Preview: Twisted Yarn at Bath's Egg Theatre

North Dorset company on the Egg stage

A NEW theatre company from North Dorset, Twisted Yarn, will be performing at Bath's Egg Theatre next Saturday 23rd March as part of the on-going Young Premieres programme.

The Cobbler's Daughter was has been based on a folk song by Kate Rusby, and was originally an A Level final piece at Gillingham School, devised by Danielle Sharp (who made a memorable contribution to the school's production of Les Miserables).

Twisted Yarn is made up of local 16 to 20 year olds, and is totally self-funded. Rehearsals have continued during the recent bitter weather in a leaky shed, the cast layered with blankets, sleeping bags and thermos flasks to beat the cold!

Suitable for audiences aged from 14 years, The Cobbler's Daughter is at Bath next Saturday at 7.30pm.

Dickens characters come alive in Dorset

ONE of the founder members of Kneehigh, David Mynne, is now touring as Rabbit Theatre and comes to Dorset next week with his solo show Great Expectations on a short Artsreach tour.

Described as "deft, daft, delightful … and definitely Dickens!" this story starts on Christmas Eve 1803 when Pip, a seven year-old orphan boy, visits his mother's grave.

A frightening encounter with an escaped convict begins a series of events that will change his life forever.

Meet some of Dickens' most memorable characters, including the terrifying Magwitch, Joe Gargery the kind and generous blacksmith, the eccentric Miss Havisham, the cold and beautiful Estella, Mr Jaggers the pompous lawyer and Pip's wise friend, Herbert Pocket, all vividly brought to life in this anarchic and joyful telling of the famous tale.

The show is at Melbury Osmond Village Hall next Friday 22nd and at Briantspuddle Village Hall on Saturday 23rd March.

01305 269512 or visit www.artsreach.co.uk

Welcome back to Abigail's party!

A NEW touring production of the excruciatingly funny Abigail's Party comes to Poole's Lighthouse next week from Tuesday 19th to Saturday 23rd March.

This Theatre Royal Bath/Menier Chocolate Factory production is the stage version of Mike Leigh's famous BBC Play for Today, in which Abigail (who never appears) is the daughter of nervous divorcee Sue, having a party while her mother visits Beverley and Laurence next door to get away from the noise.

The cast is led by Hannah Waterman, best known for her role as Laura Beale in EastEnders, as the monstrous, ignorant and patronising Beverley, the role that made Alison Steadman a household name.

Set firmly in the 1970s, it's a satire on the then rising middle class and their pretensions. Donna Summer is playing on the stereo. Dishes of cheese and pineapple are on the coffee table, and the social get-together from hell is about to begin.

Beverly and her estate agent husband Laurence have also invited round new neighbours Tony and Ange. As Beverly plies the guests with alcohol, cigarettes, Demis Roussos and nibbles, this horribly compelling evening unravels.

See Abigail's Party in Poole from Tuesday 19th to Saturday 23 March, nightly with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday.

The 39 steps to a hit

THE multi award-winning comedy spy thriller, The 39 Steps comes to Bath Theatre Royal next week, after delighting audiences in the West End and on Broadway.

The national tour of his hilarious smash hit production has been adapted for the stage from John Buchan's 1915 novel and Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1935 film.

It follows the gripping adventures of handsome hero Richard Hannay, complete with stiff-upper-lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache, as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents, and devastatingly beautiful women.

Four actors play 139 roles in this extraordinary show, performing every single legendary scene from the award-winning movie – including the chase on the Flying Scotsman and the escape on the Forth Bridge.

Bennett masterpiece by satellite near you

YOU might still be lucky enough to get a ticket for one of the "live by satellite" screenings of Alan Bennett's sell out play People from the National Theatre, at various venues around our region next Thursday 21st March.

Set in the crumbling stately home where Dorothy (Frances de la Tour) lives with her old family retainer (Linda Bassett), it's about what happens when the end that's been in sight for so many years can no longer be ignored. Something has to happen or the pile will literally fall down around their ears.

Dorothy's sister has one idea, Dorothy has others. Stir in an achingly hilarious politically correct representative of the National Trust, a porn director and his team and an agent of a rather murky religious outfit, and the stage is set for one of the funniest plays in decades.

See it at Poole Lighthouse and Strode Theatre in Street.

Plays cross the country

SIX playwrights from the South West and North West of England come together at Poole's Lighthouse studio next Friday 22nd March for an evening entitled Word:Play/ NWxSW.

Together known as Box of Tricks Theatre the writers, three from each region, have all written a 15-minute play inspired by the word "division". These plays, which tackle issues affecting society today from identity and loss to relationships and the class divide, will be performed by a cast of four, starting at 8pm.

Lear at a stroke

MY Perfect Mind, coming to the Salberg Studio at Salisbury Playhouse next week from Tuesday 19th to Saturday 23rd March, is described as a comic tale of a man not doing King Lear.

This Told By an Idiot show is performed by Edward Petherbridge and Paul Hunter and tells the story of the time when Olivier award winning classical actor Edward Petherbridge was rehearsing for the role of King Lear when a major stroke left him barely able to move. As he struggled to recover, he made a startling discovery: the entire role of Lear still existed word for word in his mind.

In My Perfect Mind, he reflects on the remarkable coincidences between that period of his life and the story of one of Shakespeare's most complex characters, while Paul Hunter plays everyone else in the story, from the hospital consultant to Lear's Fool.

What a way to earn a living!

DOLLY Parton wrote the hit song from the 1980 movie 9 to 5, all about a pig of a boss and the three women who band together to outwit him.

She starred in the movie with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, but she had a back-burner ambition to bring the story to the stage as a full blown musical which went to Broadway in 2009 and is now on tour in the UK, coming to Bristol Hippodrome next week.