The Arts Section

Mela Quartet open CIW season

CONCERTS in the West, the charity which brings rising stars of the chamber music scene to the West Country, opens the autumn season with four recitals by the Mela guitar quartet, bringing a “festival of music” to Bridport Arts Centre on Friday 6th September at 11.30am, for the shorter coffee concert, that evening at Ilminster…

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The History Boys, Bath Theatre Royal and touring

ALAN Bennett’s play The History Boys, first seen at the National Theatre in 2004 and later filmed, launched the careers of several young actors and quickly embedded itself as a favourite Bennett work. It was seen at Bath Theatre Royal in 2007 as part of its first national tour, and again in 2010 and 2011….

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Art – and the price of friendship

ONE of the most popular plays of the past three decades, Yasmina Reza’s Art comes to Poole Lighthouse from 29th to 31st August, and at Bath in a new 30th anniversary production at the start of the Theatre Royal’s autumn season, from Tuesday 3rd to Saturday 7th September. The play is directed by Iqbal Khan…

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Come From Away, Bristol Hippodrome and touring

ALL of us can remember where we were and what we were doing when we saw the film of the first plane crashing into the World Trade Centre on 11th September 2001. It is an indelible image of a moment that changed all our lives. But for the residents of a remote community living on…

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Making history – 20 years on

ONE of Britain’s greatest playwrights, Sir Alan Bennett, visited Bath Theatre Royal and gave his seal of approval to the final rehearsals of the 20th anniversary production of his multi-award-winning play, The History Boys, ahead of the opening night on Thursday 22nd August. The play and later film, which together launched the careers of several…

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A curious art

THE early autumn exhibition at Make, Hauser & Wirth’s gallery in Bruton High Street, celebrates the remarkable career and puppet creations of Lyndie Wright, who has been dedicated to the art of puppetry for 65 years. The Make show, The Curious Art of Puppetry, features an extraordinary collection of original puppet creations crafted at Lyndie…

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From quarries to nature reserves

IT is easy to look at a stone quarry and see nothing but destruction – a great scar in the landscape. But Andy Littler, geologist, chartered engineer and quarry manager, has a very different story to tell when he comes to Sladers Yard arts centre at West Bay, on Thursday 29th August, to give the next…

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Bruton Art Society annual show

BRUTON Art Society, founded in 1953 and one of the oldest art groups in the area, has its annual exhibition at King’s School, Bruton, until Saturday 24th August. Always one of the best exhibitions with work by regional artists – painters, print-makers,§ photographers, sculptors and potters – it features contemporary and traditional art that provides…

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The Birthday Party, Ustinov Studio, Bath

MENACE is one of those things for which delicate audience members now need a trigger warning, but back in 1957, when one-time actor and burgeoning playwright David Baron/Harold Pinter started to craft his oeuvre, it was something he all but introduced to the English stage. Sheer terror is commonplace on television and film, but on…

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