Preview By Gay Pirrie Weir

December

PREVIEW

Catch one of the country’s leading Americana bands, The Wandering Heart, at the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis.

The Wandering Hearts

LYME REGIS AMERICANA stars The Wandering Hearts come to the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis on Saturday 3rd December, bringing the haunting folk-rock-bluegrass sound that has seen them nominated for awards and twice topping the UK’s official Americana Charts.

The Wandering Hearts achieved their second consecutive number one in 2022 with their self-titled second album, building on the success of Wild Silence, their debut in 2018. The album cemented the trio’s reputation as leading lights in British folk-Americana.

The only British act to debut at both the iconic Ryman Theatre and The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in the same week, The Wandering Hearts have shared stages and tours across the UK and US with artists such as the late great Tom Petty, John Prine and Justin Townes Earle, and Margo Price, Lukas Nelson, Robert Plant and Eagles. Charlatan Dickens—a seasonal story

MARTINSTOWN YOU think you know Charles Dickens’s Christmas Carol, don’t you? Well, think again. Performer Peter Macqueen opens The Scrooge Diaries at Martinstown village hall on Friday 16th December at 7.30pm and you may find the results shake up your festive spirits!

It’s 1843 and as Christmas looms Mr Dickens is about to publish his latest instalment. Meanwhile, Mr Scrooge is in his office working desperately to tell his side of the story. This one-man show aims to put the record straight…

“Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.” ...

“Oh no, he wasn’t! Bah! Dead? Humbug, Mr.Dickens! Dead? As sure as the clothes moths in my wardrobe have be-shredded my best nightcap, Marley was not dead but rather sitting on some sun-soaked, off-shore beach squandering all the hard-earned money that he had so fraudulently embezzled from my firm over the years!

Peter Macqueen opens Scrooge’s diaries to tell a very different Christmas Carol tale.

“You know nothing Mr.Dickens! YOU are a fraud, sir—an embezzler of the truth! A fake news-smith! A charlatan… Charlatan Dickens! Bah!”

In this revelatory exclusive, Ebeneezer Scrooge opens his diary to expose the awful truth about Tiny Tim, the Fezziwigs, Jacob Marley and that disgustingly jolly, gluttonous, consumer-driven Ghost of Christmas Present as he reveals the truth behind A Christmas Carol and the vengeful, slanderous, upstart author of that novel…

The Scrooge Diaries can also be enjoyed at Hinton Martell village hall on Saturday 17th December at 7.30pm and on Sunday 18th (at the earlier time of 4pm) at Studland village hall.

Pick a pocket at the Electric Palace

BRIDPORT THE talented youngsters of Bridport Young Performers take to the stage of the Electric Palace from 19th to 21st December with the perfect Christmas show, Lionel Bart’s classic musical, Oliver!

It’s one of those rare shows (like West Side Story) where every song is a hit in its own right—from Food Glorious Food to Oom Pah Pah, I’d Do Anything to Reviewing The Situation.

Adapted from Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, it is the story of the orphan Oliver, who longs for a home. Sold from the workhouse by the greedy beedle, Mr Bumble, Oliver escapes to the streets of London where he meets the Artful Dodger, who introduces him to a new kind of family—the pickpockets of Fagin’s thieves kitchen gang.

Bridport Young Performers (BYP) is a youth theatre group for young performers aged 25 and under which offers opportunities throughout the year in musical theatre, acting, dance and singing, with workshops, community events and the Christmas musical!

Swing into the New Year

CHRISTMAS WITH THE BSO FROM Handel’s masterpiece Messiah to a West End musical star and the ever-popular Viennese gala, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is bringing festive delights to audiences at Poole, Taunton, Exeter and Weymouth.

Actor Ben Forster, West End star of Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera and The Rocky Horror Show, joins the BSO for Last Night of the Christmas Proms at Poole Lighthouse on Saturday 17th December and Exeter University Great Hall on Tuesday 20th.

The ever-popular Viennese New Year gala will be enjoyed at Poole on Sunday 1st January, Taunton Brewhouse on Thursday 5th and Weymouth Pavilion on Friday 6th. The New Year concerts have a real taste of Hungary with all three guest performers being natives of Budapest—violinist Lajos Sárközy Jr, cimbalom player Jenő Lisztes and conductor Gergely Madaras.

Rural spaces in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset host festive fun for all the family with a series of BSO On Your Doorstep chamber concerts including with Artsreach at Lytchett Matravers on Friday 9th December, Devon’s Villages in Action at Thorverton on Sunday 11th and Yeovil’s Octagon on Thursday 15th.

BSO chief executive Dougie Scarfe says: “We’re really proud to be hosting such a broad range of live events this

The Churchfitters bring their Christmas Cracker show to Dorset

festive season, and can’t wait to help people find those few hours of escapism and mark the start of a fresh new year. There’s something for everyone, from cinematic classics to festive favourites… and we’re even bringing a quiz to our rural concerts in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset.”

