IN the last 50 years, more than 10,000 school playing fields, and many public recreation spaces, have been sold off for development. During the early part of that period, it was also thought that being involved in competition of any sort a was not a good thing for young people. The old saying “what goes…
THIS musical by Swedish pop composer Max Martin and friends, with book by David West Read, takes no prisoners in its spectacular production and presentation of strong feminist and non-binary sexual themes, as it turns Shakespeare’s classic romantic story of Romeo and Juliet on its head. With virtually every modern staging aide and lighting effect…
AUDIENCES at Bath Theatre Royal will see the first performances of By Royal Appointment, a new play by Daisy Godwin, starring Anne Reid and Caroline Quentin, from Thursday 5th to Saturday 14th June. The production will be directed by Bristol-born Dominic Dromgoole, former artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe. Booking opens to Theatre Royal Bath members…
J B Priestley wrote the 1912-set An Inspector Calls in 1945 as the second World War was drawing to a close and shortly before the start of the First World War. The hypocrisy, greed, abuse of power, particularly towards the working classes, that he saw in Edwardian society, had, he felt, helped trigger that conflict,…
NINE years ago, when Forest Forge dropped its eagerly awaited annual Christmas tour, long-time FF member Dom Phillips determined to fill the gap and created the Bumblefly company of Travelling Players. Now the circle has been reconstituted, and the two companies, along with Mischievous Theatre, came together for a tour of A Humbug Christmas Carol, which…
THE Neil Maya Quartet, popular throughout the region through regular gigs and tours with Dorset’s Artsreach, comes to Dorchester Corn Exchange on Thursday 23rd January, with a celebration of the music and tragically short life of one of the greatest jazz musicians ever – the Charlie Parker Story. The quartet’s Charlie Parker concert has dates…
IF you think a chamber ensemble is all about serious string quartets, solemn musicians in evening dress playing beautiful but often quite austere music, you haven’t met Bowjangles. This is the quartet that puts the swing into strings. They are back in Dorset, at Litton Cheney community hall on Thursday 23rd January, Lytchett Matravers hall…
CIRENCESTER’s adventurous independent Barn Theatre opens the 2025 season with a new comedy featuring a casting director facing the challenge of casting an actor for the world’s most famous spy. Jordan Waller’s A Role to Die For, running from 30th January to 15th March, stars Olivier Award-winner Janie Dee, and is directed by another Olivier…
A STARRY line-up of celebrities, including the Queen’s son, food writer Tom Parker-Bowles, singer-songwriter Toyah Willcox and Lord Michael Grade, will take part in a special edition of The Weakest Link, chaired by the TV programme’s founder presenter Anne Robinson, at Cirencester’s Barn Theatre on Saturday 18th January. The charity event is raising funds for…
HOT on the heels of the triumph of Wolf Hall on television, Bath Theatre Royal takes audiences once again into the dark corridors of power and the dangerous glamour of the court of Henry VIII, with a new production of Robert Bolt’s great drama, A Man for all Seasons, running at the theatre from Thursday…