SIXTEEN years ago, with then-heartthrob Colin Firth doing his royal bit, and “newcomer” Geoffrey Rush exciting the critics, Tom Hooper’s film of David Seidler’s script The King’s Speech won 12 Oscar nominations and huge international acclaim. Two years later Seidler’s original script was staged at the Yvonne Arnaud in Guildford, and at Wyndhams in London….
THEY do things differently in Sturminster Newton – so no surprises if the latest production by local drama society SNADS is a festive show … at Hallowe’en! A Vicar Of Dibley Christmas is being staged at the Exchange from 29th to 31st October, bringing all your favourite characters from the hit television comedy series together…
LUCY Kirkwood’s 2020 play The Welkin is set in Somerset in 1759, the story of a young woman condemned to death by hanging, but whose life will be saved if her claim of pregnancy is true. Twelve women of the village form the jury. She play has been chosen by Ilminster Entertainment Society for performance…
Jennifer Saunders, one of the country’s best-loved comedians and admired actresses, returns to the stage of Bath Theatre Royal to star in a revival of Edward Bond’s The Sea, a dazzling blend of wild farce, high comedy, brilliant social satire and bleak poetic tragedy. The production runs from Thursday 22nd October to Saturday 7th November….
TREVOR Pinnock, harpsichordist and one of the leading figures in period performance music, is coming to Tisbury on Thursday 29th October to conduct the Cherubim Chamber Strings in a programme of mainly baroque music, The event is celebrating the silver jubilee of the Cherubim Music Trust, a Tisbury-based national charity that loans professional calibre orchestral…
THE life of a remarkable West Country woman, whose story deserves to be better known, will be revealed in a talk with music at Ilminster Arts Centre, on Friday 27th November. Wadham is a familiar name in education circles, locally with Wadham School at Crewkerne, and nationally with Wadham College, Oxford, the first college at…
EARLIER this year, the ever-inventive and multi-talented Stu McLoughlin impressed audiences at Bristol’s Tobacco Factory Theatre with a powerful performance in the title role of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. Now, Stu – one of the founders of the West Country’s favourite comedy theatre company Living Spit – is back, giving another of the Bard’s tragic heroes…
ONE of the country’s favourite performers, actor, comedian, presenter and all-round national treasure Miriam Margolyes will make her pantomime debut this year as the voice of Giant Blunderbore in Jack and the Beanstalk at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Miriam has become known for her work as a…
Ten little soldier boys went out to dine, One choked his little self and then there were nine … There are many versions of this rhyme, some now consigned to history because of their racist connotations, but the theme is always the same – you start off with ten and you end with none. How…
WE live in a selfish era, when it is difficult to persuade someone to become an officer of a society unless there is a large honorarium on offer. If you go back a couple of generations, especially in a small community, you would find people only to happy to take up such posts. I once…