IF you are old enough to remember Tommy Steele in his heyday, you almost certainly will recall his brilliant performance in the musical Half A Sixpence, in which he played the Cockney draper’s apprentice who unexpectedly inherits a fortune. More than 60 years after its West End debut, the revamped, renamed Kipps is the summer…
WHEN a frisky faun with a dirty mind and a way with words travels from his usual stone plinth in the Tuileries gardens in Paris and settles in Dorothy’s garden, the scene is set for the kind of mayhem you don’t often encounter, as ancient Greek gods meet a 21st century mother and daughter, with…
BEFORE the friends, relations and fans of the late Lord Tweedsmuir, John Buchan, rush to point out that it was he and not Alfred Hitchcock who penned this classic tale of mystery and adventure, it should be pointed out that in their programme Fiery Angel, who present the current touring production of this show, give…
THE Greek myths? A lot of old nonsense. Ancient colourful legends, full of violent, sex-obsessed gods, vengeful goddesses, weird monsters and helpless, mainly human, victims of the deities’ lust or greed? Well, that’s the common image. And it’s not wrong – the gods, after all, are really only super-humans, in the sense of being the…
IN chapter 26 of the King James version of the Bible you will find the line: “No man can serve two masters.” This world premiere of Michael McManus’ new politically-based play is inclined to ignore the truth of those words and rather falls between two stools. Of course, you can mix drama with comedy and…
IT’S good to see the Cornish-based Miracle Theatre back on the summer touring circuit, and this year they have chosen what they describe as a reimagining of Hannah Cowley’s play The Belle’s Stratagem and entitled it Love Riot. The company has been touring a huge variety of plays over more than two decades, so it…
MORE than 40 worthy residents of Lyme Regis, and scores more volunteers making sets, props and costumes, and moving them and the audiences around the Marine Theatre – that’s what it takes to mount a community play, and this group is now very good at it. Locally-born writer Andy Rattenbury, on this fifth community play…
YOU may well feel you’ve had enough of party politics and electioneering, but if you want a fresh take on our political system, with a generous helping of laughter, head for Bath Theatre Royal where Michael McManus’s new comedy, Party Games, will be on stage from Tuesday 18th to Saturday 22nd June. When the tour…
‘Grief is love that has nowhere to go’ – Anon WHAT happens to a happy family when one member dies suddenly? This is the poignant and powerful theme of Sue Ashby’s new play, Sweet Sorrow, which will be staged by SNADS – Sturminster Newton Dramatic Society – at the Exchange on Friday and Saturday 21st…
WHEN Laurence Boswell decided to move on after seven-plus highly successful years as artistic director of Bath’s Ustinov Studio, it was a little like Manchester United searching for a replacement for their legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Unlike United, who have had seven new leaders in the nine years since Sir Alex retired, the Ustinov…