
Closing 2021 with a big festive, glittery, bang!
Barbican Theatre, Plymouth are excited to celebrate the immense talent the city has to offer with their Sleighing It festive show, coming to their intimate theatre in Plymouth’s historic Barbican from 15 - 23 December.
Sleighing It will feature professional and emerging artists from the Plymouth and Devon/Cornwall area performing in a light hearted festive cabaret style show. It's the perfect way to celebrate the amazing talent in our little corner of the UK that's changing the world!
Suzie West, Barbican Theatre’s ReBels’s Talent Development Lead says
“We know how hot the talent in Plymouth is and how 2021 hasn't been quite the year we thought it would, so we’re putting on a festive show to close 2021 with a big festive, glittery, bang!”
In October Barbican Theatre issued a call out for local artists and acts to apply to be a part of Sleighing It, offering week long residencies and guest spots, and they were inundated with interest.
Suzie continues
“In the space of just two weeks 48 acts applied to perform in Sleighing It, including bands, drag artists, breakdancers, poets, stand up comedians, burlesque artists, hip hop dancers, solo musicians. The quality was outstanding and it was a very difficult decision to make our selection but I’m thrilled with the line up we have and know our audiences will be fantastically entertained”
There are 14 Sleighing It performances in total; six in week one and eight in week two. Following the success of previous ‘adult’ only Christmas shows (Christmas With Krampus in 2018 and A Grimm Christmas in 2019) the Barbican team knew they wanted to continue to offer something extra to the normal family friendly Christmas shows. So 9pm over 16s performances were added to the bill so that burlesque and acts with more ‘post watershed’ content could also have the opportunity to perform and entertain.



L-R Drag artist Doris Johnson (hosts & performer 15-18 Dec) Breakdancer Joey Lee (performer 15-18 Dec) and singer songwriter Kate Ferguson (performer 16 Dec)
The full line up for each week includes:
Week 1 (15-18 December) will be hosted by the fabulous, very witty and legendary local drag artist Doris Johnson and also features Joey Lee (Breakdancing), Milo Cradick Trio (Band), Danielle Coates (Dance), Kate Ferguson (Singer/Musician), Jonathan Mason (Spoken Word) City College Plymouth Dance, Chloe Fear (Dance) Gozer Goodspeed (Singer/Musician), Love Deluxe (Drag Artist), Kadus Simeon Smith (Hip HopDance), Sal De Bain (Burlesque) and Mike Clements (Singer/Musician).



L-R Stand up comedian Suzy Bennet (hosts performer 20-23 Dec) & singer songwriter, Chloe Carrubba (performer 20-23 Dec) and burlesque artist Mx Violent May (performer 22-23 Dec)
Week 2 (20-23 December) is hosted by the hilarious janner stand up legend Suzy Bennett and features Chloe Carrubba (Singer/Musician/Comedy), Jo Kelan (Poetry), Danielle Coates (Dance), David Arnold (Stand Up) Mercedes & Lisa ‘'Flamenco Vivo' (Dance), Betty Boom Boom (Burlesque Artist), Jessie Cooper (Singer / Musician), George Donaghy (Dance/Vogue), Adie Dove & Tim Merrifield 'The Money Game' (Dance), Leah Ingalll (Comedy) Ellori May (Vocalist), Helix (Drag Artist) and Violent May (Burlesque Artist)
Sleighing It is also showcasing some of Barbican Theatre’s own ReBels who have been creating their own work through our Talent Development programme. ReBels sessions are all co-created with themes and content led by the participants so it’s important they get the opportunity to share their hard work and talent with the public.
During week 1 Sleighing It will feature performances and experiences from ReBels Storytellers (Ghost stories), ReBels Music Ensemble (Music), ReBels Make Your Own Show (Theatre) Digital ReBels (Film), ReBels ReStage (Cinema Experience) and ReBels Dancers.
