Welcome to our Autumn/Winter 2024 programme! There is so much to share with you in this bumper edition. Do you want an evening of laughs with our comedy offer (or a giggle during the day – with your baby on your lap!), or to marvel at the extraordinary capacity of the human body to tell stories through our beautiful dance offerings? We have documentaries, jazz, chamber music, spoken word and lots for our family audiences too. I am sure you will find something of interest here and I hope very much to welcome you to Bridport Arts Centre soon.
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Claire Tudge, Director
Trustee top picks!
“Small World – the world’s on your doorstep will be an exhilarating day celebrating the diverse cultures that make our community so vibrant. Come and join us!”
Harriet
Morgan-Smith
“I can’t wait to see Plastic Paradiso by Dorset-based dancer and choreographer Clare Benson, the set is designed by Bridport’s own Holly Miller and the work has an important environmental message.”
Geoff Jones
“Don’t miss the return of The Last Baguette’s A Winters Tail, this is inclusive interactive family theatre at its best.”
Jen Lowis
“It’s going to be wonderful to hear the theatre ringing with live opera during the Opera Cocktail matinee & evening performances this December, a great alternative to the traditional Christmas party.” Tamsin Little
KEY: THEATRE FILM
A Season of True Stories and Documentary Films
At the heart of any great film is a compelling story and nothing is more compelling than real life. In documentary film, the human experience is explored through the pursuit of truth. With compelling narratives that inspire and challenge, we invite you to join us for a season of documentary and true stories.
THE MOUNTAIN WITHIN ME (12a)
Tue 10th September
7:30pm
After suffering a catastrophic and almost fatal spinal cord injury, professional rugby player Ed Jackson’s world changed forever. The Mountain Within Me follows Ed’s journey on his recovery as he achieves the mental and physical heights of Snowdonia, the Alps and Himalayas to the life-altering challenges closer to home.
HARD MILES (12a)
Thu 12th September
7:30pm
Hard Miles tells the uplifting true story of the bicycling team at Rite of Passage’s RidgeView Academy, a mediumsecurity correctional school in Colorado. The film follows beleaguered coach Greg Townsend as he rounds up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students for a seemingly impossible bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon.
HELLO BOOKSTORE (PG)
Sat 5th October
7:30pm
A small town rallies to protect a beloved local bookstore in its hour of need. A landmark in Lenox, Massachusetts, The bookstore is a magical gem thanks to its owner Matt Tannenbaum, whose passion for stories runs deep. The kind of place to get lost in. This intimate portrait offers a journey through good times, hard times and the stories hidden on the shelves.
SHACKLETON: THE GREATEST STORY OF SURVIVAL (U)
Sun 1st December
7:30pm
28 lost adventurers must fight for their lives in the most uninhabitable place on Earth – Antarctica. This documentary reveals the true story of polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance, told by the man who lead the only team to have repeated their incredible feat.
MADE IN ENGLAND (12a)
Tue 3rd December
7:30pm
Drawing on a rich array of archive material, Scorsese explores in full the collaboration between the Englishman Powell and the Hungarian Pressburger - two romantics and idealists, who thrived in the face of adversity during World War II but were eventually brought low by the film industry of the 1950s.
Film at Bridport Arts Centre, celebrating independent cinema
Support Bridport Arts Centre
and help to provide All the Arts for Everyone!
As a charity, we rely on the generosity of supporters like you to keep our programmes thriving and our doors open. Here’s how you can make a difference…
Become a BAC Supporter
Join our esteemed community of BAC Supporters, a group of individuals committed to helping Bridport Arts Centre remain a vibrant hub of creativity. As a BAC Supporter, you’ll enjoy exclusive perks, invitations to special events, and the satisfaction of knowing you’re helping grow the cultural landscape of Bridport.
Visit www.bridport-arts.com/supporter/ to find out more
We offer a range of different membership packages which includes 10% of your ticket for most events.
Make a one-off donation
Joining our membership programme also offers you reciprocal membership at both the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis and Dorchester Arts.
