MAGIC can happen when the stars align, the gods unite and the time is right. That fickle chance beamed down on King Street in Bristol at the moment when writer Max Porter, director Nancy Medina, adaptor Bea Roberts and designer Rebecca Jane Wood agreed to adapt Porter’s 2019 book for the stage. The result is…
EDWARD Bond described his 1973 play The Sea as a tragicomedy, and certainly, in Jonathan Munby’s new production for Bath Theatre Royal, there are strong elements of both the epically tragic and the hilariously comedic. And there are elements of lots of other theatrical tropes, too. The puzzled audience can look out for moments of…
ADAM Lanfranchi has a theory about Samuel Beckett’s legendary absurdist play Waiting for Godot – that attempting a definitive explanation is a mug’s game. So when the chance came to direct the play for Street’s Strode Theatre, Adam chose his own cast from actors from around the region, gave them the scripts and sent them…
IF there’s one thing we all need in these difficult days, it’s a bit of warming comfort – and that is just what the members of Yeovil Amateur Operatic Society are offering in Sherborne this week. The venerable society makes its first foray out of the home town in 124 years, into the 218 seater…
THE acting students from Arts University Bournemouth will be performing a version of George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel, 1984, in the studio theatre on their Wallisdown campus from 29th to 31st October. Celebrated director Robert Icke worked with Duncan Macmillan on the adaptation of the 1949 novel in 2013, and their version has been chosen…
IF you were one of the thousands – millions, internationally – who gazed in wonder as the moon eclipsed the sun in mid-August, it may have stirred deep thoughts about our small part in the cosmos, and the impact space has on human existence and culture. This year’s Constellation Symposium at Springhead, Fontmell Magna, from…
SOMERSET-based, certified organic cheesemaker Feltham’s Farm is producing its first organic cheese hamper for Christmas, bringing together some of the UK’s finest organic artisan cheeses and accompaniments to celebrate nature-friendly festive food and the farmers and makers behind it. Curated by Marcus Fergusson and Penny Nagle of Feltham’s Farm, founders of the Organic Cheesemakers’ Network,…
MANY consider the 1985 film Back to the Future the greatest, and certainly one of the most successful, films of that genre ever made. With music from the 1950s (The Power of Love, Johnny B Goode, Earth Angel, Back in Time) to help accommodate the story going back to that period, the film – and…
ONE of the region’s leading exhibition space, and the home of a succession of talented makers, Walford Mill at Wimborne celebrates its 40th anniversary with an exhibition and two special events looking at the past, present and future of craft at the Mill and across Dorset. The anniversary events have been curated by furniture maker-designer…
IT is a brave – and talented – actor who could begin 2026 playing the title role in the Scottish play and end it in a one-man (comic) version of the tragedy of the melancholy Danish prince. From Macbeth to Hamlet (aka Omlet), with a festive side order of a Christmas quiz, Stu Mcloughlin is…
SIXTEEN years ago, with then-heartthrob Colin Firth doing his royal bit, and “newcomer” Geoffrey Rush exciting the critics, Tom Hooper’s film of David Seidler’s script The King’s Speech won 12 Oscar nominations and huge international acclaim. Two years later Seidler’s original script was staged at the Yvonne Arnaud in Guildford, and at Wyndhams in London….
ONE of the country’s favourite performers, actor, comedian, presenter and all-round national treasure Miriam Margolyes will make her pantomime debut this year as the voice of Giant Blunderbore in Jack and the Beanstalk at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Miriam has become known for her work as a…
THE sad news that Taunton’s much-loved Brewhouse Theatre is to close (due to financial difficulties) was not only a shock but a problem for Taunton Thespians, who were already into rehearsals for their production of The Haunting of Hill House in mid-November. But local theatre lovers can still look forward to the spine-chilling experience of…
OVER the past 13 years, singer and artistic director Lynsey Docherty has developed the Celebrate Voice festival that she founded at Salisbury into one of the region’s most exciting and varied events. This year’s festival runs from 21st to 31st October with a line-up of world-class singers and musicians delighting audiences with 11 days of…
SLADERS Yard, the contemporary art gallery and cafe in West Bay, continues its 20th anniversary celebrations with a major exhibition of paintings, drawings and etchings by David Inshaw, one of the great contemporary painters of landscape, an artist who has been showing regularly at the gallery throughout those years. The solo show, At the Still…
IT is hard to believe it is 30 years since the first Purbeck Film Festival, but in those three decades the rural celebration of film has become one of the country’s most interesting and varied events, this year running from 16th October to 1st November, with an astonishing mix of classic, recent and new releases….
