It was designed by renowned architect J. A. Chatwin, who was also responsible for the additions to Birmingham Cathedral – and our Cathedral links don’t end there. Next door was the Parsonage for the Cathedral and The Old Joint Stock was originally built in 1862 as the Parson’s private library, before being taken over as the Birmingham Free Library in 1864 and later becoming The Birmingham Joint Stock & Share Trading Bank – hence our name now. So, if we were built in 1862 and opened to the public in 1864, when to celebrate our anniversary from? We say 1863…

Join us This Saturday for a 150^th Anniversary Celebration!

Summer in Southside

This Saturday between 1pm-7pm the streets of Birmingham’s Southside district will burst into life with a bright and beautiful array of FREE pop-up performances as part of the first day of Summer in Southside. Families and friends are welcomed to the areas surrounding Birmingham Hippodrome including Hippodrome Square, Arcadian, Inge Street, and Hurst St to enjoy a range of spectacular entertainment including dance, acrobatics and carnival.

Performances are set to include a high-energy dance performance using supermarket shopping trolleys in a way that you have never seen before, a strolling street band to spread the carnival spirit and a colourful host of eight dancers interacting with the people and places in the area adding a splash of colour to everyone’s day.

The fun continues on Sat 24 & Sun 25 Aug with more Summer in Southside events – more information can be found at www.summerinsouthside.com.

Festival in the Square

After the success of last years Jamaican event we are bringing you the Festival in The Square, a great mix of arts, crafts and vintage stalls, live bands and great food cooked on site.

This Saturday at The Square Shopping Arcade, Dale End. There is a facebook event for it.

Eastside Projects

Saturday is the last chance to see Heather & Ivan Morison’s Pleasure Island.

Throughout August the gallery is closed as we work on Black Pleasure a new public space within Eastside Projects. Heather and Ivan Morison’s long term artwork Pleasure Island, our office/kitchen, is evolving into an entirely new structure that will be ready for the launch of our next exhibitions in September and our 5th Birthday celebrations in October.

Follow @eprjcts on twitter for progress updates

Note: a mention of the West Midlands Theatre Awards 2012. You saw it there first.

I Like Theatre was prompted by Ian Craddock at Old Joint Stock Theatre from an initial idea and Pledge Card from James Yarker at Stan’s Cafe / @ A E Harris.

Aside from the Ikon Eastside closing party there are a fair number of Halloween-themed things going on.  These are they (all happening on Friday 31 October, except the last two):

• The National Trust are putting on events in the back to back buildings (50-54 Inge Street/55–63 Hurst Street, Birmingham).  From 11.30am – 4pm they’ve got some nice events for the kiddies, then from 7pm to 9.30pm they’re “offering visitors a unique opportunity to linger for a while in our shadow-laden rooms, and silently reflect on the atmosphere of the back houses lit by candles, fires and oil lamps”
• The Town Hall are showing Nosferatu with an organ accompaniment by Nigel Ogden
• The Light House are showing Dracula, the Hammer version with Christopher Lee
• The Local Shorts Film Club are running a Halloween special at the Library Theatre
• Vivid are showing a slowed-down version of Psycho that will last a full 24 hours.  It starts at 9pm on Friday 31st and ends at 9pm the next day.  Entry is free
• At the Old Joint Stock Theatre, “Gemini present an evening of ghostly tales around the history of the Old Joint Stock followed by readings from a Medium”.  The night’s called Ghostly Histories and perhaps the scariest part is that the blurb mentions “clairvoyants with solid reputations”
• And on 1 November the Outer Edge’s next event at The Edge features “some obscure 3D horror and live horror sound effects from DJ FreakBeat”. Email outersight@live.com or text 07887 956297 for info.
• Also on 1 November, Capsule/ATP are putting on a Halloween show.

Thanks to the West Mids Life blog for a leg up compiling this.  Is there anything good I’ve missed?

Hounded by talking dogs and harassed by his plate-smashing mother, life in St. Petersburg is hard for Poprishchin until he falls truly, deeply…and madly in love. Little Earthquake presents an imaginative new stage version of Gogol’s gripping story, recently voted by Penguin as one of the best books ever written

Gareth Nicholls from the company has been good enough to upload to Scribd plenty of pictures and the press release for further info.  The show’s flyer is up too but to save you time here’s the back of that:

Little Earthquake have a Facebook group too.

Comedy escapes CiB’s notice most of the time so here goes a mention of the Birmingham Comedy Festival 2008, featuring an impressive list of talent, including the Edinburgh Festival’s newly crowned Perrier (or whatever) Award Winner, David O’Doherty.

Holding up Birmingham’s end are drag duo Patrick and Bernadine (Solihull Arts Complex, 4 Oct) and a whole host of local folk at ‘Wrote Under and Friends Comedy’ at the Kitchen Garden Cafe on .  There’s possibly a few more localers too, but none I recognised on the festival’s listings page.

The Old Joint Stock Theatre is also hosting a day dedicated to Tony Hancock at the Old Joint Stock Theatre on 11 October.

It’s the big names that will stick out, of course, and there are plenty of those this year.  As long as Dylan Moran, Mark Steel and Ted Chippington get the attention they deserve all will be well.

The festival starts on 3 October and ends on 12 October.  Visit the Birmingham Comedy Festival website for more info.

• Tuesday 15 July – Glenn Wool & Carey Marx
• Thursday 17 July – Zoe Lyons & Scott Capurro
• Friday 18 July – Reginald D Hunter & Jason Scott

I’ve even heard of a couple of those – Scott Capurro, for example, is fantastically offensive and worth checking out if you’re thick-skinned enough.

Tickets are a tenner each and booking info is on the left of this page.