Every contribution, no matter the size, directly supports exhibitions, workshops, opportunities for emerging creatives and events that enrich our community.
Visit our website for more information on membership.
You can donate with cash in one of our collection points, or online at www.bridport-arts.com/make-donation-bac
Legacy giving
Leaving a legacy in your will is an opportunity to influence what comes after us. If Bridport Arts Centre has meant something to you in your lifetime, help us to ensure that we are able to mean something to others in the future.
Contact Director Claire Tudge to find out more about legacy giving, claire@bridport-arts.com or 01308 424 204
Youth Theatre Company
Wednesdays 6-8pm
@ Bridport Arts Centre
Autumn Term - 4th Sept - 20th Nov
BACstage Youth Theatre gives young people aged 12-18 the chance to express themselves and to explore issues relevant to them in a safe space with their peers
For more information, contact bacstage@bridport-arts.com.
TOWN OF CULTURE
As the nights draw in and autumn starts to encroach, Bridport and West Bays' cultural programme has so much to offer. The Bridport Literary Festival is delighted to be a part of Dorset's first Town of Culture in its endeavour to champion the young people of the community and Bridport 24, Town of Culture is honoured to present several events with the esteemed festival. As we all continue to celebrate the people, the place and the abundance of creativity across Bridport, here are some of the highlights of what's happening between now and December.
14th sept
21st sept3 nov
20th oct
3RD - 9TH nov
16TH & 22ND NOV
TOCIYA TAKES OVER THE ARTS CENTRE
BRIDPORT’S NEWEST COLLECTIVE CURATE AND PRODUCE A UNIQUE TAKEOVER OF THE CENTRE; EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED Visit https://www.bridport-arts.com/bridport24
Become a Corporate Friend and put your business in the spotlight at Bridport Arts Centre.
As a Corporate Friend of Bridport Arts Centre, you’re directly supporting local arts and culture. Our Corporate Friends scheme is an annual offering, giving your business 12 months of advertising and additional benefits. We have a variety of packages designed to suit your needs or budget.
Visit www.bridport-arts.com/support or call 01308 424 204
This year we are donating juice to the Bridport Arts Centre bar as a contribution to the fundraising essential to keep it growing as it starts its next 50 years of sharing 'All the Arts for Everyone'.
Hope you enjoy our juice and thank you for supporting Bridport Arts Centre!
Who else is in the building?
It is a privilege to be part of the vibrant cultural landscape of Bridport; there are so many exciting things happening here in the town and the wider West Dorset region. Bridport Arts Centre is honoured to support and host a wide array of artists, creatives, organisations, festivals and societies. We would like to share with you some of the people who will be using our facilities this season, making the building buzz with ideas, creativity, life and laughter.
Bridport Film Society returns for another season. As one of Bridport Arts Centre’s longest standing partners, their sell-out nights explore the best of world cinema.
We are delighted to be able to host some of Bridport Literary Festival’s events this year. A jewel in the crown of Bridport’s cultural calendar, the festival will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2024.
Children and young people will be filling the theatre thanks to our partnerships with Babigloo, who provide musical experiences for the very young, B-Sharp who support the musical development of older children through the weekly Bridport Jams, and Bank of Dreams and Nightmares with their youth-led ideas festival Bankfest.
Bridport Fashion Revolution will be bringing their sustainable clothing sale to the building and Opera Circus will be using the Allsop gallery to workshop trust, creativity and wellbeing.
We will be welcoming back Bearnes, Hampton and Littlewood auctioneers for a bimonth delve into your treasures and we will be launching a monthly Culture Café, holding a space for the cultural sector to meet, share and collaborate.
If you are interested in hosting an event with us or hiring one of our spaces, contact dee@bridport-arts.com
Exhibitions in The Allsop Gallery
GERRY DUDGEON | 1952 – 2023
A LIFE IN PAINTING
Saturday 7th September to Saturday 12th October 2024
A retrospective exhibition celebrating the life’s work of renowned, Dorset based artist Gerry Dudgeon, who died in October 2023.
