DORSET’s own folk music stars, Ninebarrow – Jon Whitley and Jay LaBouchardiere (pictured) – make a welcome return to Lyme Folk Weekend, appearing at the Marine Theatre on Saturday 30th August at 8pm. The duo, who are patrons of Lyme Folk, are back by popular demand, and will be joined on stage by friends and…
YEOVIL Town Council has launched a public consultation on funding support for the development and reopening of the currently closed Octagon. The town council wants residents to give their views on whether it should contribute £3,964,500 (including Stamp Duty) towards the future of one of Yeovil’s most significant cultural venues that helps to support the…
BECAUSE the word amateur is often used in a derogatory manner, many people, including those involved, shy away from it when referring to local non-professional productions. Decidedly not of that number are Sir Cameron Mackintosh and his Music Theatre International company. Sean Grey, managing director of MTI, described amateur theatre in these words, “Here at…
BACK in 1891, when Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler had its first performance, the central role was hailed as a tragic heroine, imprisoned in a loveless marriage, at the beck and call of ruthless men, and with no agency over her life. Her only recourse was suicide. The play’s scandalous denouement horrified critics and audiences. The powerful…
WHETHER you are a fan of Offenbach, Gluck or Natalie Haynes, Simon Butteriss’s new adaptation of the story of Orpheus, Euridice, Pluto, Jupiter et al for IfOpera is a delight. One of four operas performed at the opening season of the company’s new home at Church Farm in Wingfield south of Frome, this re-telling is…
LIN-Manuel Miranda’s multi award-winning Hamilton is touring comes to Plymouth Theatre Royal on its first UK tour, for a six-week season that runs to Saturday 6th September. Hamilton is the story of one of America’s Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War…
STEWART McPherson, who founded the Darwin200 Global Voyage to mark the bicentenary by retracing Darwin’s historic journey aboard HMS Beagle, returns to Sladers Yard gallery at West Bay on Thursday 14th August, to talk about the insights the explorers have learned about Darwin and his discoveries from the voyage and how best to carry forward…
ONE of the West Country’s most delightful festivals, Burton Bradstock Music and Art Festival, returns to the West Dorset coast from 10th to 17th August. The programme of classical, jazz, folk and chamber music in St Mary’s Church is complemented by an art exhibition which is a showcase for artists from around the region, in…
THE ever inventive Scratchworks Theatre comes to Dorset for two dates as part of the Artsreach summer programme of events and workshops for children. The Mushroom Show combines information and facts with fun, with a workshop and performance, at Litton Cheney community hall on Monday 18th August, and Tuesday 19th August at 11am at Alderholt…
THIS 250th anniversary year of the birth of Jane Austen must have seemed the perfect time to tour PD James’s murder mystery sequel to Austen’s most famous book, Pride and Prejudice. The James novel, published in 2011, was a pastiche in Austen style, and was very successfully adapted for television, getting a Christmas showing in…