Shows in 2023

This ended up as rather a long section in my Christmas Gift Guide so this is a little off shoot. I’ll keep adding highlights as and when I stumble across them. This is not designed as a full theatre listings page but things I’ve seen and thought “oo, that looks fun/cool/interesting”.

Tickets

The ultimate gift with no obligation on the receiver to find a space in their house for it, no adding to all the stuff. This can require a bit more research, but I love getting tickets that I can use for a show, concert or gig later in the year. It’s a Christmas treat that brings joy months after the baubles come down and the Quality Street tin’s emptied.

There are so many options, and it obviously depends on the tastes of the person you’re buying for but aside from the sold out tickets (sad face for missing out on PULP in Cardiff but happy face that I got my Self Esteem at the Tramsheds ticket in time), here are a few little ideas for you (in the Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan area).

Musicals

A marmite of art forms, some love them, some hate them but for fans of them, there are plenty of musicals coming to our corner of the world such as:

• Six at Wales Millennium Centre – I loved this when I saw it with my step daughter a couple of years ago (from £19.50)
• Mama Mia at the New Theatre
• The Bodyguard at Wales Millennium Centre

Live Music

I thought I’d found the perfect gig tickets for my step daughter to see Loyle Carner but that one’s sold out. I’ve tried to only include ideas with tickets still available but don’t wait around too long just in case.

• KT Tunstall at St David’s Hall – the Scottish singer songwriter is on tour following the release of her seventh studio album
• Sam Ryder at Cardiff Student’s Union – yes, it’s him off the Eurovision!
• In It Together Festival in Margam – not a gig but a whole festival. There are ticket options for camping, day tickets, paying in instalments, all sorts. We went to the 2021 one and loved it so much we’ve booked again.

Comedy

You’ve missed out on Peter Kay tickets in Cardiff but there are plenty of other stand-up and other comedy shows coming up to give the gift of laughter:

• Phil Wang at St David’s Hall
• Sara Pascoe at St David’s Hall
• Dave Gorman at the New Theatre
• The Noise Next Door at Memo Arts Centre – this hilarious comedy improv group (not random blurb, I saw them last year, can confirm that they are funny) are bring two different shows to Barry in 2023, one’s 15+ and the other is family friendly.

Theatre

I know it’s not as razzle dazzle but tickets for a play are a dream for the drama lover in your life.

• Romeo and Julie at Sherman Theatre – following a run at the National Theatre in London, this is a modern Cardiff love story (tickets start at £16 with half price for under 25s)
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane at Wales Millennium Centre – I am so excited about this, it looks properly dark and twisty. For ages 12+, this production is based on the Neil Gaiman book of the same name.
• Meet Fred at Memo Arts Centre – I saw this show by the amazing Hijinx Theatre in association with Blind Summit a few years ago in The Other Room and heartily recommend it.

For the Kids

I’m not convinced that all children really get the whole waiting for an event thing, so I’ve not really used tickets as a prezzie for younger family members but it’s worth a look, especially at:

• Nick Sharratt’s All New Picture Book Draw Along at Memo Arts Centre – perfect for kids over 4 who love to doodle, draw and create, definitely going to take my 10-year-old (early bird offer with a group of 4 for £28 if you buy before the end of 2022)
• Hey Duggee at Wales Millennium Centre – the dog, the myth, the legend needs no introduction.
• The Tiger Who Came to Tea at Memo Arts Centre – a live version of the classic children’s picture book by Judith Kerr.
• The Snail and the Whale at Memo Arts Centre – the Julia Donaldson favourite brought to life on stage. We loved The Smeds and the Smoos at the Memo last year so can’t wait for this.

If you work for a production company, venue, or festival and you’d like me to review your show, slide into my DMs or email valeofglammam@gmail.com. I’ve not been paid to include any of these above, they’re just shows I’ve heard about or read about and wanted to spread the word.

Christmas Gift Ideas 2022

I know we’re in the depths of a cost-of-living crisis, and I’m not massively into buying tat for the sake of it. I have hoarding tendencies so get a bit nervous about accumulating even more stuff. I’m a fan of shopping local and buying experiences with tickets but sometimes I head for internet shopping for the convenience and choice.

My sister made the excellent suggestion to do a Secret Santa for my siblings and our partners, which will make a big difference budget and time wise. Strong recommend this approach for big families. I also love the something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read approach, so here’s a mishmash of suggestions!

