MAGIC can happen when the stars align, the gods unite and the time is right. That fickle chance beamed down on King Street in Bristol at the moment when writer Max Porter, director Nancy Medina, adaptor Bea Roberts and designer Rebecca Jane Wood agreed to adapt Porter’s 2019 book for the stage. The result is…
THE most infamously famous person in the world, Donald J Trump, arrives at the Ustinov Studio at Bath Theatre Royal on Friday 5th November, where he will be talking until Saturday 5th December. This entertaining portrait of the man behind the myth and his relentless quest to become the most winningest winner in history is…
SPRINGHEAD, the sustainability and environmental charity based at Fontmell Magna, celebrates the garden’s magical waterscape on Friday 6th November with Tales of Clear Waters: an Evening of Stories, Songs and Memories inspired by Springhead. Organised by storyteller and Springhead trustee Taprisha, it will include stories and fables from across the world and through the ages…
IMAGINE a heady and provocative blend of Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Jacques Brel and Eartha Kitt … an Eastern European jazz club in the dark decades after the Second World War and the Cold War … That’s the aura created by the brilliant Moscow Drug Club, who have several local dates on their autumn tour,…
EVEN in these days of social media-inspired hyperbole, it is rare for a player to be praised for her revelatory performance, but violinist Fenella Humphreys’s playing of Sibelius solo works was praised by BBC Magazine as “a genuine revelation in the way it brings out the music’s dark and introspective qualities.” No Sibelius but plenty…
AS the clocks go back and we head into winter, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra brings sunshine into the concert hall at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre with Sunshine Symphonies, on Wednesday 4th November. The event is supported by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s new Corporate Patron, Paris Smith, one of the largest regional full-service law firms in the…
THE autumn colours are still gorgeous, but there is a real chill in the air and winter is fast upon us. Top Moviola choices for local villages and arts centres for November and December are The Christophers and My Mother’s Wedding. The Christophers, starring Sir Ian McKellen and Michaela Cole, is a black comedy directed…
EDWARD Bond described his 1973 play The Sea as a tragicomedy, and certainly, in Jonathan Munby’s new production for Bath Theatre Royal, there are strong elements of both the epically tragic and the hilariously comedic. And there are elements of lots of other theatrical tropes, too. The puzzled audience can look out for moments of…
SOMERSET-based, certified organic cheesemaker Feltham’s Farm is producing its first organic cheese hamper for Christmas, bringing together some of the UK’s finest organic artisan cheeses and accompaniments to celebrate nature-friendly festive food and the farmers and makers behind it. Curated by Marcus Fergusson and Penny Nagle of Feltham’s Farm, founders of the Organic Cheesemakers’ Network,…
MANY consider the 1985 film Back to the Future the greatest, and certainly one of the most successful, films of that genre ever made. With music from the 1950s (The Power of Love, Johnny B Goode, Earth Angel, Back in Time) to help accommodate the story going back to that period, the film – and…
IT is a brave – and talented – actor who could begin 2026 playing the title role in the Scottish play and end it in a one-man (comic) version of the tragedy of the melancholy Danish prince. From Macbeth to Hamlet (aka Omlet), with a festive side order of a Christmas quiz, Stu Mcloughlin is…
SIXTEEN years ago, with then-heartthrob Colin Firth doing his royal bit, and “newcomer” Geoffrey Rush exciting the critics, Tom Hooper’s film of David Seidler’s script The King’s Speech won 12 Oscar nominations and huge international acclaim. Two years later Seidler’s original script was staged at the Yvonne Arnaud in Guildford, and at Wyndhams in London….
ONE of the country’s favourite performers, actor, comedian, presenter and all-round national treasure Miriam Margolyes will make her pantomime debut this year as the voice of Giant Blunderbore in Jack and the Beanstalk at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Miriam has become known for her work as a…
THE sad news that Taunton’s much-loved Brewhouse Theatre is to close (due to financial difficulties) was not only a shock but a problem for Taunton Thespians, who were already into rehearsals for their production of The Haunting of Hill House in mid-November. But local theatre lovers can still look forward to the spine-chilling experience of…
SLADERS Yard, the contemporary art gallery and cafe in West Bay, continues its 20th anniversary celebrations with a major exhibition of paintings, drawings and etchings by David Inshaw, one of the great contemporary painters of landscape, an artist who has been showing regularly at the gallery throughout those years. The solo show, At the Still…
ROMESH Ranganathan, star of countless television comedy series and and presenter of The Weakest Link, is back on the road from November with a new show, and a massive list of dates and venues, including Yeovil’s Westlands. In this new stand-up show Romesh Ranganathan promises to “Change Your Life.” He is here to help, he…
EAST is East was a great film – now Ayub Khan-Din’s modern classic has been adapted for the stage, at Salisbury Playhouse until 14th November. Salford, 1971. The Khan family are living above a chip shop and on the fault line between two cultures. George Khan is determined the family be raised his Pakistani way. His English wife,…
WRITER and activist Siobhan Dowd died in 2007 from breast cancer, before she could complete her novel A Monster Calls. It was taken on by Patrick Ness, published in 2012, became an international best seller and was adapted for the stage by Adam Peck and Sally Cookson, opened at Bristol Old Vic and won the…
MASS tourism is a hotly contested issue these days, with some major cities – including Barcelona – taking drastic steps to curb it, while many popular destinations in this country are looking at taxing tourist accommodation. Jack Brownridge-Kelly has another and more radical plan – find out how this imaginative performer does it in his…
JAZZ by the Sea has a French twist on a Latin American favourite style when Bossa Definitiva comes to the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis, on Sunday 8th November. The trio, led by Paris-born vocalist Véronique Joly, with Canadian saxophonist Terry Quinney and guitarist Rob Palmer, celebrate the cool Bossa Nova sounds of Stan Getz and…
BRISTOL Old Vic Theatre School, which this year celebrates 80 years since it opened at the suggestion of Sir Laurence Olivier as a training arm for the Old Vic theatre, has an exciting end to 2026. Former student Gregory Doran returns to the city to direct current students in Romeo and Juliet, on the floor…
TWO years after featuring the work of painter Lawrence Arthurs, the Slade Centre at Gillingham has an exhibition by his late wife, Susan Williams: A Distinctive Eye, running through October and November (with a three day break to allow for a Hallowe-en event) and into December. The summer 2024 exhibition of Lawrence Arthurs’ paintings and…
EARLIER this year, the ever-inventive and multi-talented Stu McLoughlin impressed audiences at Bristol’s Tobacco Factory Theatre with a powerful performance in the title role of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. Now, Stu – one of the founders of the West Country’s favourite comedy theatre company Living Spit – is back, giving another of the Bard’s tragic heroes…
FLO and Joan combine music with comedy and they are back with a new show, With Feeling, trying to take up as much of the stage and as little of your patience as possible as they use a “real band’s” set-list to write their own show – ruminating on themes such as “what is music?”…
GEORGE – he of the Dragon – may be the archetype of heroic Englishness but drag offers a colourful alternative in a delightful new play from Pipeline Theatre. George and the Drag Queen comes to Dorset with Artsreach, for three performances from 9th to 11th October, with George and the Drag Queen. Described as “a…
IT’s that time of year! Sandwiched between the summer open-air shows and the increasingly early Christmas season come the literary festivals. This region has several outstanding events, ranging from the long-established with stellar line-ups to the more local, which often have delightful gems that you won’t want to miss. Some high profile authors, politicians, historians,…