The Arts Section

Celebrity Weakest Link at the Barn

A STARRY line-up of celebrities, including the Queen’s son, food writer Tom Parker-Bowles, singer-songwriter Toyah Willcox and Lord Michael Grade, will take part in a special edition of The Weakest Link, chaired by the TV programme’s founder presenter Anne Robinson, at Cirencester’s Barn Theatre on Saturday 18th January. The charity event is raising funds for…

Read more...

Martin Shaw stars in Bolt’s Tudor classic

HOT on the heels of the triumph of Wolf Hall on television, Bath Theatre Royal takes audiences once again into the dark corridors of power and the dangerous glamour of the court of Henry VIII, with a new production of Robert Bolt’s great drama, A Man for all Seasons, running at the theatre from Thursday…

Read more...

Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet at Bristol Hippodrome

WHEN Shakespeare wrote “The most excellent and lamentable tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”, he created the two most loved and recognisable pair of lovers the world has ever known. Originally Romeo was described as being 16 years old and Juliet 13, but while Romeo appears to have matured in age over the years, Juliet remains…

Read more...

Midnight Mole in The Egg

MIDNIGHT Mole continues at Bath Theatre Royal’s dedicated children’s theatre space The Egg until Sunday 9th February. Described as a heart-warming adventure for the very young, it is full of puppetry and music, and specially created for younger audiences aged between six months to four years old. Audiences can join Madame Ranevsky in her favourite…

Read more...

The ART of friendship

INCREDIBLY popular – but seriously contentious – Yasmina Reza’s play ART is one of the great plays of the last 30 years. There are many who think it is laugh-out-loud funny and others who find it navel-gazing and pretentious. Make up your own mind when you watch a performance of ART by Somerleigh Players at…

Read more...

Powerful play starts Swan’s new season

YEOVIL’S Swan Theatre starts it 2025 season with a production of Diane Samuels’ 1993 play Kindertransport, on stage from 20th to 25th January at 7.45. Evelyn is happily settled into middle aged, middle class England. But when her daughter Faith discovers some old documents in the attic, she is forced to confront her past –…

Read more...

Humbug Carol at Mere and Downton

Marley was dead, to begin with … NO matter how grumpy Scrooge is, you can be sure he will be bringing smiles and festive joy when he makes his annual visits. His last appearance for the 2024/25 season comes with A Humbug Christmas Carol from The Travelling Players – a joint venture of Forest Forge,…

Read more...

Miss Havisham – doomed expectations

WE all have our image of Miss Havisham, the jilted bride, bitter in her dark, cobweb-filled mansion, in her ageing wedding dress with the wedding breakfast crumbling on the table … but what really happened? Actress, writer and producer Heather Alexander brings one of Charles Dickens’ iconic characters from Great Expectations to life in her…

Read more...

Peter Pan, Strode Theatre, Street

LIKE so many theatres across the country, Strode Theatre in Street is facing difficult times. Situated in the first county in the UK to “proudly” proclaim it had stopped all arts funding, the theatre has to maintain and shout about its position as an educational hub and a place where the community in a wide…

Read more...