THERE’s precious little “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” as Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre heads into autumn. Rather, the arts centre is ripping it up with a short season of cult films that explored and celebrated different aspects of youth rebellion. Since the 1950s, youth culture in this country has a wide and varied history,…
WHEN the great Martin Carthy unexpectedly retired, as he was due to go on tour with his daughter Eliza, she decided to continue the tour as a tribute to her father, and will be one of the major draws at this year’s Lyme Regis Folk Weekend, from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th August. Eliza Carthy…
PURBECK, with its dramatic coastline, is inextricably linked to the sea, and this is the theme of this year’s Purbeck International Chamber Music Festival, from 3rd to 6th September. Artistic director, and internationally acclaimed cellist, Natalie Clein has chosen this theme because the sea connects and separates, carries memory and myth, and reflects the depths…
THE Billings, a dedicated community venue at the heart of the Theatre Royal Bath, will open in spring 2027. This will be the fourth and final public and performance space within the theatre’s historic city centre site. The project, funded with support from more than 4,200 donors, has been fully approved, and work is now…
SMALL but mighty in its reach and influence – that would be a fair description of the Barn, the tiny independent theatre in Cirencester, which has announced the London transfer of its hit show, Million Dollar Quartet. Following an extended summer run at its Cotswold home, the show, with a cast led by Darren Day,…
WHEN Thomas Meehan was first approached to write the book for a musical based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie, after careful research he decided that none of the stories contained in Harold Gray’s cartoon comic strip, which was printed in newspapers from 1924 to 2010, would make a good basis for a stage…
LIFE is strange, particularly in the theatre. You wait years for a chocolate soldier … and then two come along in the same week. First we had the original, George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man at the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis (see separate review) – and a few days later there was The Chocolate…
THE role of Rachel Marron, the superstar singer threatened by a stalker, is one that any actor/singer would give their eye teeth for. Involved in 12 song and dance numbers, and some delicious dramatic and romantic moments, Rachel can really take the show by the scruff of the neck and dominate scene after scene. Like…
YEOVIL’s extraordinary record of producing brilliant young performers and choreographers – including Christopher Wheeldon – continues with James Bamford, who brings his Project Dance company to Westlands on 27th and 28th August with his new work, Things I’ve Never Said. James’s fourth annual touring production, set to an original live score by Charles Harrison, is…
THE first stage adaptation of former spy John Le Carre’s 1963 novel The Spy Who Came In from the Cold starts with an introduction to the settings and the characters. It is 1961, the audience is told in Jeremy Herrin’s Chichester production, which is ending its lengthy UK tour at Bath, until 22nd August. The…