Treacherous Cretins, the UK band celebrating the iconic music of Frank Zappa, has announced a performance at The Brook in Southampton featuring the legendary Robert ‘Bobby’ Martin on 20th April 2025. Following a successful UK tour last year with ex-Zappa lead vocalist/keyboardist/saxophonist/French hornist Robert Martin, Treacherous Cretins are set...
Chess mate wanted to play & run ABP Southampton marathon for charity
Kevin Sawers from Bitterne is looking for a mate to play chess with while simultaneously running the 10k ABP Southampton Marathon in April for a charity helping eradicate loneliness. The 47-year-old’s ‘opening gambit’ is to play and run the race in aid of Communicare, which helps vulnerable, isolated people...
Southampton Calling – Welly’s debut album, Big in the Suburbs, is an authentic voice of our city
By Sam Wise. Elliot Hall, the young songwriter whose nickname gave Welly its moniker, is a lightning ball of energy on stage. Having watched the band tear up Southampton’s Heartbreakers in their recent homecoming show, I was fascinated to see how such a high intensity experience would work in...
Review: Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, Mayflower Theatre
By Melanie Adams. It was a controversial production that radically changed one of the world’s most iconic ballet shows. But now, 30 years on from ruffling those feathers, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is back on stage to celebrate the milestone anniversary. The award-winning choreographer’s new generation of swans took...
Hidden Gems Hampshire
By Anita Foxall. It never ceases to amaze me when I meet incredible and talented people at the various spoken word events I attend. They are undoubtedly spaces for continuous inspiration. I met Stevina Southwell at one of those events, and after a joyous chat about poetry and...
SEE Southampton open the Westgate for 2025 season
The team at SEE Southampton have been working hard behind the scenes in conjunction with the City Council Archaeology Unit, updating exhibitions at the western walls’ historic Westgate. The not-for-profit organisation’s free to enter exhibition is now open for the 2025 with its main ‘Provisioning the Pilgrims’ displays –...
Review: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – The Drone Lightshow, The Rose Bowl, Hampshire
By Sally Churchward. It’s a bit of a bonkers concept – light up drones creating gigantic moving images in the night sky to a narrated abridged telling of the plot of a classic movie. But The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – The Drone Lightshow works, and makes for...
International Women’s Day: The once and future queens – women writers of science fiction and fantasy
By Christopher Taylor. It’s no secret that the world of sci-fi and fantasy has rarely been welcoming for female authors: publishers often lacked faith in women, and readers gravitated to male names. Worse than that, even female authors who break through seem more at risk of disappearing from...
International Women’s Day: Crowning the Queens of Horror Literature
By Laura McCarthy. To mark International Women’s Day on March 8th, we take a look at the great women of horror writing. Stephen King may be known as the ‘King of Horror’ but to decide on a Queen poses too much of a challenge, as there are just...
Opinion: This International Women’s Day I’m feeling bitter and proud
By Elliott Eden. I’m a 16 year old AFAB (assigned female at birth) and this is how I’m feeling this International Women’s Day: bitter. Most days I feel too scared to leave the house, mostly not from any fear of physical danger but just from the usual...