FREE EVENT BUT TICKET REQUIRED

Tapping into the wealth of knowledge that resides in the University of Chester, our annual University at the Festival strand gives lecturers the chance to share their expertise with new audiences. This year, the mix of subjects is more diverse than ever, including the significance of a single month in 1871, Hilary Mantel’s work and a new manifesto for French leftists. These talks are free, unique and always fascinating.

January 1871. A stage adaptation of Anthony Trollope’s novel Ralph the Heir has garnered comments of indecency in the press. It is quickly followed on stage by Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old, the first operetta of Gilbert & Sullivan. Cartoonist and actress Marie Duval publishes a comic strip in Judy, or the London Serio-Comic Journal. Dr Simon Grennan of Chester University’s Centre for Narrative Drawing unfolds a fascinating series of connections that reveal the new entertainment industry of the late Victorian age.

Duration

Approx 60 mins

Activities Paper Recycling Workshop
Garret Bar

Create your very own piece of recycled paper out of waste alongside our Young Leaders, as part of The Great Big Green Week!

Book now
Activities The Great Big Green Week Activities
The Kitchen

Join us in celebrating The Great Big Green Week with colouring in sheets, a Wordsearch and a Treasure Hunt around Storyhouse!

Cinema My Fairy Troublemaker (U)

1 hr 20 | A colourful animation about a cheeky fairy named Violetta gets lost into the human world. To go back to the fairy world, she meets and teams up with a 12-year-old girl

Book now
On Stage Lunchtime Lectures – Shakespeare’s Magical Thinking by Dr Graham Atkin
Garret Theatre

In this lunchtime lecture, Dr Graham Atkin explores how Shakespeare ‘bodies forth the forms of things unknown’ in his much-loved comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Cinema Young Soul Rebels (18)

1 hr 40 | A convincing picture of late 70s London, youth culture meets identity politics in this part-thriller, part-gay love story set days before the Queen’s Silver Jubilee

Book now
Activities Makaton Storytime
Grosvenor Park

Join Julie from Cheshire West Libraries in the park for a Makaton friendly storytime. We will be adding simple Makaton signs to a selection of our favourite picture books.

Cinema Champions (12A)

2 hrs 4 | AD | A former minor-league basketball coach receives a court order to manage a team of young players with learning disabilities.

Book now
Activities Tanks on the Streets: The Uprising of 17 June 1953 in East Germany
Book Pod

An exhibition commemorating the 70th anniversary of the first uprising in the Eastern Bloc curated by Dr Richard Millington and Steph Coathupe. The exhibition tells the story of the uprising and presents work inspired by the events of 17 June 1953.

On Stage You’re Bard!
Storyhouse Theatre

Shakespeare like you’ve never seen. Four actors. Four Shakespeare shows. Endless possibilities. You – the audience – decide everything.

Book now
On Stage The King of Nothing
Garret Theatre

MONSTRO Theatre’s new show The King of Nothing is an anarchic piece of musical puppet theatre inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s classic The Emperor’s New Clothes.  

Book now