THIS year is the 20th anniversary of Dorset Opera’s move from Sherborne’s Big Schoolroom to the Coade Hall at Bryanston School near Blandford, and something special was needed to celebrate the occasion. Artistic director Rod Kennedy could hardly have anticipated the extraordinary thrill that South Korean baritone Hansung Yoo would bring to Dorset in the…
SOME psychologists will tell you that early teens is the worst time for major life crises, like divorce or death, and one thing you learn in life is that nobody, absolutely nobody, can tell you how to grieve. It is something you have to find out for yourself. Bright-but-stroppy Rory is 15, and suddenly faced with…
WHAT is the summer open air theatre touring schedule without its Shakespeare, and no Shakespearean play is more popular than A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Revolving around love, mystery, demanding parents, jealous spouses, authoritarian rulers and blundering rustics, and with a beautiful forest setting, it tells a timeless story. Taunton Thespians began their summer tours back…
NEVER out of print since it was first published in 1865, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of the best known stories ever written. Although thought of, and usually described as, a children’s novel, full of symbolism and surreal twists and turns, it has also found itself dissected and interpreted in literally hundreds…
THERE is an understandable degree of secrecy surrounding the meetings of The Susan B Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein, and, as the audience at Strode Theatre in Street is invited to attend the annual celebration, that sense of mystery must prevail. The year is 1956 and the Sisterhood meets in upper New…
SCOTTISH sculptor Nigel Ross developed his art practice during his early career in forestry on the Isle of Arran. Now based in Perthshire, he is a regular exhibitor at Roche Court, the New Art Centre at Winterslow near Salisbury. This piece, dating from 2021, has the evocative name Pictish Oak, and is both a beguiling…
A COLLECTIVE of artists and makers from the Shepton Mallet area is opening a gallery and shop in the town centre, with a launch on Thursday 17th July. The Artistry, showcasing the work of more than 30 local artists and makers, is at 37 Town Street, Shepton Mallet. The project is part of Shepton Mallet…
MIRACLE Theatre, Cornwall’s most prolific touring theatre company, returns to Dorset for its summer 2025 open air tour, with a new production of one of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies, Twelfth Night, coming to Ibberton village hall on Thursday 31st July, Kimmeridge Bay on Friday 1st August and Higher Orchard at Sandford Orcas on Saturday 2nd, all…
WILTSHIRE Community Foundation, one of the beneficiaries of our Deepest Wiltshire book sales, is 50 this year. It was the country’s first community foundation and the golden jubilee was celebrated at a sunny party at Wellington Barn near Calne, below the beautiful north Wiltshire downs and the Cherhill White Horse. The special guest at the…
I HAVE been struggling to find superlatives that adequately describe Frome’s Merlin Theatre production of Come From Away, on stage until Saturday 19th July. It is breathtakingly marvellous, powerful, poignant and astonishingly skillfully and soulfully done by both the 12-strong cast and the musicians in the ten-piece band. We will never forget the worldwide impact of…