FROME Drama Club has chosen Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play Gas Light (two words in the original) for its Spring production, on at the Merlin Theatre from Thursday 3rd to Saturday 5th April. The thriller is set in 1880s London, and has given the word “gaslight” to the world to describe what is now known as…
THE Arborealists, a group of professional artists – painters, print-makers, photographers and sculptors, united by a love of trees – have their first Dorset exhibition at the Market Yard gallery at Sculpture by the Lakes, the atmospheric watery sculpture park near Tincleton, a few miles east of Dorchester, until 19th April. This is The Arborealists’…
THIS reworking of the David Bintley choreographed, John Macfarlane designed production of Cinderella, set to Sergei Prokofiev’s wonderfully evocative score, is a delight to both the eye and the ear. Thanks partially to money raised by last years Big Give Christmas Challenge, the sumptuous costumes (including those delightful frog and lizard heads) have been returned…
THERE were 361 half-hour episodes of the American television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents during the decade following 1955, shows that attracted a host of A-list star actors and directors as well as the Essex-born Hitchcock, known as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. Some years ago, American composer, lyricist and…
GRAHAM Smith and Robert Brydges decided that it was time for Amateur Players of Sherborne to tackle an Ibsen play, after 91 years without a single work from the great Norwegian playwright. So they set about adapting the much-performed story, focussing on its timeless qualities and modern relevances, and their new version is on stage…
SWISS playwright Friedrich Durrenmatt studied philosophy and went to Berlin for postgraduate studies into Kierkegaard. There, he quickly formed a very different view of his native country and its famed neutrality, instead seeing a state polluted by greed and hypocrisy where neutrality was a euphemism for complicity. The fledgling philosopher turned his attention to playwriting…
IBSEN’S classic play Hedda Gabler is the next on stage at the Studio Theatre where Amateur Players of Sherborne have made their home. Directed by Graham Smith, the production runs from 24th to 29th March, nightly at 7.30. It is the story of a woman trapped in a loveless marriage, fighting to hide the secrets…
BE My Baby, Amanda Whittington’s first play, was performed at Salisbury Playhouse’s Salberg Studio in 2004, and now it comes back to the city for a production by Studio Theatre at their Ashley Road home. Set in 1964, it centres around Mary, a pregnant 19-year-old who is sent by her mother to a mother and…
THERE’S something about trees and since the publication of Merlin Sheldrake’s fascinating book Entangled Life, we know that there are forces underground, in constant communication with one another. So, if you have been in a forest and been aware of an invisible presence, it’s not really surprising … and humans have had that feeling for…
THE British and Irish Cheese Awards return to the Bath and West show ground over the weekend 21st to 23rd March, running again this year in conjunction with the Bath and West Food and Drink Festival, which is in its second year. With more than 500 entries from around the United Kingdom, the British and…