Monday 17th October 2011
bathimpact
Activities
www.bathimpact.com
BUSTing out a play
T
his weekend, Bath University Student Theatre presents Dealer’s Choice Patrick Marber’s tense, dark comedy - which will be their first major production of the year. A brilliant opening performance directed by Laurence Whitaker, Dealer’s Choice lays bare the desperation, empty posturing and machismo that lie at the heart of the world restauranthas created. Poker is everything in this world – everyone from the the sarcastic Frankie (Dev Pan-
The weekly game held in the restaurant is practically a religious event. But when sinister stranger to the game by Stephen’s only son tempt to repay a debt, tensions and buried grievances are forced
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quickly and brutally to the surface. As the game wears on, weaknesses are harshly exposed and the seemingly secure lives of each of the players hang on the turn of a card. Interested? Add to all this tension a script is crackling with rapid-fire comic dialogue, and you have the makings of a hit. This is not one you want to miss! With tickets costing just £4 for students and concessions, get them as soon as possible to avoid missing out! The first performance is this Friday, with the show running until Sunday. Tickets are for sale on Parade from 12-2 for most of this week – keep an eye out for a special appearance from the characters! Alternately, you can buy tickets online at www.bath.ac.uk/icia, over the phone on 01225 386777, or through the ICIA box office in 1 East 2.1. See you there!
The sultry cast of Dealer’s Choice, an excellent production by BUST
The Insider visits the Bath Science Café... T
he Bath Science Café is held on the second Monday evening of every month in the Raven pub, Queen Street, Bath. Each month, a speaker delivers a presentation to the interested general public on a different subject; past topics have included particle physics, climate change, tsunamis, anti-ageing medications and even the future of chocolate. Last Monday the Insider was attending a talk by Professor W.N. Wang of our own University, with the title “LEDs – Applications Beyond Simple Lighting”. The lecture plained how LEDs worked, how they were used for lighting and the second half focused on novel applications for LEDs. It turns out there are a LOT of such applications. For example, the small size of LEDs makes it easy to place them inside the body in order to illuminate it for interior imaging; in addition, the narrow colour range of LED light is especially useful if
Space Shuttle to remove the chemical ethylene that hindered plant growth. The process was further developed ing anthrax and other bacteria. Blue LEDs, meanwhile, are used for dental reported a 30% increase in catches when using blue-green LEDs to illuminate the water. LEDs could also prove hugely useespecially for the small proportion of high-value crops that account for over a third of farmland revenue. Plants are extremely sensitive to the different colours of light they receive, and different plants are affected in different ways in different stages of their life cycle. For example, plants grown long, thin stems and sparse leaves compared to those grown under natural light, as the ratio of red to far-red though there is a lot of work still to be
be enormous. The upstairs room in the Raven where the talk was held was packed. The presentation got fairly technical at times and many of the slides were rather bland, but his was balanced with humour and some aweinspiring statistics; for example, a series of images were shown of an anthrax culture being completely wiped out after just one minute of ultraviolet irradiation. After the talk there was a short break followed by a Q&A session, although it did seem like most of the questions were asked either by the organisers or PhD students working in Wang’s group. In conclusion, the Science Café follows a similar format to other public lectures such as those held at BRLSI, but the setting is less formal and the audience’s demographic more varied. It’s often advertised on the University website.
certain types of cells, chemicals or infectious agents. LEDs emitting in the ultraviolet can be used for photo-catalytic oxidation, a process developed in a “space greenhouse” aboard the
Become the next Picasso - join Splat!
W
elcome to Splat Art! You may have heard of us; we may seem like a brand new society but we’re not. We used to be known as the Visual Arts Society; we needed to be noticed around the Uni with something more than our artistic talents. Our previous name caused confusion about what we do (I actually
Splat Art is more succinct: we do art. We’re a relatively young society with high ambitions, run by students, for students like you. You don’t need to be good at the subject to take part; the way we look at it, it’s all about having fun. We offer you the opportunity to be creative and explore your artistic abilities in your free time. We provide all the space, materials and advice that you’ll need.
Over the past two years we’ve been really fortunate to have worked with the ICIA over a number of projects
ryone who took part (except for me as
which was presented in the display pus or the Fire Sculptures, made from wicker and hay and set alight at sunset on a hot summer’s evening for an amazing spectacle. We also contribute to art around the University such as at the Summer Ball where we featured an elegant couple made from wicker sculptures or helping out BUSMS, with pillars and two pyramids for their Egyptian musical, Aida! On Carnival Day, I stood with a canvas around my neck and pots of paint shouting at un-expecting freshers to “PAINT ME”. This was an exercise for everyone to see that to do art it doesn’t need to be a regimented process which requires skill. The complete canvases may seem like a horrible accident to most, but it was fun for eve-
Celebrity and Toga nights in Solsbury Court where we were painting your faces to raise funds for our society and charity. If you missed us, don’t worry! Just look out for us again at Halloween! This year we plan to do a lot more, ultimately wanting to achieve our main goal of reaching a wider audience with our art. We are arranging Indian traditional art workshops to celebrate the festival of Diwali and are planning a few big workshops, such as a Scrapheap Challenge with a twist where we will be making sculptures
Some of you freshers may (or may
bers and other intrigued students for a Bath Walk. We sketched the landscape by the lake and, after a while, walked and sketched our way to the Sham Castle followed by Bath City
centre, ending with a drink at the pub. We overcome any obstacles in our way - we decided to go to the top level of Wessex House with a brilliant view for a short while, to avoid the cold and rain. As well as traditional art and recycled sculptures, we plan to have life drawing, still-life drawing, fabric painting, collages, themed card making, wire sculptures and a lot more! We don’t commit any members to anything; if you miss a workshop there will be another one just around the corner! So, if you are at all interested in creativity and exploration, or if you want to know what else we do, check out our Facebook page “Splat Art @ University of Bath 2011/12” or visit our bathstudent.com page. Our photo albums are packed with our past workshops and projects and we’re always open to suggestions! Don’t hold back, be creative and explore your imagination.