June Boom - Week Four: 22nd - 30th June

As we head into the final furlong, the June Boom cup is still overflowing with copious cultural delights!

Belinda Dillon, Arts Writer, Editor and Co-Producer of June Boom, looks ahead at all the last week’s action…

Two people who’ve experienced life at its extremes give talks this week. Death Zone (Barnfield Theatre, 23rd June) lets us hear from Adriana Brownlee, a British mountaineer, paragliding pilot and adventure athlete who’s the youngest woman to have climbed K2 as well as all 14 of the world’s 8,000m peaks. Then, at Exeter Phoenix on 25th June, Agile Rabbit present To Lose a War: Lee Anderson in Conversation, in which the acclaimed author and New Yorker writer discusses his career covering the tragedy of US involvement in Afghanistan.

Maybe not as perilous but equally as fascinating, Ella Al-Shamahi – palaeoanthropologist, TV presenter, explorer and stand-up – presents a talk on our remarkable origin story. Becoming Human (Exeter Phoenix, 28th June) goes back to Homo Sapiens’ humble beginnings, and tracks our progress as we continue to innovate and travel like no other species of human. Expect a talk that draws on the latest discoveries, heart, humour and wild expedition stories.

If gaming is your jam, then New Level Unlocked: Discovering the Story of Video Games (Phoenix, 24th June) is for you. Leading researchers from across the region take part in a panel talk plus Q&A, exploring the research behind video games - what they tell us about ourselves, our futures, and the stories we tell. If you're a video game enthusiast, or just curious to learn more, book your free ticket now.

Want to get hands on creative? That’s the vibe at the second annual Magdalen Road Creative Street Festival (27th June, 12pm - 6pm), which fills the fiercely independent St Leonard’s road with chances to try your hand at singing, dancing, music, printing, spinning, weaving, pot-turning and painting. There will be stalls plus all the street’s shops and cafes selling food, drink and crafts. If last year is anything to go on, the whole day will be a load of fun and experimentation.

Explore the fundamentals of capturing the human form in Sculpture from Life Workshop (Phoenix, 23rd June). Guided by an experienced tutor, you’ll learn techniques for observing and translating a live model into dynamic clay sculptures. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refine your skills, this hands-on workshop offers personalised feedback and inspiring creative exercises to help you develop your understanding of anatomy, proportion, and expression.

Over on Paris Street, Gallery 27 is a pop-up visual art gallery showing the work of painter Hannah Oram. On Wednesday 24^th you can stop by for drop-in workshops. On Thursday 25^th, from 7pm, join Casual Collage at Cuckoo Taproom for a fun, informal evening of cut-up creativity.

Or how about becoming a work of art yourself? Get ready for a spectacular explosion of colour, creativity and carefree fun as RAMM takes over Northernhay Gardens with Rainbow Colour Clash (27th June). Walk, jog or skip your way through a series of colour stations, where clouds of brilliant powder will fill the air and shower you in colour. Come dressed for mess. Leave covered in colour!

Music fans are spoilt for choice, too. English punk-rock band Yndi Halda (25th June) fill Exeter Cavern with their characteristic expansive, cinematic sound that has seen them compared to post-rock and modern classical genres. At Bomba, Echo Town (26th June) draw inspiration from bands of the 60s and 70s to incorporate improvised musical excursions, drum solos, and off-the-cuff jams, with influences ranging from rock to ska, punk and global sounds.

Classic yacht rock fans are in for a treat when Logicaltramp (Exeter Phoenix, 27th June) demonstrate their unique approach to the music of Supertramp for a show that includes all the greatest hits, stand-out album tracks and even a few rarities for the die-hard fans! Jazz more your style? Then head to 12 Bar for a soulful, modern take led by acclaimed vocalist Sarah Harris (27th June), bringing together a stellar band of musicians for an intimate and captivating live performance. At the Phoenix, rising star Zaid Hilal (28th June) is on a UK tour playing Palestinian music and singing in a folk-rock-Arabic music genre. For this show Zaid performs solo with carefully arranged recorded support from Palestinian musicians and singers.

Missing the good old days when we gathered round the old joanna and belted out the hits ourselves? Then channel your inner Teenage Dirtbag and head to The Hall for The Noughtie 90s Piano Singalong (27th June) – fusing intimate pub vibes with main character Glastonbury energy. You can then give your vocal chords a rest but keep the dancing going by staying on for the Summer Silent Disco!

Or you can cut a rug for a good cause when the 10^th edition of Dance Against Racism (Phoenix, 27th June) turns up the sound system in support of Mutual Aid Sudan. A wonderful opportunity to dance our sense of the possible, dance our deeper knowing of collective joy, dance our human way of simply being together.

