the guests is stabbed to death, the festivities in this isolated house of tricks and mirrors quickly turn dangerous. It is then up to Gillette himself, as he assumes the persona of his beloved Holmes, to track down the killer before the next victim appears. The danger and hilarity are non-stop in this glittering whodunit set during the Christmas holidays.

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Theatre Royal, Nottingham

Masters of storytelling Northern Ballet bring to the stage the extraordinary story of Anne Lister—better known as Gentleman Jack.

A powerful Yorkshire woman, it was only after her death when her secret diaries were decoded that a tuly exceptional life was uncovered. Anne lived, dressed and loved as she desired, not as 19th century society expected her to. With her words dancing across the pages, she vividly chronicled her adventures, heartbreaks and triumphs with striking honesty and wit.

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East Leake Village Hall

East Leake Amateur Players are bringing the gloriously devious world of Blackadder II (yes, that Blackadder!) to the stage — penned by the legendary Ben Elton & Richard Curtis and ready to make you laugh like it’s the Elizabethan era all over again.

Expect scheming, sarcasm, and more terrible ideas than Baldrick has ever proudly suggested.

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Arnold, Hucknall and Worksop Libraries

Open Studios Notts aims to widely promote Nottinghamshire artists and maker’s open studio events in co-operative collaboration, creating opportunities each year for visitors to connect with artists and to discover their work and practices.

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University of Nottingham Museum, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham

The cemetery discovered at Broughton Lodge, Willoughby-on-the-Wolds, in Nottinghamshire was a pioneering community archaeology excavation of the 1960s.

Since that time the remains, held in partnership between Nottingham City Museums and the University of Nottingham Museum, have never been displayed together until now. This exhibition reinterprets the evidence from the cemetery creating a picture of a Nottinghamshire community with pan-European connections in the sixth century AD.

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Angear Visitor Centre, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham

Fleur Patrick presents a series of oil paintings that reimagine found images in unexpected ways.

Exploring memory, identity, and what it means to feel displaced, her works are built from layers of translucent glazes – some added, some wiped away to reveal what lies beneath. The result is a subtle tension between presence and absence. The images feel both familiar and elusive, inviting visitors into an open field for reflection.

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Djanogly Gallery, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham

Penny McCarthy spent months studying Titian’s rarely displayed woodcut The Submersion of the Pharaoh’s Army in the Red Sea (c.1549) from Sheffield Museums’ collection.

Through redrawing and creating new works that explore its themes of submersion, travel, time and the cosmos, she uses drawing as a tool to re-evaluate art history and the passing of time.

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Weston Gallery, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham

The United States of America was founded upon an idea of freedom. As a place of refuge from religious persecution and the birthplace of a new political system, the American colonists who rebelled against British rule saw themselves as the founders of a new nation.

Drawing on a wide range of manuscripts and printed collections, this exhibition commemorates the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence. It explores the issues at stake in the Wars of Independence and considers some of the complex problems which faced the United States as it fought to win, and realise, its new-found freedom.

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New Arts Exchange, Nottingham

Join Bad Betty Press and us for an evening of poetry and music from local, national and international artists.

Bad Betty is an award-winning independent publisher of new poetry and curator of live literature events taking place across the UK.

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Nottingham Playhouse

First Year Juniors, Long Eaton, 1987. Kylie’s about to hit number one, and Jess meets Billy for the first time.

There’s conflict, competition and mutual intrigue, but they quickly become inseparable: Proper soulmates – the kind who finish each other’s sentences and overshare about first kisses.

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Online

The New Nottingham Journal is a print publication featuring short fiction, slow journalism and poetry, taking its inspiration from Nottingham’s rich writing heritage.

The name is inspired by the original Nottingham Journal, a newspaper which ran from the early 18th century until the 1950s - where writers like Graham Greene and J.M. Barrie learned their trade.

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Bonington Theatre, Arnold, Nottingham

In 1926, Agatha Christie was at the centre of a mystery when she disappeared for twelve days, sparking one of the biggest hunts in history. She was found in a hotel in Harrogate, she said she couldn’t remember anything. Did Agatha Christie lie? Did she suffer from amnesia? Was it a publicity stunt? Or was there a darker secret involved in this disappearance which was to affect her for the rest of her life?

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Dubrek, Derby

Free verse is more popular than ever, but what can traditional poetic forms teach us about our writing, and about ourselves?

Sometimes, constraints gently force us out of our usual writing ruts, and push our writing into new places, making us better, more versatile writers, and giving us the space to articulate ourselves even more clearly.

