Just Between Ourselves, Bath Theatre Royal

LIKE most of Alan Ayckbourn’s 90-plus professionally presented plays, Just Between Ourselves started life at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, before going out on tour, with the author in tow continually tweaking the text, before finding its way onto London’s West End stage. I caught up with Alan Ayckbourn in Bridgwater Arts Centre when, in…

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Luke Wright’s Joy of poetry

OVER the last quarter of a century, performance poet Luke Wright has built up a reputation as one of Britain’s most popular and entertaining performers, winning a host of awards along the way. His 2025 tour continues at  Poole Lighthouse on 15th May and East Quay at Watchet on 16th May. During his long career,…

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The Count comes to Salisbury

BRAM Stoker’s iconic Count Dracula takes centre stage at Salisbury’s Studio Theatre in Ashley Road from 19th to 24th May, when the award-winning company moves en masse to the Transylvanian castle where the story begins. English lawyer Jonathan Harker is invited to the castle, but he returns a changed man … Linda Hayman directs Richard…

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Silver jubilee production for London Classic Theatre

LONDON Classic Theatre comes to Bath Theatre Royal from Monday 5tyh to Saturday 10th May with its 25th anniversary production, Alan Ayckbourn’s Just Between Ourselves, directed by the company’s founder and artistic director Michael Cabot. Set in 1976, the play features five birthdays, two unhappy marriages and one possessive mother. Dennis tinkers in his garage,…

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Barb Jungr, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen

ONE of the world’s greatest cabaret singers and a brilliant song arranger, Barb Jungr comes to Taunton Brewhouse on Thursday 8th May, and Bridport’s Electric Palace on Saturday 10th, with Hallelujah on Desolation Row, a celebration of the songs of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. This show features her best and award-winning interpretations of songs…

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Look up, take flight with Salisbury Festival

GARETH Machin, artistic director of Wiltshire Creative – Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury Arts Centre and Salisbury International Arts Festival – urged audiences to let their imaginations take flight when he launched the 2025 festival programme, running from Saturday 24th May to Sunday 8th June. He said: “A festival is an opportunity to let imaginations soar and this…

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Silver jubilee for Wylye Valley Art Trail

THE millennium was not only the dawn of a new century, locally it marked the launch of a new celebration of visual art. Wylye Valley Art Trail, the brainchild of Crockerton-based artist Nick Andrew, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, from Saturday 3rd to Sunday 11th May. In the quarter-century since the launch, this eight-day…

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Get your dancing shoes on!

BATH’s biggest free party kicks off this year’s festival on Friday 16th May in the new-traditional colourful way with music for every taste – acoustic, pop, blues, folk, funk/soul, jazz, blues and indie/rock through to choral and classical. You really are invited to put on your dancing shoes and let your hair down as the…

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New plays for rural touring

A PROJECT to find new plays for small professional companies to tour rural areas has been launched in the South West by Artsreach, Dorset’s rural touring arts charity. The aim is to discover a new piece of touring theatre from a South West based company or artist as part of a national arts scheme called…

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Unusual trio on tour

A TRIO of harp, viola and flute players, who met at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama nearly 20 years ago, come to Dorset and Somerset on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th May, for a series with Concerts in the West, at Bridport, Ilminster and Crewkerne. Trio Anima are Rosalind Ventris, viola, Anneke Hodnett,…

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