THE rarely-performed 1979 Alan Ayckbourn play Taking Steps, regarded as his only true farce, had a welcome outing at the Tivoli in Wimborne by courtesy of the excellent Churchill company, again directed by Pete Talman. Set on three floors of a dilapidated Victorian mansion miles out of town, and originally played on a flat stage,…
HALSE Players’ latest production, and their first thriller, provides excellent entertainment and some fine characterisations with only one significant flaw (hopefully corrected on later nights). Peter Whalley’s Dead of Night (not to be confused with the classic black and white movie of the same name) is a taut small-cast thriller which probably deserves to be…
THE 1955 Ealing comedy classic The Ladykillers found a new lease of life in 2011 on stage in London, where a theatrical version by Graham Linehan ran for several years. Now released for amateurs, it has several productions in the region in coming weeks, the first of which is now open at Yeovil’s Swan Theatre….
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, leader Amyn Merchant Kirill Karabits: Conductor Vadim Gluzman: Violin RAVEL: Mother Goose Suite GLAZUNOV: Violin Concerto PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 4 (1947 version) FINDING the correct balance between the safe crowd-pleasers and the less well-known and unjustly neglected parts of the classical repertoire must be a constant headache for the BSO’s management. In…
LIKE a slightly drunk man trying to retain his dignity, Antony Sher’s rambunctious Falstaff carefully enunciates each word, bringing Shakespeare’s larger-than-life “fat knight” to even more vibrant life. His performance is the centrepiece in Greg Doran’s touring Royal Shakespeare Company production of the Henry IV plays, on stage at Bath Theatre Royal to 8th November,…
THE singer and songwriter Ben Glover, who has been opening for Mary Gauthier on her 2014 UK tour, moved from his native Ireland to Nashville, home of a thousand songs. He was brought up on the staple diet of Irish traditional music in his home village of Glenarm, but his parents also loved American country….
BRADFORD Players have had their share of tribulations in the last few years, so it was good to see them back in action and restored to something like their best form at their recent double-bill at the Village Hall. The pair of fairly gentle but lively comedies were sensibly chosen with a view to the…
THE Cool Web, created to commemorate the centenary of the Great War, had its triumphant premiere on Thursday 30th October, when baritone Edward Grint was joined by the Philharmonia Voices, the Melody Makers of Bath Abbey (a children’s choir from local schools) and the Endymion Ensemble under the distinguished baton of Robin O’Neill. Composed by…
THE centenary of the start of the First World War and the final departure of British troops from Afghanistan have kept war and the grim business of soldiering in the forefront of the news for many months. The First World War commemorations will continue for four years, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will…
HANDEL’S rarely performed 1723 opera Ottone, the 15th of around 50 studiously recycled operatic works, is part of the current English Touring Opera programme, and was seen at Bath Theatre Royal on 28th October. For this tour, ETO is accompanied by The Old Street Band conducted by Jonathan Peter Kenny and the production is directed…