The Arts Section

Ghost Stories, Theatre Royal, Bath

THE three Ghost stories that Dr Goodman, Professor of Parapsychology, uses to illustrate his lecture to the audience on the power of the paranormal have been greeted by some people as being “harrowing, 80 minutes of nightmare thrills”, and by others as being “as substantial and troubling as the fake ectoplasm manifested by a dodgy…

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Only Fools and Horses – The Musical, Bristol Hippodrome

SOME of the most recognisable characters ever to be created on TV appeared in one of the 64 episodes (plus Christmas specials) of Only Fools and Horses. And as each new one, faithfully and accurately recreated, first appeared in this musical adaptation, they raised a cheer and a laugh. How tempting it therefore must have…

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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Shaftesbury Arts Centre

EVERY year when the pantomime season comes around, friends ask “how CAN you bear to see so many again?” and I tell them, very seriously and hoping not to sound too preachy or pompous, “Well, it is the first theatre show that most people will see, and that is the moment that they will first…

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Ghostly drama at Bath

A WORLDWIDE cult play and West End hit, Ghost Stories comes to Bath Theatre Royal from Tuesday 28th January to Saturday 1st February. The drama, created by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, stars Dan Tetsell, David Cardy and Clive Mantle. Described as a truly terrifying theatrical experience, Ghost Stories was created by The League of…

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All shook up in Dorset

THE inventive Spitz &Co return to Dorset’s Artsreach touring circuit with a new comedy, looking back to the early years of the King of rock’n’roll. Elvis in Blue Hawaii, with comic mayhem and audience interaction, plus all your favourite Elvis songs, comes to Studland village hall on Wednesday 5th February, East Stour on Friday 7th…

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A Man For All Seasons, Bath Theatre Royal

IT is more than 60 years since Robert Bolt’s play A Man For All Seasons became a hit in London, on Broadway and as a film that garnered many awards and made an international star of Paul Scofield – who also played the protagonist, Sir Thomas More, on stage. Now, in 2025, the glittering, paranoid,…

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Kindertransport, Swan Theatre, Yeovil

HOLOCAUST Memorial Day is on 27th January, so there could hardly be a more appropriate time to stage Diane Samuels’ powerful play Kindertransport, which opens the 2025 season at Yeovil’s Swan Theatre and runs to Saturday 25th January. This is a play which does not pull its punches. It is hard, at times feels bitter…

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Home Ground, Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic Youth Company

IN the last 50 years, more than 10,000 school playing fields, and many public recreation spaces, have been sold off for development. During the early part of that period, it was also thought that being involved in competition of any sort a was not a good thing for young people. The old saying “what goes…

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& Juliet, Bristol Hippodrome and touring

THIS musical by Swedish pop composer Max Martin and friends, with book by David West Read, takes no prisoners in its spectacular production and presentation of strong feminist and non-binary sexual themes, as it turns Shakespeare’s classic romantic story of Romeo and Juliet on its head. With virtually every modern staging aide and lighting effect…

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Bath to host world premiere of royal play

AUDIENCES at Bath Theatre Royal will see the first performances of By Royal Appointment, a new play by Daisy Godwin, starring Anne Reid and Caroline Quentin, from Thursday 5th to Saturday 14th June. The production will be directed by Bristol-born Dominic Dromgoole, former artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe. Booking opens to Theatre Royal Bath members…

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