ALMOST 25 years on, it is still impossible to avoid a tearful gasp at the thought of the events of 11th September 2001, when almost 3,000 people were killed in four co-ordinated attacks on the USA by Islamist terrorists. But in a resilient world, inevitably there were good outcomes for the lucky few, and among…
A NEW stage adaptation of the hugely popular film The Greatest Showman comes to Bristol Hippodrome next year, from 15th March 2026 to 10th May, with a cast led by Oliver Tompsett and Samantha Barks. Based on the 20th Century Studios motion picture with story by Jenny Bicks, songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul…
some will always book when the cast includes a star not for the content RALPH Fiennes brings his 2025 Bath Summer Season to a close with Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s commissioned play Small Hotel, and, like the rest of the productions of the season, it has evoked vehemently differing responses. The intention was always to present two…
ANNE-Marie Casey’s vivid, energetic and passionate adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic story Little Women comes to Salisbury for the first showings of the second leg of its 2025 tour, with a largely new cast and all the atmosphere and delight of its Pitlochry debut back in 2022. A judging colleague of mine says nothing…
RUSSIAN playwright Nikolai Gogol perfectly captured the pomposity, predilection for back-handers, flirtatious peccadillos and general self-aggrandisement that is universally noted in local (and national) government in his 1836 play The Government Inspector. The reality of political corruption is as timeless as it is international. There have been many adaptations of the original (just called Inspector…
DORCHESTER Corn Exchange gallery is the setting for a powerful and challenging exhibition, Ungrievable Lives, from Saturday 18th to Monday 20th October, open from 10am to 4pm, with free entry. There is also a free panel discussion on Saturday from 4 to 6pm, and a diversity flag workshop on Sunday from 11am. Ungrievable Lives brings…
OPERA Project, the company that first appeared in the South West in 1996 at the Iford Festival, where 14 productions were staged over the next eight years, moved to Bedminster’s Tobacco Factory in 2003 and has been performing in the former cigar packing factory sporadically ever since. The Iford productions saw student friends Jonathan Lyness…
NOEL Coward’s timeless comedy Blithe Spirit was just the thing war-ravaged Londoners needed in 1941, and it might just provide the lift we need in these crazy, frightening days 84 years later. Anthony Banks’ new production is played out on a stylish set designed by Terry Parsons, an opulent Art Deco drawing room with its…
GALLOWS humour is a curious aspect of the human psyche – laughter is the best antidote to fear, probably. The laughs are dark and the subject matter even darker when Ha Hum Ah Theatre brings its new play, Making A Killing, on tour locally and coming to Dorset with Artsreach on 11th and 14th November….
THE next play on stage at the Ashley Road Studio Theatre in Salisbury is an English version of Nikolai Gogol’s classic The Government Inspector, from 13th to 18th October. The adaptation, by Philip Goulding, is sub-titled A Little Local Difficulty, and will be directed by the writer’s brother George, a Studio stalwart. The action of…