What's on this month in Somerset
PUBLISHED: 08:00 04 February 2020 | UPDATED: 08:53 04 February 2020
Broadway smash hit The Book of Mormon comes to The Bristol Hippodrome
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Here's Somerset Life's top picks for shows, events and all other kinds of festive fun in January
DAYTIME
Throughout February
Hauser & Wirth Exhibitions
Hauser & Wirth is showing two fascinating exhibitions at its gallery space in Bruton until 4 May, both of which are deeply rooted in the Somerset community and landscape. Don McCullin's exhibition, The Stillness of Life, will be solely focused on landscape photography, including images from around his home in Batcombe and the wider Somerset countryside. Not Vital is a Swiss artist who is installing a series of sculptures and installations, entitled SCRATCH, drawing on the relationship between art, landscape and human perception. Open Tuesday-Sunday from 10am-4pm.
hauserwirth.com
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2 February
eat:Vegan
The team at eat:Festivals return to Weston-super-Mare's Winter Pavilion for another fabulous locally focused vegan food and drink festival. As with all eat:Festivals it is free to enter and features more than 60 food and drink producers, fantastic street food, workshops, a cookery school, chefs' demo stage and much more. From 10am-4pm.
eatfestivals.org
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4 February
Art Society Mendip Talk
Retired surgeon Guy Rooker gives this month's Art Society Mendip's talk, entitled 'The anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci'. Society members and their guests will discover how and why da Vinci acquired his knowledge of anatomy, and learn about his impact on science. Strode Theatre, Street, from 11am.
theartssocietymendip.org.uk
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8-9, 15-16, 22-23 February
Snowdrop Weekends At The Bishop's Palace
The popular Snowdrop Celebrations return to the Bishops Palace in Wells this February, and now run for three consecutive weekends. Visitors can enjoy the carpets of snowdrops around the gardens, following a Snowdrop Walk around the moat banks to the Arboretum full of many spectacular varieties. There will also be a range of children's crafting activities in the Undercroft, based on a snowdrop theme, and a children's trail to lead them around the site. Included with standard admission. From 10am-4pm.
bishopspalace.org
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Throughout February
Festival of Snowdrops at East Lambrook Manor Garden
Throughout February East Lambrook Manor Gardens in Somerset will be celebrating all things snowdrop with its second Festival of Snowdrops; from the spectacular snowdrops growing in the garden to individual displays of unusual cultivars, snowdrop sculptures and an exhibition of snowdrop photography by top garden photographer, Jason Ingram.
www.eastlambrook.com
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EVENING
17-22 February
The Mousetrap
Prepare to be kept on the edge of your seat as Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap takes centre stage at the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil for a week. In this masterful whodunit by the Queen of Crime, a snowstorm closes in on a guest house, trapping a group of strangers inside with a murderer… Who is it and why have they come to Monkswell Manor? Experience the mystery and suspense of one of Agatha Christie's greatest plays. From 7.30pm, tickets from £19.50.
octagontheatre.co.uk
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20 February
Women Who Gave Not Hoot Nor Toot
This promises to be a night to remember at the Brewhouse in Taunton as two teams of stand-up tale-tellers slam down stories of the super-women and unstoppable goddesses who stalk through the world's myths and legends. It's an exploration and celebration of our favourite fabled women, with the aim of asking audience via a human clap-o-meter to decide who they will crown the Ultimate Not-hoot-nor-tooter? Tickets £10, concessions £8. From 7pm.
thebrewhouse.net
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28 February
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
Ilminster Arts Centre hosts an entertaining reinvention of Chaucer's most famous work. The GreenMatthews Players present six of his best-loved tales, told in a variety of styles, using a touring set which has been specially constructed to resemble a medieval travelling theatre. The small cast use drama, storytelling and song to paint an entertaining picture of life in the Middle Ages, packed with colourful characters, strange situations and laughs a-plenty. The show is unsuitable for under 12s. From 8pm (pre-show supper at 7pm). Tickets are £15 (£30 including supper).
