Preview By Gay Pirrie Weir

October

PREVIEW

A dramatic image for Livia Kojo Alour’s one-woman show Black Sheep, coming to Bridport Arts Centre

Black Sheep

BRIDPORT LIVIA Kojo Alour is a sword swallower, a circus artist and a burlesque artist. She is also a poet, musician and theatre maker and she brings her latest work, Black Sheep to Bridport Arts Centre on Friday 14th October at 7.30pm.

Fusing physical theatre, spoken word and song (and sword swallowing), the show is the story of a queer black woman finding love, overcoming institutional racism and accepting her own radical vulnerability.

After moving from Germany to London more than ten years ago to live and work in a more diverse community, Livia learned that life-long feelings of self-hatred and otherness are part internalised racism and part survival techniques.

With a successful career under her stage name MisSa but tiring of playing someone else full-time, Livia created Black Sheep as a candid autobiographical work and a euphoric reclamation of Livia’s identity and ongoing fortitude. She made her solo debut at the Edinburgh Fringe with the show, which explores the challenges and repercussions facing black women who dare to ditch stereotypes.

Celebrating Clara Schumann

SHERBORNE DORCHESTER Arts brings an exceptional afternoon of words and music to the impressive setting of the Gransden Hall at Sherborne Girls School, on Sunday 11th October at 3pm.

I, Clara tells composer Clara Schumann’s extraordinary life story in her own words. It is the sixth Composer Portrait by the virtuoso musician and presenter Lucy Parham, created to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Clara Schumann. Lucy brings the performance to Dorset with the distinguished actress, Dame Harriet Walter, as narrator.

The narrative is drawn from Clara’s letters and diaries, interspersed with live performances by Lucy Parham of her works, as well as music by Robert Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Chopin.

Howerd’s End

HONITON CAN you imagine being terrified of your own happiness? You can? Then let’s begin… For half a century, Frankie Howerd was one of Britain’s most loved comedians ... but he had a secret ... and the secret’s name was Dennis. The story is told in Howerd’s End, coming to Honiton’s Beehive centre on Friday 7th October at 7.30pm.

This new play by Mark Farrelly (Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope) takes you to the heart of Frankie and Dennis’ clandestine relationship, which lasted from the 1950s

until Frankie’s death in 1992. It also affords a glorious opportunity to encounter Frankie in full flight stand-up mode.

Packed with laughter but unafraid of truth, Howerd’s End portrays the journey of these two men through closeness, love, grief, and all the other things that make life worth living. Simon Cartwright plays Frankie Howerd and Mark Farrelly is Dennis Heymer.

The late Barry Cryer, brilliant comic writer and entertainer, said of Howerd’s End: “I knew Dennis, and I wrote for Frankie—and this play is brilliant.”

Comedian Jen Brister brings her pessimistic take on life to Dorchester.

Funny women (and men)

DORCHESTER AND LYME REGIS DORCHESTER Arts brings two exceptional female stand-ups to the Corn Exchange during October—Jessica Fostekew with Wench, on Wednesday 19th, and Jen Brister with The Optimist, on Thursday 27th.

Jessica Fostekew, a regular co-host of The Guilty Feminist Podcast, the host and creator of The Hoovering Podcast and a frequent panel member on BBC R4’s News Quiz and Now Show, says Wench is about sexy things (awkward), private things (oh no) and a woman trying to sit on the face of time to keep it still (hot, right?).

If Jen Brister has learned anything in the past 18 months, it’s that she’s no good in a crisis. (Unless you count getting into the foetal position in under 30 seconds.) Has the pandemic changed her for the better or is she the same old pessimistic naysayer she’s always been? I think we all know the answer to that. Let’s just hope she can make it funny.

Expect more laughs at the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis on Friday 7th October, when the cricketing legend and veteran commentator (and famous cake-lover) Henry Blofeld brings his delightful show, My Dear Old Things, full of nostalgia, anecdotes and wry reflections.

The October line-up for Lyme Regis Comedy Club at the Marine on Friday 14th October, is headed by Josh Lambert, with Jessie Nixon, Dinesh Nathan and Tom Glover. Both shows begin at 8pm.

What do we do with the goats?

STOCKLAND RUNNING Dog Theatre comes to Stockland Victory Hall near Honiton on Saturday 8th October with The Goat Show, an entertaining new play for all the family about naughty goats.

