STEVE Knightley, one half of award-winning band Show of Hands, is making a rare solo appearance at the Marnhull Acoustic Sessions on Sunday.

The performance is part of Steve’s Grow Your own Gig scheme, whereby promoters set up their own concerts and the musicians provide the entertainment.

The Marnhull Acoustic Sessions are run by Ian Lyster, who is also behind this year’s behind the Castle Festival in Sherborne in June.

Steve Knightley has been hailed as one of England’s greatest singer-songwriters.

He is renowned for his strong, trademark narrative songs which reflect the escapades, hopes and fears not only of people in his native West Country but beyond and he pulls no punches when writing highly literate songs about bigger, global issues.

The gig is at Marnhull village hall on Sunday and doors open at 7pm and the gig will finish at approximately 10pm.

There is a bar and free parking and tickets cost £17.60 (inc booking fee) or, if there any left, £18 on the night. Advance tickets are available from marnhullacousticsessions.co.uk

  •  Frome-based actor Pip Utton is a much-loved performer on the Artsreach circuit, with his fascinating portrayals of well-known figures such as Hitler, Churchill and Dickens touring to great acclaim over recent years.

Tomorrow he is back to explore the life of Charlie Chaplin behind the façade of his character the Tramp – the creation that made him the highest paid actor of his time and opened the doors of society and celebrity.

Chaplin had created an image of himself for public consumption that hid the darker sides of his personality. Using cleverly produced film footage, Utton steps in and out of Chaplin’s world, between the reality and the creation.

The play is a captivating exposure of the life of one the only men in history to produce, direct, edit, perform in and compose the score for his own films.

An Edinburgh Fringe favourite, and highly acclaimed by theatre critics, Pip Utton is one to watch, and where better than in the intimacy of a village hall?

Pip is performing Chaplin at Burton Bradstock village hall tomorrow at 7.30pm. Call 01308 897214 for tickets and details.

  •  Also on stage tomorrow is Alison Neil, who brings her fabulous one-woman play about the life of Mary Anning to Thorncombe village hall at 7.30pm.

In The Fossil Lady of Lyme, Mary Anning tells her fascinating story of ‘the fine clever men of science’ who took most of the credit for her work.

Anning played a key part in this extraordinary time when, at the age of 12, she discovered the first complete fossil of a prehistoric reptile in Great Britain in Lyme Regis. Throughout her life, she continued to make groundbreaking and spectacular discoveries.

The entertaining tale of this local woman, her life, her friendships, her struggle to make her mark, and put food on the table, provides an amusing and moving theatrical treat.

And by the end of the show, you will surely know the difference between an ichthyosaur and a plesiosaur!

The Thorncombe village hall show under the Artsreach banner is at 7.30pm More information from 01460 30994 or artsreach .co.uk