After early figurative beginnings painter Gerry Dudgeon began to absorb ideas about abstraction while studying at Camberwell and Reading. From the 1990s, inspired by travels to India, Morocco and Greece, as well as walks closer to his studio in Dorset, Gerry’s work developed rich and varied explorations of colour, married to a rigorous sense of structure. This fusion of imagery and technique resulted in a powerful body of work that combines a sense of place with mood and atmosphere.
This exhibition traces the artist’s life, following the evolution of his career in art over five decades. Among his investigations into painting were a series of works specifically about light and air that involved hang gliding, and a group of mixed media works that take fragmented medieval stained glass windows as source material.
ILONA SKLADZIEN
WASHING LINE MELODY
Saturday 26th October to Saturday 16th
November 2024
Ilona delves into our relationship with the domestic and mundane. Through sculpture, installation, and drawings, she highlights the evolving dynamics and materials experienced in parenthood.
FUTURE PRESENT CELEBRATING CONTEMPORARY CRAFT
Tuesday 3rd December to Saturday 21st December 2024
Come and join us in the beautiful Allsop Gallery to get your Christmas off to a festive start. This year’s exhibition of contemporary craft at Bridport Arts Centre will have more makers, more gifts to buy and plenty of festive cheer.
Future Present is the ideal opportunity to find the perfect Christmas present from a wide range of high-quality, handmade items, supporting makers and creative businesses from Dorset and across the South West. Our festive selection will include ceramics, homeware, jewellery, prints, textiles and toys, plus smaller Christmas gifts, decorations and cards.
Come along to our celebratory opening event and late night on Wednesday 4th December from 4 – 8pm, for a festive drink and mince pies.
Tuesday - Saturday | Free Entry
Glass Decoration, Wendy Jeavons
Wednesday 4th September | 7:00pm At Bridport Millennium Green
This light-hearted Gilbert & Sullivan operetta is set in a world of blissful romance, barbed satire and comedic chaos. Two charming gondoliers suddenly find themselves elevated to the status of royalty. Hilarity ensues when the Queen arrives demanding to know which is her rightful husband.
Friday 6th September | 11:30am
The Mēla guitar quartet are known for imaginative, engaging programmes of their ingenious arrangements and celebrated original works. The quartet are enthusiastically adding to the guitar quartet repertoire through their adventurous arrangements of much-loved orchestral works and their commissions of new music.
Tuesday 10th September | 7:30pm
After suffering a catastrophic and almost fatal spinal cord injury, professional rugby player Ed Jackson’s world changed forever. The Mountain Within Me follows Ed’s journey on his recovery as he achieves the mental and physical heights of Snowdonia, the Alps and Himalayas to the life-altering challenges closer to home.
Thursday 12th September| 7:30pm
Hard Miles tells the uplifting true story of the bicycling team at Rite of Passage’s RidgeView Academy, a medium-security correctional school in Colorado. The film follows beleaguered coach Greg Townsend as he rounds up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students for a seemingly impossible bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon.
Concerts in the West | The Mēla Guitar Quartet
Music
The Mountain within me (12a) | Film
Hard Miles (12a) | Film
Friday 13th September | 8:00pm
Singer, bassist and songwriter Nicola Farnon is a distinguished name on the UK jazz scene, with a passionate and swinging style, and a charismatic stage presence to match. In her trio are sixteen times winner of the British Jazz Award for piano, David Newton, and Phil Johnson, who has played drums with Alan Barnes, John Etheridge and Barbara Thompson.
Saturday 14th September | 7:00pm
A screening of Complicite’s Can I Live, a vital new digital performance about the climate catastrophe written and performed by Fehinti Balogun forms part of the entertainment for Jurassic Multicultral’s Small World event. This is followed by “Around the World in 80 Beats” where Chiman101 takes you on an auditory global journey through music’s cultural influences.