SOMETHING YOU WANT

It’s giving me flashbacks to that flirty girl in Love Actually who turned Alan Rickman’s head saying “get me something I want, not something I need”, but we all know what she means. It’s about a treat, about something that shows the giver knows the receiver inside out.

Scriball

For a football loving kid or a kid who just loves colouring in, these Scriballs are perfect. At £10.50, they won’t break the bank and they definitely don’t need batteries. There are a few different designs out there, I bought a Star Wars one last year for a nephew because I got bored looking at sporty things and got excited about a ball that comes with its own colouring pens.

buy a scriball now

Head Jog 25mm Hair Tongs

A real-life professional hairdresser recommended these to me as they’re the tongs used in her salon. I’d never heard of the brand but she knows her stuff. If you’ve got a tween, teen or adult who’s desperate for curling tongs, these are incredibly good value for a main present at just over £30 full price but closer to £24 at the moment. You can also get a 32mm version. I needed a little practice as I’m used to using a bit of a different style, but these create a lovely loose wave.

buy hair tongs now

Tickets

The ultimate gift with no obligation on the receiver to find a space in their house for it, no adding to all the stuff. This can require a bit more research but I love getting tickets that I can use for a show, concert or gig later in the year. It’s a Christmas treat that brings joy later in the year.

There are so many options, and it obviously depends on the tastes of the person you’re buying for but aside from the sold out tickets (sad face for missing out on PULP in Cardiff but happy face that I got my Self Esteem at the Tramsheds ticket in time), there are some great shows to be seen in 2023.

I came up with such a long list that I’ve bunged some ideas in a whole separate blog post so click on the button below if you want some suggestions.

Check out the tickets ideas here

Local Spirits

Not the spirits of Christmas past, present and future but the delicious boozy kind of spirit. I’m talking about Gin 64’s range of Penarth Gins, Barry Island Spirit’s Rum, Gin and Vodka, Bont Gin in Cowbridge and Hensol Castle Distillery’s wide selection and distillery tours. With prices for a 75cl bottle around £30-£40 these are a real treat and support local makers.

buy barry island spirits

buy bont gin

buy penarth gin

buy hensol castle gin

SOMETHING YOU NEED

This is a bit trickier and potentially boring, but I tend to think about their hobbies and sports, and all those extra bits that they need through the year. Or something that you need for the home but getting a jazzier version for Christmas saved trawling the shops for it.

Music Bag

My youngest’s working on his trumpet exam at the moment and he looks like Buddy (little 90s school book reference there for you) with his carrier bag of music. The bag for life does the job but without breaking the bank, this fun little personalised music bag is even better.

Buy a music bag now

Boot Buddy

It’s that time of year where many of us are stood in the rain every weekend while our kids run around in the mud chasing a ball. Whether they play rugby, football or if you just want to clean up your wellies after a winter woodland walk, the boot buddy has been brilliant for us. Less than £20 and really handy for scrubbing muck off their studs.

Buy a boot buddy now

A Fancy Flask

Sure, there are prettier flasks out there but for the person in my life who loves camping and having a hot drink after driving his fork lift truck, I go function over form. That said, this is a classic design and does the job it’s meant to do. It’s cheaper and better for the environment to take a massive flask on a journey if you’re travelling with work or maybe it’s just an upgrade for the picnic lover in your life.

Buy a fancy flask

SOMETHING TO WEAR

Disco Daps

These rechargeable trainers were a huge hit with my youngest and his penchant for jazzy footwear. The perfect party daps for the festive season, you can change the colour of the lights or set them to flash. There are a few different versions out there for around £25-£30 but they’re worth it as he wore them until he outgrew them.

Buy Disco Daps now

Fizz Goes Pop

A local fave of mine, Fizz Goes Pop makes incredible statement jewellery, handcrafted in Cardiff. Whenever I see one of those dainty adverts saying something like “the perfect gift for your mum/wife/generic woman in your life” I think NO! It’s only perfect if it’s your thing and it’s not my thing. Fizz Goes Pop however, is very much my thing and I’ve been lucky enough to get a few pairs of earrings over the years from her. So support local and make someone look fabulous in the process. (photos by Cara Heath photography)

Buy from fizz goes pop now

Isolated Heroes

I love Isolated Heroes, their clothes and accessories are extra AF. Sequins, froth and fabulousness. They’ve recently launched an incredible range of personalisable denim jackets for kids and grown ups. They’re not cheap but they’re made sustainably and by an indie company in Scotland. For just a touch of bling, how’s about this glorious sparkly headband? The dream!

buy something sparkly now

SOMETHING TO READ

Press Here by Hervé Tullet

Press Here and Mix It Up by Hervé Tullet are a couple of my favourite board books for arty little kids. There are some weird negative reviews from adults who assumed something different from an interactive book but ignore them, these are both delightful and engaging. My boys enjoyed the books when they were little, and my younger nephews were glued to the experience of going through the pages. It feels magic when they’re invited to press a yellow splodge of paint and turn the page to see what’s happened to the splodge.

