Hay Festival Digital

Until Sunday, May 31

Free live broadcasts and interactive events from more than 100 award-winning writers, global policy makers, historians, pioneers and innovators, celebrating the best new fiction and non-fiction, and interrogating some of the biggest issues of our time. Visit the website at hayfestival.com to register on the festival's crowdcast platform, and then join any events you fancy.

Saturday and Sunday, May 23 and 24, Saturday and Sunday, May 30 and 31 Escape to the Country Ploughmans TV presenter Jules Hudson will join Herefordshire craftswoman and firestarter Louise Wright to cook up a virtual Escape to the Country Ploughmans during their own celebration of Hay Festival Digital. Louise, founder of The Woodee and its range of beautifully handcrafted firepits will be hosting a series of live cookouts from her garden in Dorstone, joined at 10.30am by fellow county countryman and keen craftsman Jules Hudson live from his home in Eaton Bishop, to discuss cooking and crafts and the importance of community and collaboration. Festival supporters will be able to watch Louise and Jules live on social media @thewoodee creating the Escape to the Country Ploughmans, which combines local goats cheese from Neal’s Yard Creamery in Dorstone and cured meats from Hay Charcuterie. On Sunday, Louise will be hosting a cookout with RHS Chelsea Flower Show judge and top gardener Tamsin Westhorpe, who will be at her Stockton Bury gardens near Leominster. Louise will be cooking an upside down rhubarb cake, served with local yoghurt, whilst conversing with Tamsin about her new book, Diary of a Modern Country Gardener, published by Orphans Publishing. The following weekend sees Louise baking bread made with foraged ingredients while talking to Adele Nozedar, foraging expert and author, and cooking a wild west casserole and chatting to Heidi Franklin, co-founder and director of Wild Play. Hay Festival Digital is online and free and runs until May 31 at hayfestival.com. See Louise’s live cookouts on social media @The Woodee

Les Miserables – staged concert You can now download Les Misérables – The Staged Concert, starring Michael Ball, Alfie Boe, Matt Lucas, Carrie Hope Fletcher, John Owen-Jones and more. The staged version of the concert ran at the Gielgud Theatre last year with a company of over 65, including Rob Houchen as Marius, Bradley Jaden as Enjolras, Katy Secombe as Madame Thénardier, Shan Ako as Éponine and Lily Kerhoas as Cosette. To download a filmed version of the concert, recorded live at the Gielgud Theatre, you can visit the Les Misérables website. The concert will cost £9.99 and for every download, The Mackintosh Foundation will donate £5 to be split between charity Acting For Others, the Musicians Union Coronavirus Hardship Fund and Captain Tom Moore’s Walk For The NHS fund. You can add an extra donation yourself through the site, and Cameron Mackintosh has kick-started the fundraising by donating £100,000 from The Mackintosh Foundation.

Until June 8 La Traviata Broadcast free online as part of the Royal Opera House's #OurHouseToYourHouse series. Verdi based La traviata on Alexandre Dumas fils's novel and play La Dame aux camélias, inspired by the life and death of the real Parisian courtesan Marie Duplessis. Verdi offered a more complex and sympathetic portrayal of his heroine than Dumas, highlighting Violetta's noble nature and her devotion to Alfredo. La traviata had an initially lukewarm reception, but after Verdi revised the work in 1854 it became enormously successful. Tomorrow sees the online premiere of Cendrillon (Cinderella) at 7pm, with the online premiere of The Royal Ballet’s The Cellist on Friday, May 29 at 7pm.

Remi Harris Gypsy jazz guitarist Remi Harris has a big following locally, but inevitably, his fans are unable to see him live during the current coronavirus outbreak. However, a visit to his YouTube channel will be rewarded with a video of Remi in the Shed. His first album is back up on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and most other major streaming platforms, and his second album, In On The 2 is now available for streaming worldwide, having previously been unavailable in some countries. Follow Remi on Instagram and Facebook for regular Live Streams

HowTheLightGetsIn online The online festival ticket gives you access to all of the online debates, talks, interactive sessions and music streamed from 22-25 May. With interactive events to explore, and social venues where you can video chat with other festivalgoers and speakers, this is as close to a real festival as an online experience can get! Over 200 events, across 7 stages, over 4 days... Until Saturday Royal Chelsea Flower Show Following the cancellation of the RHS Malvern Spring Show, you can get your fix of flower show loveliness by visiting the digital Royal Chelsea Flower Show. Enjoy more behind-the scenes garden tours with Chelsea designers and find amazing ideas to try at home. We’re also celebrating the joy of growing your own flowers, fruit and vegetables and bring you tips from the professionals. Friday will highlight how gardeners play such an important part in supporting wildlife and the environment, while the final day of the show offers a packed day of inspiration with a focus on smaller space gardening, plus a special message from Director General, Sue Biggs. It’s also awards day the winners of the Chelsea Plant of the Decade and RHS Garden Product of the Year as chosen by voters will be revealed.

Greenstage Gallery early Summer exhibition

Featuring Beth Richardson and other Green Stage artists. Her current work incorporates paintings and sculptures made in response to the nature and physicality of distinctive, found quotidian objects that have ceased to function in their normal way. She is particularly drawn to objects which have a strong visual history and human connotations; doors, chairs and baths which she sources from builders’ yards and reclamation sites. greenstagegallery.co.uk

X-Entricity Shrek the Musical was scheduled to be performed at the Courtyard this week, but had to be cancelled in the current situation. But they company is delighted to announce that they have been able to arrange new dates, in October - so the show WILL go on! The big green ogre and all his fairytale friends will now be coming to the Courtyard on October 20 to 24, with performances at 7.30pm each night, and a matinee on Saturday, October 24 at 2.30pm. Anyone who has already purchased tickets for this week’s shows will be able to transfer their tickets to October, and the Courtyard Box Office will be able to do this for you as soon as the theatre reopens. To see their latest updates, please visit www.courtyard.org.uk Thank you for your patience and support.

National Theatre Home Quiz From 7pm on Monday 25 May, join hosts Imelda Staunton, Jim Carter, Lucian Msamati, Meera Syal, Simon Callow, Tamsin Greig and Jessie Buckley for questions on topics including Maths, Science and Nature, Literature and Theatre. Play on facebook or YouTube. Available from tonight at 7pm on the National Theatres YouTube channel is A Streetcar Named Desire starring Gillian Anderson as Blanche Dubois.

Ledbury Poetry Festival

Visit the festival’s website and enjoy earlier Poetry Salons, workshops and read lockdown poems. The 2020 Ledbury Poetry Festival Poetry Competition is open for entries. Entry closes at 5pm, BST on Thursday, July 16. No entries will be accepted after that date so please don’t leave it to the last minute. The Festival also has categories for younger poets, with a separate page on the website providing information and entry details about the Ledbury Under 18s Poetry Competition, open to Young People (12-17 years) and Children (11 years and under)

Feral Productions releases The Riversong Trilogy Families are invited to cosy up with Feral Productions this half term with a series of free audio recordings. Inspired by the River Wye, The Riversong Trilogy tells the story of the jewel in the Herefordshire landscape. Ideal bedtime listening that will fill the heart of all audiences, Riversong is a three part story that quietly invites the listener to discover the people, nature and history of the River Wye and beyond. Riversong will be released in stages throughout the week as of Monday, May 25. Each instalment will be premiered on YouTube and available to access for free for seven days. Links via Feral Production’s Facebook page or website.