A PACKED spring summer season at Salisbury Arts Centre includes new exhibitions on screen and dance performances, alongside an almost entirely imagined Bon Jovi musical and the launch of the Arts Centre’s Gin Club.

New for 2020 are Exhibitions on Screen including cinematic immersions into exhibitions by the modern master Lucian Freud and by global icon Frida Kahlo.

Lucian Freud: A Self Portrait will be streamed from the Royal Academy of Arts in London on January 23, revealing the painter’s life and work through a unique exhibition of his self-portraits. Frida Kahlo’s Exhibition on Screen follows in July.

Salisbury Playhouse is premiering a new adaptation of Federico Lorca’s Blood Wedding, retold by Salisbury playwright Barney Norris, commissioned and produced by Wiltshire Creative and Up In Arms. The new adaptation is set in present-day Wiltshire and runs from February 6-22.

Jeff Rawle (The Durrells, Hollyoaks and Drop the Dead Donkey) and Teresa Banham (Mary Wilson in The Crown, Netflix) lead the cast with Wiltshire Creative Stage 65 Youth Theatre alumnus Reece Evans (Peer Gynt, Salisbury Playhouse) playing Rob, the young groom.

Lily Nichol (Maydays, RSC) plays Georgie, Rob’s fiancée. The cast is completed by Emmet Byrne (Misfits, Dublin Theatre Festival) playing Lee, Georgie’s ex, and Eleanor Henderson (The New Romantic, Vault Festival) playing Danni, Lee’s wife.

Barney Norris’s explosive retelling of Lorca’s classic tragedy sets the action firmly in a modern-day Wiltshire community that’s rocked by revelations and gossip as a young couple prepare for their wedding. Barney’s previous plays include Echo’s End and The Remains of the Day at Salisbury Playhouse.

Barney Norris said: “I’ve always been interested in the possibilities of setting existing, well-known stories in a Wiltshire landscape. Blood Wedding is a fable about the hidden wildness of the world, the power of love and longing, the suffering of women, the ineluctable pull of fate.”

Barney and director Alice Hamilton will be taking part in a number of workshops about playwriting during the run of Blood Wedding.

To coincide with Blood Wedding at Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury Arts Centre will host a solo exhibition by Cornwall-based artist Nicola Bealing, Three Acts and Seven Scenes, which responds to Lorca’s Blood Wedding. Several of Nicola’s works were recently acquired by the British Museum for its permanent collection. It runs at Salisbury Arts Centre from January 27-March 28.

Tickets are on sale now and can be booked by calling Ticket Sales on 01722 320333 or by visiting www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk.

Dance takes centre stage at Salisbury Arts Centre as James Wilton Dance presents The Storm, a whirlwind of athleticism that combines break-dancing, martial arts and contact work performed by seven dancers to a soundtrack of electro-rock (21 March), and Levantes Dance Theatre presents awe-inspiring dance, theatre and circus to tell the story of 1970s one hit wonders Sandy & Bruno (23 April).

Comedy at Salisbury Arts Centre comes from Living Spit’s Swan Lake which promises to be the funniest micro-ballet ever (24-25 January) as well as stand-up comedians Tom Stade (7 February), Joz Norris (22 February), Jen Brister (12 March) and Flo & Joan (5 March), recently seen at the Royal Variety Performance. Regular Barnstormers comedy nights continue from 31 January.

Music at Salisbury Arts Centre includes one of the world’s most innovative percussion ensembles, Ensemble Bash (15 February) using the music of West Africa as an influence. Paul O’Donnell presents an almost entirely imagined Bon Jovi musical (28 March) – use your imagination to conjure the cast, orchestra, scenery and dramatic key changes!

The Buster Keaton Picture Show sees acclaimed instrumental group Haiku Salut perform an original live score to Keaton’s 1926 comedy The General (3 April). Singer songwriter Louise Jordan brings her show Florence to the Arts Centre, shining a light on the Lady of the Lamp and her Salisbury connections in the 200th year of her birth (1 May).

July sees the first Gin Club at Salisbury Arts Centre with four gins, tonics and garnishes to sample while learning about their ingredients.

There is a full programme of films throughout the season including Wednesday matinees and Wednesday evening screenings of classics and family favourites plus regular live screenings.

Salisbury Arts Centre continues its busy programme of workshops from pottery to stand-up comedy and art classes.

Salisbury Arts Centre is open six days a week. For the full programme, visit www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk.