Incoming: Improv comedy classes, magic, book talks

Fancy giving improv comedy a go? The Free Association is running two taster sessions at Cloud Zen in Margate on August 29 and September 12. Both two hour workshops will be relaxed with no being put on the spot and no performance to an audience. It’ll give you an introduction to the skills developed in the company’s longer courses. Tickets £20.

If you like magic, magician and mindreader Ian ‘Savvy’ Saville has two shows coming up in Thanet. He will be hosting an afternoon tea at The House in Ramsgate on Sunday, August 23. Tickets from £35. He will then perform his show The Deceptionist at Santa Clara in Margate on Sunday, September 27. Tickets £22.38.

Also at The House in Ramsgate, Kent-based vineyard Chapel Down will be leading a wine tasting evening on Thursday, September 24. You’ll get to sample a selection of its still and sparkling wines, as well as learning about the stories and craftsmanship behind them. Tickets £45. 

Authors Adam Weymouth and Zoe Gilbert will be discussing their work exploring and writing about nature at the Best of Times book shop in Broadstairs on Tuesday, September 8. Adam’s latest book Lone Wolf is the true story of tracking the route of a wolf across the Alps from Slovenia to Italy, while Zoe is a novelist whose work explores British folklore and its connection to the 21st century. Tickets £9. 

Queer cabaret night The Plague is on at Where Else in Margate on Saturday, August 29. Hosted by Freeda Nip and ELZ, the event will raise money for Trans Club. Tickets £5. 

Author Jacqueline Crooks will be discussing her new novel Sky City at the Fort Road Hotel on Thursday, August 27. Set in 1990s London, the book is a fateful story of friendship and redemption. Free tickets. 

Adam Coney & Richard Pike will be recording the follow-up to their 2025 improvised guitar and piano improv album Driftingland in a live studio session at Big Jelly Studios in Ramsgate on Friday, September 25. The duo invite the audience to be part of the recording. Tickets £7 (free for under 21s).

The next Bookshare by the Sea will take place at the Garden Gate Project in Cliftonville on Sunday, September 6 from 2-4pm. A book group with a difference, there is no set text. Just bring along a book you’ve loved (or loathed) recently to discuss with a friendly group of fellow readers. Free.

Club night Different Directions returns to Margate Arts Club in Cliftonville on Friday, September 25. There will be DJ sets from Triangulator, DJ Lujoso, and J-Felix. Tickets £5.

More than 25 buildings and other locations around Thanet will take part in this year’s nationwide Heritage Open Days, which runs from September 11-20. The venues opening up to the public include the Palace Cinema in Broadstairs, The Italianate Greenhouse in Ramsgate, and Walpole Bay Hotel in Margate. Find out more.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the Carlton cinema in Westgate will be screening the movie on August 28-30. Tickets from £4.35. 

Giant Coffee and Form Nutrition will be leading a guided walk along the Viking Coast on Sunday, August 23. Starting in Margate, it will make stops in Broadstairs and Ramsgate, offering great views and conversation along the way. Starting at 9am, it will finish around 4pm. Places £20. 

Historian Dr Julia Phillips will be giving her talk The History of Witchcraft & Women: Magic, Rituals and the Patriarchy twice at the South Quay Shed in Whitstable on Thursday, September 24. She will discuss the historical roots of witchcraft, how women were portrayed as dangerous and disruptive throughout history, and the rise of modern Pagan witchcraft. Tickets £18. Catch it at 5.30pm or 8pm.