THE West Gallery concert of carols and readings by the Ridgeway Singers and Band has become such a firm favourite with Artsreach audiences that for many it has become the “official start” of Christmas. The concerts, this year at the little church on the hill at Kingston, overlooking Corfe Castle, and historic St Mary’s parish…
THERE’s a swashbuckling atmosphere in Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre with pirates galore as the theatre welcomes excited hordes of boys and girls and their parents for the Christmas show, Peter Pan, on until 3rd January. While Chris Ellison is roaring his worst as Captain Hook on the stage, brandishing his hook or scuttling away from…
THE ghosts of Christmasses past are flying in support to the Northcott Theatre on the Exeter University campus this season. The past few years have been difficult, since the glory days at the venue faded under the weight of administration. But early in 2015 Paul Jepson was appointed artistic director, with a vision of returning…
THEY tackled the mighty Tudors with Henry VIII (and his Six Wives), and the Virgin Queen (and her did-she didn’t-she love life) and poked fun at the 20th century’s most unlikely couple, Adolf and Winston. Now Howard Coggins and Stu Mcloughlin take on Scrooge and the cast of characters in A Christmas Carol, delighting fans…
THE Studio Theatre Christmas show at Ashley Road in Salisbury this year is Philip Goulding’s version of Kenneth Grahame’s classic The Wind in the Willows. Toad of Toad Hall throws its audience straight into the Reformation of the Toad, starting at the river bank home of Ratty as Badger arrives to carry out the winter-made…
TIM Firth turned his 1999 celebrity-ridden ITV comedy about a Nativity into a stage play in 2006. After writing the television film he also turned the story of the Yorkshire WI ladies into the film Calendar Girls, and two years after adapting Flint Street for stage he did the same with Calendar Girls. The Girls…
IF you want an evening (or an afternoon) of helpless laughter, colour, magic, romance and a bit of scary stuff, head for the Octagon in Yeovil between now and 3rd January. This year’s pantomime has achieved the seemingly impossible – another improvement on the previous one. The Octagon has been on a roll for several…
TAUNTON’S Brewhouse Theatre has a professional Christmas show again this year, created by Kickline at the invitation of the new board of management. The company decided to weave their musical around the legends of King Arthur, which are richly rooted in Somerset, and the result is Merlin’s Apprentice, with a script and lyrics by director…
PUTTING on a pantomime in the 21st century seems to have created problems (or “issues”, as we now call them) for theatres and directors. Is it politically correct? Do today’s children (aka young people) want to see men dressed as colourful and improbable women, or girls dressed as thigh-slapping high-camp boys? Are stories about sibling…
THE entrance to the Tobacco Factory auditorium in Bedminster has been decked out like a castle, with colourful climbing roses and twinkling lights, and the stage, surrounded on three sides by audience seating, is similarly packed with the apparatus of enchantment. This is for The Light Princess, the Christmas show produced by the venue in…