The Arts Section

After Sedgemoor

THE last pitched battle fought on English soil took place at Sedgemoor – the aftermath, which included the infamous “Bloody Assuzes” of Judge Jeffreys, is the subject of the major spring exhibition at the Museum of Somerset. Remembering the Monmouth Rebellion will be on show until 6th July. The exhibition is part of the museum’s…

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Jodie Comer coming to Bath

JODIE Comer is coming to Bath Theatre Royal in February 2026, reprising her BAFTA, Emmy, Tony and Olivier Award-winning solo performance in Suzie Miller’s powerful play Prima Facie. Bath is one of nine destinations on the UK and Ireland tour, with the world-famous production appearing at the Theatre Royal from Tuesday 24th to Saturday 28th…

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, YAOS at Westlands, Yeovil

THE multi-talented and super-versatile members of Yeovil Amateur Operatic Society have scored another triumph with their latest show at Westlands. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is Roald Dahl’s enduring, darkly-funny tale of a poor boy who proves his passion for chocolate to the very peculiar owner of the chocolate factory. And the Yeovil group has…

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Colder Than Here, Swan Theatre, Yeovil

HOW do you react when someone you love has a terminal diagnosis? Shock, grief, anger, silence, sympathy … humour? Myra Bradley (Rachel Butcher) is diagnosed with bone cancer and told she has about six months to live. She wants to make the most of her time; she wants to choose where she will be buried;…

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From the trees to the lakes

ONE of the country’s most scenically beautiful visual arts venues, Sculpture by the Lakes, at Pallington near Dorchester, hosts an exhibition by The Arborealists, from 22nd March to 19th April, the first time the group has exhibited in Dorset. The Arborealists group, which was founded in 2013, comprises 50 professional artists, who celebrate trees in…

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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Bristol Hippodrome

WHEN, in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Topsy is asked by Miss Ophelia “Do you know who made you”, she replies “Nobody as I knows on. I s’pect I growed”. That quotation would be a good reply to anyone who wondered how a 15-minute “pop cantata” composed for a school and telling the story of…

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No terror in the bang – Hitchcock on stage

ALFRED Hitchcock, the master of spine-tingling tension and thrills, famously said: “There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.” So expect plenty of terror and nail-biting anticipation as Bath Theatre Royal stages the world premiere production of Alfred Hitchcock presents – The Musical, from Saturday 22nd March to Saturday 12th…

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Folk music from around the world

A TRIO of multi-instrumentalists who have played with many of the West Country’s leading theatre companies come to Dorset for three dates with Artsreach, from 14th to 16th March. Jaclarabag perform heartfelt, eclectic folk songs from across the world, with a good dose of original material thrown in. Jim Carey (accordion, trombone, guitar) and Giles…

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A Fireside Trap

THE Verwood-based Fireside Theatre has chosen Robert Thomas’s thriller Trap for a Lonely Man for its next reading, on at the home of Margaret and Tony Wilson on Wednesday 19th March. Set in an isolated chalet in the French alps, it starts when Daniel reports to the police that his wife has gone missing. Then…

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Morpurgo story premiere at the Barn

A STORY inspired by Sir Michael Morpurgo’s own family history is brought to the stage by adapter Simon Reade and the adventurous team at Cirencester’s Barn Theatre, from Friday 28th March to Saturday 10th May. In the Mouth of the Wolf is the true story of Morpurgo’s uncles in the Second World War. That war…

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