Sidney Sussex College, 25th June 2011, 2pm-11pm, £30 (adults), £15 (students)
KATIE KIBBLER finds the perfect remedy to May-Week exhaustion.
After a week of excessive indulgence, it was good to be doing something a little more cultural than dancing in a posh dress to Jessie J, and to sit down in a chapel, and to interact with real-life members of the public. My soul felt a little cleaner afterwards.
With comedy, a dance class, opera, choral music, and Disney, plus quite a bit more, the Sidney Sussex Arts Festival certainly covered a lot of ground, and catered for all tastes, and at £15 for a student ticket, it felt like you were getting a fair amount for your money: nine solid hours of entertainment, two ADC shows, two operas, a film, free food, and as much classical music as you could tolerate.
Programmes weren’t cheap (£3.50), and they were definitely necessary, being the only means of working out what was on next. It was a pay bar too, although prices were extremely reasonable (£1 for a soft drink, £2 for a beer, G&T, or vodka-lemonade).
With the sun shining, the grass warm, and toddlers casually massaging raspberry ripple into their hair, the festival retained a relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere. I was knackered, and I’m pretty sure my heart, brain, and throat would have rebelled quite violently if I forced any more high-octane fun into them at this stage in the term. The opportunity to wander gently around such a beautiful college, in the company of a chilled-out public, with not a silent disco or uncomfortable ball-shoe in sight, was incredibly welcome.
Maybe I was so deeply frazzled that I would have been impressed by virtually any music played by any human being (or, to be honest, animal. More impressed, by that, actually. I digress). Perhaps it was just a really well-timed, well designed event, and we were lucky with the sun.
Best Feature: Chilled out atmosphere
Biggest Turn-Off: The toilets smelt pretty rank
BEN DALTON on tranquil, well-fed bliss…
Meandering sheepishly into Sidney Sussex for the Arts Festival it was obvious to me that I was the wrong person to be reviewing such an event. I, despite every now and then pretending to know my way around a piano, know next to nothing about classical music, let alone opera.
Then know but this: any comment or observation I make of the festival will be from an alien’s eyes, previously virgin to the sounds, sights, and smells to be encountered at a similar event.
But then again, maybe that is fine too. This arts festival was never pretending to be exclusive to the chardonnay-sipping, carrot-dipping culture vulture, or the manuscript-wielding music noggin. A real strength of the event was its laid back attitude and its welcoming of the post-exams stroller in search of a chilled daytime tipple paired with a little entertainment as well as those of the more finely tuned ear.
This was like a bite-size May Ball only without the queues. Gleeful as a greedy Roald Dahl villain, I hopped and skipped between the unlimited ice cream van and the hog roast stall, glutting on my fill of bap and cone. The result saw me, a stuffed hog in my own right, stretched out on the grass like a reclining ferret, eyes searching the skies for any hint of a cloud, and ears filled with bubbling opera. A happy boy. A happy full boy, even. A happy full, listening-to-lovely-music-on-a-nice-day boy.
A wander down the rabbit hole and into the shaded interior of Sidney Sussex lead me to the Footlights stand up. The room was full up to its armpits with a sea of chuckling heads. Phil Wang had the crowd especially tickled with his knee-jerk improvisations. The only pity was that the comedy was away from the sun, bar and blue skies. However, it was closer to the toilets which meant that a trip to deposit your Pimms back into the water cycle was never going to take long.
A fine event providing a much needed occasion to kick off your shoes, sit on the grass, and grab a bap of apple-sauced pig, all in the guilt-free knowledge that you only paid £15 for the privilege.
Best Feature: Sun, setting, variety, and buzz
Biggest Turn-Off: Only one hog-bap per ticket, and popular ice cream flavours ran out early
JEFF CARPENTER says thank you for the music…
I bloody loved the Sidney Arts Festival. Probably a bad title, since it severely focused on music and classical music at that, but it was all brilliant. Almost disturbingly so.
The best thing about the event was that every performance became a sort of hidden treasure as we walked about, like stumbling upon a fantastic ent at a May Ball. By putting opera and choral music under this umbrella, it completely reframed how one experiences them, in such a wonderful way.
Instead of feeling under-dressed, getting bored, or waiting for an opportunity to go to the toilet, you could nip off and get some ice cream or hog roast (all free and all delicious – best hog roast I’ve had this May Week) and come back when it’s a bit more exciting.
The actual arts themselves were unbelievably good – I couldn’t believe the professional standard and began to feel a little ill as things went on. Kicking off the affair was the Wired Quintet, a wonderful jazz ensemble with singer Tom McNeill, which oozed musicianship, mashing up Gorillaz and Gershwin like no tomorrow. The King’s Singers were as sublime as ever, as were the Lady Frances Singers later on in the Chapel, while Sidney Chapel Choir treated us to the world première of the beautiful ‘Alleluia’ by Eric Whitacre, appearing on video. There was comedy too, mainly from Sidney folk and their friends, which was probably not Smoker-standard but still made me laugh a good deal.
The highlight of the day was undoubtedly Shadwell Opera’s Albert Herring, which is not only the best opera I’ve seen but also one of the best shows of any kind I’ve seen in Cambridge. It was genuinely hilarious, not just ‘oh-ho we’re in an opera’ hilarious but actually laugh-out-loud funny, but touching too. Huge kudos to director Jack Furness, who I expect is going places.
The CUOS opera (a well chosen late baroque number to contrast with the Britten) was charming and excellently done, but the experience and talent of the three leads and the budget was not much to match Shadwell Opera, which I found a little upsetting. I missed the film along with most others because of the Disney Spectacular, and we all missed CUMTS because of poor festival programming, which meant they had to be cancelled last minute. Overall though, a fantastic day and 100% worth the ticket price. Going next year for sure.
Best Feature: Shadwell Opera
Biggest Turn-Off: CUMTS being cancelled
"toddlers casually massaging raspberry ripple into their hair"
I WAS THE MAIN ATTRACTION!
mmmm yes it was a great Hogroast, supplied by Michael Beaumonts Butchers, Fulbourn… http://www.beaumontsbutchers.com/hogroast.php