Living soil, living food at Create

THE Soil and Culture series of events at Bristol’s Create centre continues on Saturday 25th July, with a day focusing on living soil and healthy food. Part of the continuing Soil and Culture programme of the Exeter-based Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW), the Create series runs every weekend, with an exhibition…

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Micro herbs from Dorset

A WIMBORNE-based business has become Dorset’s first producer of micro herbs, a nutritious super-food that packs a real punch in terms of flavour. Nine different varieties of micro herbs are being produced by chefs for chefs and are being supplied by HydroPhoria to restaurants across the UK. They are also available to consumers exclusively from…

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She Stoops to Conquer, Taunton Thespians on tour

STOOPING to conquer is definitely the 2015 play of choice, and Mich­ael Gilbert’s touring production for Taunton Thespians is the most traditional, and hilarious, of the four I have seen in recent months. The company performs at various locations in Somerset, and I caught Gold­smith’s classic comedy in a perfect setting, against the backdrop of…

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Dance magic at Hatch House

COUNTRY house opera is a long-established feature of the British summer – but when Matt Brady brought his new Covent Garden Dance Company to a walled garden in south west Wiltshire six years ago he was doing something completely new. He was not only giving dance lovers in this rural area a chance to see…

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The Buffalo Gals at The Archangel Frome Festival

I FIRST heard of the Buffalo Gals through their facebook page, and was intrigued enough by the snippets of American musical history and dance to go along to their Frome Festival gig. I was anticipating a night of American Old-Time String Band tunes but was totally unprepared for the sheer diversity of styles in this…

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The 39 Steps, Swan Theatre, Yeovil

TAKE four energetic and versatile actors, an adventure story by John Buchan, an iconic Alfred Hitchcock film, a buffed-up adaptation by the National Theatre of Brent and a hardworking backstage team, and you just might have a sensational version of The 39 Steps. Sean Driver, Chrissy Mumford, Mark Payne and Ben Woof, are on stage…

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Lark Rise, Studio Theatre at Dog Kennel Barn, Breamore

IT’S many years since Salisbury’s Studio Theatre company has left its Ashley Road base to perform a summer show alfresco … or at least, nearly! This year Tamsin Jacson has taken her troupe to the old barn at Dog Kennel Farm, part of the Hulse estate at Breamore, to perform Keith Dewhurst’s adaptation of Flora…

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House and Garden, Shaftesbury Arts Centre

ALAN Ayckbourn’s twin plays House and Garden are set simultaneously in the sitting room of the house and the lawns of the garden on the day a government advisor is coming to offer a top job and the village fete is scheduled. Like most of the writer’s works, these are stories of ordinary people in…

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The Return of the Native, New Hardy Players, Max Gate, Dorchester

IT was a scene that you feel Thomas Hardy would richly have enjoyed – as the New Hardy Players’ 10th anniversary production of The Return of the Native reached its stormy climax, the rain, which had been playing with the audience for about half an hour, came down in sheets and the thunder rattled round….

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