IF you loved Game of Thrones – or maybe never saw it but still couldn’t escape its omnipresence – don’t miss A&E Comedy’s brilliant spoof, Game of Crones, coming to Dorchester Corn Exchange on Friday 27th February at 7.30pm. Sharpen your swords and fill your goblets – the dragons have returned … Abigail Dooley and…
SOUTH West Heritage Trust has received a £993,345 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for an ambitious two-year project to celebrate the Chew Valley Hoard and mark the 1,000th anniversary of William the Conqueror’s birth. Comprising 2,584 silver coins, the Chew Valley Hoard is the highest-value treasure acquisition on record and comes from the…
THE annual SNADS pantomime has always been a big part of the society’s year, the large cast and crew meaning that almost every member is involved in some way to bring the February show to the audience. This year experienced director Craig White joined debut director (and principal boy) Jessica Allen to lead a 34-strong…
FEW theatregoers around the world have seen Scottish playwright David Greig’s 2002 play Outlying Islands, but a lucky few in and around Salisbury now have a second opportunity. The play was staged on a short tour in 2004 after its premiere in Scotland, and it featured Sam Heughan, now a global superstar as the leading…
I ARRIVED at Cirencester’s Barn Theatre in the apparently unique situation of never having watched the TV series (mostly because I am not a fan of one of the leading actors). So, with a not just open but totally uninformed mind, I approached Simon Nye’s stage version, set on the night of the Millennium, shunted…
MOSCOW Drug Club are hard to pigeon-hole – but hugely popular, appealing to lovers of gypsy jazz, Berlin cabaret and French chanson. The late winter tour continues with four Take Art dates starting on 19th February at North Curry village hall, 20th February at Norton-sub-Hamdon village hall, East Quantoxhead on 21st and Caryford Hall at…
A NEW musical based on the life of Walter Tull, a pioneering black footballer and army officer, has several local dates, beginning with Exeter’s Barnfield Theatre on 17th and 18th February, followed by the Redgrave at Bristol, Dorchester and Poole as part of a national tour. Commissioned by Show Racism the Red Card, the show…
CHALKE History Festival, the UK’s leading celebration of history, will return from 22nd to 28th June to bring the past vividly to life through a rich programme of top-class talks, wide-ranging discussions and dynamic living history experiences. The line-up includes classicist Mary Beard, radio presenter and journalist James Naughtie, commentator Anne Applebaum, former White House…
TWO of the region’s leading theatres are collaborating on an autumn production of the darkly funny and popular musical Little Shop of Horrors. Opening at Exeter from 1st to 17th October, this will be the first full production of a musical at the Northcott in more than 20 years. The show will be moving to…
THE Royal Bath and West show ground hosts the Bath & West Food & Drink Festival over the weekend 21st and 22nd March, as well as the 30th anniversary British & Irish Cheese Awards, on Friday 20th. Featuring talks, markets, demos, tours and more, the third annual Food & Drink Festival will be staged around…
BOURNEMOUTH Symphony Orchestra, the region’s leading classical music organisation, regularly includes music with a lighter touch in its programme, alongside mainstream and more serious works. A series of concerts features music from some of the greatest blockbuster films of the past 40 or so years, composed by two of the all-time movie music greats. The…
A NEW short documentary, Brick by Brick, is having its first screenings at Bridgwater’s Scott Cinema. Created with the people who live and work in the town, the film takes stereotypes of Bridgwater and challenges the audience to look more deeply. It tells the story of two young, aspiring TikTok influencers who attempt to kick-start…
THANKS to Storm Chandra, audiences at The Exchange in Sturminster Newton were denied the chance to see Cabaret with Balls, but Artreach is delighted that the performance has been re-arranged for Thursday 26th February. Cabaret should always have a frisson of wanton wit, a hint of burlesque, some risqué songs … and even a pinch…
A NEW free exhibition at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre, RNLI: Stories of Courage 1939-45, running until 28th February, explories the way the volunteer lifeboat crews saved lives at sea in dangerous conditions, including a lifeboat that was one of the famous “little boats” that rescued soldiers pinned down on the beaches at Dunkirk. The exhibition…
BATH Festivals has announced some of the highlights of next year’s international music festival, with tickets for five concerts released early – a perfect post Christmas gift for the music-lover in your life! The international music festival will run from Saturday 30th May to Sunday 7th June, and the first of the newly released events…
JENNIFER Saunders returns to Bath Theatre Royal in October to star in The Sea, Edward Bond’s masterpiece. It is the first revival in nearly 20 years of the play, which is a blend of wild farce, high comedy, biting social satire and bleak poetic tragedy. The star, best known as half of French and Saunders…
ACTOR and musician Alastair Braidwood is undertaking a marathon live audiobook reading of one of Thomas Hardy’s best-loved books, Far From the Madding Crowd, starting on Tuesday 17th February and running for seven weeks. Alastair, well known from the New Hardy Players and their band and ceilidh band Tatterdemalion will be reading the book to…
EXETER’S Northcott Theatre and Phoenix Arts Centre are collaborating on a Scratch Night partnership, on Monday 23rd February, to support established and emerging artists and performers across the South West. Following the huge success of Scratch Night during the 2025 Elevate Festival, the second Scratch Night will take place at Exeter Phoenix auditorium offering artists…
HUNT for Book Witches, discover your wild side and have fun with Viking gods this half term, as Dorset’s rural touring arts charity Artsreach brings a varied programme of theatre and adventure for children of all ages over the February half term, from Sunday 15th to Saturday 21st, with live music, magical puppetry and more….
WHILE it is a truth universally acknowledged that we all love Jane Austen (well, most of us do), we probably wouldn’t call ourselves superfans as best friends Charlotte and Ellie do, and they want you to join them at their exclusive Jane Austen Fan Club, on tour until 5th March. Hilarious and heartfelt, an evening…
THE 2026 programme of Banff Mountain Film Festival screenings starts its local dates on Friday 6th February at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre cinema, with the Red programme. The short films range from extreme climbing and kayaking to mountain biking and other dazzling adventures in wild places. With extreme climbing, kayaking, mountain biking and the one…
THE return of a grand family and a modern family falling apart – the themes of the two most in-demand films in Moviola’s February programme. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale manages to be a reassuringly comfortable way to pass a couple of hours, while not offering anything challenging or unexpected. The Roses, on the other…
UP and down the country, people (often with no particular connection to Scotland) gather to celebrate the birthday of Rabbie Burns – but Dorset has its own dialect poet, and this year the annual Tea with William Barnes on Sunday 22nd February coincides with what would have been Barnes’ 225th birthday. For the past nine…
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,…