THE British and Irish Cheese Awards return to the Bath and West show ground over the weekend 21st to 23rd March, running again this year in conjunction with the Bath and West Food and Drink Festival, which is in its second year. With more than 500 entries from around the United Kingdom, the British and…
CONNOR McPherson’s 1997 play The Weir, written when he was in his mid-20s, is set in a dilapidated pub in County Leitrim on a windy night. At first sight it’s a ghostly story, and that is how some of the many productions around the world have played it. When Dennis Barwell chose it to direct…
THE acclaimed writer of Broadchurch and show runner of Dr Who, Chris Chibnell, will be on home ground when he launches his new book, Death at the White Hart, at Bridport Arts Centre on Monday 24th March. The story is set in the picturesque (fictional) Dorset village of Fleetcombe, which has two pubs, a small…
HOT on the heels of their triumphs with 2024’s The Drowsy Chaperone, Milborne Port Opera moves into new territory again this year, with a production of the musical version of The Witches of Eastwick, on stage at the Village Hall from 23rd to 26th April. Most people know the story, adapted from John Updike’s 1984…
THE last pitched battle fought on English soil took place at Sedgemoor – the aftermath, which included the infamous “Bloody Assuzes” of Judge Jeffreys, is the subject of the major spring exhibition at the Museum of Somerset. Remembering the Monmouth Rebellion will be on show from 29th March to 6th July. The exhibition is part…
JODIE Comer is coming to Bath Theatre Royal in February 2026, reprising her BAFTA, Emmy, Tony and Olivier Award-winning solo performance in Suzie Miller’s powerful play Prima Facie. Bath is one of nine destinations on the UK and Ireland tour, with the world-famous production appearing at the Theatre Royal from Tuesday 24th to Saturday 28th…
THE multi-talented and super-versatile members of Yeovil Amateur Operatic Society have scored another triumph with their latest show at Westlands. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is Roald Dahl’s enduring, darkly-funny tale of a poor boy who proves his passion for chocolate to the very peculiar owner of the chocolate factory. And the Yeovil group has…
HOW do you react when someone you love has a terminal diagnosis? Shock, grief, anger, silence, sympathy … humour? Myra Bradley (Rachel Butcher) is diagnosed with bone cancer and told she has about six months to live. She wants to make the most of her time; she wants to choose where she will be buried;…
ONE of the country’s most scenically beautiful visual arts venues, Sculpture by the Lakes, at Pallington near Dorchester, hosts an exhibition by The Arborealists, from 22nd March to 19th April, the first time the group has exhibited in Dorset. The Arborealists group, which was founded in 2013, comprises 50 professional artists, who celebrate trees in…
WHEN, in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Topsy is asked by Miss Ophelia “Do you know who made you”, she replies “Nobody as I knows on. I s’pect I growed”. That quotation would be a good reply to anyone who wondered how a 15-minute “pop cantata” composed for a school and telling the story of…