8 minute read
Arts & Entertainments
Take your partners by the hand...
Barn dance will help a good local cause
Fancy doing do-si-doe and helping to raise funds for a local charity? Then support a barn dance in aid of Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show’s Student Support Fund at the Turnpike Showground on Wednesday, 10 August.
Black Sheep, one of Dorset’s most popular barn dance and ceilidh bands, who have been entertaining audiences across the county for over 30 years, are providing he music.
Tickets are £10 and the marquee opens at 6pm with music from 7.30pm. Bar and hot food caterers are available.
The student support fund, only in its second year, was set up the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Agricultural Society to offer grants to students entering agricultural, horticultural, countryside and land-based industries.
It offers help with costs towards college or university course fees, books and equipment or even to help meet transport costs of getting to a place of study from a rural location.
In 2021 the fund gave out £3,674.76. This year the fund is set to give out more than £4,000 in grants ranging from £100 to £1,500 to students of all ages requiring financial help to get onto their courses.
Event organiser James Cox said: “People who attend our events help us to truly make a difference to someone’s education and future prospects by supporting us and therefore the Student Support Fund. The fund is vital as we know rural livelihoods are crucial to our county.”
Book via info@ gillinghamandshaftesburyshow. co.uk or phone 01747 823955.
Stunning garden venue for music on a summer night
Pugin Hall (pictured) in Rampisham, a stunning garden in West Dorset, is the venue for a ‘summer music night’ as part of the National Garden Scheme.
The String Quartet will be playing music including everything from the big screen, opera, Broadway to pop, in this beautiful setting on Saturday, August 13.
Audience members can start the evening by wandering through the gardens and grounds while enjoying sparkling white and rosé wine. A light buffet will be offered from 6.30pm.
Tickets cost £45 and pre-booking essential. For more information, visit https://ngs.org.uk/dorsetspecial-garden-events
Summer music at Pugin Hall
Saturday 13th August, 6-9PM Pugin Hall, Rampisham, nr Dorchester, Dorset, DT2 0PR
Join us for an evening of music at Pugin Hall - one of our most stunning gardens in West Dorset. This year, a limited number of tickets have been made available for an exclusive evening. The String Quartet will play a spectrum of music from the screen, opera, Broadway and pop, ‘music to delight everyone’. Start the evening by wandering through the gardens and grounds enjoying sparkling white and rosé wine. A light buffet will be offered from 6.30pm onwards.
Tickets: £45, pre-booking essential Please visit our website:
ngs.org.uk/dorset-special-garden-events
The String Quartet
Kindly sponsored by:
Handel’s ‘little opera’ al fresco
Sunset Sounds is presenting Handel’s opera ‘Acis and Galatea’ at Wyke House, Wyke Champflower, on Saturday and Sunday, 20-21 August.
The pastoral opera is a tale of love between the sea-nymph Galatea, the mortal shepherd Acis and the jealous Cyclops giant Polyphemus.
The work, composed in 1718, has been described as a serenata, a masque – and a ‘little opera’ by Handel himself while it was being written – and has been the subject of Renaissance poems, paintings and statues.
It is performed by Hugo Hymas, Amy Carson and Tim Dickinson, with the baroque ensemble Music for A While, led by Margaret Faultless.
The gardens open at 5.30pm with the performance at 6pm. Tickets cost £35 and early booking is advised to avoid disappointment as space is limited. For further information, email sunsetsounds. wykehouse@gmail.com
Arts & Entertainment
Pirates on parade at manor house
As a young boy James Barrie delighted at being a pirate. In 1904 the memory of these adventures inspired him to write his play ‘Peter Pan’ – or as it was also called, ‘The Boy who Never Grew Up’.
Now, Barrie’s imagination confronts reality at the historic Manor Farm, Corsley. For Sir Carew Raleigh, who lived at the manor, and his brother Sir Walter, who often stayed there, were pirates!
In 1588 the brothers would have been in deep discussion over naval tactics. Their respective roles were Admirals, and their duty was to defend England against the Spanish Armada.
They played their part in the defence of England but also in the attacks on Spain. Plunder of gold on the Spanish Main was their aim. Feeble attempts were made to coat these sea-dog adventures with a semblance of respectability but in truth these attacks on the high seas were as close to piracy as the exploits of Blue Beard himself. And the Raleigh brothers were in the thick of it.