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Online

When I was searching for a visual prompt to promote Episode 42 and the theme of ‘Weight’, I was startled by the number of images I was offered on the theme of diet and weight loss. This was not what I had in mind for the episode, although I understand it is one aspect of considerations about weight.

However, I hoped poets would consider other ways of looking at ‘weight’: gravity, heft, lightness, the difference between weight and mass; where words for measuring weight come from; things we measure -gold, meat, grain etc.

Please send your recordings of up to 4 minutes of unpublished poems plus texts plus short author bios to poetryworthhearing.biz by May 18th. Do not submit if you had work in the current episode.

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Nottingham Playhouse

Queer Eye star and beloved global icon Jonathan Van Ness is heading back to the UK with their brand new solo show Hot & Healed, bringing an unforgettable night of sparkling humour, heartfelt honesty and fierce fun to stages across the country in May.

Recently, Jonathan has been serving stand-up comedy realness, selling out theatre after theatre around the world; and now they’re ready to dazzle UK audiences once again. Get ready for a night packed with witty introspection, joyful absurdity, personal revelations and all the unfiltered energy fans have come to adore. It’s JVN like you’ve never seen them before: sharp, outrageous, and uplifting.

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Lacce Market Theatre, Nottingham

Webster’s violent tale of misogyny and deceit.

A forbidden marriage. A hidden family. A dangerous web of secrets and lies. Remarkable for its inventive and grotesque violence, yet full of dark humour, Webster’s tale of misogyny and deceit is propelled forwards in time to the period of the Industrial Revolution. This Steam-Punk inspired production highlights the rigid male-dominated world where decisions are made against a backdrop of misogyny, lust and resentment.

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Nottingham Playhouse

For over five decades, Lenny Henry has been telling stories – on stage, on screen and through a host of characters etched into our collective memory.

Part stand-up, part storytelling and part conversation with himself (and with you), this new live show sees Lenny return to the experiences that shaped him while also exploring the ideas, challenges and creative sparks driving him today.

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Church of Assumption, Beeston

On the side of a mountain called Meros a young girl is dancing. She is a sacred dancer to the Olympian gods, and life on the mountain is all she has ever known. But her story will take her far from the mountain she grew up on, and across the seas, in a dreaming, unwinding myth of the birth (and birth, and birth) of a brand new Olympian god...

Amelia Ace Armande unstoppers the origin story of Dionysus - the Greek god of wine, queer love and divine madness - with tales that are as dark, wild and heady as a sacred vintage.

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Five Leaves Bookshop, 14a Long Row, Nottingham, NG12DH

A Book of Psalms is about a life retrieved in which the commonplace is made new in poetry and everyday experience is undramatically revealed as approaching the miraculous. Gazing through the windows of the public library offers a prosaic starkness, ‘Leaking radiators, polished floors, books on everyday wellness’ somehow transformed via a ‘Leaf-vein atlas suddenly awake to sun on wings,’ so that in a playground, at the side of the road with cars passing, we are with ‘a local deity of the edgelands.’

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We are very pleased to welcome Neil Fulwood to read for us at the next Dandelions evening. Please email dandelionspoetry@gmail.com if you would like to read in the friendly open mic.

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The Robin Hood, Sherwood

It's Scums 7th Birthday! And yes that is I, Jesse Eden Freeman, doing the ultimate act of nepotism & headlining my own event. Listen, it's me birthday month, 7 is me lucky number & no one can stop me making this executive decision.

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Part of Sherwood Arts Week

This is a pay-what-you-can-bring-a-bottle event.
12th June

The Place Activity Centre
2A Melrose St, Sherwood, Nottingham NG5 2JP

Join us for a night of tall tales, flash fiction, poems and micro fringe theatre.

Bring your yarns to share on the open mic...
a bottle of something special...
or just yourself and your good humour!

Tickets From the venue, eventbrite or on the door

There are 10 minute and 5 minute slots available for those with stories, poems or micro fringe theatre. Interested in booking a slot? Then let us know. info@hothousetheatre.com

Unfortunately, the venue has access issues. If you have particular access needs, feel free to get in touch.

Performing Arts Studio, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham

In this tale of friendship, love, and authenticity, four Chinese friends reunite at a hot pot restaurant after the Covid pandemic.

As they reminisce and boast of their achievements, idealism fades into pragmatism. Will their friendships endure? Can old flames reignite? Amidst a queer-unfriendly environment, will they find the courage to discuss gay sexuality openly?

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