WHEN in Rome … and when in the USA, you definitely want to smoke pork ribs. Travelling chef Philippa Davis from Shaftesbury is currently in Boston and her latest postcard recipe is for her successful version of the classic hickory smoked baby back pork ribs. As she says: Smoke gets in your eyes… so try…
BRISTOL seems to be the place for guarantees in the midst of uncertainty recently, especially in the theatres: to guarantee England’s victory in the soccer World Cup, all you had to do was go and see the excellent World Cup Final 1966 at Bristol Old Vic, and to combat the vagaries of the British climate…
BROWNSEA Open Air Theatre has a first for its 51st season on the island in Poole Harbour, an adaptation of two of Shakespeare’s history plays by director Denise Mallender. The event is part of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s Open Stages project, for which professionals from Stratford on Avon work with amateurs around the country on…
IN a year when the focus is on war – the centenary of the start of World War One, the continuing and escalating conflicts in the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Ukraine – Dorset Opera has chosen a battle themed opera for the first production of its 40th anniversary season. Verdi’s Aida, first performed in…
THE Studio Theatre company at Salisbury is giving the first regional performances of Amanda Whittington’s comedy Ladies Day at their Ashley Road headquarters from 21st to 26th July. It opens in a fish packing factory in Hull, where four friends decide to “celebrate” one of them leaving by going to the races. It is 2005,…
THE National Trust has signalled its commitment to the long term future of one of the country’s favourite heritage breeds of cattle with the arrival of a new Red Devon bull, at the National Trust’s Kingston Lacy estate near Wimborne. For more than a century Kingston Lacy has been one of the main places to…
HEADING north on the M5 has just become a bit more enjoyable. There is a new motorway services station that promises more than congested fast-food eateries, noisy slot machines, crowded chainstore shops full of grumpy travellers and toilets at least half of which won’t be working on any given day. And that’s without mentioning the…
A QUESTION that I’ve been asked more than a few times in my time as a cheesemonger is for a recommendation of a cheese or cheeses to impress the French. The identity of the person who appointed the French the arbiters of the world’s cheese eludes me, but there are world-beating cheeses from our area…
ALAN Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce is one of the most frequently performed of his huge back catalogue, and the latest comes from the versatile Swan Theatre company in Yeovil. Directed by Beryl Snadden with a clever set designed by Geoff Kneller, it is the story of how one selfish and infuriating couple (Trevor and Susannah) can…
AS we move closer to the centenary of the start of the First World War, the Dorchester-based New Hardy Players pay a timely tribute to Thomas Hardy’s own thoughts about war … the Napoleonic War, that is. Extraordinarily, the programme for this touring production, directed by Tim Laycock and Emma Hill, notes that at the…