themeetinghouse.org.uk
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MUSIC
2 February
Turin Brakes Acoustic
London four-piece Turin Brakes visit Yeovil's Octagon Theatre as the final stop on their 28-date UK acoustic tour. The band - founder members Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, along with Rob Allum and Eddie Myer - are one of the finest indie bands of the last two decades, and this is a chance to see them in their first stripped-back acoustic tour since 2002. They will be playing a range of songs spanning their 20-year career - which includes seven top-40 singles and six top 40-albums with sales over a million worldwide. From 7.30pm, tickets are £21.
octagontheatre.co.uk
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7 February
The Blues Band
Last year saw The Blues Band celebrate an incredible 40th year together. Paul Jones, Dave Kelly, Tom McGuinness, Rob Townsend, and Gary Fletcher have recorded more than 20 albums and their live show is as impressive now as it was in 1979 when the group decided to fly in the face of musical fashion in 1979 and form a band 'just to play the blues'. They have gone on to earn a reputation around the world as one of the finest exponents of the blues tradition in all its forms. This show at Frome's Cheese and Grain is likely to sell out so early booking is advised. From 8pm, tickets are £27.50
cheeseandgrain.com
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8 February
Sounds Of The 60s With Tony Blackburn
Due to the phenomenal success of BBC Radio 2's Sounds Of The 60s Live, which toured the UK last year, new dates have been added running into 2020, including one night at Westlands in Yeovil. Hosted by DJ royalty Tony Blackburn, the show features songs, stories and memories from the golden decade of pop with music performed live by the Sounds Of The 60s All Star Band & Singers. From 7.30pm. Tickets from £31.50, with concessions available.
westlandsyeovil.co.uk
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BRISTOL & BATH
Throughout February
Africa State Of Mind Exhibition
Running until 1 March, Africa State of Mind is a new group photography exhibition at the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, that gathers together the work of an emergent generation of photographers from across the African continent. With artworks by 15 artists from 10 different countries, the exhibition explores Africa as a state of mind as much as a physical location. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10am- 5.30pm; Sunday, 11am-5pm. Entrance costs £7.95 for adults, £6.75 for concessions, with under-18s free (book in advance to save £1 on your admission).
rwa.org.uk
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Until 22 February
The Book of Mormon
Broadway's smash-hit musical from the creators of South Park is coming to Bristol's Hippodrome for a five-week run. The Tony, Olivier and Grammy award-winning show written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, as well as Frozen co-writer Robert Lopez, follows a pair of Mormon boys sent on a mission far away from their home in Salt Lake City. Tickets from £13. Evening shows begin at 7.30pm, with additional Friday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm.
atgtickets.com
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4-8 February
Blithe Spirit
Jennifer Saunders reprises her gleefully funny performance as the eccentric clairvoyant Madame Arcati in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, at Bath's Theatre Royal. Novelist Charles Condomine and his second wife Ruth are literally haunted by a past relationship when an eccentric medium conjures up the ghost of his first wife, Elvira, at a séance. When she appears, visible only to Charles, and determined to sabotage his current marriage, life - and the afterlife - get complicated. Evening performances at 7.30pm, with Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm. Tickets from £30.75, with standing, standby and concessions available.
theatreroyal.org.uk
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25 February
Janey Godley's Soup Pot Tour
Janey Godley, the 'Queen of Scottish Comedy', looks set to take Bath's Komedia by storm with a hilarious new show. After recent appearances on BBC's Have I Got News for You and BBC Scotland's Breaking the News, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival favourite returns to the stage to do what she does best. With over 40 million hits online and with 20 years of performing award-winning comedy around the world from Newcastle to New Zealand, tickets for Janey's show won't last long so book early to avoid disappointment. From 7.30pm, tickets are £15.50.
komedia.co.uk/bath
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25-29 February
Beautiful - The Carole King Musical
Following a highly successful West End run, the Olivier, Tony and Grammy award-winning show about on the early life and career of legendary singer/ songwriter Carole King hits the road, visiting Bristol's Hippodrome for eight performances over five days. King wrote the soundtrack to a generation, including one of the best-selling albums of all time, Tapestry, and countless classics such as (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, You've Got a Friend and The Locomotion. Evening performances begin at 7.30 with Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm. Tickets for each performance start at £13.
atgtickets.com
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