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Dateline: 2nd July, 2006
The Buxton Festival 2006 Buxton Festiva,l which begins this week, is the UK's foremost festival of rarely performed opera, featuring a programme of more than 100 events over seventeen days. To celebrate the centenary of Shostakovich's birth, The Opera Group will be presenting The Nose, described as "one of the funniest operas ever written". It's the absurd story of a man who loses his nose and tries to recover it. The nose defiantly heads off on a journey of its own, appearing in a sandwich, the river Neva, and dressed as a state councillor. The cast includes Welsh baritone Jeremy Huw Williams as Kovalyov and Alex Grove who spends the whole opera dressed as a human-sized nose. The Nose will be sung in English at Buxton Opera House on Sunday, July 9th; Friday, July 14th; and Wednesday, July 19th. As well as the opera programme, the festival offers literature events, a range of concerts, an afternoon ballet, a cooking demonstration, Buxton walks and workshops. Gloria Hunniford opens the festival with a talk about one of the biggest selling books of 2005. Next To You sold more than half a million copies in hardback last year. To mark the availability of the paperback, she'll be holding a question-and-answer session and signing copies of her book after her talk at Buxton Opera House on Friday (July 7th) at 4pm. Gloria's daughter Caron Keating, a Blue Peter presenter, died from breast cancer in 2004, prompting Gloria to start a foundation to help cancer sufferers. Next To You is the story of Caron's courage in fighting the disease and how she lost that fight. Other literary speakers include Kate Adie, Prunella Scales, Timothy West, Richard Ingrams, Robert Winston, Ian McEwan, Louis de Bernieres, Matthew Parris, Hilary Spurling and Anna Massey. Further information is available at www.buxtonfestival.co.uk.
The Festival FringeRunning concurrently is the Festival Fringe which has gone from strength to strength over its 27-year history and is used by many artists as a preview for Edinburgh. One of the first productions is What The Dickens!, a two-hander featuring some of Dickens' most colourful women, presented by Tongue in Cheek. The show is by Manchester-born Dawn Buchanan who performs with Louise Nulty. Original music is by Greg Oldfield. Dawn Buchanan said, "I discovered Dickens late on in life and was surprised to find how fresh and funny it is and resonant for our times. "If you asked me to sum up this show, I would say it's a bit like the heart of a lettuce - I've taken away all the outer leaves and left the most juicy and succulent part." What The Dickens! is on at The Old Clubhouse on Friday (July 7th) at 5.30 and 9pm, Saturday at 3.30 and 9pm and Sunday at 3.30pm. A Midsummer Day's Breakfast, or A Fairy Affair is the second original production from East Midlands-based actress, singer and writer Rachael Pennell. It's a tale of life in the forest the morning after Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's designed to introduce the young to the genre of Shakespearean comedy. Many original characters reappear including Bottom and Titania and it offers a whole new insight into the lives of the minor fairies Peaseblossom, Cobweb and Mustardseed. A Midsummer Day's Breakfast, or A Fairy Affair will be playing at Poole's Cavern Grounds on Saturday and Sunday at 6.30pm. Last year Rachael Pennell returned to her first love, theatre and wrote a one-woman show Bewitched which chronicles the life of Ruth Etting and features the songs of Rodgers and Hart. Rachael will be performing Bewitched on Sunday at 1.30pm in The Old Clubhouse. Phil Minns came up with the idea for Silent Joys and Broken Toys on his way back to Manchester, where he was studying at Salford University, from one of his frequent visits home to Derby. He will be directing an up-tempo, toe-tapping show using the songs of sixties girl group sensation the Shangri-Las which will be performed by his own company, Vista Theatre. Silent Joys and Broken Toys is on at Paupers Pit under the Old Hall Hotel at 10.15pm on Saturday and Sunday and also on July 16th and 17th. Reporter: Steve Orme Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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