EVENTS Diary

New Forest Players 

Cinderella

Story by Lee Redwood

Directed by Sarah Haberfield

Venue: Ballard School, Fernhill Lane, New Milton, BH25 5SU

Performances @ 7.00pm 29 – 31 December and 2.00pm 30 December 2022 – 1 January 2023

Tickets: Adults £13, Children £9; Available by calling 01425 542414 or online.

All Saints Dramatic Society; Performances: Friday 6 January – 7.30pm; Saturday 7 January – 2.30pm & 7.30pm; Sunday 8 January – 2.30pm; Tickets: Adults £13, Concessions £11, Child £7, Family Ticket (2 adults & 2 children) £35 (available on evening performances); Available via phone (07548 100770) or online.

All Saints Dramatic Society; Performances: Thursday 12 January – 7.30pm; Friday 13 January – 7.30pm; Saturday 14 January – 2.30pm & 7.30pm; Sunday 15 January – 2.30pm; Tickets: Adults £13, Concessions £11, Child £7, Family Ticket (2 adults & 2 children) £35 (available on evening performances); Available via phone (07548 100770) or online.

Broadstone Pantomime Productions; Performances: Friday @ 7.30pm, Saturday @ 2.30pm & 7.30pm, Sunday @ 2.30pm; Tickets: Family Ticket £22, Adults £8, Children & Senior Citizens £4; Available from Hillier Wilson Estate Agents, Broadstone (01202 693388) or online.

Swanage Drama Company; Tickets: Adults £12, Concessions £11, Children £7; Available: via telephone 0333 666 3366 (fees apply) or online.

Broadstone Pantomime Productions; Performances: Friday @ 7.30pm, Saturday @ 2.30pm & 7.30pm; Tickets: Family Ticket £22, Adults £8, Children & Senior Citizens £4; Available from Hillier Wilson Estate Agents, Broadstone (01202 693388) or online.

Swanage Drama Company; Tickets: Adults £12, Concessions £11, Children £7; Available: via telephone 0333 666 3366 (fees apply) or online.

Chesil Theatre; Tickets: Adult £16, Student/Under 18s £10, Group £14.40 (booking fees apply); Available online.

SOS Presents; Tickets: £10 - £19.50; Available from the Box Office 023 8071 1833 or online.

Bishopstoke Players

Not Very Flash, Gordon!

Planet Earth is under attack from evil overlord, Emperor Ping! Determined to hold our planet’s citizens to ransom by controlling all of Earth’s electricity, it seems as if nothing can save us, not even money-saving-expert Martin Lewis.

Step forward bumbling electrician Gordon ‘Flash’ Bennett, his monosyllabic girlfriend, his man-mad mother and a German Professor!

Our intrepid quartet boldly travel to Planet Pongo in (what else?) a converted Austin Mini van to save the day and keep Earth safe from Ping’s crazy demands.

Along the way they meet a cast of characters including a dodgy pirate, a cat with a habit of telling dreadful jokes, Elvis Presley and many, many more.

Join us for a family-friendly pantomime that is truly out of this world!

Performances are in Durley Memorial Hall from 26 – 28 January 2023 at 7.30pm each evening, with a matinee at 2.30pm on the Saturday. Tickets are £10 (under 18s £8) and are available here (no booking fee), or email boxoffice@bishopstokeplayers.uk, or phone 07871 006551.

As we are proud to have done every year since 1947, proceeds will be donated to the charity, Action for Children.

Highcliffe Charity Players; Performances: Friday 7.30pm; Saturday 11.00am, 2.30pm & 6.00pm; Sunday 2.30pm & 6.00pm (running time 75 mins, no interval); Tickets: Full £13.50, Concessions £12.50; Available online.

Burley Players; Performances: Saturday 28 January 2023 @ 7.30pm; Sunday 29 January 2023 @ 2.00pm; Tickets: Adults £9 - £10, Under 16s £7; Available online.

Lyndhurst Drama & Musical Society; Tickets: Adults £12, Under 16s £8, Family ticket (2 adults, 2 children) £35; Available online.

Lymington Players

Not Very Flash, Gordon!

