The Play’s the Thing

The call of the sea

THE sea in all its beautiful, dangerous and unpredictable drama is the focal point of the New Waves Festival, two reimagined classics and a new piece, performed by students of Theatre Royal Bath Theatre School at the theatre’s Egg space, from Friday 10th to Saturday 18th April. Brimming with imagination, energy and creative ambition, the…

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If you go down to the woods …

… on Friday 10th April, look who you may meet, at Westlands entertainment centre at Yeovil. Last Baguette will give two performances at 10am and 11.30, of A Woodland Wonder, a play-along theatre adventure. Join Ratty as she learns about the environment and plant your very own seeds! There’ll be silliness, play-acting, games and music…

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Still relevant – Fred is back

HIJINX Theatre, one of Europe’s leading inclusive theatre companies, is coming to Taunton Brewhouse on Tuesday 7th April and Dorchester Corn Exchange on Thursday 9th April, with Meet Fred. The company is marking the tenth anniversary of this darkly funny satire, following the experiences of Fred, a puppet fighting for his independence as his Puppetry…

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Pipeline chosen for national tour

SOUTH West-based theatre company Pipeline has been awarded funding to develop a new play, George and the Drag Queen, for a national tour this autumn. The company has been commissioned to develop the project by the Create Tour Connect partnership. The Falmouth-based company won the commission after a competitive application process. The selection process for…

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Olivier-nominated musical at Bath

THE Olivier Award-nominated, international smash-hit musical The Choir of Man is coming to Bath Theatre Royal from Tuesday 24th to Saturday 28th March, as part of its first UK and Ireland tour. Direct from the West End, the feel-good, foot-stomping show will be visiting more than 35 venues. Set in on-stage pub The Jungle, a…

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Winter is coming …

IF you loved Game of Thrones – or maybe never saw it but still couldn’t escape its omnipresence – don’t miss A&E Comedy’s brilliant spoof, Game of Crones, making its last appearance in the south west at Exeter’s Phoenix arts centre on Wednesday 25th March. Sharpen your swords and fill your goblets – the dragons…

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Improvising Middle Earth

WHAT do you do if your cinema is planning to show all three Lord of the Rings films in one epic screening – but you only have the sound-tracks? Find out at at Exeter’s Northcott Theatre on Monday 23rd March. You improvise. All three parts of the saga – all those hobbits and heroes, elves…

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Creative partnership for students and opera charity

WHEN audiences gather for Hurn Court Opera’s La Traviata on 16th April at Christchurch Regent Centre, 18th at the Coade Hall at Bryanston School and 20th at Winchester Theatre Royal, they will see striking and original costumes designed by students at Arts University Bournemouth. The new creative partnership between the opera company, a Dorset-based arts…

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Reimagining Jekyll and Hyde

ROBERT Louis Stevenson spent some years living in Westbourne, then an affluent suburb of Bournemouth, and it was here that he wrote the novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. So it is appropriate for the town’s Palace Court Theatre to be the venue for a striking reimagining of this famous thriller,…

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Forty years of Strength on show

SHOW of Strength, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, is  “making an exhibition of itself,” with 40 years of posters, fliers, photos, films, recordings, programmes and more – and possibly a performance or two – in The Pit at Totterdown from 17th to 19th April. The company started in 1986 with Double Vision, aboard MV…

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