Entertainment & Reviews

The London African Gospel Choir closed Budleigh Music Festival in spectacular style

Budleigh Music Festival strikes emotional chord with concertgoers

From the opening notes of the community choral day to the uplifting finale of the London African Gospel Choir, Budleigh Music Festival celebrated its 20th anniversary in style.

Taking place in the beautiful St Peter’s Church, the festival delivered world-class classical performances, inclusive community events, and stunning moments of musical magic.

More than 3,600 tickets were sold over the nine-day Festival, which included performances by Sir Michael Morpurgo and cellist Clare O’Connell, internationally acclaimed pianist Sir Stephen Hough, and Bath Philharmonia....

Explosive drum show comes to Exeter

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:03pm

2015 marks the 21st anniversary of the formation of Mugenkyo; over two decades of rigorous touring, performing and teaching have cemented their place as one of the most successful and enduring Taiko groups in Europe.

This latest show, which attracted a host of five star reviews at the Edinburgh, will feature mysterious masked choreography interwoven with an almighty musical force that will leave the unforgettable feeling of rhythm pounding through your chest for weeks to come.

Mugenkyo’s modernisation of the ancient art of Taiko is encapsulated in a spellbinding display of...

Family fun as The King’s Secret gets Loose!

This Christmas, families are invited to join a host of colourful characters for a fantastically inventive adaptation of an age-old tale. Quirk Theatre’s new show The King With Donkey’s Ears will mark the thirteenth year of collaboration with Exeter Phoenix, joining together to ignite young imaginations and bring wonderfully creative live theatre toover three thousand people at Christmas time. Together they have provided a refreshing alternative to the traditional winter pantomime. The king has something hidden under his hat. Something big…. He has donkey’s ears! Only the royal barber knows...

Sacred Trees of Heavitree performance tour

Authored by Interwoven
Posted: Tue, 10/06/2015 - 11:21am

There's a new performance concept in town and it's home-grown right here in Exeter!

JoJo Spinks of Interwoven Productions explains that “It's different from what we've come to expect of performance in a whole range of ways. Not only do we perform in the street but we perform about your street, about the landscape we all share – we grow the stories from the very ground beneath your feet!”

This Half-Term sees a new production from the Heavitree Squilometre Project, celebrating some of Heavitree and Wonford's most ancient and revered trees. The walking...

Rhodes wows Exeter Phoenix

Review by: Sam England Photos by: Paul Ramisch

An epic bass and drum driven instrumental soundtracks Rhodes’s ominous entrance to the stage. With no lights upon them, it’s hard to tell if this is the masterful work of Rhodes’s four member support band or just some legendary score for that film you’ve always meant to get around to watching sometime, being blasted out the PA. It turned out to be the former. Almost as soon as it began, the atmospheric layers fall away, leaving a spotlight exposed Rhodes, singing gently to the accompaniment of his own hollow-body electric guitar. It’s...

Spacex Artist Trevor Pitt Sets Up Preston Street Union

Spacex artist and independent curator Trevor Pitt is setting up Preston Street Union – PSU; an affiliation of artists from in and around Exeter that will come together over a five week period to explore collaboration as a strategy for artists. The event will take place from 13 October – 7 November 2015.

Educational charity Spacex works with artists and curators to enable access to contemporary visual art in the South West through a programme of projects and events that invite public participation and critical debate.

PSU will extend from elements of Pitt’s previous project...

Artist follows Alice to Wonderland

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Mon, 10/05/2015 - 10:57am

‘Lost Alice’, the new collection from surrealist artist Peter Smith celebrating 150 years of Alice in Wonderland, launched at Castle Fine Art, Exeter on Friday 2 October. Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s famous children’s novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871), the series of six new oil paintings and four sculptures feature familiar characters including Alice, the Hatter, the Caterpillar and the White Rabbit. Yet this ‘Wonderland’ is also unfamiliar – a place that is now under threat from Alice's last visit when she left behind seven sins...

Fabulous Fiddles book Devon date

Prepare for a magical evening of glorious strings, as fabulous fiddle duo “Nick Wyke & Becki Driscoll” play the Ley Arms Folk and Acoustic Music Club on Friday October 16th. Their music is described as “a joyful collision of English traditional music and contemporary bowed strings” and, joined by James Budden on Double-bass, these amazing fiddle players and singers will take you on a journey from the darker side of folk ballad to toe-tapping tunes and songs. Nick & Becki are highly respected players and composers firmly rooted in North Devon and the West Country. They blend melodic...

Baring-Gould Folk Weekend returns

October 2015 sees the welcome return of the “Baring-Gould Folk Weekend”.

This intimate and family-friendly folk festival, hosted by Okehampton-based music organisation Wren Mu-sic, brings great local and national music and international dance, and blends them with locally-sourced food and drink and an electric atmosphere to create an unforgettable weekend out for the whole family.

Guest highlights this year include Lady Maisery, a fabulous female trio exploring vocal harmony to breath-taking effect, through their fresh interpretations of songs and ballads, as well as Janet...

Book reveals turbulent early years of The Salvation Army in Exeter

Bloodshed, beatings and broken limbs, fireworks, gunshots and riots, are not things people associate with today’s well-respected Salvation Army.

But a new book, published by The Salvation Army in its 150th anniversary year, called Blood on the Flag, highlights that in its early years these were everyday occurrences faced by members of the Church and charity.

The troubles began after the rapid early success of The Salvation Army that drew large crowds to hear preachers to town centres, and also the movement’s promotion of abstinence.

Major Nigel Bovey, author of...

Preston Street Union: 13 October - 7 November

As part of his residency at Spacex artist and independent curator Trevor Pitt is setting up Preston Street Union - PSU an affiliation of artists from in and around Exeter that will come together over a five week period to explore collaboration as a strategy for artists making things and making things happen.

PSU will draw on and extend elements from Pitt’s previous project Cannon Hill Art School, and reference the work of influential artist and educator Josef Albers.

PSU is for visual artists: At any stage of their development, regardless of age or experience (although must...

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