The Arts Section

The Polar Express, Swanage

CATCH the steam train from Swanage this month, and your destination won’t be Corfe Castle or Norden but … the North Pole. Granted, daytime passengers might think the “North Pole” looks quite a lot like Corfe when they get there. (Though at night, the winter darkness helps everyone onboard to maintain the illusion.) Until 30th…

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Elvis Costello heading for Poole and Bristol

IT might be nine months ahead – but tickets go on sale tomorrow, Wednesday, for a concert by Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve at Poole Lighthouse on Wednesday 18th September 2024. The night before they will be at the newly-reopened Bristol Beacon. The gigs are part of a 12-venue UK tour, and the playlist will…

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Twelfth Night, APS, Sherborne Studio Theatre

IF you are following talented young Street actor-singer Toby Turley on I Have a Dream*, the quest for the new Sky and Sophie for the West End’s Mamma Mia, you will know that the ingredients for a perfect theatre on-stage partnership are not only acting (or singing) ability but also that intangible quality, chemistry. If…

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The Sky’s the limit for Toby

TOBY Turley from Street – properly known as Tobias – is in the very last stages of the television contest to find the new Sky for the West End production of Mamma Mia! – and it’s down to the public on Sunday 10th December to choose between him and Owen to take the role. The show,…

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Festive fun with Ratty

THE Last Baguette, the adventurous theatre company which is resident at Pound Arts in Horsham, Wiltshire, is on tour, with dates starting on 6th December, and calling at Malmesbury, Chippenham and Bridport, with the enchanting seasonal show, A Winter’s Tail. Described as a play-along theatre adventure for two-to-six year-olds and their grown-ups, A Winter’s Tail…

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Seeing the light with Greedy Pig

THE Bath-based Greedy Pig Theatre Company will be performing a new play, The Stolen Winter Light, described as a fantastic family treat, at the Rondo Theatre from 13th to 24th December at various times. In the dark of Midwinter, nothing is more valuable than the light – and no one needs it more than Clementine….

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Mayflower’s got Diversity

BRITAIN’s Got Talent stars Ashley Banjo and his street dance crew Diversity star at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre in the fairest pantomime of them all, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, from 9th to 31st December. Dancer and choreographer Ashley Banjo will play Prince Ashley, with the Diversity dancers as the Royal Guards. And there’s pantomime…

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Three Little Pigs at Poole

BRIDPORT-based Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company takes a new look at a favourite children’s story with a collaborative production of The Three Little Pigs at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre from 5th to 24th December. The show, created by company founder-director Niki McCretton (pictured), has been developed in collaboration with nine young peopl. Working with schools…

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Robin Hood and his Merry Men on tour

BUMBLEFLY makes a welcome return to local village halls and arts centres with a new seasonal family show, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. As always the New Forest-based company is taking the Christmas show on tour, starting this year with two dates with Artsreach in West Dorset, at West Stafford village hall on Friday…

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Aggies on their Christmas spree

IT would hardly be Christmas without a tour by St Agnes Fountain, AKA The Aggies and THE Christmas band. This year’s tour pays special tribute to David Hughes, who died in April. David founded the band in 2001, ready to record their first, eponymous, album. From then until 2020, he toured with Fairport Convention’s Chris…

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