CHRISTY Lefteri’s bestselling book The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a story of our times – a chronicle of the lives of a handful of Syrian and other refugees seeking asylum in the famously civilised and welcoming United Kingdom. Now adapted for the stage by Nesrin Alrefaai and Matthew Spangler, it is in Bath until Easter…
HIJINX Theatre, one of Europe’s leading inclusive theatre companies, is coming to Taunton Brewhouse on Tuesday 7th April and Dorchester Corn Exchange on Thursday 9th April, with Meet Fred. The company is marking the tenth anniversary of this darkly funny satire, following the experiences of Fred, a puppet fighting for his independence as his Puppetry…
IF you put the names Alan Bennett, Nick Hytner, Ralph Fiennes, Roger Album. Simon Russell-Beale … and Elgar … together and give them a good shake, you would probably come up with The Choral, a quintessential English film, with charm, music, love lost and found and a soul-stirring musical backdrop. Add in the First World…
RICHARD Brinsley Sheridan’s timeless comedy The Rivals was given the One Man Two Guvnors treatment by Richard Bean for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and now the updated version comes to Frome’s Merlin Theatre from 16th to 18th April. Frome Drama is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, and the play by Bean and co writer…
ALAN Bennett’s 1984 film A Private Function has become a icon of British comedy, delighting successive generations with its gentle but unflinching look at life after the war and petty small town cliques and jealousies. In 2011, Cameron Mackintosh commissioned George Stiles and Anthony Drewe to create a musical from the tale, and Betty Blue…
FORTES Ice Cream, a Swanage-based family business that opened its first creamery in 1926, has had a rather special centenary celebration, winning Best Chocolate Ice Cream at this year’s UK and Ireland Golden Scoop Awards. Hosted by the Ice Cream Alliance, the UK and Ireland’s only trade show focused on ice cream, the awards crowned…
WE wouldn’t exist without the sun – but how much do most of us know about it? Installation artist Luke Jerram asks visitors to come and discover the bright star that gives us light and life in his new touring project, Helios, which will be at Dorchester Corn Exchange until Monday 6th April. Helios, like…
ROGER Fry, painter and member of the Bloomsbury Group, is celebrated in a new exhibition at the Museum of Somerset,Taunton, from Saturday 28th March to 4th July. A Life in Art: Roger Fry is a major new exhibition exploring the life, work and influence of one of the most important figures in 20th century British…
SHAFTESBURY bookshop FOLDE Dorset, which specialises in nature writing, has been named as the best independent book retailer in the South West for a second time, just two years after taking the regional prize in 2024. Affectionately known as The Nibbies, the awards are organised by The Bookseller magazine and judged by a prestigious panel…
WHEN audiences gather for Hurn Court Opera’s La Traviata on 16th April at Christchurch Regent Centre, 18th at the Coade Hall at Bryanston School and 20th at Winchester Theatre Royal, they will see striking and original costumes designed by students at Arts University Bournemouth. The new creative partnership between the opera company, a Dorset-based arts…
SHEILA Hannon is a phenomenon – a one-woman theatrical powerhouse, who for 40 years has been creating theatrical events in Bristol and Bath with her Show of Strength Theatre Company. This year she is one of the 10 finalists for Visit England’s Tourism Superstar award. Sheila has been nominated by Visit West and thoroughly deserves the…
AVALON Archaeology, at the Avalon Marshes Centre on Shapwick Road, Westhay, has completed the construction of a replica Iron Age roundhouse, which will be officially opened on Saturday 21st March, by Charlie Taylor from BBC Radio Somerset. Visitors will be able to explore the building and learn more about Somerset’s prehistory with themed activities taking…
THE new exhibition at Salisbury Museum, in the Cathedral Close, is Un/Common People: Folk Culture in Wessex, runs to Sunday 10th May. Celebrating the rich folk art, traditions and seasonal customs of Wessex, the exhibition explores how folk culture has been shaped by communities past and present. Created by and for the people, folk culture…
THE new exhibition at the Somerset Rural Life Museum at Glastonbury is Legacy in Making, running until 10th May. Presented by Somerset Art Works in partnership with the South West Heritage Trust, it celebrates the legacy and future of the Somerset Craft Guild. It shows the remarkable breadth of contemporary and historic craft in Somerset,…
SHERBORNE Travel Writing Festival has never felt more important than this year, when our international travel possibilities seem so fragile and risky. Over the weekend 10th to 12th April, speakers at the Powell Theatre in Abbey Road will take audiences on journeys of adventure, history, nature, deep into today’s fractured and dangerous world. Curated by…
HOW many of us have met someone on holiday who we have hit it off with? We exchange addresses or emails, and probably never hear from them again. Or perhaps you do go and visit them – and it all goes swimmingly and 30 years on, you are still good friends. That’s the positive story…
COMPOSER Piers Kennedy has composed new works for Sarum Tenebrae: A Service of Shadows in Salisbury Cathedral on Wednesday 1st April at 7.30pm. This service with candles which are gradually extinguished, finishing in total darkness, is traditionally held during Holy Week. This year the service features a commission of nine compositions by Piers Kennedy, sung…
AN outstanding sheep’s milk cheese, White Lake’s Pavé Cobble, is now back on cheese counters following huge demand after the Somerset-produced ash-coated cheese was placed 12th overall in the 5,244 entries for the World Cheese Awards. Produced at Bagborough Farm by third generation farmer Roger Longman, Pavé Cobble is White Lake’s take on a classic…
SOUTH West-based theatre company Pipeline has been awarded funding to develop a new play, George and the Drag Queen, for a national tour this autumn. The company has been commissioned to develop the project by the Create Tour Connect partnership. The Falmouth-based company won the commission after a competitive application process. The selection process for…
A WEST Dorset choir specialising in music that Thomas Hardy sang has just launched a new website and is keen to attract more singers and instrumentalists to join. Broadwindsor Gallery Quire is a community ensemble dedicated to exploring and performing the rich tradition of West Gallery music – vibrant hymns and anthems that once filled…
BATH Comedy Festival returns from 21st March to 19th April with more than 100 shows, featuring well over 300 performances, with big names at Bath Forum including Dead Ringers, Paul Merton and Suki Webster, Harry Enfield and Troy Hawke. The festival also brings a host of acts to its intimate upstairs room at the Ring…
WHEN Cirencester-based Rave Coffee got together with Lacock’s Coco Chemistry the result was destined to be delicious – a treat for sophisticated chocolate lovers – a big, blonde, crunchy, caffeinated Easter egg that you won’t want to share with the children (or anyone else!) Over the years, Rave has developed a reputation for its exciting…