Live Events
Piaf
The Life Story and Songs of Edith Piaf
Award winning musical theatre actress Sally Jones pays a loving homage to EDITH PIAF with her critically acclaimed one woman show. She takes the audience through a roller-coaster of emotions, telling Piaf’s wild, tragic and dramatic life story – at times amusing, at times moving but at no time attempting an impersonation. A sentimental yet inspirational tale of a legend who will never be forgotten.
This stunning performance contains a beautifully crafted narration, telling the fascinating story of the iconic French singer EDITH PIAF. Not a typical tribute show, it is a perfect blend of wonderful stories, interesting facts, charming humour, moving moments and passionately performed Piaf classics including La Vie En Rose, Milord, Mon Dieu, Hymne a l’Amour and Non Je Ne Regrette Rien.
An evening not to be missed.
A MASTERCLASS IN HOW A TRIBUTE TO A LEGEND SHOULD BE CRAFTED”
5 star review from London Musical theatre Review
“MESMERISING – A HAUNTING PERFORMANCE”
“A LOVELY ROMANTIC EVENING”
5 star review from London’s West End Wilma
“90 MINUTES OF PURE UNADULTERATED ENTERTAINMENT”
“SALLY JONES IS A CONSUMMATE PERFORMER BRINGING ALL HER MUSICAL THEATRE EXPERIENCE TO EACH SONG”
4 star review from London Theatre 1
THE EDGE COMEDY CLUB: Duncan Oakley/Archie Kelly/Masai Graham
Come join us for the inaugural show of Much Wenlock’s brand new monthly comedy club. It promises to be a night of hilarious comedy with the biggest and best performers from across the circuit. Join MC Tony Vino as he introduces three of the most celebrated names in UK comedy, performing cutting edge stand-up for an unforgettable night of laughter. Act line-up: Duncan Oakley, Archie Kelly and Masai Graham
Shropshire Drama Company presents SUPERNATURAL SHROPSHIRE
A man (The Stranger) enters a village pub and strikes up a conversation with a woman (The Sceptic), who has spent the afternoon helping to set out the stalls for the village fair and has stopped for a drink on her way home.
The conversation turns to the subject of the supernatural and The Stranger tries to convince The Sceptic of the existence of witches, ghosts etc, by telling a series of tales from Shropshire folklore, including Much Wenlock’s infamous Nanny Morgan.
At the end of each tale the action switches from the narrators back to the pub and The Sceptic does her best to disprove the validity of the story.
Make Much Wenlock Weird presents Loula Yorke with support from Lucifer Sky
For Make Much Wenlock Weird’s first event we proudly present Oram Award winning composer and analogue synthesist Loula Yorke. Loula’s music has been described as “Utterly absorbing” and her recent release on Quiet Details “speak, thou vast and venerable head” shot to number one across all genres on band camp on release day. Seeing Loula in an intimate venue such as The Edge is surely not to be missed!
Support will be from Lucifer Sky, an experimental artist based in Coventry, UK. Weaving soundscapes that oscillate between chaos and calm, delivering an erratic mix of audio textures, DIY electronic processes, field recordings and hypnotic melodies.
THE CLASSIC BLUES SHOW
From BB King to Buddy Guy, from Jimmy Rogers to Jimi Hendrix – The Classic Blues Show celebrates the finest blues music from the last 60 years.
Spend an evening in the company of this fine 6-piece band with their music and stories, and feel the blues come alive. Driving guitar riffs, matched by a jazz-themed horn section, make this a show to remember.
MARK HARRISON BAND
Nobody writes songs like Mark Harrison.
Constantly touring and multi-awards-nominated, Mark Harrison has a reputation for being unlike anyone else out there. Described at BBC Radio 2 as an artist who ‘makes you think afresh’, and by countless audience members and reviewers as ‘uplifting and ‘inspirational’, his highly individual music takes him to some of the top venues and festivals in the UK, attracting acclaim wherever he goes.
Mark has been frequently heard on BBC Radio 2, including on its Pick of the Week show on a playlist containing many of the world’s top pop artists.
