STORYTELLING is as old as recorded time – long before there were any forms of writing, people have always stories and there have always been story-tellers. From Odyssey and Beowulf to East Enders and Outlander, stories grip us … Now contemporary storyteller George Attwill comes to three Dorset villages, this weekend, Friday 2nd to Sunday…
OVER the past 13 years, singer and artistic director Lynsey Docherty has developed the Celebrate Voice festival that she founded at Salisbury into one of the region’s most exciting and varied events. This year’s festival runs from 21st to 31st October with a line-up of world-class singers and musicians delighting audiences with 11 days of…
It’s nearly 400 miles (as the crow flies) from Marlborough in Wiltshire to Pitlochry in Scotland, so perhaps a surprise to find actor Sir Simon Russell Beale and director Ben Occhipinti, both with strong links to Salisbury and resident in Wiltshire, brought together in the Perthshire highlands in the service of Liberace, 20th century superstar…
THE machinations of our leaders – party political or regal – are at play at Bath Theatre Royal this month, with a visit by the Barn Theatre’s hilarious new Yes, Prime Minister, from Tuesday 6th to Saturday 10th October, followed by a return for the acclaimed Jonathan Church production of A Man for All Seasons,…
DORCHESTER Arts hosts a special double bill of films at the Corn Exchange, on Tuesday 6th October at 6pm, at the Corn Exchange,. The event focuses on the neurological condition, Parkinson’s disease, and will be raising funds for a local Parkinson’s project. The World’s Toughest Drive follows former Army colonel Guy Deacon CBE on an…
THE story of Frederick Douglass, one of the great names of the campaign on both sides of the Atlantic to abolish slavery, is told in a powerful new play, The Ocean Can Be A Bridge, by Dave Samuels and Richard Bradbury, coming to Bridport Arts Centre on 6th October. The global campaign to end slavery…
THE professional commercial theatres in Bristol (the Hippodrome, Weston-super-Mare (the Playhouse) and Bath Theatre Royal all open their doors to productions by local amateur companies. Weston Operatic Society, founded in 1908 and the oldest of the local clubs, had to wait until a change of management in 2008 before they could establish themselves as regular…
PAULA Hawkins tense psychological drama The Girl on the Train, adapted for the stage by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel, comes to Salisbury’s Studio Theatre in Ashley Road from 1st to 10th October. Directed by Anthony von Roretz, it explores the nature of trust and obsession – what happens if the person you trust most…
IT’s that time of year! Sandwiched between the summer open-air shows and the increasingly early Christmas season come the literary festivals. This region has several outstanding events, ranging from the long-established with stellar line-ups to the more local, which often have delightful gems that you won’t want to miss. Some high profile authors, politicians, historians,…
BOURNEMOUTH Symphony Orchestra’s 2026/27 concert season launches at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre on Wednesday 30th September and Bristol Beacon, on Thursday 1st October, launching the orchestra’s two-year Beethoven series, Road to Joy. The BSO has announced a four-year extension of its partnership with Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth, which sees him at the helm until 2032….
THE adventurous Shoemakers Museum at Street is one of the main venues for this year’s Somerset Art Weeks, from hosting the launch of the family programme with children’s author Jasbinder Bilan to a fascinating and immersive installation by artists and performers Melanie Thompson and Helen Ottoway, the Frome-based composer. Step by Step is open during…
SLADERS Yard, the contemporary art gallery and cafe in West Bay, continues its 20th anniversary celebrations with a major exhibition of paintings, drawings and etchings by David Inshaw, one of the great contemporary painters of landscape, an artist who has been showing regularly at the gallery throughout those years. The solo show, At the Still…
MILLION Dollar Quartet, the hit musical which moved from Cirencester’s Barn Theatre to a London season, is going on a national tour in 2027, with 23 major venues all across the country from January to July. After its sell-out success at the Barn in the summer, Million Dollar Quartet is at The Arts at Marble…
A much-respected local music critic, with a deep knowledge of opera and classical music, had one great blind spot – he hated Mozart’s music, one his operas, Don Giovanni in particular. Despite the fact that ever since its first, rapturously received 1787 production in Prague, it has been constantly named as one of the worlds…
IT is hard to believe it is 30 years since the first Purbeck Film Festival, but in those three decades the rural celebration of film has become one of the country’s most interesting and varied events, this year running from 16th October to 1st November, with an astonishing mix of classic, recent and new releases….
