THE historic State Theatre in Auburn, California is one of those art deco cinemas we don’t have in the UK, resplendent with its original “marquee” –the colourful neon frontispiece (pictured) and it is now the headquarters of the city”s burgeoning arts association. It has recently had a refit, the central wall inserted to create a…
STURMINSTER Newton Amateur Dramatic Society’s annual pantomime Sleeping Beauty was everything a community panto should be. It was slick, the songs were well chosen, well sung and (above all) nice and short, there was some clever choreography and, with a talented company of about two dozen performers covering the whole age range, there were opportunities…
SINCE I often feel like a dinosaur, I don’t mind confessing that I remember when Fanny Hill was eventually published in 1970 and what a deliciously wicked thrill it was to read it. After DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover and the truly shocking Last Exit To Brooklyn, it was the most explicit book most of…
JUST as the media is abuzz with questions like “are you brainy enough to see a Stoppard play,” Blanche McIntyre’s new production of one of his greatest – Arcadia – comes to Bath’s Theatre Royal. I find it rather depressing that the country is being asked to criticise Stoppard for writing work that is a…
JAMES Roose-Evans’ international hit play 84 Charing Cross Road started its life at Salisbury Playhouse in 1981, before a triumphant transfer to the West End (and then to Broadway) and an award-winning film. Now it’s back on stage in Salisbury, again directed by Roose-Evans– and it’s a sheer delight. I must be one of the…
MIKE Bartlett’s dystopian play Earthquakes in London was last seen in the region in 2011 when Rupert Goold’s Headlong production came to Bath. Set mainly in the capital, it dashes from a prescient past to an oddly promising future. Using that much-visited framework of three sisters and a disappointing father, its siblings are variously a…
WHEN total strangers leaving a show are so excited and happy that they talk to each other, you know the performance has been something special. And this was an exceptional show that had the audience – of all ages – buzzing with delighted admiration. Juggling and contemporary dance don’t have an obvious or immediate connection…
FOR centuries travellers have visited Shaftesbury, on its hilltop overlooking the Blackmore Vale. Many came to the great abbey, built by King Alfred for his daughter the first abbess, and stayed in the hostels and taverns around it. A famous visitor was the young Katharine of Aragon, who stayed at the abbey, en route to…
A QUICK dash to Dublin to cater for a dinner party and then a Burns Night supper in the West Country before heading to Perthshire for the last pheasant shoot of the season – the life of a travelling chef is hectic, but Philippa Davis from Shaftesbury seems to thrive on the constant changes of…
FOR pushing 30 years now, Andy Cresci has been a familiar presence in the back row of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with his trademark tuba. Having served under principal conductors Rudolph Barshai, Andrew Litton, Yakov Kreizberg, Marin Alsop and Kirill Karabits, he is in as good a position as any to assess where the orchestra…