“Howard gave me the confidence to try new things” 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…
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…
HALF-TERM Artsreach entertainment in the last week of October brings long-time favourite Squashbox Theatre to Dorset with Curious Creatures, on 24th, 25th and 27th October, and Zannie Fraser of Luminous Tales with The Goose and Mrs Frost, an enchanting and mainly non-verbal show for very young children at Hinton Martell on Wednesday 28th. THE Cornwall-based…
ONE of the best-loved musicals of recent years, Little Shop of Horrors comes to the theatre at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre from Tuesday 20th to Saturday 24th October in a new production by Exeter Northcott Theatre co-produced with the Lighthouse and Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre. Packed with unforgettable songs, infectious rhythms, and bold theatrical storytelling, the…
TALENTED folk trio Jon Doran and The Northern Assembly draw on their varied backgrounds to create an evening of traditional folk with a contemporary edge, on a short Artsreach tour, including Cerne Abbas village hall on Thursday 22nd October, Marnhull village hall on Friday 23rd and Broadwindsor’s Comrades Hall on Saturday 24th, all at 7.30pm….
SAMUEL Beckett’s existential classic Waiting For Godot will be on stage at the Studio of Strode Theatre in Street, from Wednesday 28th to Saturday 31st October, nightly at 7.30. Produced in house and directed by Adam Lanfranchi, it explores the complex and shape-shifting story of two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, as they wait by a…
SHAKESPEARE Live, the company that was founded 37 years ago by a group of experienced amateur actors, brings its latest devised show, Shakespeare’s Green-Eyed Monster, to four venues between 21st and 24th October. The company, whose members are drawn from the Wiltshire and Somerset area, is known for its annual summer productions at Seend, and…
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….
Jennifer Saunders, one of the country’s best-loved comedians and admired actresses, returns to the stage of Bath Theatre Royal to star in a revival of Edward Bond’s The Sea, a dazzling blend of wild farce, high comedy, brilliant social satire and bleak poetic tragedy. The production runs from Thursday 22nd October to Saturday 7th November….
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…
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?”…
BRISTOL Old Vic will stage the world premiere of Bea Roberts’ adaptation of Max Porter’s book 2019 Lanny, from 16th October to 7th November. Porter describes it as a story about a family whose village is peopled by the living and the dead, where a boy with a gift for friendship leaves traces of enchantment…
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…
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…
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…
YO Thom, one of the country’s leading ceramicists, is exhibiting alongside well-known Dorset print-maker Liz Somerville at The Art Stable, the contemporary gallery at Gold Hill Organic Farm, Child Okeford, until 24th October. Originally from Japan – a heritage which is inherent in her beautiful ceramics – Yo Thom has lived in North Dorset for…
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….
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…
WIDDERSHINS is an ancient word that roughly translates as counter-clockwise. It is also the title of the latest one-man show from the versatile and talented David Mynne, ex-Kneehigh, and now one of Cornwall’s most popular theatrical exports. He brings this new story to Dorset for three dates with Artsreach, beginning on Friday 23rd October at…
BRIDPORT Arts Centre staff and supporters have just 10 weeks to reach the fund-raising target of £400,000 to bring the South Street building into community ownership. A gala event at the arts centre on Friday 23rd October will help to boost the funds with an evening of poetry, music and good food. Local support, whether…
TAKE your loudest singing voice, dress up in your finery and bring your flags to the church of St Gregory in Marnhull on Saturday 24th October, to join in the fun of the Last Night of the Organ Proms. Organist and Music at St Greg’s organiser Gordon Emery, inspired by the famous Last Night of…
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…
THE life of a remarkable West Country woman, whose story deserves to be better known, will be revealed in a talk with music at Ilminster Arts Centre, on Friday 27th November. Wadham is a familiar name in education circles, locally with Wadham School at Crewkerne, and nationally with Wadham College, Oxford, the first college at…
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…
THE multi-talented Yeovil Amateur Operatic Society is moving east for its next production, to the Powell Theatre in Sherborne. The show is the musical version of The Great British Bake-Off, making its first appearance locally on the amateur stage, and performances are from Monday 26th to Saturday 31st October.It is directed by Jennifer Holland-Brewer and…
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,…
WELLS Festival of Literature returns for its 35th year, following last year’s most successful event, with a packed programme of talks and book-related events at Cedars Hall, from Friday 16th October to Saturday 24th October. From popular novelists to leading journalists, including Jonathan Dimbleby, historians, cultural commentators, archaeologists, biographers, activists and campaigners, the 2026 Wells…