Image: Isabelle Baafi – Winchester Poetry Prize 2023 winner. The first full Winchester Poetry Festival weekend since the pandemic proved that poetry still excites and delights people of all ages. Almost 1000 tickets were sold, with many events reaching capacity. This year attendees travelled to Winchester from all over...
Southampton listings 24 – 30 October
Image Peter Pan Goes Wrong by Pamela Raith Photography It’s half-term this week and almost Halloween so lots of events for families and some spooky stuff thrown in too – in fact, there are more than 160 events to choose from in Southampton alone Popular local am dram company,...
Applause review: Blithe Spirit, Maskers Theatre Company, Southampton
By amateur dramatics editor Martin Brisland. The Maskers maintain their usual high standards with their latest production. Blithe Spirit is a 1941 comic play by Noel Coward, described by the author as “an improbable farce” which imagines what may happen if we could contact the spiritual world. This experiment...
Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer comes to Heartbreakers, Southampton, this week
Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer, AKA The Chap-Hop Superstar, AKA The Dapper Polymath, AKA The Chap Himself (etc) returns to Southampton for the first time in a few years off the back of a bumper year, having recorded three albums (the latest of which – ‘National Treasure’ comes out at...
Palestine Solidarity Campaign vigil to be held in Southampton on Tuesday
People from across Southampton will be gathering to take part in a vigil in the city centre to protest the Israeli onslaught on Gaza on Tuesday, October 24th. The vigil will be held from 5.30pm outside Southampton Civic Centre and is organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign Southampton. The theme...
Award-winning writer and broadcaster Leon McCarron comes to Southampton
Image by Emily Garthwaite. An award-winning writer and broadcaster who travelled 2,000km by boat through Turkey, Syria and Iraq is giving a talk at Turner Sims Southampton. Leon McCarron will visit the University of Southampton venue with stories from his acclaimed book Wounded Tigris on Friday 27 October. The book recounts...
Review – Spontaneous Potter Kidz – Theatre Royal Winchester, October 22
By Charlotte Ndupuechi As so many shows now ask people not to join in and singing along can mean you are asked to leave, this show was a refreshing change. Spontaneous Potter Kidz was like Harry Potter meets the old 90’s TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? Four...
Opinion: A symbol of peace. Why I’ll be wearing a white poppy
By Charlotte Ndupuechi. This year more than ever, I’ll be wearing my white poppy. As the month of remembrance draws near, many people will be automatically reaching for the red poppy without actually understanding what this symbolises. When wearing my white poppy, I often get asked about it –...
Black Grape tour comes to Southampton in December
Image by Paul Husband. Black Grape return this year with a new album ‘Orange Head’, which will be released on DGAFF Recordings on 3rd November. The album arrives ahead of a small UK tour, with Shaun Ryder and Paul “Kermit” Leveridge and the band due to headline venues in Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff,...
Interview: Ashley Banjo of Diversity talks about starring in this year’s Mayflower panto and more
Photos by Stuart Martin. This year’s Christmas pantomime at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, starring Britain’s Got Talent winners and street dance sensations, Ashley Banjo and Diversity, alongside panto royalty, Christopher Biggins. Diversity shot to fame in 2009 when they won Britain’s Got Talent...