The Play’s the Thing

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…

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An adult feline frolic

BATH’S Ustinov Studio opens its 2025 season with three performances of CAT the Play, performed by Richard Kieswick as a man who dreams of fame in one of Lord Lloyd Webber’s most popular musicals, based on the work of T S Eliot. Described as a comedy drama with a dark twist, CAT the Play was…

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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…

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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,…

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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…

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Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Bristol Hippodrome

EDITH Evans, that grand theatrical dame who took over-acting to a fine art, once became so exasperated with a ‘method’ actor, who in rehearsal was moving and doing things continually during a scene, that she exploded – and, fixing the young man with a beady eye, announced in stertorous tones to one and all: “Young…

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A musical Scrooge at the Merlin

THERE’s just a handful of seats available at performances of A Christmas Carol – the Musical at Frome’s Merlin Theatre, starting on Friday 6th December. After last year’s sell out production of ELF, the ambitious and enterprising Merlin Theatre Productions company has chosen the Broadway version of the Dickens classic for its 2024 show, and…

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Jeeves to the festive rescue

IF you really can’t hack the Behind You and Oh No She Isn’t Christmas entertainment predictability, Bath Theatre Royal’s Ustinov studio has the perfect amtidote to panto-mania with a new production of Jeeves Takes Charge, running from Friday 6th December to Saturday 4th January. Sam Harrison plays all 22 roles in this clever solo retelling…

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A merry band of pirate kings (and queens)

SASHA Regan’s award-winning, hilarious, all-male production of ©Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera, The Pirates of Penzance, comes to Bath Theatre Royal from Monday 2nd to Saturday 7th December, direct from a four-week run at Wilton’s Music Hall in London. This original staging has now been winning awards – and fans – around the world for…

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Beauty is about to sleep in Salisbury

ONE of the most popular fairy tale pantomimes is the 2024 choice at Salisbury Playhouse, where Lottie Mae O’Kill plays the title role in Sleeping Beauty, running from 4th December to 12th January. Ryan McBryde returns to Salisbury Playhouse to direct the show, once again written by Plested, Brown and Wilsher, with Claudia Kariuki as…

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