The dreaded crunch needn’t mean doom and gloom this summer! With fabulous events taking place around the rural Artsreach circuit, you can experience a wide range of high quality arts right on your doorstep in Dorset – all at very affordable ticket prices.
Miracle Theatre
There are some familiar faces performing this summer, as well as some new companies visiting Dorset. Miracle Theatre will be celebrating their 30th anniversary with an open-air tour of Molière’s classic ‘Tartuffe’. Performing at five outdoor Artsreach venues, Miracle’s high-energy style and love of satire, farce and physical theatre is perfect for enjoying with friends, families and picnics.
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, bring Hardy’s well-loved story ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ back to its rural Dorset roots. Their ensemble productions always go down a storm with audiences so be sure not to miss this traditional tale, and spot stars of the future!
Kicking off the Artsreach programme with a special one-off performance, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s contemporary ensemble Kokoro perform at Bourton Village Hall on Saturday 25 April (01747 840328). Two enduring masterpieces of the 19th Century frame a contemporary work that looks back in spirit to the world of Schubert. After the overture from J. Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, the waltz king’s most famous operetta, in an ensemble arrangement by the contemporary Australian composer, Brett Dean, Robin Holloway’s Serenade in C gives, the composer suggests, ‘an affectionate twist’ to the music of early 19th Century Vienna ‘from Schubert all the way to Southend Pier’. Lastly comes one of the greatest masterworks of Schubert himself, his Octet. Tickets are selling fast for Kokoro’s rare appearance in North Dorset.
The Methera string quartet returns to Dorset also for a one-off concert – at Powerstock Church on Bank Holiday weekend (Sunday 3 May). Audiences may remember the beautiful performances that Methera gave in the autumn when they visited Dorset with Kerr, Fagan, Harbron Trio as part of their national tour. Methera is a unique ensemble: a string quartet with roots firmly planted in English traditional dance music. These four young string musicians combine a deep knowledge of traditional music with a wide range of other influences and expertise and a fine sense of musical interaction. Newly composed pieces sit alongside timeless traditional material; their music is both sophisticated and earthy, groundbreaking and familiar, enchanting and thrilling. Powerstock Church will provide a beautiful acoustic to enjoy this quartet at their best!
May also welcomes the outstanding Alec Dankworth Quintet who will be performing ‘Spanish Accents’ at Portesham Village Hall and Gillingham School. Bassist Alec Dankworth’s long-standing love of all things Spanish provided the inspiration for this concert. His new quintet plays jazz with a Spanish flavour, Metheny, Corea and even Rodrigo are reinvented alongside traditional folk songs and originals in flamenco rhythms. The Spanish Accents CD was released last year to huge acclaim. Alec is the internationally acclaimed son of jazz legends Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine, and in this show will offer Dorset audiences a very special chance to hear world-class playing.
If you’ve missed out on festival tickets this summer, fear not! A very exciting and unusual event for Artsreach will be taking place on August 1st and 2nd (at Evershot and Portesham) when fifteen piece band The Destroyers will be squeezing onto village hall stages and raising the roofs. These festival favourites made a special request to perform for Artsreach on their way down to Sidmouth Festival. The madcap band take Balkan and Klezmer music as their starting point for a searing live musical journey that has captured audiences around the country. With massed ranks of fiddles, brass, vocals and much more besides, their blazing passion onstage creates a swirling spectacle of sensation and sound which in the last few years they have brought to London’s Barbican, and festivals including Glastonbury, Sidmouth and, locally, the Larmer Tree. This is guaranteed to be a memorable event, don’t miss it!
Artsreach are delighted to be hosting two international acts this summer. In June the Tashi-Lhunpo Monks visit rural Dorset, with their ‘Power of Compassion’ tour. This is a dramatic, fascinating and involving performance of the majestic masked dances and the sacred chant from Tashi Lhunpo Monastery – one of the most important of Tibet’s teaching monasteries. The monks, from their re-established monastery in exile in South India, present a taste of the unique culture of Tibet; a really colourful, eye-opening cultural experience suitable for all ages.
Following in the success of Umdumo WeSizwe’s Artsreach tour in the autumn, sister company Siyaya now visit Dorset, direct from Bulawayo. Colourful, climactic and bursting at the seams with energy, and sweet, a cappella harmonies, this Zimbabwean song, dance and drum troupe’s rousing music and tightly choreographed dance transcends the language barrier. Siyaya are a veritable tour-de-force of traditional and contemporary African forms, relating to both the hard times and the joy of life in African townships. Ghanaian and Zimbabwean drums provide the rhythm to Siyaya’s life-affirming dance routines. “For us, song and dance is not a luxury, but a necessity”. Siyaya takes you on a journey that uncovers the joys of life through traditional and contemporary African song and dance. More festival favourites – perfect for a summer evening!
Pretty Good Girl Dance Theatre Company will be performing at Gillingham School as part of Frome Festival’s extension into villages. 'Elvis Still My Heart' is a heart-wrenching, funny, sad and thoughtful tale about three young people, lost in London. The year is 1970, and Elvis is not dead. But their hearts are, and it is only when they meet that they learn to ‘change the record’ and laugh again. With a dynamic cast, the story is told via toe–tapping rock ’n’ roll and fast paced physical theatre. If you love a good story, Elvis Presley and rock ‘n’ roll, you will not be disappointed by Pretty Good Girl’s latest offering!
In addition to the performance programme, Artsreach will be holding a range of creative summer workshops for young people, this year the theme being ‘Go Global!’. Look out for the programme of exciting crafts, theatre, dance and music workshops from around the world, available nearer the end of school term.
To keep up to date with Artsreach events, sign up to the mailing list online at www.artsreach.co.uk
