THE words of Simon Butteriss and the lyrics of the late, great, John Mortimer – with a few of the greatest hits of Johann Strauss – is a recipe for comic opera heaven, and that is what audiences at IfOpera at Belcombe Court in Bradford-on-Avon enjoyed this season. Simon Butteriss was a favourite in the…
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….
IF you are scared of spiders (and I am), the names Black Widow, Red Backed, Dancing White Lady or Tarantula are sure to send you into a near-catatonic state. But when they are the inspiration for an exciting piece of music, composed for the harp and played by an exceptionally talented young harpist, they do…
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…
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…
FOR years, visitors to England, particularly from the USA, have headed for London to see “a show” – apparently whatever it might be. That description of musical theatre has caught on, and now the popularity of the big musical spectacle, often an adaptation of a hit film, draws the crowds to the West End. Sometimes…
IT is hard to imagine a more perfect setting for an evening of beautiful dance and fine food than the ancient walled garden at Hatch House at Tisbury. Covent Garden Dance Company this year celebrated the 15th anniversary of Ballet Under The Stars – sometimes known as the Glyndebourne of dance – with a programme…
IN 1987, the late Bill Kenwright sent a musical version of Blood Brothers out on a nationwide tour which, combined with West End runs, turned what had originally been a school play into a show with a cult following that has kept it in production to the present day. For a musical it has a…
AT the final destination for a production that finishes, after a strenuous six month tour, in Bristol on Saturday 3rd August, this presentation shows no signs of running out of steam. In fact, the three-strong Le Navet Bête, (Nick Bunt, Al Dunn and Matt Freeman), drive this tale of three itinerant actors trying to devise…
DORSET Opera Festival celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and the company, led by artistic director Roderick Kennedy, decided not only to commission an opera to celebrate the golden jubilee, but for this new work to be a truly Dorset production. So composer Paul Carr was asked to create an opera based on Thomas Hardy’s…