IN this modern era, to set out on a 24-venue tour with a programme of four classic ballets which require not only quality principal dancers and a full Corps de Ballet and orchestra, you have to have either great courage or complete disregard for your personal bank balance – and probably a little stupidity. The…
THE Middle Temple Hall, with its magnificent double hammer-beam roof, was completed in 1573. William Shakespeare performed there. Student Charles Dickens wrote some of his most popular works during his time at the Temple. So what more fitting and atmospheric venue to perform his classic Christmas Carol? That was how theatre company Antic Disposition thought…
YEOVIL’S Octagon Theatre, built as the multi-purpose Johnson Hall in 1974, will close in April for a major refurbishment that will cement its position as the largest performing arts venue in Somerset – and it’s doing it with a huge, hilarious and glorious Christmas show. The annual pantomime is always a highlight of the year,…
YOU have to be supremely confident in your own ability, have tremendous faith in the quality of the support on hand – or be plain foolhardy – to place yourself alone on a stage and believe that you can hold the interest of, and entertain an audience bringing alive the many characters in the best-known…
AND who is It, a colourful Michelin Man-style Sand Fairy, who grants single wishes to the Children which last just 24 hours? Just as King Midas found his wish that everything he touched turned to gold was not the wonderous thing he had hoped for, so the children find themselves up to their elbows in…
WRITTEN and directed by versatile children’s TV stalwart Chris Jarvis, the Poole Christmas show also stars Chris as Buttons with Tyger Drew-Honey as Prince Charming. The lively version tells the familiar story with lots of popular songs as well as all the vital elements – romance, bullying ugly sisters, kindness, magic and ponies. It’s a…
LONG before Strictly Come Dancing became one of BBC television’s top attractions, former world ballroom dance champion Victor Silvester and his strict tempo Ballroom Orchestra occupied a similar position on BBC Radio. One of the regular contributions to a programme which attracted millions of listeners each week was a dance lesson during which Victor called…
WITH most theatres geared up for Christmas entertainment and the quarter finals of the Football World Cup on television, it takes a very brave (or foolhardy) company to present a Harold Pinter play at this time in 2022. If, however, like director Graham Smith, you believe you are displaying the work of a theatrical genius,…
MANY years ago, we used to read theatre or opera reviews by the great critics of the day, who would compare the latest actors or shows to people long gone. And it used to drive us mad! Now, after decades of reviewing and reporting, we realise we risk doing it, so we try not to….
PANTOMIME is back in the Bristol Hippodrome with its usual big, spectacular, star- studded production, and to use that well-used traditional cry between performers and audience “Oh yes, it is, Oh no it isn’t”. There are indeed some very spectacular moments, like the wonderful ending to Act 1 when Cinders and Buttons literally fly off…