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AMELIE, MEET ALEX
Introverted waitress Amelie has thoughts and fantasies which are way beyond extroverted. That is, until her time spent helping others starts to fill her life with something from which she’s always shied away. You guessed it: lurve. And this all takes place on stage, amid spontaneously bursting into song. The 2001 film Amelie, directed by the très bien Jean-Pierre Jeunet, was a marvel to look at: surreal scenes all set in velvety red and greens. It was more or less an unofficial part of any freshers’ week, as well as being an upbeat and elevating experience to boot. To see Amelie transferred to The Alexandra stage has our interest well and truly piqued. And not to sound too uncultured, but we’re also relieved that unlike the subtitled film, it’s all performed in the Queen’s. July 22 to 27. Tickets from £23.90
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WIN A £250 SHOPPING SPREE
Today is Independence Day. Which means today is the anniversary of the day President Bill Pullman led a global fightback against alien invaders. That's not relevant, sorry, ignore that. Today, however, is also Independents Day (see what they've done there?), the day we celebrate the independent businesses of Brum. The Retail BID are placing the spotlight on the 93 independents that fall into their city centre catchment by offering up £250 worth of vouchers to spend at five of them — £50 in each. The winner can pick themselves up a haul of wine from Loki, go gift shopping at Smithsonia and nab new threads from Projekt 21 (pictured), Disorder Boutique and Autograph. To be in with a chance of winning, simply head here to our Twitter competition, here. Winner picked at random at midday, July 11.
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Venue: Poli, 21 York Road, Kings Heath B14 7SA; website
Choice: Black pepper cream pizza (£9.50) Chooser: Sophie, Owner
Ever heard of something called the F45 Eight-Week Challenge? We have, because we did it, and after 56 days of (actually rather satisfying) HIIT classes and lean muscle making meal plans, we were hard as nails aaaaand utterly desperate to eat cake at caneat, followed by pizza at Poli. We've talked a lot about the former but the Kings Heath newbie — from the people behind Grace + James — opened mid-challenge, so salivation levels were frankly ludicrous. The fresh, bright, buzzy joint feels lovely, and, as evidenced by the reservation list, is exactly what York Road ordered. We had a bit of a false start with the pickled grapes (£3), which had been hyped to the max but didn't do anything for us. A double win followed. Though pizza is the main event, Poli is big on thoughtful small plates, like meatballs (£7, good), roasted bone marrow (£7, great) and woodfired cauliflower with texture-filled red pesto and hazelnuts (£6, utterly stupendous). The second must order dish is the team's bianca pizza — so a tomato-less creation — here topped with scamorza, mozzarella, pecorino and oodles of cracked black pepper. We're n'duja people — spicy salami a smiley editor makes — but by God the creamy creation Poli has come up with had us reassessing a lifetime of pizza orders. Dunk in squid ink aioli (£2) and a tiny drop of the fiery fermented hot sauce (£2) for the perfect bite. Challenge complete. Menu
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