The living spit of Beauty – or the Beast?

LIVING Spit are back on tour in January with their own unique take on one of the best-loved fairytales – Beauty and the Beast. Written by co-founders, Stu McLoughlin and the late and much-missed Howard Coggins, this playful, updated version of the 18th century French fable is at the Princess Theatre at Burnham-on-Sea on 8th…

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Laughter with strings

COMEDY classical music quartet Graffiti Classics explode onto the stages of Dorset halls to launch the Artsreach 2026 programme. The three date tour starts on Thursday 8th at Wootton Fitzpaine village hall, followed by Lytchett Matravers on Friday 9th and the Corn Exchange at Blandford on Saturday 10th, all at 7.30pm. With 16 strings, eight…

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Rave on with Buddy

A WORLDWIDE hit show that taps into the enduring love for one of the great icons of 1950s rock and roll, Buddy Holly, comes to Bath Theatre Royal from 13th to 17th January as part of a 2026 tour. Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story has been seen by an estimated 22 million people around…

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Tom Holland – history with humour

BATH Literature Festival has announced its first event, a pre-festival evening with historian Tom Holland, co-host of the hit podcast The Rest is History, at Bath Forum on Friday 22nd May at 7pm. Travel back to the Roman Empire as Tom Holland celebrates his translation for Penguin Classics of Suetonius’s influential Lives of the Twelve Caesars….

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A musical present from Bath

BATH Festivals has announced some of the highlights of next year’s international music festival, with tickets for five concerts released early – a perfect post Christmas gift for the music-lover in your life! The international music festival will run from Saturday 30th May to Sunday 7th June, and the first of the newly released events…

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New year, new films

ONE of the cliches of the media at the turn of the year is to run features that riff on the theme of “new year, new you” – Moviola doesn’t need memes and mundanities as there are always new films to excite its rural audiences, and this new year is no exception. The first quarter…

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Pinocchio, Bumblefly and Forest Forge, Alderholt and touring

IN 1880, a famous (and frequently censored) Italian political satirist, Carlo Collodi, created a story about a poor woodcarver who made a wooden boy puppet as a companion for his old age. That puppet, Pinocchio, wanted to be a real boy, but he had to contend with a nose that grew every time he told a…

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Beauty and the Beast, Westlands, Yeovil

PANTOMIMES come in many different guises – glitzy and heavy with celebrities (some of whom you may have heard of), beautifully costumed with lavish sets, clever and funny, warm-hearted, full of local jokes and music catering to every taste from grandparents to toddlers … Some have a special place in their community, and that is…

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Dick Whittington, Poole Lighthouse

IF pantomime is all about larger than life traditional characters, audience participation, local references, current memes (of course 6-7 is everywhere this year), love, goodies, baddies, singing and dancing, lots of great songs and a happy ending, then Poole Lighthouse is the place to go this Christmas. Chris Jarvis, the man behind the Poole panto…

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Local triumphs at the Rose Bowl Awards

COMPANIES across the FTR core area have taken the top awards in this year’s Rose Bowl contest, and leading the way was Claudia Pepler’s astonishing production of Come From Away (pictured right) at the Merlin Theatre in Frome in July, which took the Bristol Evening Post award for best musical production. Sarah Nias (right) won…

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