Event radar: Top 10 things to do this month

Susie Stubbs

Bored? Looking for inspiration? Our list of interesting things to do this month may just help…

November: the month that has become synonymous with facial hair. And fireworks. But if you are not too busy waxing your nascent moustache or making shapes with sparklers, then November has got it all going on – and our list is a veritable bonfire of art, music, theatre and, um, snowmen. Kinda.

#1. Andy Warhol at Tate Liverpool

Ever meet anyone who declared themselves “a brand”? Blame Warhol. The artist who foretold with startling accuracy just how celeb/media/marketing obsessed we would all become gets a new exhibition in Liverpool. It features many never-seen-before works (7 Nov-8 Feb).

#2. Playtime at Cornerhouse

The last ever, ever, ever exhibition at Cornerhouse opens on 22 November – artists new and old riff on the Jacques Tati film of the same name, dance around a pelican crossing and – be still our beating hearts! – promise to stage an “art rave” to round things off (Playtime, 22 Nov-15 Mar).

#3. Make snowmen at YSP

Look, there is no escaping it: Christmas is a-coming. But while we promise not to talk about shopping and markets for oooh, at least another week, you can at least get yourself in the right frame of mind at Yorkshire Sculpture Park: it hosts a snow sculpture-making workshop on 29 November. With. Real. Snow.

#4. Akram Khan at The Lowry

The second in the “performer as artist” series sees this acclaimed choreographer (remember his dance slot in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics?) set up shop in the galleries: he gathers together a selection of his fave paintings, sculptures, photos and more. Antony Gormley and Anish Kapoor both feature (One Side to the Other, 15 Nov-1 Feb).

#5. All male Wuthering Heights at Contact

The book described by Dante Gabriel Rossetti as “a fiend of a book, an incredible monster” gets a radical rewrite in this version, performed in Manchester by a soul-searching, Yorkshire moors-wandering all-male cast (Wuthering Heights, 25-27 Nov).

#6. Type Motion at FACT

Typography geeks of the world unite! A new show in Liverpool brings together over 200 examples of text and wordage in motion (on film, in music videos, adverts and the like). This sprawling, immersive and possibly quite bonkers show looks set to be very good indeed (Type Motion, 13 Nov-8 Feb).

#7. Shami Chakrabarti at the Royal Exchange

The inspirational, outspoken defender of human rights, freedom and democracy Shami Chakrabarti comes to Manchester for one night only; catch the director of Liberty in conversation at the Royal Exchange on 18 November.

#8. Barbara & Henry – The Musical at Site Gallery

The imagined love lives of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth form inspirational fodder for a curious residency. Artist Mel Brimfield and musician Gwyneth Herbert stage a theatrical/musical installation inside the diminutive Sheffield gallery; drop in to hear new songs as they are developed (Barbara and Henry – The Musical, 18 Nov-13 Dec).

#9. Home is in the North at Halle St Peter’s

This one-day showcase of interior design and all round retro-loveliness takes place inside the recently renovated St Peter’s (in Ancoats); pick up pieces from designer-makers working in glass, textiles, ceramics, wood and more. Pizza, coffee, cakes and artisan hotdogs (no, we don’t know what they are, either) all feature, as do workshops from the likes of Ministry of Craft (15 Nov).

#10. John Grant at the Bridgewater Hall

Extra tickets have just been released for this performance in Manchester by the beardy, acclaimed musician, John Grant. The former frontman of the Czars appears at the Bridgewater with the 34 individual musicians who make up the orchestral whole that is the Royal Northern Sinfonia. Epic (23 Nov).

Image by Jonathan Schofield.
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