GUEST EDITOR ESETLLA TODISCO – TOP 5 EVENTS FOR ARPIL
Each month IDEA1 invites a guest editor to choose their top five events for the month, this month was the turn of local resident Estella.
About Estella
Estella moved to Peterborough as a child and enjoyed the opportunities provided by the city in theatre, dancing and music, much of which she is still involved in. After university in Leeds, she worked in documentary television and as a political assistant at Westminster before returning to Peterborough where she is a trustee of Vivacity and a teacher specialising in Literacy.
Here’s Estella’s top five events for April…
TOP 5 EVENTS FOR APRIL
“With the Easter school holidays in mind, I enlisted the help of my children, aged ten and eight, to provide a family perspective on Peterborough’s cultural offerings during April. I’m delighted to say we had plenty of items jostling to be picked – over 60 in fact! So we had to use our persuasive skills on each other, till way past the children’s bedtime, to whittle the list down to five.
As a recent recruit to the Key Youth Musical Theatre group, my ten year old daughter plumped straight away for the opportunity to participate in the Kindred KYT Easter workshop, (7th – 10th April). Combining activities such as make up, acting for camera, clowning and choreography, it was clear that this will be like all her Christmases coming at once. When I probed a little further into what makes the KYT experience so enjoyable she said, ‘They never make it just about the best people in the group. Everyone always has lots to do and it’s so much fun.”
After that, it was only fair to let my eight year old son choose his personal highlight, which turned out to be Peterborough Museum’s Time Traveller’s Workshop, (1st – 7th April and 14th – 23rd April). It was the ‘hands-on’ approach of tackling history by being up to his elbows in clay and making medieval stained glass that elicited cries of ‘definitely!’ and ‘awesome!’ from both the children.
Next, I get to choose my must-see highlight, which has to be Westwood Musical Society’s performance of ‘Sister Act!’ at the Key Theatre, (14th – 18th April). This stage version of the Whoopi Goldberg hit film, featuring music by eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken, is perfect material for this vibrant group, whose members I know very well. You can rely on them to sock it to us with all the energy, verve and hilarity to be hoped for from the unlikely fusion of nuns, the mafia and showgirl glamour.
On continuing our research, I was surprised and delighted that history again grabbed my children’s interest. This time it was an archeological dig, namely the 1000 BC Event at Flag Fen (4th – 6th April). My daughter visited Flag Fen with her school recently and was eager to return. What attracts her, and my son, is yet again the opportunity to get actively involved, to ‘do stuff’ as they say. With good weather promised this Easter, the outdoor spaces at Flag Fen make it a great place to meet up with others, have a picnic perhaps and make plans for the rest of the holiday.
Finally, we were all united in our choice of the ‘Ministry of Science – Live’ show at the Key Theatre, on the 12th April. What child, or adult, wouldn’t be filled with excitement at the tantalizing prospect of hydrogen-powered rockets, hovercraft-building and a human cannonball, all live on stage? High- octane stuff to round off the Todisco version of fun-filled, family-friendly culture.”
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