So, on Saturday (6 August) at 6.30pm, the imagination of Barrie and the reality of the Raleigh’s intermingle at Corsley. The Pirates return. Peter Pan flies again.
Peter Pan is meeting the Raleigh brothers at Manor Farm, Corsley.
For more information and tickets visit office@ theelizabethanevening.com or www.theelizabethanevening. com
Art trail call to all young artists
The Wylye Valley Art Trail is widely recognised as one of the great cultural events in Wiltshire’s artist calendar, helping to establish many new and existing artists and makers, who then open studios and have exhibitions throughout the year.
So, if you’re 25 or under, from south-west Wiltshire and a maker of anything visual – paintings, sculpture, textiles, furniture, glass, bookbinding, prints, ceramics, leather, jewellery – you could be sponsored to hold an exhibition as part of the 2023 Wylye Valley Art Trail.
The Arts Society Wylye Valley (ASWV), having recently won the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, is offering sponsorship of £500 to one young artist to help pay for art materials, venue costs, presentation and other expenses related to staging an exhibition, as well as exposure and support during the early stages of their creative career. The Wylye Valley Art Trail is also waiving the entrance fee for the winning young artist.
Applications for the Wylye Valley Young Artist Award are open online at www.wvat. co.uk until the end of September. The winner will be announced by the middle of October.
For further information, or if you are an artist or maker interested in being added to the future participants’ database, contact info@wvat.co.uk or phone 07730-400784. The 2023 Wylye Valley Art Trail will run for nine days from Saturday, 29 April, to Sunday, 7 May, next year.
Arts & Entertainment
Mischief and hilarity in rip-roaring Shakespearean comedy
by Lorraine Gibson
There will be wit and fooling aplenty as one of Dorset’s most inventive touring companies stages an evening of mischief and merriment with a cast of five taking on Shakespeare’s comedy ‘Twelfth Night’ in a performance fit for all the family.
Acclaimed touring theatre company The Three Inch Fools are dusting down their musical instruments and taking to the road with the Bard’s famous play, performing just once in Dorset with Artsreach, the county’s touring arts charity.
The Three Inch Fools are an innovative lot with a reputation for staging audaciously vibrant productions, in a fast-paced, musically-driven style, with a dazzling array of instruments, actors playing multiple roles and many a quick costume change along the way.
Pack a picnic, dress for all weathers, take cushions and chairs, and get stuck into the adventure at Higher Orchard, Sandford Orcas, near Sherborne, Sunday 21 August.
Gates open for picnics at 6pm, with the performance at 7pm. A licensed bar will be available. Tickets and information from 01963 220208 or www.artsreach. co.uk
Although it is not currently a legal requirement, please consider wearing a face covering to protect yourself and others when visiting the Tivoli. PLEASE KEEP CHECKING OUR WEBSITE
ELVIS (12A)
8th, 9th, 15th & 16th August 7.30pm Tickets Adult £8, U16s £6
(Box Office bookings over £20 incur £1 booking fee) LONDON REPERTORY PLAYERS PRESENT A SUMMER SEASON OF PLAYS! FALLEN ANGELS
by Noel Coward
Wed 10th Aug - Sat 13th Aug 7.30pm, Sat 13th Aug 2.30pm
(Box Office bookings over £20 incur £1 booking fee) I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE
by J.B Priestley
Wed 17th Aug - Sat 20th Aug 7.30pm, Sat 20th Aug 2.30pm
(Box Office bookings over £20 incur £1 booking fee) ABIGAIL’S PARTY
by Mike Leigh
Tues 23rd Aug - Thurs 25th Aug 7.30pm Mat Thurs 25th Aug 2.30pm
(Box Office bookings over £20 incur £1 booking fee)
Tickets £18.50 evenings (£17 concessions), £17 matinees GRETCHEN PETERS
Friday 26th August 7.30pm Tickets £32.50 & £27.50
(Box Office bookings over £20 incur £1 booking fee)
PRONGHORN & THE TWO MAN TRAVELLING MEDICINE SHOW SIMON GOODALL