Tuesday 24th September | 7:00pm
Whether it be poetry, prose, fiction, or non-fiction, a writing life can be a lonely business. Find your next accountability partner or new writing friends at our Writer’s Speed Dating event. In partnership with Ink & Page we’re hosting an evening where conversation can flourish and lay foundations for partnerships and networks to support you on your writing journey.
Thursday 26th September | 1:00pm
An afternoon of hilarious comedy, where you can have a good laugh at the best comedians in the UK, without needing childcare! There’s buggy parking and baby changing so take some time for yourself to just be entertained. If you need to whip out a bum (the baby’s!), a boob or a bottle, feel free… and our comics won’t mind being heckled by our younger guests!
Small World | Jurassic Multicultural event
Speed ‘Dating’ for Writers | Take Part
Big Bingo Show
Thursday 26th September | 8:00pm
We’re back with more jam-packed comedy clubs and cor-blimey, have we got some fun for you! (Yes. Yes we have!) This month’s comedy beauties are the wonderful Ben van Der Velde, musical comedian Kate Lucas and topped off with British comedian of the year, Mike Cox!*
*Linesupscanbesubjecttochange
Saturday 28th September | 7:30pm
Join Hirsute hostess Timberlina and the diminutive Dutch DJ Auntie Maureen for a night of side-splitting, seamlessly shambolic bingo entertainment and dancing that will leave you feeling fantastically fabulous. A riotous, gloriously funny three act bingo show replete with bad sing-alongs, spontaneous dance routines and impromptu rants.
Friday 4th October | 11:30am
BBC’s rising star soprano Hilary Cronin and one of today’s most versatile pianists, Asako Ogawa come together as part of the continuing Concerts in the West 2024 season.
They will be to performing a programme of Handel’s arias from Alcina, Robert and Clara Schumann, Wolf and Liszt
Saturday 5th October | 7:30pm
A small town rallies to protect a beloved local bookstore in its hour of need. A landmark in Lenox, Massachusetts, The bookstore is a magical gem thanks to its owner Matt Tannenbaum, whose passion for stories runs deep. This intimate portrait offers a journey through good times, hard times and the stories hidden on the shelves.
Concerts in the West | Hilary Cronin & Asako Ogawa | Music
Hancock’s Half Hour - The Lost TV Episodes | Theatre
Monday 7th October | 7:30pm
Hancock’s Half Hour redefined comedy and continues to entertain audiences to this very day. Awardwinning Hambledon Productions are delighted to be recreating three, ‘lost’ episodes from the original television series. This UK Tour will be the very first time these hilarious scripts have been brought to life since their original broadcast.
Monday 14th October | 7:00pm
Short stories pack a big punch in a small number of words. Come and enjoy an evening of thrilling five minute tales by talented local writers or register to take part by emailing Moira Lees at Moira@bridport-arts.com. MC’d by Declan Duffy with an esteemed panel of local judges.
Saturday 19th October | 6:00pm
Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s powerful new opera Grounded premieres at the Metropolitan Opera, wrestling with often-overlooked issues created by 21st-century warmaking. Canadian mezzo soprano Emily D’Angelo stars as the hot-shot fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas. SUP
Short Story Slam
Spoken Word
MET Premiere | Grounded (LIVE)
The Small World of Clive Crudwick |
23rd & 24th October | 7:30pm
The premiere of an original stage show, written by Clive Whaley and produced in Bridport.The show combines ‘mockumentary’ film footage and live songs in a tragi-comic tale of creative ambitions, misguided friendship and male vulnerability. Fundraiser for two local charities: Bridport Harmony mental health group and the Bank of Dreams and Nightmares.
Friday 25th October | 7:30pm
Luke Wright returns with a new set of poems that get to grips with the idea of JOY. Is it possible, as a 42-year-old to feel pure unbridled happiness, and what does it look like? With a mix of the comic and the wistful, JOY takes in consumerism, boozing, cancer scares, abseiling vicars, and the joy of language itself.