ROMESH Ranganathan, star of countless television comedy series and and presenter of The Weakest Link, is back on the road from November with a new show, and a massive list of dates and venues, including Yeovil’s Westlands. In this new stand-up show Romesh Ranganathan promises to “Change Your Life.” He is here to help, he…
UNTIL 19th November, you can join in with the 75th anniversary celebrations of The Archers. And if you are old enough to remember the tragic death of Grace Archer in a fire in the stables at Brookfield (in 1955), you have been a fan of the world’s longest running soap for most of its existence….
BRISTOL Old Vic Theatre School, which this year celebrates 80 years since it opened at the suggestion of Sir Laurence Olivier as a training arm for the Old Vic theatre, has an exciting end to 2026. Former student Gregory Doran returns to the city to direct current students in Romeo and Juliet, on the floor…
ANY fans of Natalie Haynes will have a clear comedic knowledge of those old Greek Gods sitting on Mount Olympus and changing themselves into various more or less attractive birds and insects in order to seduce unsuspecting human women. Their antics come to hilarious life by courtesy of Jacques Offenbach in his operetta Orpheus in…
POOLE’s museum and Lighthouse arts centre have announced an exciting collaboration as a new shop opens at the arts centre. Found in the main Lighthouse foyer next to the ticket office, the shelves of Shop! are brimming with unique treasures keeping the town’s heritage alive. A trove of souvenirs and gifts, it is a chance…
TWO years after featuring the work of painter Lawrence Arthurs, the Slade Centre at Gillingham has an exhibition by his late wife, Susan Williams: A Distinctive Eye, running through October and November (with a three day break to allow for a Hallowe-en event) and into December. The summer 2024 exhibition of Lawrence Arthurs’ paintings and…
THEY do things differently in Sturminster Newton – so no surprises if the latest production by local drama society SNADS is a festive show … at Hallowe’en! A Vicar Of Dibley Christmas is being staged at the Exchange from 29th to 31st October, bringing all your favourite characters from the hit television comedy series together…
LUCY Kirkwood’s 2020 play The Welkin is set in Somerset in 1759, the story of a young woman condemned to death by hanging, but whose life will be saved if her claim of pregnancy is true. Twelve women of the village form the jury. She play has been chosen by Ilminster Entertainment Society for performance…
EARLIER this year, the ever-inventive and multi-talented Stu McLoughlin impressed audiences at Bristol’s Tobacco Factory Theatre with a powerful performance in the title role of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. Now, Stu – one of the founders of the West Country’s favourite comedy theatre company Living Spit – is back, giving another of the Bard’s tragic heroes…
FLO and Joan combine music with comedy and they are back with a new show, With Feeling, trying to take up as much of the stage and as little of your patience as possible as they use a “real band’s” set-list to write their own show – ruminating on themes such as “what is music?”…
FILMS about the cut-throat world of high fashion and legacy of an artist top the October lists for Moviola screenings in our region. Back for a second outing, and some years on, it’s still steely smiles and steel-tipped stilettos in the glittering couture world of Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt. The…
IT’s that time of year! Sandwiched between the summer open-air shows and the increasingly early Christmas season come the literary festivals. This region has several outstanding events, ranging from the long-established with stellar line-ups to the more local, which often have delightful gems that you won’t want to miss. Some high profile authors, politicians, historians,…