All hail the queen of cabaret events – peri-menopausal glamour-puss Bunny Morethan (aka Scary Little Girls’ Rebecca Mordan) is here to learn all she can about what’s coming down the female line. Queenagers (Exeter Northcott, 25th June) features stand-up, music and monologues focussing on the funny side of the menopause and the uplifting freedom and positivity it can bring. Laugh until the tears run down your legs – and feel reassured that it isn’t just you! 

In need of some family-friendly performance? Everyone is in for treat when The Gruffalo roars into Exeter Northcott on 26th June. Join Mouse on a daring adventure through the deep, dark wood in Tall Stories’ magical, musical adaptation of the classic picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler – celebrating 25 years on stage in 2026. Songs, laughs and monstrous fun for children aged 3 and up and their grown-ups.

Local history buffs ahoy! Make your way to Cygnet Theatre for The Many Ghosts of Bishop Philpotts (28th June) – a new play exploring the controversial tenure of Henry Philpotts during 1831-1869. The play asks questions about the British Establishment’s relation to power; and control, its past and its present, secrets and lies.

Renowned dance company BalletBoyz celebrate the 25^th anniversary of their acclaimed debut Pointless with a show that incorporates live dance, film, and excerpts of work from the Company’s history. Still Pointless (Exeter Northcott, 22nd and 23rd June) also showcases a brand-new commission by Seirian Griffiths. On 23rd June, the special one-hour event BalletBoyz: Company Class is an opportunity to watch the company prepare and rehearse for the evening performance in their daily class on stage.

Blending music and dance, Exeter Cathedral plays host to a dazzling evening when the world-renowned London Concertante return for The Seven Sins of Tango by Candlelight (26th June). Featuring two champion tango dancers accompanied by a 10-piece ensemble, the programme features the very best music from tango’s golden era – channelling the fire and passion of Argentina’s most iconic dance.

Fear not, comedy fans, because Danny Bhoy is here to with his new show, Dear World (Phoenix, 23rd June), a hybrid of stand-up and theatre that has already wowed audiences in London, Edinburgh and Montreal UK. Expect his usual charming blend of conversational storytelling and observational humour.

For all your sweet tooth/spoken word needs, head to Gandy Street’s Chococo on 24th June for Spork! Poetry: The Absolute Melt Edition, featuring sets from local artists Peter Farrie and Hannah Walker, plus a mini open mic. Delicious hot chocolates, soft drinks and other refreshments available from the café.

Literature fans should head to Exeter Library for The Poems of Sylvia Plath (25th June) – a free event celebrating the publication of a new edition of the 1981 Collected Poems, including previously unpublished juvenilia, detailed notes, and lists of variants, introducing a new generation of readers to Plath’s extraordinary literary development.

It’s a bumper weekend at Exeter Custom House, as Art Work Exeter celebrate the end of their three-year residency with a programme of lively events and activities. On Friday 26^th, The Listening Room kicks off proceedings as sound artist Somatic and guests share moments of their lives through music. On Saturday morning, artist Adam Garratt unveils a co-created welcome banner and complementary new artworks outside the Custom House. This will be followed by a coffee morning conversation to consider the relationship between arriving and feeling welcome. Saturday afternoon sees yoga therapist and teacher Sonia Rashid and artist activist Yara El-Sherbini host Solidaritea – a conversation salon to consider the relationship between hospitality and solidarity. They will be serving tea, blended in a Solidaritea workshop with some of Exeter’s women activists.

In the evening of 27^th, Cut Up Cabaret presents experimental cabaret and conversational exchange that considers the relationship between international shippage and linguistic slippage. Drawing inspiration from Zurich Dada’s Cabaret Voltaire and Krakow’s Zielony Balonik (Green Balloon), they will plunder, break apart, reconfigure and perform texts relating to the Custom House and Exeter’s historic trade.

On Sunday 28^th, the morning offers Views from the Veranda – a free drop-in gathering hosted by Nadia Lewis-Gorton and friends. Everyone is welcome at any time during the session, to enjoy a Jamaican sorrel drink (non-alcoholic!) and consider the relationship between private and civic life. And finally, from 3pm, A Custom Made Conversation has the Art Work Exeter team talking about their residency, considering the relationship between ambitions and legacies.

Want to bag yourself some arty bargains. Then on Sunday 28^th head to Piazza Terracina on the Quayside, 12noon-4pm, for the Art Car Boot. Expect painters, ceramicists, illustrators, photographers and printmakers to pack out the Quay with a huge array of quality work for sale.

And that, my friends, is that! What an absolute corker of a month: Exeter really is full to the brim with creativity.