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…
CHRISTMAS as we know it was almost invented by Charles Dickens – and the festive theatre scene always includes more Scrooges than you can shake the proverbial stick at. But Cirencester’s intimate Barn Theatre always manages to add a special pizzazz to its Christmas shows, and this year is no exception, with an atmospheric Christmas…
PLAYWRIGHT Sir Tom Stoppard, who was born in the former Czechoslovakia in 1937, has died at the age of 88. He lived near Shaftesbury and, despite his international profile and long list of major stage, writing and film awards, was actively supportive of the arts, theatre and music in the area. There was an early…
FROM information overload in the rehearsal room to swashbuckling villainy on stage, Bath Theatre Royal’s 2025 pantomime team are hard at work, preparing for the big opening next week, still learning lines, routines, dance steps, songs and music … ‘You have information coming at you from every angle,” says Bath favourite, script-writer and comedian Jon…
AFTER what seems like centuries of watching and reviewing pantomimes, it is always a great thrill to spot a superstar performance on a local stage, and wait until the national critics and award-giving organisations put that name in their best-of-the-year lists. Salisbury Playhouse’s inventive, colourful, energetic and 100% fun version of Jack and the Beanstalk…