The Arts Section

New album from Sykes and Causley

BRIDPORT Arts Centre features the second of two outstanding folk duos in its Spring programme when Miranda Sykes and Jim Causley come to the Dorset coast on Saturday 22nd February. Well-known in the West Country and beyond as outstanding folk musicians, they have come together as a duo and will be touring a new album…

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Impressive debut for multi-talented Devon actress

DEVON-born actress Caroline Corrie has made an impressive debut as a film director with Shalborne and there are two screenings at Honiton’s Beehive on Saturday 8th February, at 3.30pm and 7.30pm. The versatile actress, who trained at RADA, has not only written and directed this debut feature film, she also designed the costumes and sets…

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20 years of Concerts in the West

CONCERTS in the West, the musical charity which promotes rising stars of the chamber music world, celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2025. The first concert series of the year, on 14th and 15th February, brings the period instrument quartet Ensemble Hesperi to Bridport Arts Centre, Ilminster Arts Centre and the Dancehouse at Crewkerne. Ensemble Hesperi,…

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Maya plays Charlie Parker

THE Neil Maya Quartet, popular throughout the region through regular gigs and tours with Dorset’s Artsreach, is touring with a celebration of the music and tragically short life of one of the greatest jazz musicians ever –  Charlie Parker. The  Charlie Parker Story continues at Nether Compton village hall on Friday 14th February and Sturminster…

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O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A! BODS

BATH’s award-winning and talented Operatic and Dramatic Society has chosen the timeless Rodgers and Hammerstein musicalOklahoma! For the spring production at Bath Theatre Royal from Tuesday 4th to Saturday 8th February. Full of wonderful and memorable songs, the rousing score features the famous title number Oklahoma!, alongside Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin’, The Surrey With…

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Maxine Peake and Ben Daniels star in Doubt

ONE of the finest British actresses of her generation, Maxine Peake comes to Bath Theatre Royal’s Ustinov Studio in a production of the powerful drama Doubt. Ben Daniels, an Olivier Award-winning actor and well-known from many television roles, co-stars in the production, which runs from 7th February to 8th March. Doubt, A Parable, by John…

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Moviola in February

IF you are a fan of Ian McKellen – and surely most of us are, who admire great acting and infinite versatility – you will probably enjoy The Critic, Moviola’s most screened film for February in our region. It’s a good, old-fashioned melodrama, a period thriller with some colourful characters, a slightly creaking and at…

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Ghost Stories, Theatre Royal, Bath

THE three Ghost stories that Dr Goodman, Professor of Parapsychology, uses to illustrate his lecture to the audience on the power of the paranormal have been greeted by some people as being “harrowing, 80 minutes of nightmare thrills”, and by others as being “as substantial and troubling as the fake ectoplasm manifested by a dodgy…

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Only Fools and Horses – The Musical, Bristol Hippodrome

SOME of the most recognisable characters ever to be created on TV appeared in one of the 64 episodes (plus Christmas specials) of Only Fools and Horses. And as each new one, faithfully and accurately recreated, first appeared in this musical adaptation, they raised a cheer and a laugh. How tempting it therefore must have…

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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Shaftesbury Arts Centre

EVERY year when the pantomime season comes around, friends ask “how CAN you bear to see so many again?” and I tell them, very seriously and hoping not to sound too preachy or pompous, “Well, it is the first theatre show that most people will see, and that is the moment that they will first…

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