New Forest Acting Up 2026/27
Professional live performance, right on your doorstep.
Acting Up returns for its fourth season, bringing professional live performances to community venues across the New Forest from October 2026 to March 2027.
This season spans dance, theatre, live music, storytelling, comedy and family shows – from Kathak dance and Celtic folk to bluegrass, classic tales reimagined for the stage and performances created especially for younger audiences.
We deliver New Forest Acting Up in partnership with Artsreach, Dorset’s rural arts charity, working with a network of volunteer promoters from community venues and groups across the Forest.
Our local promoters help choose the professional shows they want to bring to their communities and host them in local halls and venues. It means the programme is shaped by the people and places it is for, while bringing professional touring artists and companies directly into communities across the New Forest.
This autumn
Our fourth season gets underway on Friday 2 October at Hythe and Dibden Parish Hall with Sonia Sabri Company’s Roshni, an uplifting performance bringing together Kathak dance and live music.
And that’s just the start. Between October and December, Acting Up will bring everything from imaginative family theatre and wintry folktales to Canadian folk music, Jekyll and Hyde, foot-stomping bluegrass and music from across Eastern Europe to venues across Hythe, Calshot, East Boldre, Pennington, Lyndhurst, Fawley and Woodgreen.
The programme continues from January to March 2027, with more performances across the New Forest to be announced.
New Forest Acting Up events
2026
October
Sonia Sabri Company – Roshni dance and live music
Friday 2 October, 7.30pm
Hythe and Dibden Parish Hall, Hythe
Squashbox Theatre – Curious Creatures
Monday 26 October, 10.30am
Hythe
Luminous Tales – The Goose & Mrs Frost
Tuesday 27 October, 11am
Calshot
November
Inn Echo – high-energy Canadian Celtic folk trio
Thursday 12 November, 7.30pm
East Boldre
Ropetackle Storytellers – Jekyll & Hyde
Sunday 22 November, 3pm
Pennington
Flats & Sharps
Wednesday 25 November, 7.30pm
Lyndhurst
December
James Rowland – Team Viking
Sunday 6 December, 7.30pm
Fawley
Budapest Cafe Orchestra
Friday 11 December, 7.30pm
Woodgreen
2027
January
Bowjangles – Classically Untamed
Sunday 17 January, 7:30pm. Lyndhurst Community Centre
February
Adverse Camber – Story Brew: Wild Woods
Saturday 6 February, 7:30pm. Woodgreen Village Hall
Sunday 7 February, 3pm. St Mark’s Community Hall Pennington
The Neil Maya Quartet – The Brubeck Project
Sunday 7 February, 6pm. Royal British Legion Blackfield
March
Old Baby Mackerel
Thursday 4 March, 7:30pm. East Boldre Village Hall
Spiltmilk Dance – Playlist
Saturday 6 March, 7:30pm. Waterside Empower Centre Church
The Bookshop Band
Thursday 18 March, 7:30pm. Hythe Library
David Eagle – Flying Solo
Sunday 21 March, 7:30pm. Fawley Jubilee Hall
