THE Boxer Rebellion is remembered as a frightening episode in China’s history – but partisan Western reporting means we have a very one-sided view of the insurrection. An unusual solo show, Chinese Boxing, coming to Bath Theatre Royal’s Ustinov Studio from 27th to 29th January, gives the Chinese side of the story. The play, written…
YES, we know, it’s mid-winter – but right now we all need something to look forward to, and we’re looking ahead to the end of July when Poole Harbour Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary, and the Kaiser Chiefs headline the main stage. So, in this gloomy, cold, wet January, let’s try to imagine long summer…
MOSCOW Drug Club are hard to pigeon-hole – but hugely poplar, appealing to lovers of gypsy jazz, Berlin cabaret and French chanson. The group has two tours, starting in January, with Dorset’s Artsreach and Somerset’s Take Art. The local dates begin on Friday 30th at Drimpton. The late winter tour continues at Salisbury Arts Centre…
CABARET should always have a frisson of wanton wit, a hint of burlesque, some risqué songs … and even a pinch of decadence. In the capable hands of Charlie Bicknell and Louise Innes it also has balls or claws – or Claus, if you will. The always in-demand duo picks up its tour in on…
HOWARD Coggins was a comic genius, a versatile actor with a vivid, surreal imagination, and in their company Living Spit, he and Stu McLoughlin created something uniquely funny, charming, wacky and endlessly entertaining – reinventing history with their two-person take on the lives of Henry VIII or Elizabeth I, telling the story of real life…
THE new exhibition at the Somerset Rural Life Museum at Glastonbury is Legacy in Making, running from 24th January to 10th May. Presented by Somerset Art Works in partnership with the South West Heritage Trust=, it celebrates the legacy and future of the Somerset Craft Guild. It shows the remarkable breadth of contemporary and historic…
MANY of us would love to have paintings, drawings or limited edition prints, but can barely afford them in these cash-strapped times – well-known Wiltshire artist Nick Andrew is offering work from some of his drawing projects at reduced prices on Saturdays throughout January and 6th February. On view at Nick’s Bull Mill Studio at…
ALISON Steadman, one of the best-loved and most versatile actresses of her generation, will be the special guest at the Pipeline masterclass at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre on Wednesday 11th February. Acclaimed for her stage, television and film roles, Alison first came to prominence in television plays Nuts in May and Abigail’s Party – she…
ANYONE old enough to remember the year of the Miners’ strike will be fascinated by Danny Mellor’s Undermined, a solo show coming to Piddletrenthide Memorial Hall on Friday 23rd January and West Stafford village hall on Saturday 24th, both at 7.30pm. Described by one reviewer as “an excellent dramatisation of an immensely important period of…
BRIDPORT’s atmospheric Electric Palace begins a season celebrating a centenary of cinema on Sunday 25th January at 3pm, with a screening, accompanied by a live score, of Robert Wiene’s 1920 masterpiece, Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari. Written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, this is the quintessential work of early German Expressionist cinema and is…