THERE is quite a trend currently for films to be adapted for the stage but there have been few book-to-film-to-stage versions that are better or more entertaining than Patrick Barlow’s inventive and hilarious staging of the John Buchan classic thriller, The 39 Steps. This brilliant play opens the in-house production season at Salisbury Playhouse, running…
SHAKESPEARE’s dark drama The Merchant of Venice may have one of the most famous speeches in the whole canon, but it is a difficult play for modern audiences. We struggle with the arrogant anti-semitism of Antonio and most of us surely squirm at the twin horrors of Shylock’s merciless revenge and the humiliation he suffers…
DORCHESTER Arts has a packed programme for February ranging from tribute shows to half-term fun – to a one-woman entertainment celebrating opera and triathlon! Next up is a visit from the boisterously energetic folk music from The Churchfitters on Thursday 27th. The last day of February (Friday 28th) brings comedian Alyssa Kyria (pictured) in her…
ONE of the finest British actresses of her generation, Maxine Peake comes to Bath Theatre Royal’s Ustinov Studio in a production of the powerful drama Doubt. Ben Daniels, an Olivier Award-winning actor and well-known from many television roles, co-stars in the production, which runs from 7th February to 8th March. Doubt, A Parable, by John…
A WORLDWIDE cult play and West End hit, Ghost Stories comes to Bath Theatre Royal from Tuesday 28th January to Saturday 1st February. The drama, created by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, stars Dan Tetsell, David Cardy and Clive Mantle. Described as a truly terrifying theatrical experience, Ghost Stories was created by The League of…
THE inventive Spitz &Co return to Dorset’s Artsreach touring circuit with a new comedy, looking back to the early years of the King of rock’n’roll. Elvis in Blue Hawaii, with comic mayhem and audience interaction, plus all your favourite Elvis songs, comes to Studland village hall on Wednesday 5th February, East Stour on Friday 7th…
AUDIENCES at Bath Theatre Royal will see the first performances of By Royal Appointment, a new play by Daisy Godwin, starring Anne Reid and Caroline Quentin, from Thursday 5th to Saturday 14th June. The production will be directed by Bristol-born Dominic Dromgoole, former artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe. Booking opens to Theatre Royal Bath members…
J B Priestley wrote the 1912-set An Inspector Calls in 1945 as the second World War was drawing to a close and shortly before the start of the First World War. The hypocrisy, greed, abuse of power, particularly towards the working classes, that he saw in Edwardian society, had, he felt, helped trigger that conflict,…
CIRENCESTER’s adventurous independent Barn Theatre opens the 2025 season with a new comedy featuring a casting director facing the challenge of casting an actor for the world’s most famous spy. Jordan Waller’s A Role to Die For, running from 30th January to 15th March, stars Olivier Award-winner Janie Dee, and is directed by another Olivier…
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…