What’s On News

The Red House in Aldeburgh Reopens

Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears' home, The Red House in Aldeburgh, offers a charming snapshot into the two mens’ lives. The farmhouse, nestled in a beautiful five-acre garden, is home to their collections and archive, alongside a gallery space, museum shop and outdoor café. After closing for renovations over the winter months, The Red House has reopened to visitors. This year's exhibition celebrates the powerful role of women in Britten’s life. Benjamin Britten is known for his decades-long relationship with the tenor Peter Pears, and for creating powerful roles for male characters in his operas. Yet the significant relationships with women throughout his life have been relatively unexplored. From his family upbringing and close bond with his mother and sisters, to the many women he worked with and was inspired by, to numerous close female friends, Britten and Women celebrates the powerful role of women in Britten’s life – and how they navigated their careers in a man’s world. www.brittenpearsarts.org

North Norfolk’s Festival of Poetry & Prose

Sea Fever 6, North Norfolk’s festival of poetry and prose, aims to celebrate all forms of the written word inspired by this exceptional coastline and to bring to the coast writers with national reputations. It comes to Wells Maltings on May 6th-7th with the suitably Norfolk theme of Doing Different. Festival old friend Peter York will be celebrating the fortieth anniversary of The Sloane Ranger Handbook. Other highlights include Richard Hawking on Adrien Bell, whose Countryman’s Notebook was for many years the best column in the EDP, author and conservationist Charles Rangeley-Wilson on a major local rewilding project in the Stiffkey valley and Meriel Schindler on her extraordinary family memoir of Austria under the Nazis, The Lost Cafe Schindler. Poetry is well represented by Sam Riviera and Jack Underwood, plus Sally Festing is back with her Open Mic event. The climax of Sea Fever 6 is a special event showcasing two 1930s plays combining the talents of poet WH Auden and composer Benjamin Britten. www.wellsmaltings.org.uk

Cambridgeshire welcomes The Library Presents

The Library Presents returns to Cambridgeshire libraries and outdoor locations this spring in an exciting burst of live arts-based events including workshops, musical events, live theatre and more. For those who enjoy music, Shake, Rattle & Roll will get all ages up and moving. Audiences will hear anything from Bowie to Baroque and Chopin to Chas'n'Dave. On a national tour from Ghana, one of the leading traditional African musical groups, the Kakatsitsi Master Drummers, will bring infectiously funky grooves to local communities. Theatre lovers will get the chance to share an adventure with Miss Sherlock Holmes and her companion, Doctor Jane Watson, as part of Lantern Light Theatre Company’s series of short 19th century Sherlock Holmes plays, while those after a magical twist will be treated to a hilarious evening of mind-bending tricks and jokes courtesy of delightful duo, Kane & Abel. Parents with younger children can enjoy the delights of Garlic Theatre’s wonderfully funny and re-imagined celebration of the classic Goldilocks and the three bears, with the help of puppets. www.library.live/the-library-presents-events