Screen Time Top Six at the Flix

The Electric Palace, Bridport Rye Lane (2023)

‘Unfolding against the vibrantly photographed backdrop of sunny south London locales (Peckham, Brixton and the South Bank), Rye Lane blends the warmth and charm of a formulaic love story with the colourfully street-smart grit of Brit pics such as Shola Amoo’s A Moving Image or more recently Reggie Yates’s Pirates, creating something that is at once playful, poignant and personal.’ Mark Kermode, Guardian.

BBC iPlayer

The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)

‘This is LaBeouf at his best, stripped down to his bare elements and bookended by two luminous performances from Gottsagen and Johnson.’ Empire Online.

Official Secrets (2019)

‘Official Secrets shows that spy dramas from real life are very often not action thrillers such as Bond or Bourne or Homeland – or indeed Hood’s last movie, Eye in the Sky, from 2015 – but something more like nuclear-level office politics.’ Peter Bradshaw, Guardian.

Amazon Prime Living (2022)

‘It’s beautiful, haunting, and Nighy gives a tremendously moving performance as he grapples with regrets for a life well spent, but not spent well enough.’ Maggie Lovitt, Collider.

Argentina 1985 (2022)

‘Argentina, 1985 and its genuine depiction of the country’s most significant court case serve as a crucial reminder of the importance of battling for civil rights and freedom.’ Colton Peregoy, Collider.

Netflix

The Mustang (2019)

‘What The Mustang has in spades is sincerity, and a director good enough to wring the beauty out of a necessarily grim tale.’ Paul Whitington, Irish Independent.

The coronation will be broadcast live on the theatre’s big screen on Saturday 6th, and in the evening there will be an alternative reggae celebration, reminding the audience that His Majesty is also King of Jamaica—Mungo’s Hi Fi is a soundsystem and music production collective based in Glasgow, playing music which blends Jamaican influence with contemporary bass music, resulting in a unique take on Ska, Reggae, Dancehall and Dubstep.

There is fun for all the family on Sunday 7th, from 10am, with a kings and queens fancy dress party, hosted by the Queen of children’s entertainment Strawberry Jam. She’ll surprise and delight with a Coronation Magic Show, followed by crown making and a disco. There is a prize for the best dressed king and queen.

Music of the Griots

Lyme Regis

SUNTOU Susso, who comes to the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis on Saturday 13th May, with his band, is a kora player, percussionist, singer and composer from The Gambia.

Born a Griot in a 700-year old West African tradition, Suntou’s family includes some of the world’s most respected West African musicians—Seckou Keita, Solo Cissokho and Sura and Mamudou Susso.

Suntou’s instrument, the kora, is a harp-lute with 22 strings, that is unique to the Griots of the Mandinka people. Griots have a unique societal role as oral historians, transmitting and preserving a people’s culture through the generations in song, music and poetry.

Where there’s a will DORCHESTER

OUR Star Thetare Company comes to Dorchester Corn Exchange on Thursday 11th May at 8pm with brand new case for the world’s most famous detective.

Sherlock’s Excellent Adventure, which was a hit at Brighton and Edinburgh Fringes, is a riotous spoof featuring Sherlock Holmes and his incomparable sidekick Dr John Watson, with just four actors, minimal furnishings— but a ton of jolly good fun!

Damsel in distress Lucy Matravers engages Holmes and Watson to resolve a dispute over a family will. Little do they know that this small case brings Holmes straight into the clutches of his arch enemy, James Moriarty!

Alfresco shows for summer evenings TOURING

TEN open air-touring companies will be bringing their 2023 productions to gardens, fields, parks and other arenas in the Marshwood Vale’s area during the summer months, and this year’s selection of plays is as varied as it is appetising.

As always, Shakespeare is well represented. Festival Players will perform Twelfth Night at Abbotsbury (26 June) and Beaminster (27 August), Folksy Theatre brings The Merry Wives of Windsor to Axminster (26/27 July), Forde Abbey (1 August) and Lyme Regis (3 August) and the cycling troupe Handlebars performs A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Dorchester (23 June) and Lyme Regis (24 June).

Illyria has chosen Twelfth Night, performing at Sherborne (5 July) and for a longer run at Cornwall’s Minack Theatre from 16 to 21 July as part of its tour. The all-male Lord Chamberlain’s Men will tour Romeo and Juliet, stopping at Lyme Regis (8 June) and Killerton House (25 July). The Comedy of Errors is the choice of Rain or Shine, with performances at Sidmouth (9 June), Exmouth (10 June), Cullompton (23 August), Ilminster (26 August) and Portesham (28 August), and Three Inch Fools will bring As You Like It to Beaminster on 11 June.

Several companies are offering an alternative to The Bard. As always the inventive commedia dell’arte group The Rude Mechanicals have devised their own new play, this year Miss Popplewell’s Garden, coming to Worth Matravers (9 June), Abbotsbury (10 June) and Bradford Abbas (21 July).

Bash Street Theatre will perform The Battling Butlers at Escot Park from 18 to 20 August. Folksy Theatre’s second show is The Ugly Duckling, coming to Chard (27 July) and Axminster (1August). Heartbreak Theatre has Sense and Sensibility at Dorchester (18 August), and its new show Bad Dad, at Dorchester (2 August), Corfe Castle (3 August), Kingsbury Episcopi (4 August) and Killerton House (5 August).

Illyria not only tours Shakespeare, but Pride and Prejudice at Sherborne (12 July) and Robin Hood at Holsworthy (2 September) and Yelverton (9 September).

The second Three Inch Fools show is Robin Hood, coming to Sandford Orcas (15 August) and Powderham (22 August).

To find out more about the shows, with the dates and times, visit the company’s websites.