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Screen Time Top Six at the Flix

The Electric Palace Bridport I Wanna Dance With Somebody (2022) “Critics will sniff, as they invariably do, about the familiar conventions of the music biopic. But the spirit of I Wanna Dance With Somebody transcends those conventions far more often than it gets weighed down by them.” The Hollywood Reporter. David Rooney.

The Empire of Light (2022)

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“Empire Of Light is a sentimental film—the piano-heavy score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross advertises that from the opening bars—but its message of love, tolerance and finding family wherever you can, should make an impact in darkened rooms wherever it plays.” Screen Daily. Fionnuala Halligan.

Bridport Arts Centre Love around the World (2021)

Directors Andela and Davor Rostuhar are a married couple from Croatia who, after he proposed during a visit to Antarctica, decided to spend the first year of their marriage travelling around the world interviewing other couples about love…the resulting documentary is very polished for what was presumably a mostly two-person operation, beautifully shot by Davor and seamlessly edited together.” The Guardian. Leslie Felperin.

Netflix Your Place or Mine (2023)

“A charming new romantic comedy featuring two stars of some of the best examples of the genre, Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kuchner. At the helm and behind the script of the film is rom-com veteran Aline Brosh McKenna” Screen Rant. Valerie Parker.

BBC iPlayer County Lines (2018)

Based on the ‘county lines’ crisis whereby gangs use children to smuggle drugs from large cities to smaller towns, writer-director Henry Blake’s feature debut is a harsh, bleak and moving slice of social realism. Cinevue. Christopher Machell. Night of the Living Dead (1968) Despite mostly unprofessional acting, near non-existent production values, homemade special effects, and cheap grainy black-andwhite film stock, the film is a triumph. TV Guide Magazine be an Addams. Uncle Fester stops the Ancestors’ return to their graves to enlist their help. He explains that Wednesday has invited her new (normal) boyfriend, Lucas, and his parents, Mal and Alice, to dinner. Wednesday, who is torturing Pugsley on a rack, admits that love is pulling her in another direction, (If you don’t know the story, you get the picture!)

The month’s films include India Sweets and Spices, a comedy-drama from the producers of Crazy Rich Asians, Aftersun, starring Normal People’s Paul Mescal, and What’s Love Got To Do With It, a romcom starring Emma Thompson, Lily James and Sajal Aly.

There are live screenings of an acclaimed Royal Opera production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, with a cast including Sir Bryn Terfel, at 2pm on Sunday 19th, and Othello from the National Theatre, with Hamilton star Giles Terera in the title role, on Thursday 23rd.

Spinning into action DORCHESTER

THE countdown has started, rehearsals are under way and tickets are on sale for Dorchester’s record-breaking seventh community play, Spinning the Moon, which will be staged in April, after several Covid-related postponements.

The play was originally planned for 2020, and finally takes to the stage nine years after the last community play, Drummer Hodge

Performances are at the Thomas Hardye School theatre, on Tuesday to Thursday 4th to 6th April at 7.30pm, Saturday 8th at 2.30 and 7.30, and Monday to Saturday 10th to 15th at 7.30pm..

With a cast of 90-plus performers alongside a group of talented musicians, the play, by Stephanie Dale, is a compelling story set in Dorchester in the turbulent years that followed the Wars of the Roses.

Society is changing and rural communities are looking to an unsure future as the certainties of life fall away. Fusing historical fact and fiction, drama and comedy, this is a tale of the community, performed by the community and presented to the community. It is directed by Peter Leslie Wild, assisted by Penny Levick, with music by Tim Laycock assisted by Alastair Simpson, and set and costumes designed by Dawn Allsopp.

Baroque with spirit TOURING

CONCERTS in the West begins the 2023 programme with a series of four recitals by the exciting period ensemble, Spiritato!, beginning on Friday 3rd February at Bridport Arts Centre for a morning coffee concert and an evening performance at Ilminster Arts Centre.

As individuals they can be found performing with specialist ensembles throughout the UK and Europe, including the Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Les Talens Lyriques and the Orchestre Révolutionaire et Romantique. They frequently tour internationally, and their second album on the Resonus Classics label was praised by the Financial Times, Early Music Today, Bachtrack and BBC Music Magazine.

The programme for Concerts in the West includes works by Pachelbel, Kerll, Kirchhoff, Thieme, Bach, Buxtehude, Scheidt, and Krieger.

The concerts are at Bridport Arts Centre on Friday 3rd at 11.30am, Ilminster Arts Centre on Friday at 7.30pm, Crewkerne Dance House on Saturday 4th at 7.30, and St Laurence Church, Upwey, on Sunday 5th at 3pm.

Penguins in danger!

Touring

A NEW play for children, with a powerful environmental message, is on tour over the February halfterm—Georgia and the Iceberg will be at Poole’s Lighthouse,

Dorchester Corn Exchange and three dates with Artsreach.

It promises to be a brrr-illiant adventure filled with puppetry, jokes, and a heart-warming original story. When Georgia goes to visit her big sister Helena, all she wants is to explore the big frozen continent outside her bedroom window.

While Helena is focused on completing her chores, Georgia discovers a giant iceberg on a collision course with the nearby penguin colony. If she can’t journey across the ice in time to warn them, then everyone’s in danger. She might need some help…

Georgia and the Iceberg is at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre on Saturday 11th February at 11am and 2.30pm, Dorchester Corn Exchange on Tuesday 14th at 11am and 2pm, Child Okeford village hall on Wednesday 15th, Winfrith Newburgh on Thursday 16th at 10.30am and Broadwindsor’s Comrades Hall, the same day at 3.30pm.

Rich Hall on tour

Dorchester

ONE of the most popular comedians on the international scene, the Americanborn musician and stand-up Rich Hall, has a new show on tour, Shot from Cannons, and he’s bringing it to Dorchester Arts on Friday 10th February, at Thomas Hardye School theatre, Fresh on the heels of his critically acclaimed memoir, Nailing It, Montana’s transatlantic messenger—who first hit the headlines with his show featuring his red-neck alter ego, Otis Lee Crenshaw—returns with new rants, knife-edge observations, thrilling musical interludes and a formidable knack for laughs on the fly. You’ll pay for the whole seat, but you’ll only need the edge of it.

The tour continues at Tiverton Community Arts Theatre on Saturday 11th, Bristol’s Redgrave Theatre on 2nd March, Salisbury Arts Centre on 5th May, and Bridport Electric Palace on 20th May

Byrd to Britten DORCHESTER

THE choral ensemble Tenebrae comes to St Mary’s Church, Dorchester, on Saturday 11th February, with a programme that spans 400 years from Byrd to Britten. Renowned for the breadth of their repertoire, Tenebrae will perform a programme of music for six voices, with a particular focus on William Byrd in his 400th anniversary year, but also featuring contemporary pieces, including works by Britten and some beautiful folk arrangements by Chilcott.

The choir is renowned for its interpretations of choral music ranging from the Renaissance through to contemporary masterpieces and is a dedicated advocate for new music. Alongside its busy concert and recording schedule, the choir also runs a thriving learning and connection programme, as well as choral workshops for students and amateur singers all over the world.

Bev’s living it up TAUNTON AND LYME REGIS

LIVING Spit, the brilliant comedy-acting duo of Stu McLoughlin and Howard Coggins, have a new show on the road—Puss in Boots, More Than A Feline. However, audiences at Taunton Brewhouse on 8th February and the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis, on 10th February, will see a new performer, Bev Rudd.

Howard, the one in the string vest if you’re lucky enough not to know Living Spit, won’t be in this show as he’s poorly. Bev Rudd, a familiar face from Kneehigh Theatre, is playing his part and she’s brilliant.

Told entirely through song and rhyming couplets, this Puss in Boots promises all the usual frolics, festivities and foolishness, plus the answers to such burning questions as: Is Stu’s Irish dancing actually any good? How are they going to do the Ogre?

So, there’s this bloke. He’s stony broke. His name is Tristan Sprout, He can’t afford to pay the rent; the landlord wants him out.

He has a cat called Roger who has several attributes

Of note: He talks and wears a pair of fetching kneehigh boots!

But then they hear a rumour of an Ogre on the prowl?

Can Tristan be a hero? Or will he throw in the towel…?

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