Written by Arnold Ridley

Directed by Ed Funnell

This February 2023 join The Lymington Players as they strand tired and cold passengers at an isolated train station in a chilling comedy thriller by Arnold Ridley.

Who is the spooky Stationmaster that warns them of supernatural danger? Locked in, with no means of defence or escape, will they pull together to survive melancholy signals and chilling apparitions? As tensions mount, and they try to keep ghosts from getting in, will they make it to the morning? And what is the secret of ‘The Ghost Train’?

The Ghost Train is performing in the Malt Cinema at the Lymington Community Centre from 30 January – 5 February 2023. Tickets are on sale from 18 December 2022, priced £10 for Centre members and £12 for non-members. Available via phone (01590 672337) or online.

Would you be brave enough to survive the night?

Burley Players; Performances: Thursday 2 February 2023 @ 7.30pm; Friday 3 February 2023 @ 7.30pm; Saturday 4 February 2023 @ 2.00pm & 7.30pm; Tickets: Adults £9 - £10, Under 16s £7; Available online.

Lyndhurst Drama & Musical Society; Tickets: Adults £12, Under 16s £8, Family ticket (2 adults, 2 children) £35; Available online.

Studio Youth Theatre; Tickets: Adults £12, Under 16s £8; Available from Salisbury Information Centre, phone 01722 342860 or online.

Bournemouth Little Theatre

The Thrill Of Love

By Amanda Whittington

Directed by Rachael de Courcy Beamish

This is a story of obsession:

A gripping drama about Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain.

A divorcee with a young child to care for, Ruth works hard in the kind of nightclubs where there’s more than just a drink on offer. Then she meets the wealthy, womanising David, a racing driver with whom she falls head over heels with the myth of great, romantic love.

Why does their relationship end in murder?

Why does she plead not guilty but offer no defence?

Why does she show no remorse?

And who is she trying to protect?

The Thrill Of Love explores the enigma of Ruth Ellis: a woman whose short but explosive life still resonates.

Amanda Whittington is one of the UK's favourite and most performed modern dramatists. Her writing in this play accurately reflects the warmth, bitchiness and complexities of female friendship at a time when, even if women knew the rules of the game, they often still end up the losers in a man's world.

Tickets: £12 (Concessions £9, Members £6) (booking fee applies); Available online.

Centrestage Productions Youth Theatre (CPYT); Tickets: Full price £15 - £17, Concessions £14 - £16 (Concecssions Over 60s, Under 16s, Student, NHS Staff, Armed Forces); Available via box office 023 8065 2333 or online.

Waterside Musical Society

Puss In Boots: A Pantomime

Boxing Day is traditionally a day when people go to watch Pantos. You will have to wait until February to see Waterside Musical Society’s, but it will be worth the wait as they have not one but two Pantomime Dames.

They will be played by Antony Morrison and Mike Pavitt. Both have been with Waterside Musical Society for a number of shows before, including Oliver!, Return To The Forbidden Planet, The Sound Of Music and Spamalot, where they were in a number of scenes together.

Come along to see "There ain't nothing like a Dame"!

Tickets: Adults £15, Children £10 (booking fees apply); Available online.

Poulner Players; Tickets: Adults £12, Under 16s £10; Available online.

Arts University Bournemouth (AUB); Tickets: Full price £12, Concessions £3; Available online.

Broadstone Players; Tickets: £8.50; Available by emailing honsec@broadstoneplayers.co.uk or phoning 01202 678449. Tickets will also be on sale at Broadstone News on The Broadway.

Wimborne Drama Productions

Bedroom Farce

Written by Alan Ayckbourn

Directed by Michelle Barter and Suzanne Viney

One of the 20th century's classic comedy of manners comes to the Tivoli Theatre in February when Wimborne Drama Productions will perform Bedroom Farce by Alan Ayckbourn.

Funny, gripping and acutely observed, Alan Ayckbourn’s play lifts the lid on the secrets of marriage. Over the course of one hilarious night, an outrageously selfish couple parade their problems around the bedrooms of three other couples, exposing the cracks in other people’s marriages as well as their own.

