Oliver Twist or The Parish Boy’s, Progress Charles Dickens second novel is also one of his darkest stories. How then do you make such a story acceptable as a Christmas entertainment without destroying the essential fabric of this wonderfully atmospheric story, and its fierce attack on Victorian society’s attitude towards the poor? Lionel Bart succeeded…
IS there a more mysteriously creepy story in all of opera and “serious” fiction than Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, orchestrated by Benjamin Britten? Forests have been felled to provide the trees for the paper on which generations of experts, philosophers, students and musicologists have written their thoughts on the meaning of this…
IN a world of tinsel and jingle bells, Edward Albee’s classic 1962 play of domestic misery on an American campus is a start contrast, but that’s what is on offer at Strode Theatre Studio in Street from 14th to 16th December. Neil Howiantz directs the Strode Theatre Productions version of the play, which will be…
THIS is the 11th time that Andy Ford has led the comedy output in a Hippodrome panto, and in more than one of those of shows he has had to carry that burden almost single-handedly propping up high profile personalities with little stage experience. This time its a different story with M. Poirot David Suchet,…
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…
HELEN Hermanstein Smith’s parents came to Britain from Guyana in the late 1950s. The rich tastes of the Caribbean infused her mother’s cooking and influenced Helen, who has just published her first book, The Acorn House Bakery Recipe Book. Helen lives in Wincanton and her home-baked cakes are sold direct to customers and at Coles…
BRISTOL’S Old Vic Theatre is transformed into a magical city state in Arabia this Christmas. There’s a palace, a prison and a house where some of the “ordinary people” live, as well as sea monsters and a marvellous flying horse. And Schere is telling her stories to the petulant and babyish king. This brilliant retelling…
A MAN whose career has spanned a seat at the Cabinet table, a love of ballroom dancing and a passion to help Britain reach net zero, Sir Vince Cable is coming to Dorchester Arts at the Corn Exchange on Friday 1st December at 7.30pm. It is easy to see politicians as one-dimensional, walking egos, ambitious…
THE Dorset Museum at Dorchester is presenting a major exhibition of sculptor Dame Elisabeth Frink’s life and work, on until 21st April 2024. The works are drawn from the collection that Dorset Museum acquired from the Elisabeth Frink Estate in 2020, featuring sculptures, prints, drawings, and personal possessions. Many of these items, including working plasters…
TELEVISION scriptwriter Reginald Rose was called to serve on a New York jury in 1954, and his experiences in the locked jury room inspired him to write what became his best-known play, performed countless times on stages across the English speaking world and famously filmed with Henry Fonda in the lead. It is a timelessly…