The Arts Section

A monster calling in Street

WRITER and activist Siobhan Dowd died in 2007 from breast cancer, before she could complete her novel A Monster Calls. It was taken on by Patrick Ness, published in 2012, became an international best seller and was adapted for the stage by Adam Peck and Sally Cookson, opened at Bristol Old Vic and won the…

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Celebrating Springhead and life-giving water

SPRINGHEAD, the sustainability and environmental charity based at Fontmell Magna, celebrates the garden’s magical waterscape on Friday 6th November with Tales of Clear Waters: an Evening of Stories, Songs and Memories inspired by Springhead. Organised by storyteller and Springhead trustee Taprisha, it will include stories and fables from across the world and through the ages…

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How to close the tourism trap

MASS tourism is a hotly contested issue these days, with some major cities – including Barcelona – taking drastic steps to curb it, while many popular destinations in this country are looking at taxing tourist accommodation. Jack Brownridge-Kelly has another and more radical plan – find out how this imaginative performer does it in his…

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An intoxicating musical cocktail

IMAGINE a heady and provocative blend of Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Jacques Brel and Eartha Kitt … an Eastern European jazz club in the dark decades after the Second World War and the Cold War … That’s the aura created by the brilliant Moscow Drug Club, who have several local dates on their autumn tour,…

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Bossa nova a la Francaise

JAZZ by the Sea has a French twist on a Latin American favourite style when Bossa Definitiva comes to the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis, on Sunday 8th November. The trio, led by Paris-born vocalist Véronique Joly, with Canadian saxophonist Terry Quinney and guitarist Rob Palmer, celebrate the cool Bossa Nova sounds of Stan Getz and…

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Violin virtuoso on tour

EVEN in these days of social media-inspired hyperbole, it is rare for a player to be praised for her revelatory performance, but violinist Fenella Humphreys’s playing of Sibelius solo works was praised by BBC Magazine as “a genuine revelation in the way it brings out the music’s dark and introspective qualities.” No Sibelius but plenty…

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Sunshine Symphonies as winter starts

AS the clocks go back and we head into winter, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra brings sunshine into the concert hall at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre with Sunshine Symphonies, on Wednesday 4th November. The event is supported by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s new Corporate Patron, Paris Smith, one of the largest regional full-service law firms in the…

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Winter with Moviola

THE autumn colours are still gorgeous, but there is a real chill in the air and winter is fast upon us. Top Moviola choices for local villages and arts centres for November and December are The Christophers and My Mother’s Wedding. The Christophers, starring Sir Ian McKellen and Michaela Cole, is a black comedy directed…

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Lanny, Bristol Old Vic

MAGIC can happen when the stars align, the gods unite and the time is right. That fickle chance beamed down on King Street in Bristol at the moment when writer Max Porter, director Nancy Medina, adaptor Bea Roberts and designer Rebecca Jane Wood agreed to adapt Porter’s 2019 book for the stage. The result is…

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The Sea, Bath Theatre Royal

EDWARD Bond described his 1973 play The Sea as a tragicomedy, and certainly, in Jonathan Munby’s new production for Bath Theatre Royal, there are strong elements of both the epically tragic and the hilariously comedic. And there are elements of lots of other theatrical tropes, too. The puzzled audience can look out for moments of…

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