POET Greta Stoddart introduces her new collection of poetry, Fool, with an evening of readings and conversation on Thursday 29th September at 7pm. Greta will be in conversation with Gill Barr, who has read her own poems at Sladers Yard on several occasions. Fool, Greta’s fourth collection, is published by Bloodaxe Books and will be…
SLADERS Yard gallery at West Bay and Dorchester Arts are joining the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis in an ongoing series of events on the theme of Help Our Planet, beginning on Tuesday 27th September with Saving Butterflies and the Amazon. Proceeds of the event, which begins at 7pm, will go to the conservation charity…
STEVE McAuliffe, who moved to Wincanton four years ago, is a teacher as well as a published author and playwright, and his latest play, Rehearsal, was written specially for the newly-formed Wink Wink Theatre Company. The troupe made its debut at King Arthur’s School in Wincanton on 22nd September, performing this six-(or more?)-hander set in…
WHAT would you do if you realised the only other person in your train compartment was your favourite writer, the author of the book you have brought to read on the long journey from Paris to Frankfurt? You might, as Martha does in Yasmina Reza’s dazzling 1995 play, after she recognises the author, decide not…
JAMES Milton and Paul Morrissey’s play When Darkness Falls (not to be confused with either film of the same name), is set on the island of Guernsey and said to be based on true events. It comes to Yeovil as part of a national tour, after a short run in 2020 with a different cast….
THE autumn programme at the Dorset Museum in Dorchester explores how writers, poets, musicians and filmmakers have been inspired by Thomas Hardy. The talks continue onThursday 13th October withThe Real Woman Behind Tess of the d’Urbervilles, an online event at 7pm. Gill Donell will be joined by panellists Professor Angelique Richardson, Lady Edwina Grosvenor and…
HAVING discovered Aristophanes 411 BC comedy Lysistrata, in which a young woman seeks to end the Peloponnesian war between Greek city states by persuading the women to withhold all sexual favours to those in conflict until they stopped fighting, Young SixSix, a group of young performers based at the Bristol Old Vic, decided it would…
GOODNESS, how very difficult life is nowadays. The 35-year-old Robert Icke, already hailed as the great hope of British Theatre, has corralled a huge swathe of these difficulties into one confusing, devastating and undeniably brilliant evening of drama in The Doctor, his reworking of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1912 play Professor Bernhardi. I haven’t seen the original…
HAVE you ever wondered how Saffron Walden got its name? Or why Saffron cake is one of Cornwall’s most famous dishes? Nowadays most saffron is grown in Spain and Iran, but for centuries, England had a flourishing saffron industry, whose roots are largely lost in time and myth. In her new book, Fool’s Gold: A…
HAVING complained on many occasions that the musical backing of a show was too loud, after watching and listening to the rapturous reception this loud, brash presentation of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long lasting sung-through musical received, I take my cue from the title of the Harry Barris jazz classic, and Bing Crosby’s…