Discover the movers and shakers of Dorset's arts scene
Art is both inspired and inspiring; these incredible artists have perfected their formats, and are here to shake up the Dorset art scene. Which will you visit first?
Cathy Veale is a well-known artist who specialises in large coastal paintings in an unmistakable style rich in luminosity and colour. Her work primarily studies the movement of water, patterns of light and reflections which highlight the unique beauty of the Dorset coastline.
Cathy studied graphic design at the Bournemouth and Poole college of Art and Design. She has travelled extensively, undertaking a variety of artwork projects and has lived in Dorset for many years. Cathy sells her work nationally and internationally and has regularly exhibited work alongside Britain's leading watercolour artists in London, with prestigious organisations such as the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, Royal Society of Marine Artists, and South West Academy of Arts.
Her next solo exhibition is May 24 to 31 in the Meeting Room, Marine Villas, Swanage Pier BH19 2AP. Open 9.30am to 5pm. Admission is free.
T: 07886 451932
E: fineart@cathyveale.co.uk
W: cathyveale.co.uk
b-side, Portland. One amazing island, 1000 ideas
The year-round programme of cultural events kicks off in April with the launch of Portland & Weymouth Towns of Culture 2025, and a summer of brilliant cultural events, walks and workshops at Portland's historic High Angle Battery will follow. Whether you're an art lover or just looking for a fun way to immerse yourself in creativity, come and join in, make some lasting memories, and be part of something special.
Mark your calendars and do not miss the b-side big weekend from September 11-14. This four-day celebration is your ticket to exploring the island's vibrant culture, breath-taking landscape and some outstanding artworks, too.
Join us for an unforgettable experience featuring the eclectic b-side fringe, the iconic Portland Parade, and an array of captivating artworks and events designed to inspire and engage your imagination.
A: 77 Fortuneswell, Portland, Dorset, DT5 1LY
T: 01305 568044
W: b-side.org.uk
Lucy's work is a product of two cultures, the Cape and England. Her childhood was spent in South Africa, where the light, culture, and landscape, (along with her father) were a great source of inspiration.
She began her classical studies with two years in Florence, before going on to Chelsea Art School and the Byam Shaw School of Art in the 1980s. While in her second year at Byam Shaw, art critic Brian Sewell asked her to take part in the Mail on Sunday's Young Masters Exhibition in London's Dover Street. Lucy has exhibited internationally ever since, and three of her paintings have been hung at the Royal Academy's summer exhibition.
Lucy mainly works in oils but regularly experiments with print making and fused glass. Her recent travels took her to Palermo in Sicily, Tenby in Wales and South Africa when visiting her fail mother.
Lucy looks for beauty in nature and a particular light around her throughout the changing seasons. Playing with shapes and colours allows her to create a vision that is both sensitive and intense.
E: lucycaruth@aol.com
W: lucyerskineart.com
Activate exists to promote, support and produce performing arts projects in our communities, bringing world-class events to unexpected places, like town centres, village squares, beaches and hilltops. And we've been doing it for over 30 years.
Our award-winning outdoor arts festival, Inside Out Dorset, takes place across the county every two years and returns in September 2025. This free festival showcases outstanding UK and European artists and attracts tens of thousands of visitors to unique urban and rural locations across Dorset.
Activate acts as a producer to Dorset artists Lorna Rees and The Working Boys Club and tours their work nationally and internationally. We support creatives at all stages of their careers to make the most inspiring work they can.
From 2024-2025, Activate are the executive creative producers of a £2m national project led by the National Landscapes Association: Nature Calling. Dorset Youth Dance, our county-wide youth dance company, and The Remix, our inclusive youth performance company, provide high quality performing arts experiences for young people. In everything we do, we have just two rules: anything's possible, and everyone's invited.
Don't miss our upcoming events: Street in the Park on Saturday, May 10, 2025, and Inside Out Dorset from September 12-21, 2025. Sign up to Activate's newsletter on our website to keep up to date.
A: 7-9 The Little Keep, Barrack Road, Dorchester, DT1 1SQ
T: 01305 260954
W: activateperformingarts.org.uk
Born and raised in Dorset, Madeleine Bertorelli is the gallery director at Sculpture by the Lakes, the beautiful 26-acre sculpture park and botanic garden owned by Simon and Monique Gudgeon near Dorchester.
Her extensive career, driven by her love for art, includes nearly a decade with gallerist Karsten Schubert, where she worked on exhibitions at the gallery in Golden Square in London. She also assisted in the staging of exhibitions at the National Gallery in London and the Muse d'Art Moderne in Paris. Additionally, she contributed to Sotheby's Beyond Limits, an exhibition of monumental sculpture at Chatsworth House, and managed the Saatchi Gallery before becoming the creative programmes producer for the Wessex Museums.
