The Spooky Men's Chorale: Rhapsody in Bluegrass

The Spooky Men's Chorale bring their show Rhapsody in Bluegrass to Plymouth Marjon University on Saturday 1 August, playing at the Quad Theatre in the Marjon Arts Centre on Derriford Road. It's a men's singing show, and the group — known as 'The Spooks' — have been around since they formed in New South Wales in 2001. Since then, they've become regulars on the festival and theatre circuits across Australia, the UK and Europe, with seven albums and 900 gigs to their name.

They're often described as a 'magnificent, many-headed beast' that's turned the world of men's singing upside down. Their work carves out new territory for the male voice, moving between 'mighty man sounds, exquisite tenderness and charming stupidity' to both celebrate and mock masculinity. It's a wide range to cover in one set, and the contrast is part of the point.

On stage, they keep things low-key: unassuming, casually hatted, and dressed in black. The Daily Telegraph called them 'a bunch of blokes' whose show 'will blow your mind'. That's a fair summary of the gap between how they look and what they do — the simple dress belies the scale of the sound they build together.

The show runs from 19:30 to 22:30, so it's a full evening's worth of singing rather than a short set. Tickets are £30, and the venue is the Quad Theatre at the Marjon Arts Centre, Derriford Road, Plymouth, Devon PL6 8BH.