JUST a year on since the first beavers were released into the wild at Studland, the natural eco engineers have been transforming woodland, dramatically reshaping part of the local landscape and turning a previously dense area of woodland into a thriving wildlife-rich wetland. The pair have built an extensive dam which has slowed the flow…
HUNGARIANS love music and the whirling rhythms and passionate fiddlers Budapest Cafe Orchestra, with the charismatic violinist Christian Garrick, is on tour this spring, with local gigs at Sturminster Newton Exchange on Thursday 16th April, Dorchester Corn Exchange on Friday 17th and the Mowlem theatre at Swanage on Saturday 18th. Founded in 2009 by Garrick,…
LIKE Topsy in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, who explained her origins as “I’spect I grow’d’, so Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s show has also grown. Written as a 15-minute pop cantata for Colet Court School in London, it developed into a full scale musical that has endeared itself to the public for more than 50…
THE first major revival of the musical version of Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman comes to Bristol Old Vic from 29th April to 16th May, and to Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre from 2nd to 6th June. Set in an Argentinian prison, Molina, imprisoned for his homosexuality, is put in a cell with political prisoner…
On 22nd November 1990 (Thanksgiving Day!) Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned as Conservative leader after weeks of rumours and high expectations. That November, the Artiste Gallery in Bath had an exhibition of the paintings of surrealist absurdist cartoonist and writer Glen Baxter, already famous for his hilarious pictures with their bizarre captions, often underlining the…
THE sea in all its beautiful, dangerous and unpredictable drama is the focal point of the New Waves Festival, two reimagined classics and a new piece, performed by students of Theatre Royal Bath Theatre School at the theatre’s Egg space, from Friday 10th to Saturday 18th April. Brimming with imagination, energy and creative ambition, the…
… on Friday 10th April, look who you may meet, at Westlands entertainment centre at Yeovil. Last Baguette will give two performances at 10am and 11.30, of A Woodland Wonder, a play-along theatre adventure. Join Ratty as she learns about the environment and plant your very own seeds! There’ll be silliness, play-acting, games and music…
PHIL Beer, multi-instrumentalist and best known as half of the hugely popular folk duo Show of Hands, is currently pursuing his own musical thing, with gigs in the south and west between now and late October. Phil is in our region on Friday 22nd May at Bridgwater Arts Centre, Saturday 23rd May, at Sixpenny Handley…
CHRISTY Lefteri’s bestselling book The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a story of our times – a chronicle of the lives of a handful of Syrian and other refugees seeking asylum in the famously civilised and welcoming United Kingdom. Now adapted for the stage by Nesrin Alrefaai and Matthew Spangler, it is in Bath until Easter…
HIJINX Theatre, one of Europe’s leading inclusive theatre companies, is coming to Taunton Brewhouse on Tuesday 7th April and Dorchester Corn Exchange on Thursday 9th April, with Meet Fred. The company is marking the tenth anniversary of this darkly funny satire, following the experiences of Fred, a puppet fighting for his independence as his Puppetry…