Although the shortest month of the year, February still managed to be the busiest month The Riverfront has seen since reopening in August 2021. Not only did the theatre spaces get back into full swing with a jam-packed performance schedule, but fuding from Winter of Wellbeing, Newport City Council’s Welsh in the Community and Yout Support Grants saw The Riverfront’s workshop programme burst with a variety of new sessions for all ages throughout the month, including a packed children’s holiday programme for half term.
Shows
Classical music fans were delighted in February with entertainment from fiddle player Aneurin Jones who performed for Live Music Now in the first Lunchtime Concert of the year. Audiences were transported back to the golden era of the 1950’s and 60’s with Lipstick on Your Collar, and homage was paid to the golden years of rock band Queen in Supreme Queen. On Supreme Queen, one audience member stated ‘Absolutely Brilliant!!! Felt like Freddie was back in person’…'
The Riverfront were also honoured to host the 4th Welsh Open Entertainment Contest in February, which saw 14 brass bands from Wales and England take to the stage and compete in the annual contest to try and beat defending champions Filton Concert Brass, a wonderful spectacle for all which we hope will return as an annual event. Winning the event this year were Pontardulais Town.
For comedy fans monthly favourites bring-baby comedy club Aftermirth, and Friday night adult comedy regular Comedy Shed once again brought in the laughs.
Over half term, families of all ages visited The Riverfront to enjoy Ministry of Science and Pebble on the Beach. Ministry of Science dived deep into the world of science to both educate and entertain with a range of experiments which saw audiences both shocked and amazed. Pebble on the Beach was a more gentle show as singing, dancing and puppetry transported audiences for a day at the seaside. One audience member commented ‘Wonderful - the actors were so skilled at mime that even very young children or those with first languages other than English would have enjoyed it.’
Cinema
The Riverfront Cinema continued to screen a varied and diverse programme this February. Starting the month was Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, followed by The Matrix Resurrections. As a Valentines treat Newport’s only city centre cinema screened Baz Luhrmann’s classic love story Moulin Rouge which stared acting icons Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. Across half term families got the opportunity to experience and enjoy brand-new Spider-Man: No Way Home. Ending the month was American coming-of-age comedy-drama Licorice Pizza.
Workshops
After a successful January launch The Riverfront’s new workshops For Crying Out Loud Ceramics and Take a Breath Wellbeing Choir continued to grow in numbers; and participants in Welsh language choir Canu Casnewydd continue to rehearse ahead of their March 1st performance debut!
Half term saw an incredibly diverse mix of workshops for young people; from drama club to sewing, protest poster making to Creators clubs, playwriting to Sonic Sing Along’s. Thanks to funding from Newport City Council and Winter of Wellbeing the Riverfront were able to offer many of these workshops for free allowing more young people the opportunity to come along and be creative.
In addition to her half term workshops, arts tutor Heidi also ran several of the free foyer Crafty Saturday activities allowing families of all ages to create based on Ministry of Science, Pebble on the Beach and also some special rugby and St David’s Day themed makes.
Mezzanine Gallery
A brand-new exhibition from Kate Mercer titled ‘Make Do & Mend’ opened in the Mezzanine Gallery space during February. Started in March 2020 (during the first lockdown of 2020), 'Make Do and Mend' is a series of patchwork quilts which explore ideas of wrapping, warming and protection. Specifically, these patchwork quilts are made from recycled cotton fabrics, repurposed into something that warms and comforts those they wrap around.
Photographs of a range of Kate’s beautiful pieces are currently on display, and the public are encouraged to take inspiration from Kate’s work and submit their own creative efforts on the theme of ‘Make Do & Mend.’ More information, and the submissions received so far can be found at newportlive.co.uk/ShareTheLove.
Other Activities
February saw the Riverfront hold their first art material bring and buy sale, titled Crafty Clear Out. On the day the ground floor foyer was filled with stalls as local artists brought along a range of materials, supplies, wools, frames, paints and more to sell to a loving new home. Moving forward, The Riverfront play to hold Crafty Clear Out’s 4 times a year.
Live at The Riverfront returned in February with an evening of live music curated specially for Welsh Language Music Day. The free foyer Welsh Language music event saw performances from duo Roughion and vocalist and guitar player Dafydd Hedd.
The Share the Love project returned for 2022, and this year in addition to creating and sharing creative and wellbeing packs to those in the community, The Riverfront shared the love within the building. Throughout February The Riverfront delivered at least one Random Act of Kindness a day to those that came through its doors. These acts included giving away free coffees, handing out free daffodils, gifting children’s books, hanging care packages from the Café terrace for passers by and much more!
Keep up to date with everything that’s coming up at The Riverfront and find out how you can get involved in upcoming events or workshops online at newportlive.co.uk/Riverfront.
