THE New Hardy Players, formed to celebrate the work of Dorset’s greatest writer, celebrate their 20th anniversary this year, touring A Few Crusted Characters from 6th to 15th June. The new play has been created from a series of short stories, and willl be performed at beautiful open air venues including Abbotsbury Swannery and Maumbury…
ANTHONY Shaffer’s edge-of-your-seat thriller Sleuth comes to the Swan Theatre in Yeovil from 19th to 24th May. Some may remember the 1972 movie, now a classic of its genre, which was filmed at Athelhampton. The Sway production is directed by Sarah Ambrose, it has Robert Graydon as Andrew Wyke and Chris Williamson as Milo Tindle,…
BRAM Stoker’s iconic Count Dracula takes centre stage at Salisbury’s Studio Theatre in Ashley Road from 19th to 24th May, when the award-winning company moves en masse to the Transylvanian castle where the story begins. English lawyer Jonathan Harker is invited to the castle, but he returns a changed man … Linda Hayman directs Richard…
FROME Drama Club has chosen Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play Gas Light (two words in the original) for its Spring production, on at the Merlin Theatre from Thursday 3rd to Saturday 5th April. The thriller is set in 1880s London, and has given the word “gaslight” to the world to describe what is now known as…
IBSEN’S classic play Hedda Gabler is the next on stage at the Studio Theatre where Amateur Players of Sherborne have made their home. Directed by Graham Smith, the production runs from 24th to 29th March, nightly at 7.30. It is the story of a woman trapped in a loveless marriage, fighting to hide the secrets…
BE My Baby, Amanda Whittington’s first play, was performed at Salisbury Playhouse’s Salberg Studio in 2004, and now it comes back to the city for a production by Studio Theatre at their Ashley Road home. Set in 1964, it centres around Mary, a pregnant 19-year-old who is sent by her mother to a mother and…
HOT on the heels of their triumphs with 2024’s The Drowsy Chaperone, Milborne Port Opera moves into new territory again this year, with a production of the musical version of The Witches of Eastwick, on stage at the Village Hall from 23rd to 26th April. Most people know the story, adapted from John Updike’s 1984…
THE Verwood-based Fireside Theatre has chosen Robert Thomas’s thriller Trap for a Lonely Man for its next reading, on at the home of Margaret and Tony Wilson on Wednesday 19th March. Set in an isolated chalet in the French alps, it starts when Daniel reports to the police that his wife has gone missing. Then…
HISTORY, it is often said, is written by men about men. It is also said, with equal truth that history is written by the victors. A group of creative women in Dorchester and the surrounding area are confronting these sexist tropes with an exciting new community play project – Women of Dorset. The play, which…
CONOR McPherson’s extraordinarily atmospheric play The Weir, set in a small bar in remote community in County Leitrim, is the next production by the Street Theatre Company, on stage at Strode Theatre from 19th to 22nd March. Directed by Dennis Barwell, it runs for around two hours without an interval – to keep the tension…