Arts festival coming to town (From Stroud News and Journal)

Arts festival coming to town

STROUD'S 57th Arts Festival is coming this May and it promises an eclectic programme covering everything from poetry to embroidery.

Not to be confused with September's Fringe festival, the arts festival has a long and distinguished history of bringing relatively highbrow culture to the people of Stroud.

This year will be no exception, spanning five weeks from early May through to June.

Mother and daughter Marianne Hellwig-John and Sarah John will be exhibiting their art from May 2 while May 9 will see a choral service celebrating the arts to launch the festival week.

May 10 sees bell-ringing at St Laurence's Church, a talk on embroidery by Dr Isabel Elliott who has got the craft stitched up and the Stroud Choral Society who will be performing with a baroque orchestra.

The following day will see guitarist Hayley Savage and poet UA Fanthorpe will be joining forces for a performance.

John Carlin, who played the vicar in the Darling Buds of May, will have a Brush with the Bard on May 12 and on May 13 the Davey Piano Trio will be playing the music of Haydn, Shostakovich and Schubert.

The SNJ's own arts editor, poet Adam Horovitz, will be joining fellow wordsmiths Ann Drysdale and Richard Vick for a night of Poetry in Commotion on May 14.

Former Marling boy Philip Pickett will be bringing Shakespeare's Musick back to Stroud with the Musicians of the Globe on May 15.

Il Piccolo Coro will be playing music from this century and the last on May 16 and the week ends on a high note on May 17 with the Five Valleys Jazz Orchestra in the morning, The Cappella singers and Baroque Orchestra in the afternoon.

There is drama too with the Cotswold Players presenting a trio of one-act plays between May 20 and May 24 while the Taurusvoice Training Theatre will be performing The Good Doctor, a musical comedy based on Chekov's short stories, on June 7 and June 8.

* The full programme is available at the Stroud Tourist Information Office in the Subscription Rooms.