RICHARD Brinsley Sheridan’s play The Rivals gave the world one of the greatest comic characters of all time – the marvellous Mrs Maloprop, whose mangled phrases have ensured her name has even entered the English language. At Bath Theatre Royal, from 27th to 31st January, the beautifully spoken Patricia Hodge takes on this hilarious harridan,…
BATH Literature Festival 2026 has announced that Maggie O’Farrell, the bestselling author of Hamnet, is coming to Bath to celebrate the release of her new novel, Land. The award-winning Irish author of novels including Hamnet, The Marriage Portrait, After You’d Gone, The Hand That First Held Mine and her memoir I Am, I Am, I…
UP and down the country, people (often with no particular connection to Scotland) gather to celebrate the birthday of Rabbie Burns – but Dorset has its own dialect poet, and this year the annual Tea with William Barnes on Sunday 22nd February coincides with what would have been Barnes’ 225th birthday. For the past nine…
THERE are dozens of suggestions as to where the saying ‘Once seen never forgotten’ comes from, but which ever one you subscribe to, the truth of the saying throws up a great problem for director Matthew Dunster as he brings Danny Robins’ thriller out on a tour to areas where it has already been seen….
KLEZMER, the music of Jewish Eastern Europe and the Balkans, is haunting and poignant, but it can also be infectiously energetic, urging you to join in with its fast and furious dance rhythms. Catch the Zeffe klezmer band at the Beehive Centre at Honiton on Saturday 31st January at 7.30pm. It’s just the thing to…
WE all know the identity of Sherlock Holmes’s arch-nemesis, don’t we – but what if the real “killer” was the great detective’s creator? Find out more when Sherlock Holmes: The Death and Life comes to the Ustinov Studio at Bath Theatre Royal on Friday 30th and Saturday 31st January. The premise of this witty one-man…
THE creative ferment of Frome, Somerset’s most artistically active town, has produced a new play which draws on the writer-performer’s own experience as a taxi driver. Rank, by Dan Gaisford, is touring to Dorchester Arts at the Corn Exchange on 29th January, Bridport Arts Centre on 30th, Poole’s Lighthouse on 31st, Bath Theatre Royal’s Ustinov…
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? You improvise. All three parts of the saga – all those hobbits and heroes, elves and orcs, dwarves and wizards … Parody of the Rings comes…
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…