Parabola Arts Centre

PAC box office: +44 (0)1242 707 338

PAC website: www.parabolaartscentre.co.uk

Book tickets for Forthcoming School Events 

2011/12 Drama Events

The Dante Sisters and the Dare Club

8 & 9 September, 7pm

Seven sisters... a crumbling building on the corner of rue Paradiso... seven secrets and seven dares - siblings who will stop at nothing to scoop the prize. This play, written and directed by Fiona Ross, will be our 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival production; performed by girls in the sixth form, the production will open in Edinburgh and run for two more nights in Cheltenham.

Verde que te quiero verde

14 November, 7pm

The Drama and Spanish departments present an evening focusing on the work of the Spanish poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca. Pupils from both departments will explore his thoughts on fatal destiny through his drama and poetry.

The Seagull

30 November, 1 & 2 December, 7pm

This version by Martin Crimp of Chekhov’s first great play exposes its comedy and its cruelty. This poignant love story reveals to us all the intricacies and frailties of the human condition and we watch in recognition as each character is denied the thing they most crave. Directed by Katie Bretherton, this production will be performed by girls from UC5 and the sixth form.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead

7 - 9 February, 7pm

Inventive and humorous, Tom Stoppard retells Hamlet through the eyes of two of its minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The two courtiers are vaguely aware that they are bit parts in a much bigger story, which they are unable to fully grasp. With witty repartee and visual gags, this modern view of Shakepeare’s play explores the nature of reality and fate. Performed by girls from all year groups and directed by Becky Revell.

Sweet Charity

22 - 24 March, 7pm

Meet Charity, the girl who wants to be loved so much, that she has lost sight of who she is. Through trials and tribulations, sweet Charity, a hostess at a New York dance club in the late 1960s, continues searching for love, wide-eyed and hopeful. The musical will be performed by girls from all years, directed by Sarah Delaney and with musical direction by David Lloyd.

Ashputtel

9 & 10 May, 7pm

From Grimm’s original version of Cinderella comes the tale of Ashputtel, the girl amongst the ashes. We are transported into another world dominated by the supernatural and, although goodness and innocence are forced to suffer, there is retributive justice at the close. From the beautiful to the grotesque, reward and punishment are meted out swiftly and sternly. An LC1 and LC2 production, directed by Natasha Tinoco.

As You Like It

30 & 31 May, 7pm

As You Like It is one of the most frequently performed of Shakespeare’s comedies but it remains an intriguing blend of pastoral romance, cross-dressing, biting satire, slapstick and poetical passion. Antoinette Wilson, together with girls from LC3 and UC4, will be exploring the curious world of this exciting and challenging comedy.

2011/12 Music Events

The Birth of Romanticism: Franz Liszt

20 October, 7pm

This concert in will be dedicated to the genius of the Hungarian composer, Franz Liszt, and will feature our Fazioli grand piano and the talents of numerous soloists. This is the final concert in a series conceived in response to the sequential bicentenaries of the birth of three pioneers of Romanticism: Chopin (born in 1810); Schumann (born in 1811) and Liszt (born in 1812).

Scholars’ Recital

10 November, 7pm

Junior Concert

25 November, 2.15pm

2011/12 Art Exhibitions

Summer Highlights

From 9 September

This exhibition will feature selected artworks from the End of Year Moderation show of girls’ work, working from our coursework theme ‘Between Fact and Fiction’ and from their external exam titles.
This will be a diverse and impressive exhibition from the pupils in the CLC Art department.

SFC Art Scholarship Exhibition

From 16 November

For the first time, girls in UC5 who are internal candidates for the SFC Art Scholarship will have their work exhibited in the Parabola Arts Centre. This will be an exhibition of the very best of our GCSE artwork.

Glynn Griffiths

From 1 December

An inventive and ambitious sculptor, Glynn Griffiths describes his work as being about the use of materials that are seemingly at odds with each other: ‘between the organic and the inorganic; between the Natural and the Man-made.’ This will be his first exhibition in the PAC gallery.

Keighley Photography Prize 2012

From 20 January

This popular exhibition of girls’ photographs is selected from work submitted by all year groups. This year’s theme is ‘Surroundings’. This Prize exhibition restores photography to its rightful place as an art form, in addition to the unimaginable plethora of generic images on camera-phones all over the world.

Scholarly Art

From 7 February

A unique exhibition of current and future Art Scholars’ artworks. Each year, external Lower College Art Scholarship candidates are asked to submit work made for this exhibition as part of the selection process. This year the candidates have been asked to make mobile sculptures.

Jonathan Ellis

From 27 April

Our Director of Art is a painter, printmaker and portrait painter. This exhibition reflects his attempts to harness the modernist understanding of the grammar of art in order to do justice to the challenge of drawing and painting people from life. Set in parallel to this, his life-long interest in still life painting is driven by the tension between the abstract qualities of paint and the particular nature of personal objects.

A Parents’ Eye View

From 22 May

‘A Parents’ Eye View’ is the first exhibition of work by parents of current pupils at The Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Contributors will be from a wide range of artistic backgrounds and disciplines and will be exhibiting work in a variety of styles. The joint themes of the exhibition are ‘Education’ and ‘Cheltenham’.