The Arts Section

Former Wells Cathedral scholars return for Bach masterpiece

TWO former pupils of Wells Cathedral School return to Wells Cathedral on Friday 27th March to take part in a performance of Bach’s masterpiece, the St Matthew Passion, with the Armonico choir and baroque orchestra. The ensembles are conducted by their founder Christopher Monks. He and tenor soloist Nathan Vale were organ and choral scholars…

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Olivier-nominated musical at Bath

THE Olivier Award-nominated, international smash-hit musical The Choir of Man is coming to Bath Theatre Royal from Tuesday 24th to Saturday 28th March, as part of its first UK and Ireland tour. Direct from the West End, the feel-good, foot-stomping show will be visiting more than 35 venues. Set in on-stage pub The Jungle, a…

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Fiddler on the Roof, YAOS, Westlands, Yeovil

IN the years since I last saw Fiddler on the Roof – which was the memorable Chichester Festival production with Omid Djalili as Tevya and Tracy-Ann Oberman as Golde – the world has been turned upside down. That poignant but funny show, with its barn-storming central performance, seemed to end on a note of hope,…

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An invitation to explore the orchestra

PRIMARY school aged children in around the south west have a chance to experience live music,  when the BSO’s Explore the Orchestra tour visits Bristol Beacon on 27th March and Poole Lighthouse on 19th and 20th May with a series of free Explore the Orchestra concerts. With the addition of a digital concert, broadcast live…

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Pressure, Swan Theatre, Yeovil

WE Brits talk about the weather all the time. Will it be sunny for the weekend, the wedding, the village fete, the cricket …? Will there be enough rain for the crops? You name it, whatever we are planning to do, we want to know what the weather will be. The Met Office is pretty…

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BSO celebrates film music titans

BOURNEMOUTH Symphony Orchestra regularly includes music with a lighter touch in its programmes, alongside mainstream and more serious works.  John Williams Blockbusters comes to Bristol Beacon on 27th March, Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre, on 29th March. The series of concerts features music from some of the greatest blockbuster films of the past 40 or so years,…

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Winter is coming …

IF you loved Game of Thrones – or maybe never saw it but still couldn’t escape its omnipresence – don’t miss A&E Comedy’s brilliant spoof, Game of Crones, making its last appearance in the south west at Exeter’s Phoenix arts centre on Wednesday 25th March. Sharpen your swords and fill your goblets – the dragons…

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Improvising Middle Earth

WHAT do you do if your cinema is planning to show all three Lord of the Rings films in one epic screening – but you only have the sound-tracks? Find out at at Exeter’s Northcott Theatre on Monday 23rd March. You improvise. All three parts of the saga – all those hobbits and heroes, elves…

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Second regional win for FOLDE Dorset

SHAFTESBURY bookshop FOLDE Dorset, which specialises in nature writing, has been named as the best independent book retailer in the South West for a second time, just two years after taking the regional prize in 2024. Affectionately known as The Nibbies, the awards are organised by The Bookseller magazine and judged by a prestigious panel…

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Time for cricket at the Studio

RICHARD Harris’s comedy Outside Edge is next on stage at Studio Theatre’s base in Ashley Road, Salisbury, from 23rd to 28th March. Directed by Colin Hayman, this very English story is all about summer, the sound of leather on willow, cricket teas, assembling a team each week, the constant threat of rain, and of course,…

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