Buy press here now

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover? The very thing that reflects the themes, genre and general vibe of the writing within? Maggie O’Farrell’s new release The Marriage Portrait is gorgeous. I’ve not read it but I enjoyed her previous novel, the much awarded Hamnet. This would make a beautiful gift for the fiction lover in your life. Griffin Books in Penarth recently hosted an evening with the author which sold out. More from them in the next idea.

Buy the marriage portrait now

Signed Books

A book signed by the author elevates the gift to super special status. The fabulous Griffin Books in Penarth has an amazing online selection of all sorts of books with the autograph of the writer. There’s something for everyone, including YA, science, autobiographies, history, fiction, children’s books. Gift ideas that jumped out at me that you’ll find on Griffin Books’ online shop:

• Meanwhile Back on Earth by Oliver Jeffers £16.99
• Colours, Colours Everywhere by Julia Donaldson and Sharon King Chair £14.99
• Dawnlands by Philippa Gregory £17
• Dear Dolly: On Love Life and Friendship by Dolly Alderton £16.99
• Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley £25
• Black Holes by Brian Cox and Jeffrey Forshaw £25
• Undoctored by Adam Kay £20
• The World by Simon Sebag Montefiore £35
• The Final Whistle by Nigel Owens £20
• Nadiya’s Fast Flavours by Nadiya Hussain £22
• Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson £17

buy a signed book now

Amazon Affiliate: a girl’s gotta eat and in a bid to help pay for my own Christmas, I’ve taken the plunge and joined Amazon Associates. This just means that if you buy through a link on this blog, I get a little (very little) monetary thank you from Amazon. It won’t cost you any more than just googling in the first place. Do support local where you can though!

The Making of a Monster Mashup Masterpiece

Connor Allen’s autobiographical grime-theatre mash-up blew us away and impressed a teenager who is pretty hard to please at the moment.

“I like it when it’s real. It felt really true. It’s how school actually is.” – 14-year-old

The universe aligned with unexpected shifts in our usual Thursday evening schedule to free my older boy and me to head to Wales Millennium Centre to see The Making of a Monster.

The iconic Wales Millennium Centre

Performed and created by the Children’s Poet Laureate Wales Connor Allen with David Bonnick Jr and Oraine Johnson, this Wales Millennium Centre production explores Connor’s experience growing up mixed race, and mixed up in trouble in Newport through grime, rap and a bit of audience interaction.

My son nearly cringed up his own sphincter when he thought he’d be called on to talk but these moments of direct communication and play with the audience were handled really well. It set the tone for the piece as a conversation. It’s a story from the 00s but it’s about now too, about race, about a man becoming a boy, and I’ll let you find out for yourself what Roget’s Thesaurus has to do with all that.

Big fan of the striking marketing for The Making of a Monster (Parental Warning sticker just out of shot!)

We agreed that the set was great. A giant half pipe with a towering circular screen dominated the stage, the live drummer and incredible projections keeping us glued to the visuals throughout. I always wonder how tourable a set is and this screamed NOT AT ALL but it’s such an integral part of this show. It spoke of place, youth, energy and with skilled lighting and projection playing a key role, took us all over Newport and into Connor’s mind.

“I really liked that scene with his Dad. Looked like a 3D TV screen.” – 14-year-old

A major theme of the show is absent fathers. This prompted my son afterwards to talk about his very present Dad who grew up without a father-son relationship. Watching a show with Connor’s honesty laying bare his confusion, anger and hurt as a teenage boy made my own teenage boy think about his Dad’s school days in a different way. He’s at that age where my husband’s teaching him to shave, helping him train at the gym, all of that, and The Making of a Monster gut punched him, knowing his Dad grew up in the same town as a father who lived with his other kids and didn’t engage with him at all, but with a Mum who gave him everything.