The extraordinary Mark Harrison Band has a unique sound and style that is very much their own genre, and incorporates elements of classic roots, rock, folk and blues. They have been compared to classic artists of the golden era such as The Band and Little Feat. It’s music to make you smile, think and move.
Make Much Wenlock Weird presents AJA, with support from ecolagbohrsac2021 & Infernal Machines
Make Much Wenlock Weird’s Christmas extravaganza features award-winning sound and performance artist Aja Ireland. Aja’s deconstructed club and industrial techno live shows have been described as “Shifting from ethereal diffusions to potent explosions.” by The Wire magazine and her video GRIME was described as ““brutal, visceral and unrelentingly noisy” by Creative Review. AJA’s latest project, CRYPTID, an EP, music video, and full audio visual live set project a realm where volcanic, ritualistic circles of standing stones merge seamlessly with projections of microscopic creatures. AJA takes on the persona of a cryptid hybrid, adorned in sculptural fashion nightmares, eating green lasers and morphing into underwater creatures.
Support will be provided by ENGLAND’S COUNCIL OF LEGISLATION AND GOVERNING BODY OF HYPER REAL SIMULATIONS AND CONSTRUCTS, a multimedia art powerhouse and curatorial project by Atay Ilgun, conceptually focusing on mythic themes/folklore that permeate the archetypal echelons of the contemporary digital psyche, hypermedia and our ken of the existential milieu. Expect draconic mediaeval EDM, crystal swampcore, deep-fried Digital Middle Age hyperblackmetalpop, magick Lamborghini ride-core, delysidMIDI trance chord-pack dance tunes for shaking stars, sampling of prayers from alternate worlds, sp3xtral matrix-grim3, postnuclear Barbican skatepark Splice pack mash-up dancefloor music, 3D glitter pandemonium .gif flower garden ambient and folk music of the other syde.
Further support comes from Infernal Machines, a new project by MMWW’s organiser Tom Whiston. Infernal Machines is an all hardware based, fully unplanned and improvised fight to the death between performer and machine, blurring the lines of who or what is really in control of the performance. Expect breakcore, Gabba, industrial techno and a good helping of noise.
Make Much Wenlock Weird presents Haress and Hawthonn
Make Much Wenlock Weird presents Haress and Hawthonn
Bringing some much needed warm in the depth of winter Make Much Wenlock Weird’s third event presents esoteric music from co-headliners Hawthonn and Haress.
Hawthonn is the musical and magical collaboration of Layla and Phil Legard. Born from the underground music scene of Leeds, UK, the duo began in 2014 with a project to encounter the spirit of the musician Jhonn Balance, of the industrial band Coil. This self-titled release was followed by Red Goddess (of the men shall know nothing) (2018) and Earth Mirror (2021), both on the Brooklyn-based label Ba Da Bing. Their dark electronic music draws upon esoteric practices, using improvisation, scrying, dreaming, divination and site-specific working to gain insight and creative inspiration.
Haress are based in the Shropshire Hills, their music is rooted in the feel and tradition of British folk but expands out of any genre boundaries through the use of improvisation, texture and amplification. They intertwine dark and repetitive electric guitar figures to create a hypnotic, mantra-like state, the playing working on a kind of unspoken telepathy until it’s impossible for the onlooker to work out which player is responsible for which sound amid the warm, enveloping hum of valve amps.
Keith James in Concert
THE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN
These remarkable songs – stripped back, honest, naked and sensual.
‘There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in’ Cohen’s most memorable and visionary line from his song ANTHEM. If ever there was a sentence in modern poetry to reflect on and give hope and understanding to us all, it is this line. This Concert begins with ANTHEM.
Enigmatic, mysterious and sub textural, songwriter Leonard Cohen was an unflinching character, with an exact sense of prose, wry humour and the courage to wrestle with the unspoken, forgiving human frailty and indulgence with the stroke of each word.
The very beginning of Leonard Cohen as a songwriter happened during the 1960’s on the Greek Island of Hydra where he met Marianne Ihlen, the love of his life. He was spending his time on Hydra writing a novel and a collection of poetry; it was Marianne who encouraged him to turn many of the poems into songs; Bird on a Wire being the most notable.
