BRISTOL’s historic Old Vic breaks with its usual non-celebrity tradition this year, bringing in local star, comedian, actor and singer Jayde Adams to lead a terrific cast of actor-musicians in a musical retelling of a story that started its life at the Llandoger Trow, just yards down the street. It’s 15 years since King Street…
JUST across the road from the stage door of Bristol Hippodrome is a public house which until recent times was called The Bunch of Grapes, where you would very often encounter stars appearing in the Hippo enjoying a pre, or post show, drink. With the pub’s change of name to Smoke and Mirrors, those days…
WHEN a novel is adapted for the stage, then a TV film and finally for the big screen, there are bound to be arguments about which format the story is best told in. Having seen them all, and with the support of most of those who have all seen or read the story in all…
THE children whose first view of live theatre was watching Little Bulb perform Antarctica at Bristol Old Vic in 2013 are in their late teens now, but possibly are still theatregoers, thanks to that magical experience. Now a new generation is watching a new cast perform the play again, and it is just as enchanting…
SHAFTESBURY Chamber Music Series founder violinist Ruth Rogers returns home to Shaftesbury on Saturday 13th December for a sonata recital. She will be joined by pianist Simon Callaghan at the Farrington Hall at Port Regis School on Saturday 13th December for a recital that begins with Beethoven’s Violin Sonata in D, Op. 12 No. 1…
MEDIEVAL music specialists Opus Anglicanum come to St Mary’s Church, Dorchester, on Thursday 18th December at 7pm with a programme of medieval carols and readings. This concert has become a favourite with fans of the ensemble which has been performing medieval and contemporary music for more than 30 years. The music varies from simple Gregorian…
THE story of Rapunzel, the girl imprisoned in a high tower by a possessive witch, dates back into the mists of time, but it has lost neither its appeal nor its impact, as the new version by Sharon Clark for the Tobacco Factory Christmas show proves. The five-strong cast of actor-musicians excitingly demonstrate that there…
PANTOMIME is a very English thing – you only have to try an American version and you would know what I mean. It is enormously versatile, and the fairy stories on which most pantos are based are open to almost endless interpretations and updatings. There are a few essentials, forming a sort-of skeleton without which…
THE Merlin Christmas show is traditionally a feast of fun and talent, featuring a huge number of performers, technicians and back stage supporters – and this year’s show, on until 13th December, is no exception, with a regular cast of 25 and two alternating teams of ten leading players and dancers as well. Roald Dahl’s…
SOUTHAMPTON’s Mayflower Theatre, which has one of the region’s biggest Christmas shows, welcomes glamorous star Alexandra Burke to head the cast as a swashbuckling villain in The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan, running from 13th December to 4th January. Neverland is full of intrigue, colour and adventure, with Dr Ranj as the Magical Merman, and…