Alice in Wonderland celebrates her 150th birthday this year and we are still captivated by the spell cast by Lewis Carroll when he wrote the much-loved children’s book in 1865.  The fantasy world of rabbit holes and mad hatters, magic cakes and secret doors, has charmed children and adults the world over and sparked a string of adaptations.

In Box Tale Soup’s production at Trowbridge Town Hall on Saturday 20 June, 3pm, we join Alice as she goes on her journey as she encounters the White Rabbit, meets a confrontational Caterpillar and has a showdown with the crazed Queen of Hearts. 

Theatre Fest West at Salisbury Playhouse was a resounding success again this year - showcasing performances from some of the region’s most exciting theatre makers, telling stories about the region.

For next year’s festival Salisbury Playhouse is working with Trowbridge Arts, Salisbury Arts Centre, The Pound in Corsham, and Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford-on-Avon. This will provide companies with the opportunity to tour their work across the region, and the varied range of these venue partners will allow opportunities for artists across different artistic disciplines, including visual art, dance and music in 2016.

Details of how to apply for next year's festival are to be found at the end of this article.

Trowbridge Arts is currently in its second phase of funding from Arts Council England, Wiltshire Council and Trowbridge Town Council and runs until summer 2016. With the Spring 2015 season coming to a close with three inspiring pieces of theatre for families and a thought provoking piece of new writing we thought we would share the evaluation from the first phase of the project with you.

Unearthed Folio Theatre Company
Trowbridge Arts at Trowbridge Town Hall
7 May 2015

Unearthed is the debut play by West Country-based Folio Theatre Company in association with Taunton’s Brewhouse Theatre which, following previews, premiered at Trowbridge Town Hall on 7th May.

Unearthed tells the story of estranged twins, Eliza (Lizzie Stables) and Ben (Jeremy Lloyd), who are thrown together in order to carry out unusual quests from their late father’s will.

The play explores the many memories and secrets which are uncovered as the twins find themselves in various absurd situations, accompanied by the watchful Daisy (Alana Ramsey) and ambiguous Simon (Edward Mitchell).

The Company is comprised of professional actors with many stage and screen credits between them, including the Company’s Artistic Director, Lizzie Stables, who studied in Trowbridge before moving on to the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, is known for her roles in TV programmes such as The Inbetweeners.

Trowbridge's Odeon will be screening a special one-off performance of ‘The Old Vic’s The Crucible’ on Thursday 25th June at 2pm.

From London's West End - Richard Armitage stars in Arthur Miller’s classic American drama, based on Salem’s infamous witch trials, brought vividly to life in this visceral new production by internationally acclaimed director Yaël Farber.

For those who missed out on seeing ‘The Crucible’ (or just want to see it again) it’s an opportunity to see this great play in the comfort of your local Odeon Cinema.

The Prospector is a character conceived by Quilos and the Windmill, comprising artist duo Michele Whiting and Linda Khatir, used to portray a sense of breaking into the unknown. The character was influenced by a quote the artists came across in American history books, stating, “equipped with all kinds of gadgets, many of them useless, a prospector comes west”.

The artists cite the character of the prospector as the starting point for much of their work, due to their personal affinity with the character heading off into the unknown, just as they headed off to the then unfamiliar Oxbow, Michigan, to take up their first joint residency.

The work is largely influenced by their time in Oxbow; the places they have been and the people they have met, as well as the history. The artists’ joint practice involves finding objects and reworking them in response to their environment, in order to explore the themes of fixed reality and illusion.

The dual nature of their practice enhances the interplay between their portfolios and therefore embraces a variety of mediums in their exploration of space and place; these include writing, drawing, photography, sound, and film.

Large creepy crawlies crafted from wood are exhibited by sculpture artist Alex Jones this summer at Trowbridge Town Hall

Alex is a traditionally trained wood sculptor who has been based in Winchester since 1992 where he has been carving a menagerie of large creatures and bugs for thirteen years. Alex is inspired by many different sources from the figurative beauty of Grinling Gibbons, through the humour of the medieval misère chords, to the otherworldliness of Jeff Koons.

Infestation exhibition at Trowbridge Town Hall for Trowbridge Arts runs from Friday 29 May to Saturday 11 July. Entry is free. There is an Evening View and Meet the Artist Event on Thursday 28 May from 6-8pm which is also free but please RSVP to artassistant@trowbridgearts.com

On Friday 17 July at 7.30 Trowbridge Arts presents Not Alone’s production of a new play by Glyn Dilley.

THE BUNKER is a new play based on the true story of a local woman who faced a terrifying ordeal but survived to tell the tale.

If you found yourself trapped in the dark, with only strangers for company…what would you say?

In a war zone a woman is trapped in a bunker with people who may not even speak her language. Not knowing whether any of them will ever get out, she struggles to hold on...to her sanity, her past, her sense of humour…and to hope.

As part of Dying Matters Week 2015, Dorothy House and art students from Wiltshire College Trowbridge College have worked in collaboration on a project to explore the subject of death and dying.

The project culminates in an exhibition of the Artwork being exhibited by Trowbridge Arts at Trowbridge Town Hall.

Dying Matters Awareness Week runs from the 18 – 24 May. Its purpose is to encourage people to talk openly about their feeling and experiences around dying, death and bereavement. It is part of a movement by a national coalition of 30,000 members across England and Wales.

This year’s campaign line is #YODO (You Only Die Once) a play on the recent trending hashtag #YOLO, which means You Only Live Once.

Trowbridge Town Hall played host to to a successful exhibition over the bank holiday weekend from the 2-4 May 2015.

Twenty-one Cloth Road artists took part in the exhibtion, each displaying one piece of work in the Courtroom at Trowbridge Town Hall. Works included painting, sculpture and textile art.

The intention behind the pop-up was to publicise the 2016 CRAW, and there were over 100 vistors over the weekend.

Many of the people who visited knew about Cloth Road, and two artists made sales of their work.

Paul Workman of the Cloth Road Artists said:

"Thank you to all those who contributed to the pop up exhibition at Trowbridge Town Hall, particularly those who gave up their time to help supervise the show.

We had two artists who visited us who are now keen to take part next year, and many members of the public who told us they were looking forward to CRAW next year."