We have just got back from an absolutely FABULOUS day of free entertainment at the AMAZING Curve Theatre, Leicester and thought we would tell you all about our day.

Although Curve On The Square was on all weekend we had work commitments which meant we had to miss Friday and Saturday’s entertainment but we were absolutely going to be there for the day on Sunday – partly because our own daughter was one of the performers scheduled in.

With weather threatening to be less than friendly we pitched up at one of the many provided tables in Orton Square and were almost instantly offered a blanket and a brolly or two between our family members and settled in to watch the first act – Mary Bonam. Mary has experience with younger members of the audience through her CQ (Cultural Square) sessions at Curve (details here) and very soon had us all singing, dancing and playing musical instruments as cycling fish and marching dinosaurs. Great fun for all the youngsters (and not quite so young) .

What was to be the first of several quick ‘set changes’ we moved from Mary to Leicester Musical Memory Box who had us singing and moving along to classics such as Yellow Submarine and YMCA and finished off with Thank You For The Music via an impromptu visit Under the Moon of Love. There is a known benefit of music for people living with dementia and memory loss and this group’s lovely soft approach has been bringing support for 5 years in Leicester and the surrounding areas – definitely worth having a look at what they do if you need some help with these conditions.

We moved on then to the barbershop style harmonies of Heart Of England Chorus with some wonderful acapella songs – not quite so well known but it was such a peaceful and easy style to listen to that the knowledge of the songs didn’t matter so much – we could just chill and enjoy the performance.

Our next segway was to the first of two musical theatre performers – both have connections with Curve Young Community Companies (CYCC) Musical Theatre Section and both were amazing.

Aimee Coe was the first of the two young ladies – about to start her second year of her musical theatre course – and she has a fabulous voice; a name to watch out for in the future. She opened up with an powerful rendition of Here I am from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and her version of Still Hurting from The Last Five Years really tugged at the heart strings.

We are slightly biased for the next performer – Alex Budding – mainly because she is our daughter so we will keep this part (fairly) short. Just about to start her A-Levels Alex was ably accompanied by her Uncle John for her first ‘unscripted’ performance and she regaled us with classics such as I Dreamed a Dream and On My Own as well as slightly less well known songs such as Shallow and Somewhere That’s Green. Showcasing a vocal range I could only ever dream of she also showed how she can switch from gentle to power and back again in the blink of an eye – yet another name to look out for in the future (we honestly believe!).

Following on from these two amazing performers we were treated to three vibrant performances from Hajimari – Bullfrog Festival Taiko. The first being a glorious solo on the biggest drum I have ever seen. With performers ranging from 13 to adulthood we experienced an accomplished sharing of this Japanese inspired drumming that I would seriously recommend you seeing if ever you get the opportunity.

As we approached the penultimate act of the day the genre changed from drumming to jazz with the skilful talents of the quintet known as Junkyard Cats Jazz Band – a New Orleans style. We had scat singing, we had Saints Marching In and we may have had a dodgy addition from the writer of this particular blog (sorry I got the lyrics wrong to You Are My Sunshine – after having sung it fore nearly 17 years!!! Oooops!). Great fun to watch and listen to and did I mention the sax???? Nope? Well I have always loved to hear a good bit of sax playing so was completely in my element!

The final act of the day and the entire weekend were Ally and James – a vocal/guitar duo who were also great fun to listen to. They entertained us with a range of genres from Jolene to Livin’ On A Prayer finishing with an audience participation of Sweet Caroline that we all thoroughly enjoyed. Sadly I don’t have a link for them (I will update the review if I can find one) but they were just the perfect act to finish off the weekend with the ausience calling out for more.

I know I have used a lot of words like Awesome, Amazing and Wonderful and sometimes these kinds of adjectives can seem superfluous or overdone but I honestly believe they are deserved here. The range of local talent on offer today (and I am assuming the rest of the weekend) was enough to keep us in our seats and entertained from 11am until just after 5pm – despite the best efforts of the British ‘summer’ to disrupt us – and we got to see talents that we wouldn’t otherwise have seen so a huge thank you to our hosts, Curve Theatre and PPL PRS for their support in providing the people of Leicester with such a fun weekend. The fact that it was free in times of financial hardship for many made it even more special and we look forward to many more – maybe an annual event?

Congratulations to all involved – from the hosts, the tech crew, the Front of House staff, the Green Room Café and bar, the performers and the brilliantly talented BSL interpreters who accompanied many of the performers over the weekend. Yet another reason why Curve Theatre is one of the finalists as Most Welcoming Theatre in the UKTAwards.