WE are accustomed to murder mysteries where all the characters have motives for murder, but Rick Abbot’s play But Why Bump Off Barnaby?, chosen by Mere Amateur Drama Society for the next production, comes at the dastardly deed from a different angle. When Barnaby Folcey is murdered at the Marlgate Manor family gathering, it really is…
DORCHESTER Drama tackles one of the masterpieces of the great Norwegian dramatist, Henrik Ibsen, An Enemy of the People, updated and reimagined from 1882 to 2009. The group’s autumn production is at the Corn Exchange on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st November at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. The performers are having fun with the generally serious…
WRITER and activist Siobhan Dowd died in 2007 from breast cancer, before she could complete her novel A Monster Calls. It was taken on by Patrick Ness, published in 2012, became an international best seller and was adapted for the stage by Adam Peck and Sally Cookson, opened at Bristol Old Vic and won the…
SAMUEL Beckett’s existential classic Waiting For Godot will be on stage at the Studio of Strode Theatre in Street, from Wednesday 28th to Saturday 31st October, nightly at 7.30. Produced in house and directed by Adam Lanfranchi, it explores the complex and shape-shifting story of two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, as they wait by a…
SHAKESPEARE Live, the company that was founded 37 years ago by a group of experienced amateur actors, brings its latest devised show, Shakespeare’s Green-Eyed Monster, to four venues between 21st and 24th October. The company, whose members are drawn from the Wiltshire and Somerset area, is known for its annual summer productions at Seend, and…
THEY do things differently in Sturminster Newton – so no surprises if the latest production by local drama society SNADS is a festive show … at Hallowe’en! A Vicar Of Dibley Christmas is being staged at the Exchange from 29th to 31st October, bringing all your favourite characters from the hit television comedy series together…
LUCY Kirkwood’s 2020 play The Welkin is set in Somerset in 1759, the story of a young woman condemned to death by hanging, but whose life will be saved if her claim of pregnancy is true. Twelve women of the village form the jury. She play has been chosen by Ilminster Entertainment Society for performance…
FOLLOWING the closure of Taunton’s much-loved Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton Thespians have moved heir production of The Haunting of Hill House to the Queens Hall Theatre from 12th to 14th November where local theatre lovers can look forward to the spine-chilling experience of this critically acclaimed adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s gothic ghost story. Director Phil Turley…
THE multi-talented Yeovil Amateur Operatic Society is moving east for its next production, to the Powell Theatre in Sherborne. The show is the musical version of The Great British Bake-Off, making its first appearance locally on the amateur stage, and performances are from Monday 26th to Saturday 31st October.It is directed by Jennifer Holland-Brewer and…
ONE of Agatha Christie’s most popular whodunits, now titled And Then There Were None, will be performed on the stage of Shaftesbury Art Centre from 14th to 17th October. Ten strangers are mysteriously invited to an isolated house, cut off from the outside world. Each of them has a secret history … but how can they…