IT’S 1912, and as Scott and Amundsen begin their race across Antarctica, the hapless explorer, Captain Reginald Scottt (yes – with three t’s and each one impeccably pronounced!) has accidentally landed on the wrong side of the continent. As Scottt and his motley band set up base camp, a meteor crashes nearby. Deciding to investigate,…
THIS must be the fourth or maybe even fifth time that I have heard Ninebarrow in concert and they just seem to get better and better. Take Art together with Bruton Festival of Arts brought Dorset’s multi-award-winning duo to Bruton’s Unionist Club as part of their latest national tour. It would appear to be…
REPUTATION, reputation, reputation … Cassio’s drunken rambling to Iago pinpoints a key theme of Othello, and one which was well brought out in Gillingham School’s powerful production of Shakespeare’s most difficult tragedy. It is so difficult because we want to admire and respect its “hero” – in a way we don’t with, say, Macbeth, who…
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 Lyatoshinsky: Symphony No. 3 Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra leader Amyn Merchant Kirill Karabits conductor Sunwook Kim piano CONCERT-GOERS at Poole’s Lighthouse last night were greeted by the sight of a brand-new Steinway Model D grand piano centre stage wearing a fetching bright red bow which had been made by students at…
THE past few months have brought the plight of women in the entertainment industry to public attention, from the undue influence exercised by powerful casting producers and directors to the lack of work for women “of a certain age.” The Midlands-based Anonymous is a Woman theatre company, set up by actors Leila Sykes and Bips…
ON Saturday at the Nadder Hall the audience included a little boy attending (with some trepidation) his first pantomime, and a pensioner to whose eyes the story brought a tear … “It’s the first time I’ve been to a pantomime in more than 50 years, and this was the first one I saw,” she said. The…
SIMON Dormandy’s adaptation of EM Forster’s A Passage to India is informed by his father’s experiences of the sub-continent, and the combination of mysticism and surreptitious violence are perfectly suited to Dormandy’s physical theatre style. In a simple8 and Royal and Derngate, Northampton co-production, this swirling, intense and colourful version distils the essence of the…
THE unfolding drama of the Scottish Play is the perfect vehicle for dance, as packed Merlin audiences discovered in Frome this week. The occasion – heralded as the arts event of the week in the national press – was the opening of Mark Bruce’s new dance theatre piece, Macbeth, based on the familiar Shakespearean story…
THE decision to opt for a play instead of a pantomime this year has brought one of the very best things I have ever seen to the Shaftesbury Arts Centre stage. Director Rosie King chose American playwright Ken Ludwig’s multi-layered, literate and darky exciting version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, often performed as a two…
TIME-travelling magicians and all round spiffing chaps Rhys Morgan and Robert West brought a magical extravaganza to Salisbury last night with a truly amazing show – as mind boggling as it was delightful. Celebrating their tenth year as a duo of deception, the intimacy of the Salberg Studio was the perfect venue for their brand…