Takedown Festival, being held at Portsmouth Guildhall on April 8, will be teaming up with Tonic Rider to provide mental health support for artists, crew and staff at this year’s festival. The collaboration will see Takedown become the first festival to offer such mental health charity resources backstage when...
Review: The Rocky Horror Show, Mayflower Theatre, Southampton – March 20
by Martin Brisland. 50 years ago as a student in London, I saw the initial production of the Rocky Horror Show at the Royal Court Theatre in London’s Sloane Square. Last night on my own time warp saw this cult classic again at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre. Richard O’Brien’s legendary...
Heritage: remembering Southampton historian Elsie Mary Sandell
by Martin Brisland. All Sotonians with a love of local history should read the excellent books of Elsie Mary Sandell. Elsie’s family lived at 78, The High Street, Southampton where she was born on February 5, 1891. Her family later moved to 63 Portswood Road. She was the daughter...
Pioneering project brings Southampton artists together with orchestra to create new show
Three Southampton artists have been selected to be part of The Ripple Effect, an experimental an experimental music project with the ground-breaking ensemble The Third Orchestra. Oboist Anna Durance, poet Issa Loyaan Farrah-Kelly, and electronic musician Matt Brombley will work with The Third Orchestra to co-create and perform new music. ...
Review: Beans on Toast at The Loft, Southampton, March 16
by Lewis MacLean. Last night was the first time I got dressed up and went out for Beans On Toast. The LOFT in Bedford Place was already pretty busy by the time support act Jack Francis took his well-earned place on the stage. When Jack started singing I immediately...
Review: Southampton Literature Festival, MAST Mayflower Studios, March 10-12
by Anita Foxall. Southampton has a Literature Festival, and it was brought to the MAST Mayflower Studios by ArtfulScribe, with the support of Arts Council England and University of Southampton. The festival took place between the 10th and the 12th of March and was organised by ArtfulScribe’s poet/producer Antosh...
Southampton Philharmonic Choir perform at O2 Guidlhall Southampton this weekend
Southampton Philharmonic Choir (SPC) will be joining forces with Southampton University Philharmonic Choir at the O2 Guildhall Southampton on Saturday, March 18. They will be performing Vaughan WIlliams’ popular and evocative The Lark Ascending and Dona Nobis Pacem and Howard Goodall’s Eternal Light. Docklands Sinfonia will also be performing....
Climate scientist leading event discussing how to tackle the climate crisis at Southampton event
A community talk in Southampton will give people the chance to express their feelings about the climate and nature emergency and what we can do about it. Bors Hulesch, a climate and social scientist from Eastleigh, will lead the discussion at the Friends Meeting House in Ordnance Road at...
Review: Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty – Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, March 14
by Tessa Hurst. Whenever Matthew Bourne produces a ballet, you know that you are in for a real treat. It will be a totally new and different interpretation of a classic, a well-known story magically reimagined. Sleeping Beauty is no exception, a gothic love story that encompasses good versus...
Interview with AJ Jenks, who stars in Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story, coming to the Mayflower Theatre
by Joy McKay. February 3rd 1959 was immortalised by Don McLean when he described the tragic death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson in a plane crash as ‘The Day The Music Died’ in his 1971 hit American Pie. Exactly 64 years later, in...