WHAT more perfect week to open Amateur Players of Sherborne’s new Studio Theatre home with a production of Shakespeare’s sylvan comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream? The invited audience on the opening night was able to delight in the transformation of the landmark corrugated iron former chapel into an intimate and welcoming performing space. It is…
SHAFTESBURY’s increasingly adventurous fringe festival – run over the weekend of the town’s traditional Gold Hill Fair – has a new independent film strand this year, with a partnership with the Purbeck Film Festival. Three up-and-coming directors, all graduates of Bournemouth University, will attend a screening of their works, each lasting approximately 12 minutes, at…
THE Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra new Leverhulme Young Conductor in Association is the Polish musician Marta Gardolińska. Her appointment was announced on 19th June, out of a field of more than 125 young conductor applicants from around the world. The role provides a platform for the next generation of talented young conductors to establish themselves in…
THE new Iford Arts production of Handel’s rarely heard Partenope opens at Iford Manor Gardens on Saturday 23rd June, with six performances until 4th July. If visting the Iford Festival is one of the things you’ve always wanted to do, now is your chance, as 2018 will be the final festival in the Harold Peto…
ARTSREACH, Dorset’s rural touring arts charity, brings Pop-Up Opera with a Mozart double bill of comic operas to Herrison Hall at Charlton Down near Dorchester on Sunday 1st July. Pop-Up Opera made their debut with Artsreach last year, the first time opera had been on offer for village audiences. After the success of the debut…
FORTY years ago, most seaside resorts had theatres as well as “end of the pier shows” and those theatres had repertory seasons, but in 2018 there is only one weekly summer rep surviving, at Sidmouth’s Manor Pavilion. Here from June to September, Paul Taylor Mills produces a weekly rep programme that ranges from favourite thrillers…
WORLD class performances from the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden are to be screened at Wareham’s historic Rex cinema, beginning on Sunday 17th June at 2.15pm. One of Britain’s oldest cinemas, the Rex season opens with the world premiere of Liam Scarlett’s Swan Lake. One of the best-loved of classical…
HORRIBLE Histories illustrator Martin Brown has created a “Festiv’Owl” for Bath Children’s Literature Festival as part of Minerva’s Owls of Bath trail around the city from 25th June to 10th September. There will be more than 80 owls on the trail, and the Horrible Histories owl, created by the illustrator of Terry Deary’s best-selling history…
KATE Cross (pictured) the director of Bath Theatre Royal’s children’s theatre, the egg, has been appointed MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, in recognition of her work in children’s theatre and for the community of Bath. During her 20-year career at the Theatre Royal Bath, Kate has become a key figure in the arts scene…
AMATEUR Players of Sherborne make the formal move into their new theatre with a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream from Monday 18th to Saturday 23rd June, nightly at 7.45pm. The Sherborne Studio Theatre in Marston Road has been extensively renovated, and now provides a new rehearsal and performance space. A Midsummer Night’s Dream…