Grab some culture in February

Big Picture and Grains of Scandalous Blue

Humber Street Gallery plays host to a duo of amazing exhibitions charting the success of Hull UK City of Culture 2017.

Big Picture in Gallery 1 is a collaboration between photographer Leo Francis and drone pilot Chris Fenton, showcasing images that capture the true spirit of our year in the spotlight.

The subjects of each energetic photograph are none other than the amazing volunteers that helped with everything from festivals and theatre shows, to Hull hosting the Turner Prize and wonderfully random art installations popping up in unexpected places.

Telling the story of how people from all walks of life united to wear blue and act as ambassadors, this is an utterly uplifting celebration of the city’s people.

Meanwhile, Grains of Scandalous Blue in Galleries 2 and 3 also pays tribute to the volunteers, but in a very different way.

Artist Julia Vogl has created a visual representation of data on the volunteers, such as 32% wearing a medium-sized uniform and 2% doing a shift at the Maritime Museum. This is conveyed through jars of sand and colour fields that take up the walls and even the floor, symbolising statistics that range from city of origin and age range, to the fact that 1% of them were called David.

Both exhibitions run until Sunday 25 February and are free to view.

Fat Friends the Musical

Award-winning writer Kay Mellor is the brainchild behind Fat Friends, which has delighted TV audiences up and down the country. If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll love this live stage adaptation at Hull New Theatre, running until Saturday 3 February.

With original music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, this fast-paced comedy sees the friends sweating through a Zumba class, planning a dream wedding that’s dependent on the bride fitting into her dress, and many other situations that are true to the original show.

With a brilliant cast that includes X Factor winner Sam Bailey, this is one musical that will satisfy your appetite for entertainment.

Reverend and The Makers

The hugely successful Back To Ours festival that brought big names and exceptional acts to your doorstep returns for 2018.

This time you can enjoy a whole host of activity, including Sheffield-based rock band Reverend and The Makers visiting North Point Shopping Centre on Friday 16 February.

This is a chance to see a cracking band perform live in the same place you buy your weekly big shop.

Turning the Tide

Playwright Rupert Creed brings his sell-out show back to Hull Truck Theatre from Tuesday 6 to Saturday 10 February.

Marking the 50^th anniversary of the 1968 Triple Trawler Tragedy, Turning the Tide is a poignant piece of local drama recounting the incredible women who fought to change the nation’s fishing industry, ultimately saving countless lives.

Combining spoken word with projected images, heartfelt singing and edge-of-your-seat storytelling, this is a piece of history that everyone should know.

Stendhal Syndrome

Running until Sunday 25 February at Kingston Art Group Gallery on Humber Street, Stendhal Syndrome is a group show by studio members, previous exhibitors, friends, fans and many more talented creators.

Named after a disorder that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, confusion and hallucination as a result of too much culture, the group thought it the perfect title to finish off our year as the UK City of Culture.

With a wide range of work available to view and buy, a unique aspect is that you don’t have to wait until the end of the exhibition to purchase a piece. Simply ask a member of staff and they’ll take it down for you right there and then. This is culture to go – would you like fries with that?

Image credit: James Mulkeen