THE Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is hot. The past 25 years has seen them develop from an orchestra playing in a London pub, to an orchestra which has played in the most established venues throughout the world, including Carnegie Hall.

All 7000 seats in London’s Royal Albert Hall were sold when they performed there and now they’re heading for Canberra.

Why is this “twanging, singing, awesome, foot-stomping band” so sexy?

Maybe because they’re so funny – “quintessentially British humour”, his promoters say.

Maybe it’s because they play tunes by Wagner, Nirvana, The Who, The Sex Pistols, David Bowie and Kate Bush.

Or maybe it’s because audiences can relate to the instrument, seen recently when former ACT politician Wayne Berry serenaded the Turkish Delight Restaurant in Belconnen with his uke. Tuggeranong Arts Centre even held a ukulele festival last year and tested the uke skills of Canberrans.

One of the irresistible features of the orchestra is that it uses no drums, pianos, backing tracks or electronic whizkiddery – it’s just ukuleles and singing with a bit of whistling, breaking one of the age-old rues f the stage – never whistle in the theatre.

With each performance, the orchestra draws on the strengths and limitations of what is still a simple instrument.

This time, if you’re game, you can play along to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” during the performance, but you’ll need to prepare.

Visit canberratheatrecentre.com.au for a selection of scores.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, at the Canberra Theatre, 7.30pm, Saturday, March 3. Bookings to 6275 2700 or canberratheatrecentre.com.au