If you’ve got a teen, or you just remember being a teen, you know these kind of conversations (or any kind of chat beyond a grunt) are rare and precious. That a live performance can make young people reflect on their own lives, experiences and identities is powerful and this show does just that.

Wales Millennium Centre’s foyer last night

With open captions and creative captions integrated into the design, it was another excellent example of the Centre considering accessibility in their Weston Studio productions.

If your teen is studying Drama, they need to get out and see all sorts of work. If your teen isn’t into Drama or Theatre, this show is packed with characters, issues, themes and music that makes all that not matter, it’s like a gig about identity, it’s full of power and truth and part of that is a lot of F bombs.

The Making of a Monster comes with a Parental Advisory of Explicit Content, there’s swearing, rap battling lyrics with sexual references, references to domestic violence and racism. But as a mum, I’d rather my older kids engage with this work to better understand the world and the people in it, to have difficult conversations, than live in a frothy bubble.

Go and see it. It’s at Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff until 19th November so no excuses. I paid just £15 for my ticket and under 26s are only £10. Get there early for pre-show performances from emerging South Wales music talent from 6.30pm and to try out the free augmented reality experience The Museum of Nothingness. Check the Centre’s website for opening dates and times but there’s no need to book for the AR.

Book your tickets here: https://www.wmc.org.uk/en/whats-on/2022/the-making-of-a-monster

(Not invited to review, I bought our tickets and wrote this up because I think more people should see it.)

Winning at (Blogging) Life

Nearly a year since I won Best Work Blog at the House 21 Awards in Bristol for Home Learning: The Reboot, and I’m just about OK with showing off about it. I was gutted to see House 21 come to an end this year but glad it was because Melanie and Donna were moving into other exciting adventures.

Any other year perhaps I’d have rinsed the Award-Winning Blog thing, I’d have stayed in touch properly with the other Welsh bloggers I met, I’d have made an effort to build up the blog. But I’ve not had the brain space, time or emotional capacity to really give it a chance in 2022.

I was shocked to win as I’d been the absolute opposite of prolific, but the post was zeitgeisty enough to cut through. Which is nice. I’d not won anything since the Sixth Form Cup in school (yes, I was a massive geeky loser, and what?). I work in an industry where there are awards but not for people like me, the administrators, the officers, the planners, and coordinators, so it was a bit of a surprise to receive the nomination, let alone win the category.

The award was a personal boost, a feeling of maybe legitimising my stream of consciousness, the typing on my laptop on those rare evenings or weekend mornings when I feel compelled to churn out some words. The event was a lush excuse to get dolled up and head to a bar in Bristol with a bestie in tow, and it was a perfect opportunity to meet more people who I’ve only really stumbled across online. House 21 was a lovely female-led blogging community, and the happy part of the story is that the awards connected me with other bloggers who I’m looking forward to seeing again very soon.

I used to do an analogue version of blogging as a teenager before all this was a thing. I’d write in my diary then read passages out loud over the landline phone to my best friends. Until I had to hang up so my Mum could call my Grandma. Writing was a way of processing what was going on in my life, of reflecting and bitching, obsessing over schoolgirl crushes (one of whom is now my husband) and being generally cringey AF.

The real winner is blogging. She typed with her tongue firmly in her cheek.

March of the Mummies 2022

March of the Mummies 2022. Demanding reform of childcare, parental leave and flexible working. Thousands marched yesterday, pics from the Cardiff march.

I cannot believe we still have to protest this shit. It was rubbish a decade and a half ago and it still is now.

Things have changed since I first went on maternity leave and had to use a private nursery (all only possible because of incredible family support). I didn’t have the Childcare Offer For Wales (up to 30 hours free for children aged 3-4) that I’d have been eligible for now but that still leaves 3 years of childcare challenge. The poorest I’ve ever been was on statutory maternity leave, which is still piss poor.

More companies offer better paternity leave now and the Paternity Act passed in 2010 but there is more to be done. Childcare is horrifically expensive in the UK but childcare workers are still underpaid and undervalued.

These issues are still so relevant and we need to challenge, especially with proposed changes to regulations in England that would change the childcare ratios. We can’t sacrifice quality and safety for affordability. We all deserve better than that.

Big love for the wonderful @pregnant_then_screwed for her tireless work on this issue and the cwl Cardiff campaigners who made the Cymru contingent happen. @amothersplace @bethansayed @blackandbeech @jenburkedavies @rowanmeg