Whether it's a spot of theatre that takes your fancy or you just want to have a good old guffaw at some of the region's best undiscovered comedy talent, don't plan your weekend until you have checked out our essential guide to what's on in and around Exeter...
THEATRE
The Mikado Friday & Saturday, Barnfield Theatre, Exeter St David’s Players present one of Gilbert & Sullivan’s best known works. The wandering minstrel son of the Mikado falls for and flirts with a girl who is engaged to her guardian Ko-Ko. Unfortunately the Mikado has decreed that flirting is...
As a hugely successful opera composer, Handel was commissioned by the grandest patrons of the day to bring his theatrical brilliance and flair to important ceremonial occasions – his four coronation anthems, used at the coronation of every monarch since 1727, are the most famous example
ETO’s soloists and period instrument orchestra, the Old Street Band team up with the Gentlemen of the Cathedral’s Choir, Counterpoint and Isca Voices for an evening of Handel's Italian Vespers, staged at Exeter Cathedral. Written during his visit to Italy, when the supremely talented young composer...
Handel’s three year visit to Italy culminated in the premiere of his opera Agrippina in Venice in 1709. Composing at speed to a scandalously witty libretto by a Cardinal, Vincenzo Grimaldi, Handel drew on his experience of the Italian style, plundering his catalogue of cantatas written for the intelligentsia of Rome and producing a youthful masterpiece of dazzling invention and virtuosity. Widely regarded as Handel’s first operatic masterpiece, Agrippina stands out for the quality of its music, full of freshness and musical invention.
Using many of the same characters as Monteverdi...
What The Frock! all-female comedy club makes its Exeter debut at the Phoenix Arts Centre.
What The Frock! Comedy has sold out shows in Bristol, London and Manchester… and now is delighted to announce it’s pilot event in Exeter at the Phoenix Arts Centre.
On October 26 the compere will be the inimitable Viv Groskop.
One of the hardest-working people in the country, Viv is not only a brilliant comedian (memorably described as “brave” by The Daily Telegraph following her recent support slot for Michael McIntyre!), but also a best-selling author, a prolific journalist...
If you have a family member or care for someone who makes involuntary noise, is likely to talk a lot, needs to move around, or gets disturbed by sudden loud noises you may think that going to the theatre isn’t for you. After all, theatres are usually seen as places where you need to keep quiet and sit still during a performance. A Relaxed Performance may be the answer, making it possible for you to have an enjoyable trip to the theatre without fear that other audience members will complain and make the experience potentially awkward and stressful.
Melanie Wilson and Fuel bring a brand new performance, Landscape II , to Exeter Phoenix this week. Three women separated by a hundred years start a conversation across time as Melanie Wilson's show brings together performance, film and sound art to create a highly contemporary and minutely observed piece of new theatre.
Tuesday night promises to be an exciting evening and we spoke to Melanie about the her work.
WHAT IS THE GENESIS OF YOUR NEW WORK, LANDSCAPE II?
For centuries travelling showmen came to Exeter bringing fairground rides, menageries, stalls and hows for the city's annual Lammas fair.
This Hallowe'en a bawdy troupe of performers and artistes arrive in town determined to entertain the locals with their spectacular show, at any cost…
Combining theatre, burlesque & cabaret Exeter Alternative Theatre presents a unique peek inside this weird & wonderful world, inviting you to meet the twisted characters that inhabit the sideshow.
Following their mini tour this summer, which ended in a sell out performance at the Barnfield Theatre, EAT return with another chance to see three short terror plays that explore the darker side of the human condition before they take the production to London.
Two are by a true forgotten hero of British Grand Guignol, Frederick Witney. The naturalistic viciousness which Witney injected into his writing resulted in COALS OF FIRE being banned outright when submitted for a license for the 1920's London Grand Guignol.
A blind woman warms herself by the fire as a younger woman...
Loosely based on the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece, Cavalli’s Jason was a runaway hit when it premiered in Venice in 1649, and it proved one of the most popular operas of the 17th century. Like many operas from this period, the story uses classical myth as a jumping off point. The opera opens after Jason has abandoned his wife, Isiphile, for the sorceress Medea. Cupid, protector of Isiphile, intervenes on her behalf, sending Jason and a motley cast of characters on a rocky journey back to his family in Lemnos.
Cavalli’s dazzling score careens fluidly between humour and...
Who can sleep on Christmas eve? When there are beds to be jumped on, pillows to be fought with and seas to be sailed...
In this enchanting mix of comedy, acrobatics and dazzling breakdance, Wilkie and Joel are drawn into ever more riotous games that turn their bed into a giant trampoline. Audiences of all ages are guaranteed to leave the theatre with stars in their eyes!
BOING! is directed by children's theatre specialist Sally Cookson (We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Tiddler, Stick Man) and choreographed by award-winning b-boys Wilkie Branson and Joel Daniel of Champloo Dance...
