Prokofiev: Sinfonietta Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 Haydn: Symphony No. 104 ‘London’ Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, leader Amyn Merchant Kirill Karabits: Conductor Stephen Isserlis: Cello CELLIST Steven Isserlis is a regular soloist with the BSO. He has enormous charisma and presence, and an enthusiastic full house saw him give an intense and dramatic performance…
MICHAEL Frayn’s farce, Noises Off, is the perfect example of just how hard it is to bring off a show which keeps the audience in fits of laughter by a constant barrage of mistaken identity, doors opening and closing, trousers dropping and bizarre plotting. It is the story of Otstar Productions’ production of Robin Housemonger’s…
BARNEY Norris is fast making a name for himself as the playwright to watch, and his latest work, Eventide, stopped at Salisbury Playhouse’s Salberg Studio before its final performances at Bristol’s Tobacco Factory. Barney met Alice Hamilton in a youth theatre group and together they formed Up in Arms Theatre, a south- west based company…
AS I have said before, if you want to see a play, any play at all, done well, go and see it at the Swan in Yeovil. The theatre itself is a gem, with just ten rows of about 20 seats, each with a good view of the stage, the company strives for perfection, and…
SIR Cameron Mackintosh will hopefully be sleeping soundly in his Somerset bed this evening, after a sell out performance of the revival of his stage version of the famous Disney film, at the very beginning of what will probably be a record-breaking tour, if the energy, enthusiasm, talent and pure joy of tonight’s cast, band…
EARLIER this year I had occasion to describe a Wellington production as “one of the finest pieces of amateur theatre I have ever seen”. At the risk of monotony, I can think of no better way to describe Ilminster Entertainment’s Society’s Woman In Mind. Woman In Mind is one of Ayckbourn’s less accessible plays, and…
RATHER like the stage musical versions of Shrek and The Full Monty, Sister Act is a stage version of a film full of famous, recognisable, memorable songs, but a stage version in which all the music is completely original, and consequently completely new to an audience. Fortunately Sister Act has a book and script by…
THOMAS Kilroy’s play is set in 1943 in an Ireland maintaining its neutrality, fearing invasion from every side, in the grip of petrol rationing and attempting to continue an existence of blarney and petty crime through happy ignorance. And Jenny Stephens’ production for Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, on a studio stage backed with trees…
THERE’S no longer any such thing as a job for life and Jeanette Reid, co -owner of the Queen’s Arms in Corton Denham on the Dorset/Somerset border near Sherborne, is determined to enjoy the potential for variety. She started off with 13 years in the police force, changing tack to take on a high-powered human…
SALISBURY Playhouse’s short plays are among the most interesting of the many events and celebrations across the country marking the anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta at Runnymede 800 years ago. First let me say that the matinee audience, mostly made up of older theatre goers (well, I’m one of them, too!), was less…