Round-up of shows and events

For anyone who has not been to a whist drive before, a short tutorial will be offered before the start of the competition. The fun starts at 7.30pm.

Tel: 01903 238792 for ticket orders. Tickets must be ordered in advance (for catering purposes), and will not be on sale at the door. Adult cost: £5

KOMEDIA’S award-winning comedy night Krater Comedy Club offers Jason Cook, Josh Howie, Jeff Innocent and MC Stephen Grant this weekend (Friday, October 8-Sunday, October 10).

Spokeswoman Emily Coleman said: “You should prepare for anything when razor-sharp Geordie Jason Cook takes to the stage. Jason is also head writer of Soup groundbreaking sketch show and writer of Die Clatterschenkfieternmaus and Malcolm And Mirriam.

“Josh Howie is an ex-public schoolboy, raised as a Buddhist who then trained as a Rabbi before being kicked off the programme for being caught with a naked (non-Jewish) girl, so perhaps it was inevitable that he would go on to become a stand-up comedian.

“Before becoming a standup comedian and actor of note Jeff Innocent has worked variously as a chimney sweep, a fruit and veg stallholder, a fishmonger at Billingsgate Market, a footballer playing inside right for West Ham Utd and a driver for the Kray Twins.”

Krater Comedy Club takes place at Komedia Brighton from Friday, October 8-Sunday, October 10 at 7.30pm (Fri), 7pm and 10.30pm (Sat) and 8pm (Sun). Tickets on 0845 293 8480.

MITCH Benn and his band The Distractions take to the road again this autumn in his sixth and biggestever tour (Komedia, Brighton, October 7, tickets on 01273 647100).

From BBC1 TV’s Watchdog and One Show and BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show, Mitch is regarded as one of the top musical satirical comedians working on the circuit today.

Last year he published his first book with Jon Holmes – A History Of The World Through Twitter (Carlton Books) and contributed to The Now Show Book Of World Records (Orion) and The Atheist’s Guide To Christmas (Harper Collins).

“I STARTED playing with dolls when I was very young”, laughs ventriloquist Paul Zerdin. “I had no friends!

“Actually, that’s just my stock comedy answer,” he admits.

What really lay behind his path to ventriloquism was a huge love of shows such as The Muppets and Sesame Street, explains Paul who plays Horsham and Brighton on his first full UK tour.

“I was a massive fan of those shows growing up. I was just blown away by them. I just knew I wanted to do something involving puppets. Whenever I got a stuffed toy for Christmas, I would always cut it open and make it speak through its mouth!”

The turning point, though, was getting a how-to-do-it book by the man with absolutley the best technique - just a simple book for children, but one which put Paul on the right road.

“Ray Alan was the best”, says Paul. “It’s a matter of speaking without moving your lips. It’s a matter of keeping your lips still, and your tongue takes over. It’s a bit like learning to speak again. It took me two years.”

The other key element, of course, is to have the right creation. Alan famously had his snobbish, drink-soaked Lord Charles. Paul’s show Sponge Fest sees him bring three very different characters to life – the cheeky pre-adolescent Sam, belligerent OAP Albert and precocious infant Baby.

Perhaps a little madnesss also helps - though Paul insists he’s resolutely sane, for the moment.

“I went to a ventriloquists’ convention in Kentucky, and there were 500 ventriloquists there, all completely bonkers. They were booking into hotels with their puppets on their arm, and the puppet was saying ‘Hello, I want a room for two, please!”

It’s that element of the puppet taking over which has lead to sinister big-screen depictions, most notably perhaps Anthony Hopkins in Magic.

“If I ever start talking to my puppets after the show, I will know I have lost it!” Paul says.

Paul’s tour includes: Sunday, October 10, Capitol, Horsham (01403 750220, www.thecapitolhorsham.com); and Thursday, October 14, Brighton Pavilion (01273 709709,

www.brightondome.org).

VIENNA Festival Ballet celebrates their 30th anniversary with a UK tour which brings them to Worthing’s Pavilion Theatre on Friday, October 8 at 7.30pm.

Company founder, the Austrian dancer, Peter Mallek is hoping that the strong reputation they have built over the years will stand them in good stead in the tough times ahead.

“Until now, it has been fine”, Peter says. “But it seems like now is the start of the recession for show business. Until now we have been having good houses, but looking at the figures now, they are not so great.

“Usually when the recession starts, people go more into the theatre, but everything is getting more and more expensive.”

But fortunately Vienna Festival Ballet have managed to carve out a clear niche for themselves, going to venues that the bigger companies can’t manage; and in places such as Worthing, they have built up a genuine relationship with their audience over the years.

Shows such as Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker still attract the audiences, helped by the company’s track record in attracting talented dancers including graduates from the Royal Ballet School, British, Australian and Italian soloists, and guest stars from Vienna and Japan.

Also with the company is VFB’s leading English ballerina, Melanie Cox, who has just recorded The Dying Swan for a new British film.

“We started up in Germany”, Peter recalls. “It was a touring company. We did Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France. We called it Vienna Festival Ballet because I am from Vienna, but it is now a British company.

“The first eight to ten years we were mainly in Europe, but then in the past 20 years or so, we have started building up English audiences. It just so happens that in the past five or so years there has been more work over here.

“In Germany, you have got the Russians coming in - companies claiming to be Russian companies. You book a theatre and they come in a week before. They were trying to kill us off. And these Russians are mostly school performances. They are ruining the reputation for everyone. People see them and they if they are asked if they want to go to the ballet again, they say no.”

Tickets for Worthing on 01903 206206.

70s pop icon Alvin Stardust is taking to the stage at Bunn Leisure’s Embassy Club at Selsey to serenade his coo-ca-choos on Friday, October 8.

Spokesman Kate Reynolds said: “Famed for his tight black leather garb, an epic hairdo and a string of 70s pop hits, Stardust will be performing a range of both his old and new repertoire including the number one smash Jealous Minds, You You You, Red Dress and numbers from his latest album, I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll.

More details on 01243 606080 or visit www.bunnleisure.co.uk.

NAOMI Frederick admits she isn’t recognising Hilde Wangel in the way other people describe her.

“People say things to me like manipulative and dark and vicious, and I think ‘Oh! I am not playing that! But that’s actually the joy. You have your own secret as to how you play it, and people can read into it whatever they like.”

Hilde is a key character in Ibsen’s The Master Builder which plays the Minerva Theatre in Chichester until October 9 in a new version by David Edgar.

Halvard Solness, the leading architect of his age, is at the end of his career. A single-minded man of angry pride, he is trapped in a loveless marriage to Aline.

And then a decade after their first meeting, back into his life comes the charismatic and beautiful young Hilde who inspires him to build one final masterpiece.