HUNDREDS of people from Yeovil and the surrounding area showed their backing for the Octagon Theatre at a meeting at Westlands entertainment centre on 10th October. The Yeovil Town Council was called to discuss a possible partnership with Somerset Council to ensure the future of the project to refurbish the Octagon Theatre and enable it…
PLANS for an ambitious redevelopment of Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre have been put on hold by Somerset Council, because of the impact of rising interest rates on the council’s borrowing to fund the £30 million scheme. Yeovil Town Council called a special meeting at Westlands to discuss the way forward. Councillors on Somerset Council have asked…
A REMARKABLE Pleyel Double Piano will be the focus of attention on Sunday 8th October, when David Nettle and Richard Markham come to Bournemouth Chamber Music for a recital at Bournemouth University at 3pm. Opening the 2023-24 season, they will perform music by Saints-Saens, Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc, and are celebrating 46 years of piano…
WHEN the Russians invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv City Ballet was in Paris. Ever since, the company has been in exile, on what its director Ivan Kozlov calls the “infinity tour,” performing across Europe and making a first visit to the US. At the beginning of October, Kozlov and his wife, company artistic director…
A DANCER from Kyiv City Ballet takes an elegant bow – the company, in effective exile from its Ukrainian homeland since the Russian invasion in February 2022 – is visiting North Dorset from 2nd to 8th October. The programme includes a traditional Bread and Salt welcome at deli Compton McCrae, workshops with local schools and…
THE Kronos Quartet, probably the world’s most adventurous string quartet, mark five decades of barrier-breaking, border-crossing music with a 50-date world tour in 2024 – and Bristol’s reconstructed Beacon Centre, reopening in early December, has one of only two UK dates, on Thursday 18th January. The programme, called Five Decades, draws on a fascinating snapshot…
CONCERTS in the West has announced a change of performers for the October series at Bridport Arts Centre (coffee concert) and Ilminster Arts Centre on Friday 6th and the Dance House at Crewkerne on Saturday 7th. Violinist Emmanuel Bach has injured his arm and it is taking some time to heal. He therefore made the…
STRODE Theatre at Street opened on 5th October 1963 with its first public event, a concert by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and marked the start of its diamond jubilee year with a return visit by the BSO on the actual 60th birthday. The theatre, which is part of Strode College and one of the…
THE autumn at Wiltshire Creative sees the company begin to return to work as a producing theatre, with three in-house productions on the main stage of the Playhouse in Salisbury. The next production is the thriller, The Girl on the Train, based on the best-selling novel by Paula Hawkins (and subsequent film), and running from…
DEVON’s Villages in Action has received welcome additional project funding from Arts Council England, Scops Arts Trust, and Innovate UK. This will enable the continuation of the touring arts charity’s performance and engagement programme for the next 18 months. The VIA team, based at Teignmouth, say the new grant will enable the network, made up…