Special Events

Lea DeLaria, ‘Big Boo’ on  Orange is the New Black brings her live show to the Bridge Theatre for one night only.

With a velvet-smooth voice contrasting perfectly with razor-sharp wit and sassy stage presence, this will be a spectacular performance.

Talvin Singh has been hugely influential in introducing classical tabla into the world of contemporary music. His debut album as a composer and producer, OK, received huge critical acclaim and won the 1999 Mercury Music Prize and the South Bank Prize for Popular Music.

Singh has a history of collaboration with a diverse range of musicians including Björk, Sun Ra, Terry Riley and Yoko Ono. For this performance he brings together prodigious beat boxer Jason Singh with Shriram Sampath on flute, Preetha Narayanan on violin and Francesca Ter Berg on cello.

Journalist and author Misha Glenny has spent years courageously investigating the most dangerous and sophisticated organised crime networks around the world. His international bestseller McMafia, now a hit BBC TV series, is known to millions and in this illuminating talk, Glenny will shed further light on the Russian mafia, giant drug cartels, corrupt intelligence agencies and cyber hackers that pose an increasing threat to global security in the 21^st century.

There will also be a book signing post event.

The composer Claude-Michel Schönberg who with lyricist Alain Boublil created two of the greatest international successes in the history of musical theatre – Les Miserables and Miss Saigon – sits down with writer and broadcaster Edward Seckerson to discuss his journey from songwriter/record producer and singer – he had a number one hit in France with his song Le Premiere Pas – to the stages of the West End and Broadway.

From the moment they played their first note five years ago, the Kansas Smitty’s House Band has set out to reinvent how audiences experience jazz. The House Band is a tight-knit outfit that make jazz inclusive with an emphasis on camaraderie, spontaneity and joy.

The eight-piece group were brought together from diverse backgrounds by American woodwind player, Giacomo Smith. Grounded in a shared love for the whole jazz tradition, the group is perpetually inventing new music with the aim that no two shows ever be the same, premiering new music at each show.

2018 has been a landmark year so far. The House Band was recently nominated for Best UK Jazz Act by Jazz FM and has appeared at the Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican.

Award-winning American writer, editor, publisher and philanthropist Dave Eggers will deliver this year’s PEN HG Wells Lecture on the theme of digital human rights, sponsored by the Times Literary Supplement. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear from this brilliant author, literacy and human rights advocate, and champion of the printed word.

The event with be introduced by leading human rights barrister and president of English PEN, Philippe Sands QC.

A message from Ian McKellen:

“I’m celebrating my 80th birthday by touring a new solo show to theatres I know well and a few that I don’t. The show starts with Gandalf and will probably end with an invitation to act with me on stage. In-between there will be anecdotes and acting. I open at my local arts centre in January and end up by August in Orkney.”