Another bonkers busy week at The Stables begins on Thursday (Nov 5) with a guaranteed night of the funnies. Although fans of Sarah Millican who don't yet have a ticket won't be smiling – the night is a sell-out.
We can suggest a fab night of music at the venue on Friday (Nov 6) though, when Nell Bryden (below) returns to town for the first time since become a Mum.
The singer-songwriter released her current album Wayfarer in 2014, and issued the single Wolves from the opus at the tail end of September.
Speaking about the long-player, Nell said: “There's a different sense emotionally to where I've been in the past.
“Before, there was a lot of heartbreak, cry in your beer stuff that needed pedal steel all over the place.
“I don't feel like that now,” she admits.
Her career in music has seen her tour with Counting Crows, KT Tunstall and Jools Holland, Duane Eddy, Chris Rea, the Gipsy Kings and Gary Barlow.
Nell you see, is as appealing as she is adaptable.
Judith Owen will support at The Stables date, dipping into her current eighth album Ebb & Flow to entertain in the supporting role. Judith has been out on the road a fair bit in recent times too – both on her own headline European tour and as support to Bryan Ferry.
Joining Judith will be musician Leland Sklar who has played on landmark albums by Carole King (Tapestry), James Taylor (Sweet Baby James) and Joni Mitchell (Blue).
Rolling Stone magazine recently featured Leland for his unsung contribution to musical history.
Tickets to see Marillion guitarist and founder member Steve Rothery on Saturday night (Nov 7) are all gone, but Beck Goldsmith is still booking on Stage 2 with music that is haunting and intimate, and cinematic in mood and atmosphere.
Glyndebourne Touring Opera are starring at MK Theatre from Tuesday (Nov 10) and in anticipation of that, fans might like to book for a film screening of their acclaimed 2010 production of Britten's opera Billy Budd, airing at the venue on Sunday (Nov 8) at 11.15am.
Lunch will also figure and the screening will wrap-up at 3.30pm.
Celebrated folk trio Lau arrive on Monday evening (Nov 9) playing in support of their current album The Bell That Never Rang, with support from Simi Stone.
Versatile and prolific guitarist Peter White arrives on Tuesday night (Nov 10) to show you what happens when he combines elements of jazz, pop and classical guitar.
His is a sound that manages to be both unique and yet accessible to a broad audience.
Tickets to see Joe Lycett are all gone now, and seats to see Jeremy Hardy (above) on Wednesday (Nov 11) deliver his stand-up are selling swiftly too.
“The great thing about doing a live show is that it keeps evolving,” Hardy says, “I keep changing and developing it.
“It won't be the same at the end of the tour as it was at the beginning,” Hardy - beginning his fourth decade as a stand-up – promises.
“Stand-up is not like other art forms. When you've done a painting and sold it to someone, you can't keep going round to their house and adding bits. That would be a big strange.
“It would also be burglary, not to say criminal damage.”
So what can we expect from the new show?
“I talk about class, race, identity, Britishness, food, death, health. There are only seven or eight things I ever talk about.”
Last up this week, Americana duo Balsamo Deighton will be on Stage 2, playing material that will figure on their debut album, Unfolding, which is set for a February 2016 release.
Steve and Rosalie share a love of artists like Gram Parsons, Crowded House, Tom Petty and the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss union.
The friends also have a certain fondness for each other's deliveries.
'I love Rosalie's ethereal voice and knew that although we are very different singers something magical was happening,” Steve says.
Rosalie is just as complimentary: “Singing with Steve takes me to a happy place where even the best wine in the world can't take me!” she jokes.
Reach for your plastic pal and get to booking at www.stables.org or call 01908 280800.