Saturday 26th October| 3:00pm
There was once a wide, windswept place, near nowhere and close to forgotten... Inspired by ‘The Tin Forest’ - Plastic Paradiso is a brand-new dance show by Choreographer/Performer Claire Benson. Through puppetry and dance, Claire reimagines a place entirely made of plastic, and how friendship and nature can reclaim what was a barren world.
Sunday 27th October | 8:00pm
Thirty years of shift-work, and being punched in the face, had left ‘Fair Cop’ Alfie with a ‘face for radio’. A face not so much ‘lived in’ as inhabited by squatters with little regard to property maintenance! A surprising career shift turned middle-aged Alfie from street cop to BBC radio star. But when TV fame beckoned could he grasp it or was he past it?
Luke Wright | Joy | Spoken Word
Plastic Paradiso | Dance | Family
Alfie Moore | A Face for Radio | Comedy
Thursday 31st October | 7:30pm
With a unique choreographic language, distinctive imagery and an eclectic musical score, Bruce presents his adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel, Frankenstein. Jonathan Goddard plays the role of the tragic monster, sewn together from the shreds of humanity, beautifully portrayed in this profound and deeply moving production.
Friday 1st November | 7:30pm
Join Lyme Bay Moonrakers for an evening of shanties and other songs of the sea, including The Pull of the Tide - a new film by Rob Jayne that charts a local family’s story of a young lad’s rite of passage from boy to man upon the sea. The film is accompanied by new songs composed by Mark Hewitt with words by Corinne Reed.
Saturday 2nd November | 2:00pm
Why did Red Riding Hood need a man to rescue her from the wolf? Why do we know her by an article of clothing? Why are the victims all women? This funny, moving and challenging play featuring original songs, imagines how this and the other fairy tales we share with children might be different if we dared to ask these vital questions - For ages 3+
Resonate | The Bank of Dreams & Nightmares
Sunday 3rd November| 7:00pm
Following up the incredible success of last year’s event, The Bank of Dreams and Nightmares are proud to be back for another performance of Resonate. This year they are working with the poet Anthony Anaxagorou and 12 young writers from around West Dorset, to present a performance of spoken word pieces. A Bridport LitFest event
Mark Bruce’s Frankenstein | Dance
Lyme Bay Moonrakers | The Pull of the Tide | Music
Little Red Riding Could | Roustabout Theatre | Family
Monday 11th November | 7:30pm
Van Gogh is not only one of the most beloved artists of all time, but perhaps the most misunderstood. This film is a chance to reexamine and better understand this iconic artist. Focusing on his unique creative process, Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers explores the artist’s years in the south of France, where he revolutionised his style.
Wednesday 13th November | 7:30pm
Performed by BACstage, directed by Niki McCretton, and written by one of the longest serving members; Rosie Mathewson. Sasha and her family are moving to a quiet seaside town, hoping to start a new life. But before they’ve even had a chance to settle in, their new life is proving to be just as troublesome as their old one, and Sasha longs to escape.
Thursday 14th November | 7:30pm
Prepare for a toe-tapping, germ-spreading extravaganza where the laughter is as infectious as Mary’s meals. Featuring live cooking on stage, There’s Something about Typhoid Mary is a contagiously entertaining journey through the dark and sinister world of the killer cook, Typhoid Mary, told with Living Spit’s trademark wit, song and silliness.
Friday 15th November| 11:30am
An instinctive collective have come together from diverse corners of musical life to make music in new ways, reach new audiences and, most importantly, explore new repertoire, be it newly written or inadvertently forgotten. Its acclaimed performances and recordings celebrate contemporary chamber music, especially by British composers
There’s Something about Typhoid Mary | Living Spit | Theatre
Friday 15th November | 8:00pm
Often described as ‘the finest gypsy jazz in the Cotswolds’, Swing from Paris are a UK quartet of violin, two guitars and double bass. Inspired by the great swing bands of the 1930s and 40s, they present their own versions of music by Gershwin, Piazzolla, Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli.
