The Arts Section

Return to 23 Railway Cuttings

FOR readers of a certain age, the names of Tony Hancock and Sid James – and their radio and television programme Hancock’s Half Hour – evoke a grumpy pessimist and his optimist Cockney friend. These immortal comic creations return to the stage in Hancock’s Half Hour – the Lost TV Episodes, currently on a national…

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Moviola in October

THE strangely competitive world of giant vegetable growing is at the heart of Swede Caroline, an unexpected hit that was filmed in Somerset around Shepton Mallet, and is the most in demand film in Moviola’s October programme. Caroline, the central character in this hilarious mockumentary, is understandably upset when her prized marrow plants are stolen….

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Rebus on stage at Bath

FANS of Ian Rankin’s great creation, John Rebus, can meet the latest iteration of the complex, flawed by charismatic Edinburgh detective in Rebus: A Game Called Malice, a new story by Rankin and Simon Reade, which comes to Bath Theatre Royal from Monday 30th September to Saturday 5th October, starring Gray O’Brien in the title…

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George Orwell’s 1984, touring

FOR many in the varied press night audience at Bath Theatre Royal, Big Brother would have been a TV show they had seen since childhood, and Room 101 a favourite radio, and later television comedy show. Perhaps that’s why it was necessary for the Lindsay Posner production of Ryan Craig’s adaptation of the iconic 1949…

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Leading West Country artists at the Portland Gallery

TWO of this region’s finest artists, landscape painter James Lynch and collagist and sculptor Marzia Colonna, have exhibitions this autumn at The Portland Gallery in Mayfair. Both artists have national – indeed, international – reputations, and this is an opportunity to see their work in solo shows at one of London’s most prestigious galleries. James Lynch,…

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Helen and Karen at Wimborne

KAREN Wimhurst and Helen Porter first met in the late 1990s, working together on Common Ground’s Confluence project, mapping the river stour from its source to its meeting the sea. Clarinetist Karen, who lives in Shaftesbury, was Composer in Residence for the project, and singer and teacher Helen was the animateur. Their musical relationship grew…

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A new play and a new director

CIRENCESTER’s Barn Theatre is small – but it has big ambitions, and these have been fully justified by the quality and success of its productions, home-grown or shared. Autumn brings a premiere of a written-for-the-Barn thriller, Room 13, opening on 28th September, and the appointment of a new executive director, Liam McMullan. Running to 9th…

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Anniversary staging of 1984 opens at Bath

THE 75th anniversary of George Orwell’s terrifying dystopia, 1984, is at Bath Theatre Royal until 28th September at the start of a national tour. This new production of an adaption by Ryan Craig, directed by Lindsay Posner, was listed by the Times and Telegraph as one of the top ten theatre events of this autumn….

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Sustainability grant for Southampton’s MAST studio

THE adventurous MAST studio theatre in Southampton has received a £5,000 sustainability grant, one of the latest awards from the Theatres Trust’s Small Grants Programme with The Linbury Trust. This latest round, which included the 100th grant (to Glastogow’s Tron theatre) marks the seventh round of the Small Grants programme, with 20 theatres receiving grants…

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