TRACY-Ann Oberman is a fearless actress – whether performing as one of the finest Tzeitels in the history of Fiddler on the Roof or wowing audiences with her audacious reimagining of The Merchant of Venice, where she played a female Shylock in the turbulent Fascist-inflamed East London of the 1930s, she clearly relishes a challenge….
THE history of theatre, film and TV is strewn with adaptations of famous works that have proved disastrous rather than successful. When in 2000 director/choreographer Matthew Bourne decided to marry the music of one of the world’s most popular operas, Bizet’s Carmen, with James M Cain’s novel and 1945 film noir The Postman Only Rings…
TAMSIN Waley-Cohen, one of the country’s finest violinists joins the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for two concerts, at Weymouth Pavilion on Thursday 10th September and Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple, on Monday 14th. The soloist, who is artistic director of Devo Two Moors Festival (1st to 11th October), will be playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Massenet’s beautiful Meditation…
IT is easy to underestimate Yeovil. It doesn’t have the historic buildings and picturesque narrow streets of Frome, the cathedral and medieval beauty of Wells or the ancient history and colourful eccentricity of Glastonbury. What it does have is talent – massive creative talent of all sorts, musical, theatrical, artistic, dance … The Somerset town…
PERFORMANCE poet Luke Wright has taken his own story of adoption and turned it into a show that is part stand-up and part poetry. Later Life Letter, an evening of warm and honest thoughts, with poems, jokes and some music, returns to the south west on 10th September at Bridport Arts Centre, 11th at Weston-super-Mare…
A LIGHTHOUSE is a symbol of hope and safety, light in sometimes frightening darkness, a welcome hint of hope if the ship is foundering or there is a man overboard. In her debut play, The Light House, coming to Somerset’s Take Art rural touring charity in September, writer-performer Alys Williams explores a real life story…
EVERY year more people look out for those little black stickers with one, two or three gold stars – Great Taste Awards from the Dorset-based Guild of Fine Food. This year’s West Country results include 27 products gaining the top three-star status, and a finalist from the region for the overall national Golden Fork awards….
PURBECK, with its dramatic coastline, is inextricably linked to the sea, and this is the theme of this year’s Purbeck International Chamber Music Festival, from 3rd to 6th September. Artistic director, and internationally acclaimed cellist, Natalie Clein has chosen this theme because the sea connects and separates, carries memory and myth, and reflects the depths…
THE Billings, a dedicated community venue at the heart of the Theatre Royal Bath, will open in spring 2027. This will be the fourth and final public and performance space within the theatre’s historic city centre site. The project, funded with support from more than 4,200 donors, has been fully approved, and work is now…
SOME years ago, the campaigning environmental charity Common Ground published a booklet exploring the idea of souvenirs and the difference between trinkets and geegaws – nylon tartan, plastic scallop shells – mass-produced on the other side of the world, and locally produced crafts that carried a connection to their place. If you are in Devon…
“THE ship is in her trim; the merry wind blows fair from land*” – exactly the message you need as you’ve packed the picnic basket, stowed the chairs in the car, checked your tickets on the phone (?) and set off for an evening in the open air, surrounded by trees and hedgerows, all ready…
PICTURESQUE Sidmouth is not only a delightful seaside resort and home to the country’s oldest folk festival, but also has the longest-running traditional summer rep season, at the Manor Pavilion theatre, this year continuing until 19th September. The programming at Sidmouth has moved on from the typical farce and mystery fare to include more challenging…
COMPOSER Helen Porter comes to Shaftesbury’s St Peter’s Church on Saturday 19th September with her Calstock Big Jazz Choir for a performance of her major new work Small Wonders, a musical celebration of the consolation of nature. Composed for choir, soloists and instrumentalists, Small Wonders had its premiere on the last night of this year’s…
THE 2026-27 season for Amateur Players of Sherborne starts on 7th September with a production of The Good Doctor, a play based on short stories by Anton Chekhov. Directed by Richard Culham, the sold-out production is described as “an evening of laughter, longing and wonderfully human absurdity.” Neil Simon reimagines the Chekhov’s stories with wit,…
GLORIOUS, Peter Quilter’s play about the later life of Florence Foster Jenkins, comes to Ilminster Warehouse from 2nd to 5th September. Florence, an American socialite whose one ambition in life was to sing opera, had enough money to finance concerts at the great opera houses of the country, but little idea how to make one…
NEWS that a sequel was planned for The Devil Wears Prada, the brilliant film that shed a glittering and unflinching eye on the fashion business, was a surprise for many people. Would stars Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Stanley Tucci want to reprise their roles … how could the story be bettered? Reportedly Streep 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. This year marks the 75th anniversary of The Archers, and there are two ways you can…
AN artists collective who originally got together in 2021 with a touring exhibition across the south west are reconvening in August with an exhibition reviewing their five year journey and beginning another in Bath and Bruton between 24th August and 27th September. Travelling to eight locations over the summer of 2021, Inch by IN:CH took…
THERE’s precious little “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” as Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre heads into autumn. Rather, the arts centre is ripping it up with a short season of cult films that explored and celebrated different aspects of youth rebellion. Since the 1950s, youth culture in this country has a wide and varied history,…