This rich background equips Madeleine to curate and oversee the art at Sculpture by the Lakes, within the gallery and throughout the park. Her role involves collaborating with artists and clients from across the globe, and managing works by renowned sculptor, Simon Gudgeon.
Madeleine works closely with her esteemed colleague Kate Madden, whose dedication and expertise further enrich the Gallery's offerings. Together, they have organised popular and award-winning exhibitions each year, including the acclaimed FORM: The Sculpture Show.
Currently, a unique showcase featuring more than 20 new works by renowned sculptor, Carol Peace, is on display in the gallery and throughout the park until May 24, 2025.
A: Pallington Lakes, Dorchester, DT2 8QU
T: 07887 906818
W: sculpturebythelakes.co.uk
The Tivoli Theatre in Wimborne started life as a Georgian Town House. In the mid '30's, it was transformed into Wimborne's own cinema theatre.
In the late '70's, the County Council had wanted to put a road through the land to improve traffic flow and so they purchased the property, and the cinema closed in 1980. It remained closed for almost fourteen years before it re-opened as The Tivoli Theatre. It had been brought back to life by a wonderful group of volunteers led by local businessman, Malcolm Angel. This project had originally been put forward by a local couple, Rob and Joan Thorne. To cut a long story short, 7000 signatures were presented to the County Council and they in turn handed over the keys and passed it on with some demands. The Town Council very kindly and generously offered to have the roof fixed and paid a substantial amount for that.
The Theatre re-opened on November 23rd, 1993, managed by Malcolm. In 2002 Charlie North Lewis was appointed to 'take it to the next level'. Charlie has spent most of his working life in the entertainment industry in various roles. In 1979 he was a sound engineer which strangely led to selling concert merchandise. That proved to have been fortuitous when he emigrated to Canada and later, bumped into a tour manager he knew while working at a large outdoor music venue in Toronto. This prompted a promotion, and he then became a theatre manager at a few theatres.
Upon his return to England, Charlie was offered a job at BAFTA which was where he saw the advert for Wimborne. He was hired in 2002 and is still there! Over the past twenty-three years, he has managed to increase the turnover considerably and has brought some very big names to the venue.
Thanks to Ben Waters, Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood and Imelda May have graced the stage. Robert Plant, John Lydon, Francis Rossi, Ginger Baker, Albert Lee, Chris Farlowe, Joan Armatrading, Chas and Dave, Pete Doherty, Paul Young, Lee Mack, Eddie Izzard, Al Murray, Jim Davidson, Jason Manford, among others have also played there.
In recent years, the Tivoli Pantomime has become one of Dorset's finest, initially thanks to Ron Martin and now Made to Measure who have increased attendance and turnover considerably.
Of course, we'd be lost without our wonderful support staff and amazing volunteers!
A: The Tivoli Theatre, West Borough, Wimborne Minster, Dorset, BH21 1LT
T: 01202 885566
W: www.tivoliwimborne.co.uk
Three of the world's greatest operas, featuring star soloists, a full chorus and orchestra, will be live on stage here in Dorset.
The Dorset Opera Festival takes place annually at the end of July. It involves more than 240 professional musicians and volunteers from all over the world.
In 2024, it celebrated its 50th anniversary. This year marks yet another anniversary – 20 years at its current host venue, Bryanston, the renowned school set amid 400 picturesque acres on the outskirts of Blandford Forum, from where the River Stour meanders towards the sea at Christchurch.
The operas chosen for this anniversary year are all firm favourites: Rigoletto by Verdi featuring Pavarotti's favourite aria – La Donna è Mobile (All Women are Fickle); and Mascagni's famous Cavalleria rusticana – if you don't already know them, listen to the Easter Hymn and the Intermezzo on social media. Lastly it's a sad but glorious opera by Puccini: Suor Angelica a poignant story about a young woman who is sent to a monastery having given birth to a child, out of wedlock.
Over its five-decade history, Dorset Opera has achieved remarkable musical milestones, including one World Stage Première (of a Donizetti opera no less); eight British Stage Premières, a World Première recording, and, in celebration of its 50th anniversary, a full-scale opera commission. The Festival has also staged several rare works, including the British Stage Première of Puccini's Turandot in 2007, featuring the new ending by Luciano Berio – (Puccini having died in 1924 before completing his opera).