In a quiet corner of Devon, trouble is brewing. One too many sandwiches have been stolen. One too many flowers eaten and one too many goat poos have been pooped. Something must be done about the goats! But no-one can agree what that is.

Mixing puppetry, storytelling and live music, Running Dog’s family show begins at 4pm.

Hot dance rhythms

VILLAGES ARTSREACH, Dorset’s rural touring arts charity, brings top tango band Tango Calor to three village halls, Milborne St Andrew on Friday 14th October, Buckland Newton on Saturday 15th and Langton Matravers on Sunday 16th, all at 7.30pm.

The trio has performed at tango dances and festivals up and down the country, including WOMAD, and is often invited to accompany visiting Argentine artists. Tango Calor has also collaborated with orchestras staging concerts of the music of Astor Piazzolla.

Expect an evening of songs and stories performed by Latin vocalist Indira Roman, Mirek Salmon (Welsh National Opera, Moscow Drug Club), one of the few masters of the bandoneon based in the UK, and Dutch jazz pianist Daan Temmink.

This is a show for young and old, for people who enjoy dancing or those who prefer to listen.

Mellow cellos

IBBERTON AND SANDFORD ORCAS A DUO of singing cellists comes to Dorset with Artsreach on Saturday 8th October at Ibberton village hall and Sunday 9th at Sandford Orcas.

Cellage a Deux—Kate Shortt and Rupert Gillett—bring their unique take on some of the standard favourites of popular music, including Latin, originals and more.

Kate Shortt, cellist, singer-songwriter, cabaret artist and comedienne is known for her avant garde improvisations and off the wall humour. Rupert Gillett, multiinstrumentalist, singer, composer and jazz bassist is also experienced in rock, blues and Eastern European styles.

Expect a cellicious ride from bebop to the blues and Bach again!

Musical tales from the dark forest

VILLAGES ARTSEACH favourites The Devil’s Violin will be in Dorset from 21st to 23rd October with three performances of The Beast In Me, a thrilling tapestry of stories from long ago about our perception of beauty and the value of kindness.

A desperate soldier strikes a deal with a mysterious stranger. ... a battle between two magicians. ... a being that is neither human nor animal.

Imagine a world where the lines separating humanity and animals have blurred, in which dark forests contain refuge

as well as danger, and where blood is not always thicker than water.

Epic narratives are evocatively brought to life by master storyteller, Daniel Morden, with sublime stringed accompaniment from virtuoso musicians Sarah Moody (cello) and Oliver Wilson-Dickson (violin).

The Devil’s Violin will be at the village halls at West Stafford on Friday 21st, Shillingstone on Saturday 22nd and Drimpton on Sunday 23rd, all at 7.30pm.

Coming west, looking east

BSO ON TOUR THE Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of the West Country, comes to Exeter University’s Great Hall and Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre on its autumn tour, which has a theme of Voices from the East, reflecting the background and particular interests of its chief conductor, the Ukrainian maestro, Kirill Karabits.

The BSO’s 2022/23 season features more venues throughout the south west, a programme that includes favourite classics and new works, while continuing the popular livestreamed broadcasts which have reached an estimated 100,000 global viewers in 18 months.

As part of the BSO’s ongoing Voices from the East series, spearheaded by Kirill Karabits, which champions lesser-known symphonic works from countries of the former Soviet Union, the orchestra will perform world premieres by Ukrainian composers Feodor Akimenko and Anna Korsun, as well as several works by Reinhold Glière.

Chief executive Dougie Scarfe says: “We’re gearing up to bring this full symphonic season of live music out on the road, reaching more venues throughout the South West as well as viewers at home, as we build on the success of our livestreamed broadcasts from our base in Poole. It promises to be an impressive season featuring some of the most exciting names—and we’re deeply grateful to Investec for coming on board once again as season sponsor, marking a decade of support of the BSO’s live music-making.

“I’m proud that we’ve been able to commission new music by Kate Whitley and [Ukrainian composer] Anna Korsun to empower lesserheard voices this season, and that we’re bringing together inclusive ensembles BSO Resound and RNS Moves—alongside musicians from the BSO and Royal Northern Sinfonia—in performances in Poole and Gateshead. As we share these performances to audiences at both ends of the country, I hope it’ll re-ignite conversations—and most importantly actions—around the ongoing challenge to build a more inclusive musical world.”

Kirill Karabits, who has been the BSO’s chief conductor for 14 years, says: “I’m especially looking forward to bringing new and previously unknown