MARY Mallon is an Irish immigrant, an amiable host … and a killer? A talented cook in New York City in 1906 takes a job preparing delicious meals for yet another high society family, and yet again they begin to fall ill and die. Coincidence? Mary thinks so. She’s put all that nonsense behind her…
THOSE of us who loosely refer to ourselves as ‘middle aged’, especially classical music lovers, will remember the tragic story of the brilliant cellist Jacqueline du Pré. From an early age, her glittering career and marriage to concert pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim seemed to forecast a charmed life, but all that changed when she…
CATHEDRALS are some of our most remarkable buildings – ancient, up to 800 years old in some cases, beautiful, spiritual and often located in remarkable positions. Durham immediately leaps to mind and St Paul’s in the Blitz is truly described as iconic. But perhaps the most extraordinary is Salisbury, not just for its undeniable beauty…
THE line-up for this year’s Bath Children’s Literature Festival, from Friday 27th September to Sunday 6th October, includes some of the country’s best-loved writers – Cressida Cowell, Michael Rosen, Cornelia Funke and Jacqueline Wilson. The organisers of one of the biggest children’s books festivals in the world have put together a programme of more than…
HAVE you heard of Harriet Quimby? Maybe you have – but most likely you haven’t. So Middle-Weight Theatre Company’s new play tells a story you should hear. What’s Next?, at Dorchester Corn Exchange on 14th September at 8pm, is a solo show with actress Victoria Lucie, which brings overdue recognition for the life and achievements…
READING recent reviews of performances and plays seen at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, it would appear that practically every presentation and performance was a smash hit, including Scaffolding. It was therefore a little with the attitude of ‘go on – show me how good you are’ that I arrived at the Bristol Old Vic’s Weston…
PHILIPPA Langley, who came to national attention with her persistent – and ultimately successful – efforts to locate the remains of King Richard III (under a Leicester car park), comes to the Electric Palace at Bridport on Thursday 19th September with a talk about her latest historical investigations. Her talk, The Princes in the Tower,…
A TEAM of Dorset conservation officers and volunteers has begun a project to plant native wildflowers and meadow grasses at Bere Marsh Farm near Shillingstone, aimed at enhancing biodiversity on the Stour floodplain fields. The 92-acre Bere Marsh Farm, between the old Somerset and Dorset railway line and the river, is owned by the Countryside…
BEING a foster parent doesn’t sound like an obvious subject for stand-up comedy, but in the hands of the whip-smart and very funny Welsh comedian Kiri Pritchard-Mclean it provides some unexpected laughs in her new show, Peacock, touring with dates in our region from 11th September. Kiri, well-known from many radio and television comedy shows,…
YOU might just get a few warm, rain-free nights in September, and a handful of the open air touring companies are still on the road. Illyria’s The Hound of the Baskervilles is at Frome ECOS, Yelverton and Torquay from 12th to 15th September. The Pantaloons bring The Merry Wives of Windsor to Dorchester…
RYAN Gosling, who showed his comedy side at this year’s Oscars, stars in The Fall Guy, the most in-demand film for September from Moviola audiences around our region. In this very funny action thriller, Gosling, looking decidedly more butch than he did either in Barbie or at the Academy Awards, plays Colt Seavers, a battle-scarred…
ALAN Bennett’s play The History Boys, first seen at the National Theatre in 2004 and later filmed, launched the careers of several young actors and quickly embedded itself as a favourite Bennett work. It was seen at Bath Theatre Royal in 2007 as part of its first national tour, and again in 2010 and 2011….
FORTY years ago community activists Sue and John Holman and Trevor Bailey decided to make a video about the North Dorset village of Bourton and its people. In the intervening years the film has been largely forgotten, but now the original tapes have been digitised by Windrose Media Trust, which was founded by Trevor Bailey,…
Beowulf at Bournemouth: Bournemouth’s exciting Arts by the Sea festival returns from 27th to 29th September with a line-up of colourful, creative, eccentric and dramatic visual and performing arts events, on the broad theme of Taste. One of the headline shows will be Lost Dog Dance’s Fireside, a retelling of the epic Anglo Saxon poem,…
JANE Austen is rightly famous for her portrayal of strong women who often make decisions for themselves – sometimes against the advice or desires of those around them. One of the most independent and controversial is Lady Susan, the subject of Dyad Productions’ new Austen’s Women play, coming to Bath Theatre Royal’s Ustinov Studio from…
EMMA Norman’s introduction to live theatre was pantomime in her home town, at Blackpool’s Grand Theatre. The magic and colour of that show caught her imagination. “It made me want to do this,” said this year’s Wicked Queen in Bath Theatre Royal’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. “It is the catalyst for so many…
IT was a courageous act by BLOG when they choose My Fair Lady for their 2024 production at Bath’s Theatre Royal. I can almost here the cries of “How can you say that, My Fair Lady is one of the all time great musicals, so why did it take courage to choose it ?” The…
IF you enjoy the clever Mischief Theatre productions (The Play That Goes Wrong, etc) look out for Our Star Theatre’s new play, Death(s) At Sea on a lengthy national tour with local dates at Wimborne’s Tivoli Theatre on Thursday 12th September, Dorchester Corn Exchange on Thursday 19th and Seaton Gateway on Friday 20th. The play,…
FANS of global music have a treat at the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis, with a month of exciting folk music, from Somaliland to Brazil via Ireland and Yorkshire, continuing on Thursday 12th September, when the multi-award-winning Irish folk singer Cara Dillon,* and her husband, the acclaimed musician and producer Sam Lakeman (one of the three…
CORNWALL-based singer and songwriter Sarah McQuaid is back on the road again this autumn, and comes to the Ustinov Studio at Bath Theatre Royal on Monday 30th September. Sarah’s been mentioned in a quiz question on BBC Radio 4’s Counterpoint, featured on the O2 Music Map, supported by the Arts Council, presented with a Lifetime…
THE early autumn exhibition at Make, Hauser & Wirth’s gallery in Bruton High Street, celebrates the remarkable career and puppet creations of Lyndie Wright, who has been dedicated to the art of puppetry for 65 years. The Make show, The Curious Art of Puppetry, features an extraordinary collection of original puppet creations crafted at Lyndie…
SIDMOUTH is nearing the end of it its 2024 unique summer programme of entertainment in town’s Manor Pavilion, where country’s only surviving summer rep season continues to 21st September. Until Saturday 14th audiences can see Ira Levin’s Deathtrap, a murder mystery full of twists and turns. The season ends with Ben Hur, one of the…