THE beautiful gardens of Stoberry Park at Wells are a joy in themselves. Their views of Wells Cathedral and across to Glastonbury Tor are inspiring. And an exhibition of work by West Country sculptors brings a magical and exciting extra dimension to this lovely setting. Beyond Horizons: Where Art, Nature and Community Meet – a…
ANTHONY Jay and Jonathan Lynn are immortalised in the television Hall of Fame as creators of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, which together ran for 37 episodes between 1980 and 1988. Jonathan Lynn took up the parliamentary quill again in 2023 for a “last hurrah” originally entitled I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can’t Quite Remember,” and…
FROM 8th October to 19th November you can join in with the 75th anniversary celebrations of The Archers. And if you are old enough to remember the tragic death of Grace Archer in a fire in the stables at Brookfield (in 1955), you have been a fan of the world’s longest running soap for most…
GEORGE – he of the Dragon – may be the archetype of heroic Englishness but drag offers a colourful alternative in a delightful new play from Pipeline Theatre. George and the Drag Queen comes to Dorset with Artsreach, for three performances from 9th to 11th October, with George and the Drag Queen. Described as “a…
FILMS about the cut-throat world of high fashion and legacy of an artist top the October lists for Moviola screenings in our region. Back for a second outing, and some years on, it’s still steely smiles and steel-tipped stilettos in the glittering couture world of Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt. The…
YO Thom, one of the country’s leading ceramicists, is exhibiting alongside well-known Dorset print-maker Liz Somerville at The Art Stable, the contemporary gallery at Gold Hill Organic Farm, Child Okeford, until 24th October. Originally from Japan – a heritage which is inherent in her beautiful ceramics – Yo Thom has lived in North Dorset for…
AMERICAN novelist Shirley Jackson decided to write a ghost story, apparently after reading about a group of 19th century psychic researchers who studied a supposedly haunted house. Published in 1959, Jackson’s hugely popular gothic horror story has been adapted for the stage by Olivier and BAFTA award-winner Stef Smith, and is currently having its world…
ONE year on from the rescue and relaunch of Taste of the West as a Community Interest Company (CIC), its founding directors have presented their vision for the future of the regional food group, alongside a much-extended range of member benefits for food and drink businesses across the South West. Harnessing the collective experience of…
WELLS Festival of Literature returns for its 35th year, following last year’s most successful event, with a packed programme of talks and book-related events at Cedars Hall, from Friday 16th October to Saturday 24th October. From popular novelists to leading journalists, including Jonathan Dimbleby, historians, cultural commentators, archaeologists, biographers, activists and campaigners, the 2026 Wells…
BATH Children’s Literature Festival continues until Sunday 4th October, with a packed programme that ranges from a free Party at the Holburne Museum to a chance to discover the latest How to Train your Dragon adventure. Among the leading children’s writers (and illustrators) taking part will be Katherine Rundell, Michael Rosen and MC Grammar, Dame Julia…
ROMESH Ranganathan, star of countless television comedy series and and presenter of The Weakest Link, is back on the road from November with a new show, and a massive list of dates and venues, including Yeovil’s Westlands. In this new stand-up show Romesh Ranganathan promises to “Change Your Life.” He is here to help, he…
DORSET Museum & Art Gallery is launching a fundraising campaign to enhance and expand its forthcoming Mary Anning – Fossil Hunter exhibition, which will run from 30th January to 2nd May 2027, celebrating the life and legacy of the pioneering palaeontologist 180 years after her death. This landmark exhibition, which will have a programme of…
THERE’s precious little “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” as Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre heads into autumn. Rather, the arts centre is ripping it up with a short season of cult films that explored and celebrated different aspects of youth rebellion. The season ends on Friday 9th October at 7.30pm, with Quadrophenia. Jimmy Cooper loathes…