SEE two of our best actors on stage in one of Shakespeare’s most powerful plays at the Electric Palace, Bridport next week.

Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston are performing in Macbeth at the Manchester International Festival and their performance is being screened at the Bridport venue on July 20 at 8.30pm.

This electrifying new production of Shakespeare’s tragic tale of ambition and treachery unfolds within the walls of an intimate deconsecrated Manchester church.

Directed by Olivier and Tony award-winning director Rob Ashford and BAFTA award-winner Kenneth Branagh, Macbeth also stars Branagh in the lead role, his first Shakespeare performance in over a decade.

Alex Kingston, best known for her roles in Doctor Who and ER, stars as Lady Macbeth, in her first stage performance in several years since she became a regular guest star on Doctor Who.

Electric Palace spokeswoman Delphine Jones said: “Kenneth Branagh has long been lauded as one of the great Shakespearean interpreters.

"His skills as a writer, director and actor have garnered international acclaim across the disciplines of stage, film and television, and he is the only man to be nominated in five different categories for an Academy Award.

“He last performed Shakespeare when he played Richard III at the Sheffield Crucible in 2002.”

Recent stage performances as Edmund at the National Theatre and Ivanov for the Donmar played to great acclaim.

In 2011 he completed a sell-out run of the hit comedy The Painkiller at the Lyric Theatre in his home city of Belfast.

Appealing to a wide audience and age group this highly energetic production has a very short run and sold out fast at the Manchester International Festival.

Tickets are £10 plus booking fee, available from Bridport tourist information centre on 01308 424901 and online at seetickets.com, or £12 on the door if still available.

  • THE Thomas Hardye Singers are joining forces with choristers from Imperial College London and Oxford University for a special performance at St Mary’s Church, Dorchester tonight.

The mixed choir, which also includes pupils from Dorchester’s middle schools, will perform Handel’s Zadok the Priest and The King Shall Rejoice, Schubert’s Mass in G and Haydn’s Nelson Mass.

The soloists are Jenny Featherstone, Abigail Fiddick, Jess Thurtel and Martin Weston.

The concert is at the Edward Road church at 7.30pm and tickets are £8 plus concessions, available on the door and from Nicholl World Travel and the Thomas Hardye School office.

  • FAMILIES and children are in for a treat when Dorset Sinfonia performs a Meet the Orchestra concert on July 13.

The performance aims to get children and young adults to see and hear how exciting and varied music can be. Sinfonia spokesman Ian Thomas said: “For starters, we’ll be performing the classic Peter and the Wolf with its great story and a chance for various instruments to show off.

“Alongside that, there will be someone playing a sink, a hosepipe, some bottles and a fantastic piece written especially for this concert which uses pretty much any drum, glockenspiel or anything else you bang or clash in the percussion department.

“Just to top it off, children will have an opportunity to play along with some pieces on easy-to-play instruments. Parents, you have been warned.”

The concert on Saturday is at 2pm in Weymouth Bay Methodist Church, Melcombe Avenue, Weymouth. Tickets are £5 plus concessions.