Arts news

Regional bookshop win for Folde

A SHAFTESBURY bookshop, which specialises in nature writing, has been named as the best independent book retailer in the South West. FOLDE Dorset has won the British Book Awards Independent Bookshop of the Year competition for the South West, organised by The Bookseller magazine and judged by a prestigious panel of industry specialists, authors, journalists…

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Jon Monie plays Grimaldi

MULTI-talented John Monie, the writer and star of Bath’s annual pantomime and a frequent performer in improv shows, tackles one of the greatest figures of pantomime and comedy history, Joseph Grimaldi, in a new play which has its world premiere at the Bath Comedy Festival from 14th to 20th April. SLAPSTICK! hauls its audiences into…

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Land Work by Paul Jones launches The Sherborne

IF you have been watching over the past few years the slow process of restoring and converting Sherborne House, the listed Georgian building in Newland, Sherborne, you can see the results from 1st March with the first exhibition, Land Work, new and recent paintings by the Dorset artist Paul Jones, open for booked visits until…

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Festival will inspire Curious Minds

A NEW arts festival for Bath from 7th to 28th March kicks off the region’s arts festival calendar. Curious Minds will champion the importance of curiosity for all, with more than 30 book talks, live performances, film screenings, writing workshops and walking tours. Described as “a festival to ignite ideas,” Curious Minds, curated by Bath…

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Shakespearean dream for Lyme

LYME Regis continues to build on its long-standing heritage of community plays – the town hosted the first ever production of what is now known as a community play, Ann Jellicoe’s The Reckoning, in 1978. In 2024, the theme will be Shakespeare’s much-loved comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, following the success of a previous Shakespeare-at-Lyme…

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Mayflower audience behaviour campaign

SOUTHAMPTON’s Mayflower Theatre and the MAST Mayflower Studios have launched a public awareness campaign, aimed at encouraging kind and respectful audience behaviour towards theatre staff. A series of posters and digital screens around both venues will picture individual friendly and dedicated team members, with reminders of appropriate behaviour, with a personal touch. Michael Ockwell, the…

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Howard Coggins

THE hilariously funny, cuddly, wry and inspired Howard Coggins, best known in the south west as co-founder of Living Spit and nationally for his Lottery adverts, has died at the age of 52. He was diagnosed with cancer late in 2022. Frustrated with playing bit parts in other people’s shows, Howard and Stu McLoughlin started…

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Come from Away on tour next year

THE the multi award-winning musical Come From Away comes to Plymouth Theatre Royal from 9th to 13th April, to the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton from 16th to 20th April and to Bristol Hippodrome from 20th to 31st August. The show is based on the real-life story of the 7,000 air passengers from all over the…

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Hamilton, at a theatre near you

HAMILTON, the Lin Manuel Miranda show that shook and enthralled the world of stage musicals, starts its first UK tour in 2024, and in the following months visits three venues in the south and west. First stop in the region is at Bristol Hippodrome from 30th April to 22nd June 2024, and the tour returns…

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