Other festive favourites at the orchestra’s home at Poole Lighthouse include a sing-along Celebration of Christmas Carols on Friday 23rd, and Messiah, conducted by baroque specialist Laurence Cummings with soloists Anna Devin, Jake Arditti, Sam Furness and Ashley Riches—and the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus.

A foot-stomping cracker

VILLAGES ARTSREACH, Dorset’s rural touring charity, brings The Churchfitters, one of the folk scene’s most entertaining groups, for three Christmas Cracker concerts, from 15th to 17th December.

Enjoy a festive night like no other as the trio shake up the season with their unique combination of a double bass made out of scrap metal, powerful vocals, fiddle and musical saw, creating foot-stomping, infectious funk-rock rhythms.

The three virtuoso musicians from England and France strut their stuff on a stage overflowing with instruments— look out for a flute, banjo, dulcimer, tin whistle, guitar, ukulele, stand up dustbin bass and a sackful of percussion.

Packed with a selection of favourites from their regular repertoire, interlaced with traditional and original festive songs and Christmas carols, The Churchfitters invite you to see in Christmas with a bang and a paper hat full of surprises, novelties and jokes in their Christmas Cracker.

Artsreach assistant director Yvonne Gallimore says: “We’ve had a fantastic season packed with a huge variety of music, theatre and dance and these concerts are a fantastically festive and uplifting way to bring the season to a close.”

The Churchfitters’ tour starts at Cranborne’s Cecil Memorial Hall at 8pm on Thursday 15th December, Winfrith Newburgh village hall at 7.30pm on Friday 16th (when tickets also include a festive supper) and Broadwindsor’s Comrades Hall on Saturday 17th.

Christmas with the Ridgeways

MARNHULL AND DORCHESTER THE Ridgeway Singers and Band have two Christmas concerts of West Gallery songs and carols, at Marnhull, on Sunday 4th December, and at Dorchester, on Wednesday 21st.

As always, the concerts will be a blend of Dorset-linked carols, folk songs, music and entertaining tales. These include a joyful version of Hark the Herald Angel Sing, to music discovered in Durweston and Rejoice Ye Tenants of the Earth, transcribed by Thomas Hardy from a Puddletown source.

Another well known carol—if not tune—will be While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night. At one time this was the only carol the church permitted local congregations to sing, and was thus widely sung, to tunes made up locally. The Ridgeways’ version is found in the Hardy Family Manuscripts.

Non-Christmas songs include A Song from Loders, a poem

by Leonard Clark, with the melody by musician, actor and historian Tim Laycock, the Ridgeways’ co-director with Phil Humphries. This lovely piece evokes some lesser-known parts of Dorset: “From Yondover to Askerswell, the lanterns burn for wand’ring sheep.”

Music played by the band includes a new Dorset piece, The January Waltz, and Enrico, from The Thomas Hardy Manuscripts.

The Marnhull concert is at 4pm at St Gregory’s Church, and is promoted by Artsreach, which was involved in the creation of the Ridgeways Singers and Band. The Christmas week concert at Dorchester is at the Dorford Centre at 7.30pm. Seasonal refreshments will be available at both concerts.

A chilly tale

BRIDPORT HANS Christian Andersen’s famous dark fairytale, The Snow Queen, gets a chilly new staging from Bumblefly, who bring their version, Brrr! It’s The Snow Queen to Bridport Arts Centre on Wednesday 21st December at 11am.

In conjunction with the Ringwood-based Forest Forge and Mischievous Theatres, Bumblefly has created an exciting, inventive and mysterious saga with just a dash of menace. It also has several talking animals, a witch, a chatty river, the odd robber, a horde of snow-bees, a super-granny, a beautiful dangerous Queen, a frozen boy, a courageous girl and a lot of snow and ice.

With quirky storytelling, a tune or two, the odd puppet, and a huge drift of snowy surprises, it’s a show that will intrigue and delight audiences of all ages, with a timeless tale that shows how goodness, kindness and honesty will save us all in the end.

Twisted tales for Christmas

PORTLAND CORNWALL-based Owdyado Theatre company is coming to Portland’s Royal Manor Theatre on Saturday 3rd December at 7.30pm with Twisted Christmas, a darkly comic evening of macabre mini plays with a festive flavour!

Expect a deliciously depraved take on the holiday season as the company presents a programme of new stories by writers from Cornwall and across the UK.

Twisted Christmas features seven original microplays including tales of how to buy the perfect gift for your unloved ones, the dark side of Christmas cracker jokes, and one woman’s maniacal plot to murder Santa Claus!

As associate artists of Hall For Cornwall, Owdyado Theatre work with both established and emerging writers to produce original work that tours across the UK. Influenced by cult classics such as Inside No.9, The Twilight Zone and Roald