Directed by Michelle Barter and Suzanne Viney, the play stars Richard Scotson and Rosie Nye as Trevor and Susannah, Tim Fearon and Judy Garrett as Ernest and Delia, James Renwick and Bethan Morris as Malcolm and Kate, and Colin Pile and Julie Sissons as Nick and Jan.

Wimborne Drama Productions have chosen to revive the play which marked their first ever production at the then recently re-opened Tivoli Theatre in 1994.

Bedroom Farce will be performed at the Tivoli Theatre from 23 – 25 February, with evening performances at 7.30pm (tickets £16) and a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm (tickets £14). Book via the Tivoli Box Office on 01202 885566 or online (booking fees may apply).

Arts University Bournemouth (AUB); Tickets: Full price £12, Concessions £3; Available online.

Maskers Theatre Company; Tickets: £12; Available via phone 0333 666 3366 (booking fee applies to phone bookings) or online.

Ferndown Phoenix Musical Theatre; Tickets: £8; Available online and on the door.

Swanage Musical Theatre Company; Tickets: Adults £16, Concessions £15, Child £10; Available from Box Office 0333 666 3366 or online. Booking fees apply.

Poole & Parkstone Productions (P&P Productions)

A Touch Of Danger

A Thriller by Francis Durbridge

Directed by Deanna Langford

Max Telligan, a popular novelist, has returned to his London apartment from a business trip to Munich to find his evening newspaper containing a report of his violent death. He subsequently is greeted by a parade of mysterious visitors triggering a chain of mysterious events, with twists and turns from start to finish...

Performed by The P&P Players, and directed by Deanna Langford, don't miss this classic Francis Durbridge tale of murderous happenings where nobody quite knows who is who and whom to trust.

Tickets: Adults £12, Seniors £10; Available from Box Office (0161 832 111 or 0844 888 9991) or online.

Bournemouth Music Competitions Festival

Comedy And Cakes

Comedy and Cakes – an afternoon of comic songs and a slap-up tea!

Tickets: £15 to include cream tea and cakes; Available via email (bmthfestival@gmail.com) – or tickets can be purchased on the door.

Studio Theatre; Tickets: Full £12, Under 16s £8, Family (2 adults, 2 children) £35; Available from Salisbury Information Centre Tel 01722 342860 or online.

Bournemouth and Boscombe Light Opera Company (BBLOC); Tickets: £19.50 - £29.50; Available via Box Office (0300 500 0595) or online.

Ringwood Musical and Dramatic Society (RMDS); Tickets: £15; Tickets available online.

Bournemouth Little Theatre

Dial M For Murder

By Frederick Knott

Directed by Don Cherrett

Can you ever get away with murder?

Well, maybe Tony Wendice, charismatic and manipulative, a former tennis pro who has given it all up for his wealthy wife, Sheila, can!

When he discovers she has been unfaithful, his mind turns to revenge and the pursuit of the 'perfect' crime.

But things do not go according to plan...

The play, set in the 1950s, was made into a famous 1954 film (of the same name) directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Tickets: Adults £12, Concessions Seniors and students £9, Members £6; Available online.

New Forest Players 

One Day I'll Fly Away

Written by Janet Shaw

Directed by Len Reid

One young woman, one old lady. Their lives were poles apart but fate took a hand and threw them together. The only problem being they were more alike than anyone could begin to imagine. Both had battled adversities beyond comprehension.

When Kylie starts community service at the respite home she is thrown into the path of Nora, an embittered and hardened woman, who has spent her whole life teaching others and avoiding relationships of any kind.

Nora lost her husband and only child in a boating accident many years ago and Kylie is the victim of an alcoholic and drug-addled mother. Nora and Kylie start off their relationship with mutual comic sarcasm and dislike, but as the story unfolds it becomes clear that although in different ways, they are both walking down the same path self-destruction.

Tickets: £13; Available via phone (01425 542414) or online.

Maskers Theatre Company; Tickets: £12; Available via phone 0333 666 3366 (booking fee applies to phone bookings) or online.

Lyndhurst Drama & Musical Society; Tickets: £12; Available online.