Zelly's picks: Five Ipswich events not to miss this month

This month, there is everything from forbidden love under the Norfolk skies and a town-wide celebration of local artists to intimate family drama, queer history and a dance performance asking whether we can still believe what we see.

Here are the events that have caught my eye this September.

Calendar Girls the Musical at The New Wolsey Theatre

Thursday, 10 – Saturday, 26 September

The most extraordinary stories can sometimes begin with ordinary people
deciding to do something completely unexpected.

Calendar Girls the Musical arrives at the New Wolsey Theatre this September, based on the true story of a group of Yorkshire Women’s Institute members who created a nude calendar to raise money for charity following the death of a much-loved husband.

What begins as a fundraising idea soon attracts far more attention than anyone anticipated, bringing humour, friendship and some unexpected personal consequences along the way. The story has already inspired the hugely successful film and stage play, while this musical version features songs by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth.

I have always liked stories that find something quietly radical in ordinary lives, and Calendar Girls seems to balance that perfectly: grief alongside laughter, friendship alongside vulnerability, and a reminder that sometimes stepping completely outside your comfort zone can lead somewhere extraordinary.

• Where: New Wolsey Theatre, Civic Drive
• Tickets: From £15

Ipswich Town Art Trail

Saturday, 12 – Sunday, 13 September 10:00 – 16:00

Sometimes the best way to experience art is to go looking for it.

Organised by Ipswich Visual Arts Community, the free Ipswich Town Art Trail spreads across 10 venues around the town centre, with exhibitions, demonstrations, drop-in workshops and artists creating work live.

The trail begins at the Unitarian Meeting House before taking in spaces including Christchurch Mansion, St Clement's Arts Centre, Ginnel Foto Fest, Greenhouse Gallery, MF Gallery and Stoke Bridge Workshops.

What I love about an event like this is that it makes the town itself part of the experience. You can wander, discover a gallery you may never have stepped inside before, meet local artists and perhaps come home inspired to make something yourself. It is also completely free, so there is very little excuse not to have a nose around.

• Where: All over town
• Tickets: Free

Things I Know to be True at the Gallery Studio Theatre

Monday, 14 – Saturday, 19 September 19:30

Families: nobody knows exactly where to press your buttons quite like the people who installed them.

Andrew Bovell's Things I Know To Be True explores the lives of Bob and Fran Price and their four grown children as each tries to define themselves beyond the expectations, hopes and love of their parents.

Presented by Gallery Players and directed by Rachel Lansdowne, the play moves through the changing seasons as truths emerge, and the idea of a settled family life begins to unravel.

It is described as touching, funny and bold, but what interests me most is its central question: can you love someone too much? For anyone who enjoys theatre that digs into the messy territory between love, expectation, loyalty and independence, this looks set to be an emotionally rich evening.

• Where: Gallery Studio Theatre, St George's Street
• Tickets: From £14

Section 28 and Me at SPILL Festival

Thursday, 17 September 19:30

Art is often at its most powerful when personal memory collides with social history.

In Section 28 and Me, theatre-maker Tom Marshman examines the legacy of Section 28, the legislation that restricted the "promotion of homosexuality" by local authorities and had a profound effect on how queer lives could be discussed in schools.

Drawing on his own memories, conversations with LGBTQ+ communities and intergenerational stories gathered through the project, Marshman explores what growing up under that silence meant, and what traces of it remain.

The work has been described as playful, honest and heartfelt, which feels important. Queer history does not only belong in sombre retellings; it also contains humour, resilience, defiance and community. As part of SPILL, with its long history of bringing experimental and socially engaged performance to Ipswich, this is one I am particularly curious to see.

• Where: SPILL Think Tank, High Street between Ipswich Museum and Ipswich Art Gallery
• Tickets: £5

DEEPFAKE | Jess & Morgs at DanceEast

Friday, 25 September 19:30

And finally, something for anyone who has looked at the internet recently and wondered whether reality has quietly handed in its notice.

Award-winning choreographers and directors Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple bring DEEPFAKE to DanceEast: a live dance work combining movement, film, text, green-screen technology and real-time visual effects.

Built around a fictional television interview with a politician caught in scandal, the piece plays with misinformation, half-truths and the increasingly fragile line between what is real and what can be manufactured.

Performers in green morph suits (brilliantly described as "green goons"), expose the mechanics of manipulation in full view of the audience. It sounds mischievous, strange and extremely timely.

• Where: Jerwood DanceHouse, DanceEast, Foundry Lane
• Tickets: From £14

September's arts calendar is a reminder of just how broad Ipswich's cultural life can be. Whether you want a classic story reimagined, a weekend discovering local artists, an intimate family drama, queer history brought into the present or dance colliding with digital technology, there is plenty worth leaving the house for.

Don't forget: If you enjoy our content, please add Ipswich.co.uk as a "preferred source" on Google so you can easily find more of the content you value.

Local journalism is expensive to produce

It's free for you to read thanks to the generous support of our partners. Please support us by supporting them.