RESIDENTS of East and West Coker are the first in Somerset to enjoy the return of live theatre, as Nick White, founder-director of Wassail Theatre, gets on his bike to bring a new short play into people’s gardens. Wassail and Reveal Productions are piloting performances of Heartbeat, a ten minute one-person play, adhering to social…
YEOVIL’s Westlands entertainment venue has reopened for film screenings in line with government guidance to reopen cinemas, with a reduced capacity and additional cleaning measures will be in place. The venue, operated by South Somerset District Council, will be operating screenings in the ballroom using a sofa configuration. The July programming includes three screenings a…
AS the country moves slowly towards a “new normal,” theatres, arts centres and concert halls begin to look at ways in which they will be able to reopen. The board of trustees off the Brewhouse theatre and arts centre at Taunton, have announced plans for a limited reopening in August. Val Hammond, the board chairman,…
DORSET’s two agricultural shows, Dorset County Show and Gillingham & Shaftsbury Show, have got together for the first time to bring British farming to the public’s homes via a new virtual content platform – Farming @ Home. In a year when the public can’t go to the two shows , because the one-day Gillingham and…
AN emergency grant from the British Film Institute has “really lifted our spirits as an organisation,” says Elspeth McBain, chief executive of Poole’s Lighthouse centre for the arts. The award of £5,000 is part of the BFI’s allocation of £1.45m emergency funding to independent exhibitors across the UK through the Covid-19 Resilience Fund managed by…
VENUES across the south west, including Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre and Bristol Old Vic were quick to welcome news of the government’s £1.57 billion rescue package for the arts, culture and heritage sector. Elspeth McBain, the Lighthouse chief executive, was on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Mondayt morning. She described the news as “an…
THE Devon Guild of Crafts is reopening the shop and galleries at Bovey Tracey on Wednesday 8th July. The charity, the Devon Guild of Craftsmen, has been kept afloat and will continue to run the Guild for the craft makers and visitors. A statement from the Guild has thanked everyone who has supported the organisation….
SALISBURY Cathedral is open for public worship from Sunday 5th July. The opening of churches and cathedrals – including Salisbury and Wells – follows three weeks in which they have been partially open for private prayer and contemplation. After more than three months lockdown, the first public service in the Cathedral will be a Eucharist…
RACHEL Sargent is one of the artists with work in the summer exhibition at the Glebe Gallery, near Shaftesbury, on the Wiltshire-Dorset border. The exhibition, which runs to 12th July, includes paintings, prints and sculptures. The gallery, owned and run by James and Flora Harvey, specialises in traditional contemporary art. There are two mixed artists…
SCULPTURE by the Lakes, the home and outdoor gallery of sculptor Simon Gudgeon and his wife Monique, is the setting for a new three-day Dorset Arts Festival, from 3rd to 5th July. The festival, set in and around the lakes at Pallington, near Dorchester, will be a showcase of art and music, with more than…