on the road with a carnival

early Methodists and the village bands fondly remembered by Thomas Hardy’.

catches, ballads, theatre songs and dance tunes’. Both halves of the show are designed to take the audience back to the

‘chaotic London of Hogarth’s Gin Lane and the riotous world of Swift, Smollett and Thackeray, the enthusiastic singing of

“I love working with the band,” Maddy said. “It’s just so different and they’re so off the wall. Coming from a folk background I can relate to a lot of their dances and early music, but anything less like serious academic concerts when we tour you can’t imagine.

“When we go out at Christmas, it’s all streamers, balloons and lunacy.”

The story of a young woman adapting to sight loss and physical disability, Rose is a powerful new work by writer Christine Diment that plays Lighthouse Poole on Thursday, March 30 as part of a tour of the South West. Written in collaboration with Lyme Regis artist Kitty Waldron, the play is intensely personal.

“Kitty wanted to tell her story through a third party,” explains Christine. “Through the writing process, which during covid lockdowns was all online of course, we created this character Rose who finds love with a young man called Matt who exists on the fringes of society. He has tattoos and piercings and a Mohican haircut that might repel people, but of course Rose doesn’t see that. She just loves the person.”

Christine has also been working with a group of mainly first-time performers from Dorset Blind Association’s Poole group – who meet informally every week at Lighthouse – as they prepare to share their work in a special performance for family and friends at Lighthouse.

She said: “Because the play focuses on blindness and disability, I was put in touch with Moira Kopanycia-Reynolds from Dorset Blind Association who supports the Poole group. I was keen to run some writing and acting workshops with this group. “The response was excellent. We’ve found many of the themes we