Saturday 23rd November | 7:30pm
Bridport-based Spanish artist Salud uses her unique combination of flamenco dance and theatre to explore the life of a carer looking after a loved one at home. Sólo Yo – ‘Just Me’ – centers on the inner feelings of a person devoting themselves entirely to the needs of another, with emotions ranging from loneliness to affection, hope and despair.
Wednesday 27th November | 7:30pm
Taking inspiration from Shakespeare’s King Lear and the premise of losing everything to discover the truth about oneself, Heath echoes Lear’s trauma induced on this occasion by addiction, hitting rock bottom and the subsequent recognition of the induced insanity from substance abuse. Featuring choreography from Fallen Angels and a score by Stefan Defilet.
Thursday 28th November | 8:00pm
Remember, remember it’s the 28th of November (doesn’t quite have the same impact of the 5th but you get what we’re trying to do here). The only thing blowing up around here is more fantastic stand-up at our regular comedy club! November fun-fire-crackers are Ben Treloar, Roger Monkhouse and compered by the fantastic Suzy Bennett! (Subjecttochange)
Salud Botella | Solo Yo | Dance
Heath | Vita Nova | Theatre
Saturday 30th November | 6:00pm
Extraordinary Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen stars as the passionate diva in David McVicar’s thrilling production. British-Italian tenor Freddie De Tommaso makes his eagerly anticipated company debut as Tosca’s revolutionary lover, Cavaradossi, and powerhouse American baritone Quinn Kelsey is the sadistic chief of police Scarpia.
Shackleton: The Greatest Story of Survival (U)
Sunday 1st December | 7:30pm
28 lost adventurers must fight for their lives in the most uninhabitable place on Earth – Antarctica. This documentary reveals the true story of polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance, told by the man who lead the only team to have repeated their incredible feat - explorer and adventurer Tim Jarvis.
Tuesday 3rd December | 7:30pm
Martin Scorsese first encountered the films of Powell and Pressburger when he was a child, sitting in front of the family TV. Now, in this documentary, he tells the story of his lifelong love-affair with their movies, including The Red Shoes, The Life and Death Of Colonel Blimp, Black Narcissus, and The Tales of Hoffmann.
Friday 6th December| 7:30pm
Returning to Bridport Arts Centre Moscow Drug Club deliver an intoxicating and intimate musical experience. A curious musical place where elements of Berlin Cabaret, Latin Tinge, French musette and storytelling meet. Combining their original material with songs by the likes of Jaques Brel, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen & Eartha Kitt.
A Winters Tail | Family Theatre
Sunday 8th December | 10am, 11am and 2pm
The snow is falling and the solstice is approaching. Ratty is getting ready. But will her friends make it through the snow? Can you help them on their journey? There’ll be excitement, adventure, games, music, silliness and lots of snow! A Winter’s Tail is a fun, relaxed play-along theatre adventure. Expect to play, move, watch and laugh.
The Christmassy Christmas Show of Christmassy Christmassness | Family
Saturday 14th December | 2:00pm
This festive show from Squashbox Theatre is a celebration of everything Christmassy, from fir trees, fairy lights, sleigh bells and snowflakes to crackers, carols, presents and puddings! ‘The Christmassy Christmas Show of Christmassy Christmasness!’ is crammed with puppets, songs and comedy - all presented in that unique Squashbox style!
Bassie Gracie’s Speakeasy | Music | Spoken Word
Saturday 14th December |7:30pm
A captivating event emerging from Brighton’s vibrant poetry and music scene. Renowned festival poet, Bassie Gracie, curates an evening of unmatched revelry. From smokey jazzy acoustic melodies to poignant spoken word performances, the event promises a sophisticated ambiance where guests can and immerse themselves in the artistic atmosphere.
OperaCocktail | OperaUpClose | Music | Theatre
Thursday 19th December | 3:00pm and 7:30pm
A delicious cocktail of classics by Puccini, Mozart, Verdi and more, in English translations with a contemporary twist. A story of five friends trying to make sense of life and love. Told through brilliantly evocative music including the famous Habanera from Carmen and Verdi’s timeless Drinking Song.
