Portland will be transformed into a living advent calendar this December as Advent(ure) brings 12 days of festive performances to unexpected places across the island.
The project, part of Portland & Weymouth Towns of Culture REVEAL commissions, will feature short bursts of live performance at 6pm on selected days throughout December, with a special finale event at 3:30pm on Christmas Eve. Each performance will be free to attend, offering a surprise mix of music, theatre, poetry, and storytelling in public spaces from cafés to quarries.
Created by Destination Opera and supported by a £10,000 Towns of Culture Reveal commission, Advent(ure) aims to bring moments of joy, connection, and curiosity to the heart of the community during the festive season.
Advent(ure) Organiser, Jon Valender comments: “We wanted to reimagine the traditional advent calendar as something living and shared. Each performance opens a new ‘window’ into Portland’s creativity – short, unexpected bursts of theatre, song, or poetry that invite people to rediscover familiar places in a new light.”
As the month unfolds, each new event will be revealed like a window on an advent calendar, with images and details shared daily on social media the day before each performance.
ADVENT(ure) Calendar
1st Dec: Catch Me If You Can!
Location: Touring the Island
Featuring: Jon Valender
Come and find Jon! A tenor in the back of a van, singing his way round Portland – part chase, part concert, all adventure. Blink and you’ll miss him!
5th Dec: Peace and Festivity
Location: Easton Square
Featuring: Voices Unbound
Voices Unbound take us up a gear with glorious operatic choruses and a gentle ease into the festive season – a shining part of Portland Sparkle.
6th Dec : A Portland Spy
Location: Portland Social Club
Featuring: Writer Caleb Ranson
The story of Portlander Ethel Gee who was part of the infamous Portland Spy Ring in the 1950s and 60s. Written by Caleb Ranson, this is a fictional account told from the point of Ethel herself – a remarkable story of deceit, love and illegal espionage.
7th Dec: Skylark soliloquies!
Location: Portland Arms
Featuring: Rich Austin
Musician Rich Austin takes the celebrated poems of Portland poet and stone mason ‘Skylark’ and sets them to a mix of folk and rock music
8th Dec: Ariadne on Naxos
Location: Portland Bill
Featuring: Flora McIntosh Ilona Suomalinen
OperaUpClose presents Ariadne on Naxos – Joseph Haydn’s dramatic cantata, performed in English translation by Toria Banks.
Stranded, heartbroken, and magnificent, Ariadne is the abandoned Cretan princess who mourns the loss of her heroic Theseus on the island of Naxos. In this striking reimagining, OperaUpClose brings Haydn’s masterpiece to one of our most remote and evocative settings – before the iconic Portland Bill. Mezzo-soprano Flora McIntosh performs this ravishing score in a newly reworked version, accompanied by accordion.
9th Dec: Sea Pictures
Location: Portland Heights Hotel
Featuring: Sarah Pring and Louise Duke
Experience Elgar’s majestic Sea Pictures – Sarah Pring, Glyndebourne and Royal Ballet and Opera regular and proud Dorset woman, sings Elgar’s haunting evocation to the sea overlooking Chesil Beach and the night sky.
11th Dec: Hamlet
Location: Portland Castle
Featuring: Maanuv Thiara
The 4 soliloquies of Hamlet performed by actor Maanuv Thiara. In this very special performance at Portland Castle, Shakespeare’s greatest play – and one of the most famous plays in the world – is presented as a speedy descent into madness, mischief and mayhem. FREE TICKET IS REQUIRED FOR THIS EVENT
12th Dec: La Boheme
Location: Tesco Carpark
Featuring: Cheryl Enever, Jon Valender and Louise Dukes
It’s Christmas Eve in Paris – or at least, Portland’s version of it! A poet, a candle, and a knock at the door… fall in love all over again with Puccini’s La Bohème, sung under winter skies.
15th Dec: Bach Cello Suite 1
Location: St Georges Church
Featuring: Sally Stell
Hear Bach’s cello sing to the stones of St George’s Church as Sally Stell performs the First Cello Suite – music of grace, strength and quiet joy. One cello, one voice, echoing through centuries and walls alike.
18th Dec: Twas the Night Before Christmas
Location: Portland Pizza Company
Featuring: Kas Darley & Leah
Jackanory comes to Portland with a full reading of the celebrated poem, ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas, come for a show, book a table for a pizza!
19th Dec: This is Not A Christmas Dinner!
Location: Peter Trim Community Hall – St Georges
This Is Not A Christmas Dinner! From the co-creators of This Is Not A Wedding, comes a wonderfully anarchic Christmas celebration about all the things you LOVE TO HATE about Christmas. Part comedy, part theatre, and a sprinkle of dance, this is a Christmas dinner like no other! No food will be thrown (or served) during this event …
20th Dec 3:30-5:00: The Cove House Finale
Location: The Cove House Inn
Featuring: Voices Unbound and your good selves!
To misquote Shakespeaere ‘Our little ADVENT(ure) is rounded with a party!’ Join us at The Cove House Inn to raise a glass, sing and song and ready the festivities
Rocca Holly-Nambi, Director of Towns of Culture, said: “Advent(ure) is a brilliant example of how the Towns of Culture legacy continues to grow – artists and communities working side by side to create something meaningful and unexpected. By turning everyday spaces into stages, it opens up new ways for people to experience culture, whether they seek it out or simply stumble across it. It’s about connection, curiosity, and celebrating the creativity that already thrives within Portland’s community.”
REVEAL – A Year of Culture, Connection and Celebration
From traditional crafts to contemporary performance, REVEAL is unearthing the talent and stories that make Portland and Weymouth special. Reveal – Portland and Weymouth Towns of Culture 2025 is a partnership between 12 cultural organisations from Portland and Weymouth and is funded by Portland Town Council, Weymouth Town Council, and Arts Council England. It aims to engage people of all ages and backgrounds in cultural life.
To see more information on Towns of Culture 2025, please see:- https://www.portlandweymouthculture.com/
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