PETER Pan is a familiar story with a difference in Linsey O’Neill’s version for Castle Players, on until Saturday 1st February. It’s set in the present day, Nana is a stuffed dog, and the “dame” (because this IS a pantomime) is Tinkerbill, brother to Tinkerbelle – a guy who’s always wanted to be a fairy…
THEY say the old jokes are the best, and Mark Blackham, who is now surely one of the area’s finest amateur dames, certainly did his history homework when he took on one of the great dame roles, Widow Twankey, in Shaftesbury Arts Centre’s Aladdin, which continues to Saturday 1st February. For his first scene, in…
DAN Evans is not a man to do things by halves. Not only has he adapted the familiar Hans Christian Anderson story The Snow Queen but also written music for it and directed the show for Tisbury Arts Group. It was a huge challenge for the group, performing in a former school hall with few…
SIMON Reade’s adaptation of Penelope Lively’s book Moon Tiger, chosen as a favourite tome by thousands of readers, just does not hang together as a play. The production, which opened in Bath at the start of a seven week provincial tour, is directed by Stephen Unwin and at its centre is Claudia, played by the…
WATER and the sea are the constant backdrop for Philip Goulding’s play A Fine Bright Day Today, and so the incessant downpour that greeted the audience leaving the Swan Theatre seemed almost appropriate. It’s the story of a 30-year widow and her daughter and an American hobby painter. Margaret has lived since her trawlerman husband’s…
PANTOMIME animals come in all shapes and sizes and are an essential element of the show – stroppy horses kicking up their heels, poor Daisy the cow on her way to market, quick-witted Puss in boots or helping Dick Whittington and even Captain Hook’s nemesis, the ticking crocodile. Highcliffe Charity Players’ Treasure Island boasts what…
HILARY Mantel’s award winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies have been adapted for the stage by Mike Poulton, and are currently part of the Swan Theatre season at the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. And while fans await the publication of The Mirror and the Light, the third part of Mantel’s…
BOURNEMOUTH Symphony Orchestra’s Resonate Strings is a quintet made up of members of the BSO who, as well as playing in the concert hall, perform in smaller venues, working with different audiences and leading a variety of musical activities. Their “Winter Serenade” was presented in partnership with Artsreach – one of the first events in…
PETER James is one of the UK’s best known crime writers, with his 25 novels translated into 36 languages, and his novella The Perfect Murder spending 15 weeks at the top of the best seller charts. Last year it was announced that the book would be adapted for the stage by Shaun McKenna, and audiences…
THERE’S a talking, walking, scheming feline in Street until 4th January, and he and his chums are delighting audiences at Strode Theatre. Glastonbury and Street Musical Comedy Society is back on the Strode stage for the fourth Christmas season, this year with Keith Marsden and Geoffrey Rundle’s version of Puss in Boots, directed by Rodney…