The chilling announcement of Leonard’s death marked the end of an era. His music befriended an entire generation. Within every line of his writing, he has been challenging us to listen more carefully, speak more thoughtfully, think more deeply and recognize our own vulnerability. Our World misses him very much.
With a lifetime reputation of performing in this exact way and an undying love of the ‘pure song’ Keith James gives you a concert of Cohen’s amazing material in the most intimate and sensitive way imaginable, exposing the solitary inner strength of his greatest songs in their original perfect form. Keith has performed an extensive tour of this concert in Theatres and Arts Centres across the UK, giving almost 500 concerts to more than 200,000 people. This has proved to be ‘life changing’ and one of the greatest honours in Keith James’ 50 year career in music.
Included in the concert are Cohen’s well-known songs: Famous Blue Raincoat, Sisters of Mercy, Suzanne, and Hallelujah alongside his rarer and profound writing such as If it be your will, Joan of Arc and Secret Life. Also included are Keith’s dramatic performances based on the work of Federico Garcia Lorca – Cohen’s greatest influence.
Make Much Wenlock Weird presents Field Lines Cartographer and Roma Agnihotri
For the final event of the first season of Make Much Wenlock Weird we proudly present Field Lines Cartographer.
There’s no rush in Field Lines Cartographer’s world, no hurried resolutions or hasty developments, in fact Mark Burford has been meticulously crafting an impeccable body of work that revels in gradual imperceptible shifts and slow-burning realisations for some years now. Burford’s music is intensely emotive and unfathomably deep. While the textural detail inherent in all of FLC’s work carries through to his jawdropping live show, the performance is mostly stripped back to a couple of hardware synthesisers, effortlessly mixing analogue and digital in a masterclass of restraint and balance, earning him a much-lauded repeat appearance at Levitation festival, a spot at DiN’s Tone Science live show at the Capstone Theatre in Liverpool and a performance at the G Livelab in Helsinki. Field Lines Cartographer’s work, both recorded and live is enduringly immersive and undeniably skilled, perfectly toeing the line between trickling ambient vignettes and immovable walls of sound, often both at the same time.
Support is provided by Roma Agnihotri, an audio-visual artist whose passion lies in exploring the synergy between sound and visuals. After completing their degree in creative music technology, Roma has created an abstract experimental film series that explores the relationship between sound and non-narrative-based films. Driven by a passion for repurposing and reusing materials, Roma combines reworked samples, circuit bent instruments and found sounds, infusing their films with a distinctive and unconventional sonic landscape. Their work aims to challenge the conventional notions of sound, visuals, and the boundless possibilities they hold.
Carismático Tango
Carismático Tango brings the classy and passionate flavours of Argentina to the stage with a contemporary twist and unique style.
Through combining a tented virtuoso ensemble of musicians with heartfelt Argentinian vocals and passionate Argentine Tango dancers, the show tells the secrets of Buenos Aires across time.
Carismático Tango adds that spice of diversity. A cultural exploration of Argentine Tango music and dance invites the audience on a journey through a spectrum of love, heartbreak, hope and uplifting joy in the space of an evening.
The show offers an irresistible fusion of traditional Tango, Nuevo Tango from Piazzolla & Jazz, appealing to people with a heart for travel, ear for timeless, classy music and love of dance.
TOMMY BLAIZE
50 Years In Music
Tommy Blaize has one of the most recognisable voices in the UK.
As the lead singer on Strictly Come Dancing for 20 glorious years, he’s sung live each week to up to 12 million people.
And in a remarkable career spanning 50 years, he’s worked with some of the world’s most legendary artists, from Diana Ross to Queen, from The Beach Boys to Amy Winehouse, and from Stevie Wonder to Robbie Williams.
Now it’s time for the man with the golden voice to step out in his first, major, solo tour. Singing songs everyone knows and loves, and telling stories about the legends he’s worked alongside, expect a Strictly incredible evening.
