The New Forest’s Acting Up festival returns for its fourth season this autumn, bringing professional performances into community venues across the forest. Running from October 2026 to March 2027, the programme covers theatre, dance, live music, comedy, storytelling and family shows, with local volunteer promoters helping to choose and host the work in their own halls and community spaces. The festival is delivered with Artsreach, Dorset’s rural arts charity.
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The opening event is on Friday 2 October at Hythe and Dibden Parish Hall, where Sonia Sabri Company presents Roshni. The performance combines Kathak dance with live music, storytelling, spoken word, beatboxing and audience interaction. Sonia Sabri’s choreography places the Northern Indian classical dance form alongside contemporary movement and music from several traditions. Doors open at 7pm, with the performance starting at 7.30pm. It lasts one hour and 45 minutes, including an interval, and is suitable for all ages. Tickets cost £15 for adults, £8 for under-18s and £36 for a family ticket. Drinks and snacks are available at the venue, with cash required. Tickets can be bought through the event website, by calling 02380 841411, or in person at Meeple Play Café on Pylewell Road in Hythe.
The rest of the autumn programme moves around the forest. Families can see Squashbox Theatre’s Curious Creatures in Hythe at 10.30am on Monday 26 October, followed by Luminous Tales’ The Goose & Mrs Frost in Calshot at 11am on Tuesday 27 October. November brings Canadian Celtic folk trio Inn Echo to East Boldre on Thursday 12 November, Jekyll & Hyde from Ropetackle Storytellers to Pennington on Sunday 22 November, and bluegrass group Flats & Sharps to Lyndhurst on Wednesday 25 November. In December, James Rowland performs Team Viking in Fawley on Sunday 6 December, while the Budapest Cafe Orchestra plays Woodgreen on Friday 11 December.
The programme continues into 2027 with Bowjangles’ Classically Untamed in Lyndhurst on Sunday 17 January. February includes Adverse Camber’s Story Brew: Wild Woods in Woodgreen and Pennington, as well as the Neil Maya Quartet’s The Brubeck Project in Blackfield. March then brings Old Baby Mackerel to East Boldre, Spiltmilk Dance’s Playlist to the Waterside Empower Centre Church, The Bookshop Band to Hythe Library and David Eagle’s Flying Solo to Fawley. With performances spread across familiar local venues rather than concentrated in one theatre, Acting Up offers a varied way to keep live culture on the calendar through the darker months.
Published Date
1 October 2026
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