Do you recognise these characters? Duo Bogof live at one end of Norman Road and perform at the other.

Add some variety to your Sunday afternoon

HOT’s Erica Smith is lying in the St Leonards gutter and dreaming of the stars.

Kino-Teatr cannot be accused of standing still. Its programme of films and events continues to amaze me. This weekend’s rabbit-out-of-a-hat is Simon Charterton’s ‘Teatr of Dreams’ – a Good Old Days style of Variety Show which celebrates the hidden talents of St Leonards.

Local folk have not been backwards at coming forwards to show off their special talents. A couple of local celebrities are shyly hiding behind fancy monikers. Who on earth could chanteuse Raquel Dommage be in real life? And Edith Fair claims to know too much, but do we know her? Simon also insists that we will see The Invisible Man playing a saw, and a man called Magic will be wandering through the audience performing card tricks and sleights of hand. Plus DJ Wendy May will be singing for the first time in decades in her new combo ‘Tex Tiles and the Fabricators’.

Like Simon’s Sheared Wit nights, he and John Pope make up the house band for the event, and The Good For Nothing Poet does a turn as a good for nothing compere. Whilst Sheared Wit leans to the ‘difficult listening’ end of the spectrum, Simon assures me that this event will be good old-fashioned accessible entertainment.

Top of the bill are Duo Bogof: “The Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee of performance art”, they promise to mix light-fingered vintage variety schtick with mind-bending live-feed wormholery. Think Tommy Cooper meets Jorge Luis Borges. Who could resist?

I usually reserve my Sunday 5–7pm slot for a couple of drinks in The Horse & Groom, but this Sunday I’m going to try out Teatr of Dreams. After all, variety is the spice of life!

Teatr of Dreams runs from 5–7pm on Sunday 5 March at Kino-Teatr, Norman Road, St Leonards-on-Sea. Tickets are £6 and can be purchased from Kino-Teatr or via the website.

Also in: Arts News