Calling out around the world
Welcome to the International Composers Festival 2022 The International Composers Festival – the only event of its kind in the world – will be returning between May 20 and 22, bigger and better than ever. For the first time, all…
Piano competitors bridge political divide
The Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition (HIPCC), being held for the first time in three years after abandonment to Covid-19 restrictions in 2021, opened on 24 February, the same day as first news reports of the full-on military invasion of…
Beastly Dark Heart
Kent Barker reviews the latest work from Hastings playwright and director John Knowles. I’ll tell you something for nothing: the three people I would least like to be stuck in a small boat with, were all assembled on the stage…
REVIEW: More than Revolting Children
White Rock Theatre’s Summer Youth Project returned last month for the first time since 2019 with ‘Matilda the Musical Jr.’ Ben Cornwell watched the opening night. I know Roald Dahl’s Matilda like the back of my hand. It is a…
Matilda Junior Set to Rock Hastings
By Ben Cornwell The White Rock Theatre’s Summer Youth Project is back for its eighteenth production. This year the local theatre group will be performing a junior production of the award-winning West End musical ; Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical…
Keep on dancing
How Hastings School of Contemporary Dance survived tough times. The pandemic hit small businesses hard, particularly those in the arts sector. Fortunately one at least has responded to a succession of unprecedented challenges with imagination and innovation and is emerging…
ARTS DIARY
Literary Festival Competition Hastings Literary Festival is offering 12 writers the chance to see their work published 48 hours after a unique workshop with experienced editors. Winners of a competition for poetry, short stories and life writing based on current…
Cockroach from the Ashes
By Patrick Kealey – artistic director of Theatre Nation What does a rapidly emerging Hastings theatre company do when Covid stops it dead in its tracks? Forced, last Spring, to cancel an Arts Council funded tour of Waiting for Godot…
Ready for the Next Act
Someone who has worked hard to keep theatre living and breathing is local writer, producer, performer and theatre-maker, John Knowles. Fiona McGarry spoke to him about what’s in store for 2021 in the world of live theatre. According to John…
Stables doors open
A cash injection of £71k from the Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund is cause for celebration at Stables Theatre Hastings. The news comes as the volunteer-run venue prepares to open its doors to the public with a calendar of events throughout…