SCOTTISH playwright David Greig set his 2002 play Outlying Islands on the furthest outlier rock from the Outer Hebrides in 1939, a time when Great Britain was holding its breath for another war and just nine years after 18-year-old Mary Anne MacLeod emigrated from Lewis to America … later to give birth to Donald Trump. That’s…
DAVID Copperfield: A Life is an exciting new re-telling of Dickens’ classic, brought to the stage of Bath Theatre Royal, from Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd February in an epic community production. A cast of more than 100 people is led by award-winning director Sally Cookson and writer-adapter Mike Akers. This new version asks the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
THE 2026 programmes of Banff Mountain Film Festival screenings are touring the UK, and local dates continue throughout the year. 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 of the world’s most gruelling races, the…
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…
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…
ONE of the most critically acclaimed stage performances of recent years comes to Theatre Royal Bath from Tuesday 24th to Saturday 28th February. Jodie Comer stars in Suzie Miller’s solo play, Prima Facie, an emotionally charged and challenging drama about a young barrister who is forced to confront the limitations of the law. The play…
STU McCloughlin shows his versatility when he takes on one of the greatest challenges in theatre, the title role in Shakespeare’s Scottish tragedy, Macbeth, at Tobacco Factory Theatres in Bedminster, from 19th February to 28th March. The much-loved star of comedy theatre company Living Spit is familiar to audiences around the West Country, both with…
EXPLORE the free-spirited era of the 1960s – the so-called “swinging” decade – through boutique fashion alongside fabulously creative homemade garments at Blandford Fashion Museum. The museum is housed in the Georgian, Grade II-listed Lime Tree House in The Plocks, built by the Bastard brothers after the great fire of 1731. It houses collections that…
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….
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…