Friday 11 April 2025
Doors 18.30 Show 19.30
Tickets £30
VIP £45
Meet 'n' Greet Tickets £80
PAUL YOUNG
From No Parlez to Secret Of Association - An Intimate Evening With Paul Young
Paul Young broke into the big time 40 years ago when No Parlez went to number one and spawned iconic hits like Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home).
More success followed with the number one album The Secret Of Association and the worldwide hit Everytime You Go Away, not forgetting an appearance at Live Aid and more. Paul sustained that success – while having fun in his tex-mex band, Los Pacaminos.
Now, he’s looking back during these intimate shows, that combine conversation and acoustic versions of songs.
Paul’s meeting fans, singing songs, and telling stories about his incredible career. It’s time to revel in the classic hits and learn the stories behind them in this intimate show.
The Hound Of The Baskervilles
A Radio Play Live on Stage
Live on stage and in person, renowned stars of stage & screen COLIN BAKER (Doctor Who, The Brothers) & TERRY MOLLOY (Mike Tucker in The Archers for 40 years) are joining forces this spring to play the world’s most famous detectives, SHERLOCK HOLMES & DOCTOR WATSON. Alongside DEE SADLER (All Creatures Great & Small, No Place Like Home), they star in a brand new stage adaptation of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES – originally on tour to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most popular thriller and now extended by popular demand!
“The legend of the Hound Of The Baskervilles has haunted the Baskerville family for generations – none more so than Sir Charles Baskerville, who died in mysterious circumstances worthy of the legend. This leads Doctor Mortimer to consult Sherlock Holmes & Doctor Watson, in the hope of preventing the heir to the Baskerville estate, Sir Henry, from suffering the same fate. But the supernatural seems a very long way from 221B Baker Street…
However, once Holmes & Watson journey to isolated Baskerville Hall, the line between reality and the legend becomes blurred. Death, doom and myth surround them – what is the secret of the butler in the night, whose is the mysterious lantern that shines in the darkness, and what hellish apparition stalks Dartmoor with murderous intent?”
Presented by Crime And Comedy Theatre Company as a radio-play-live-on-stage – our setting is a radio studio, our actors ready as if for a radio broadcast, and our sound effects created live on stage, all combining to transport the audience from Baker Street to Dartmoor, as we bring to life this tale of murder, mystery and horror that’s surely the greatest detective story ever told! A rare chance to see these popular actors live at your local theatre, this is a play not to be missed.
Tuesday 22 April 2025
Doors 18.30 Show 19.30
Tickets £26.50
VIP £40
Meet 'n' Greet Tickets £65
Mike Peters, from The Alarm
Love Hope Strength
It’s been a remarkable career. Mike Peters, frontman of The Alarm, created one of Britain’s best-loved rock bands at the turn of the 1980s. He filled arenas, enjoyed hits with Sixty Eight Guns Spirit Of ’76, and Absolute Reality, and opened for U2 and Bob Dylan. There’s always been much, much more to the man who was awarded an MBE in 2019. Mike’s a multiple-cancer survivor, whose life story is truly inspiring and extraordinary. To coincide with the publication of his self-penned, multi-edition autobiography – also called Love Hope Strength – Mike is hitting the road. Expect acoustic hits, remarkable stories, and an intimate evening with one of rock’s great survivor.
TOM BALL
Britain’s Got Talent singing sensation Tom Ball is heading to Much Wenlock in 2025.
Tom will share his remarkable talent with audiences at intimate venues around the UK on the Spotlight tour.
The former teacher shot to fame as a finalist in BGT 2020, catching the attention of Simon Cowell, who called him ‘simply sensational’, and Amanda Holden, who said he was one of the best she’d ever seen.
Since then, he’s racked up 85 million views on social media, and been working with Grammy-winning writers. He’s been likened to stars such as Michael Ball and Michael Bublé.
The tour follows the release of his debut album, Curtain Call.
Tom says: “I feel extremely excited to be heading out on my first major solo tour; I can’t wait to share some of my favourite songs with fans. See you there!”
“One of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life” – Terry Crews (AGT)