In 2023, Dorset Opera was nominated in the 'Rediscovered Opera' category at the International Opera Awards in Warsaw for its acclaimed production of Massenet's Le Roi de Lahore. Esteemed critics have recognised the Festival as a Massenet specialist, with past productions including Hérodiade, the British Stage Première of Le Cid, and Le Roi de Lahore—all exemplary works in the French Grand Opera tradition.
In 2024, the Festival received a prestigious honour, becoming one of the few professional opera companies in the UK to be awarded funding from the Laidlaw Opera Trust—an acknowledgment of its excellence and the outstanding quality of its work.
£10 tickets for young people under 26 | Two matinees | Box Office online at dorsetopera.com or call 07570 366186 | Order picnics or bring your own | Marquee Bar | Formal dining on 24th & 26th July | Ample free parking.
T: 07570 366186
W: www.dorsetopera.com
E: boxoffice@dorsetopera.com
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Movie review: 'Materialists' incisively takes down big dating services
LOS ANGELES, June 9 (UPI) -- Materialists, in theaters June 16, is a scathing indictment of both Hollywood romances and the real-life industry that has sprouted around dating. Singles who have been preyed upon by such services will feel seen. In the film, Dakota Johnson stars as Lucy, a woman working for the fictional Adore matchmaking service. She is responsible for nine marriages but is determined to remain single herself. At one wedding, the groom's brother, Harry (Pedro Pascal), asks Lucy on a date, which she initially accepts to try and land him as a client. At that same wedding, she reconnects with her ex, John (Chris Evans), who is working as a waiter. Just watching Lucy work shows how she turns human beings into commodities. They are a collection of assets she can move around to set up on dates, thus keeping both clients on contract, or marry off to raise her success rate, improving her own business. And yet, she still objectively misjudges her clients. 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There is some validity to them, however. One flashback shows John and Lucy arguing over whether to park at a $25 lot in New York. $25 is a significant amount for a struggling couple, so it compromises their other plans and then makes Lucy feel guilty for resenting how much hinges on the amount. Money would render that problem moot but it wouldn't address the root of the issue -- if a couple can't solve problems together, they're not very compatible. Even if Lucy finds a wealthy suitor like Harry appealing, other problems will arise and put their relationship to the test. So Lucy assigns people value based on their careers, their income and their looks because everyone is already doing it. She's just created a mathematical formula. Being this honest, warts and all, about people's romantic needs also contradicts the most popular Hollywood romances. Hollywood movies love to sell people on romantic destiny, such as Sleepless in Seattle or While You Were Sleeping. Another trope is platonic friends falling in love like in When Harry Met Sally or Reality Bites. Certainly friends can become more, but movies like that overlook the reasons the pair made a conscious decision not to start dating in the first place. Lucy does the math on herself too, which speaks to an internalized self-loathing that matchmaking services prey upon. Based on firsthand experience, a lot of them seem to expect that if you're paying to find a date you must be desperate enough to accept whoever they present to you. Materialists gets even more serious about the pitfalls of taking money to introduce strangers in an intimate setting. When Lucy misjudges one male client, she puts a female client in a precarious situation. This is the inevitable peril of such a business and Adore alludes to a legal department, which must exist for real-life services to address such risks. But, Lucy's math can't even get middle-aged men to accept dating 30-year-olds, so how can she really screen out possible abusers when abusers are deceptively capable of appearing safe? Lucy starts to see the flaws in the system and calls out some of her clients. She astutely points out that as a matchmaker, she is forced to deal with clients' racism, ageism, body shaming and other qualities to which even their therapists may not be privy. One issue with Lucy's math is that she only sees people's potential. What it doesn't show her is people's nature, and that is the foundation of relationships. Materialists is a cynical movie and yet one that desperately wants to have hope. The film, as with its heroine, is hard pressed to ignore the reality of human behavior. Writer-director Celine Song seems nonjudgmental about the people who run Adore and the people who pay for their services, assuming their intentions are sincere despite their blind spots. And what is the alternative, swiping profiles on apps? Ideally, the alternative should be being kind and friendly, spending time getting to know each other and not looking at phones. Alas, the difficulty of that created a void for businesses like Adore to fill. Song lets her actors perform long, uncut scenes of dialogue together, or listen to each other's monologues and react subtly. The roles let Johnson and Pascal let their guard down at times, and Evans' role is always vulnerable. Materialists is presumably a date movie but it is likelier to lead to arguments, hopefully constructive ones. For singles navigating the oppressive selling of relationship services, it is especially validating, and poignant for anyone trying to rationalize the intangibles of love. Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
