MENACE is one of those things for which delicate audience members now need a trigger warning, but back in 1957, when one-time actor and burgeoning playwright David Baron/Harold Pinter started to craft his oeuvre, it was something he all but introduced to the English stage. Sheer terror is commonplace on television and film, but on…
FOR years, visitors to England, particularly from the USA, have headed for London to see “a show” – apparently whatever it might be. That description of musical theatre has caught on, and now the popularity of the big musical spectacle, often an adaptation of a hit film, draws the crowds to the West End. Sometimes…
THERE are birthday parties – cakes, frocks, candles, music, dancing … And then there is Harold Pinter’s Birthday Party. It’s Pinter – so you know the atmosphere will not be the usual jolly fun! Bath Theatre Royal’s Ustinov studio hosts a new production of this famous play, running to 31st August, and starring Jane Horrocks…
IT is hard to imagine a more perfect setting for an evening of beautiful dance and fine food than the ancient walled garden at Hatch House at Tisbury. Covent Garden Dance Company this year celebrated the 15th anniversary of Ballet Under The Stars – sometimes known as the Glyndebourne of dance – with a programme…
IN 1987, the late Bill Kenwright sent a musical version of Blood Brothers out on a nationwide tour which, combined with West End runs, turned what had originally been a school play into a show with a cult following that has kept it in production to the present day. For a musical it has a…
AT the final destination for a production that finishes, after a strenuous six month tour, in Bristol on Saturday 3rd August, this presentation shows no signs of running out of steam. In fact, the three-strong Le Navet Bête, (Nick Bunt, Al Dunn and Matt Freeman), drive this tale of three itinerant actors trying to devise…
DORSET Opera Festival celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and the company, led by artistic director Roderick Kennedy, decided not only to commission an opera to celebrate the golden jubilee, but for this new work to be a truly Dorset production. So composer Paul Carr was asked to create an opera based on Thomas Hardy’s…
DORSET Opera is celebrating its 50th birthday in style, with two spectacular productions on the stage of the Coade Hall at Bryanston, 20 miles but light years away from its first opera staged at Sherborne School in 1974. The big story of this anniversary year is the commission of a new opera based on a…
JEFF Clarke has quite a reputation among opera lovers in the south west, nourished by his many memorable and hilarious productions performed in the Harold Peto cloister at Iford Manor. Now that that venue is no longer available, fans are delighted to be able to follow his Opera della Luna shows at Bath’s Theatre Royal,…
THIS year’s Archaeology Festival at Salisbury Museum, in the Cathedral Close, on Saturday and Sunday 27th and 28th July, will be one of the biggest for years, with a packed programme of events in the museum garden, the new hall and a demonstration marquee, featuring talks, participatory activities, folk music and more. As well as…