Please note - online booking will not be available after midnight
on Thursday 12th September
on Thursday 12th September
THE PROGRAMME (so far):
A Voice We Follow
- Royal Kung Foolery
Multi-award winning physical theatre company ‘Royal Kung Foolery’ are back with a new hysterical, physical and compelling piece of original theatre!
The year was 1974. The ferocious storm was soon approaching. And it was at this precise moment that the Cetkovic Brothers (who were lost in the vast and rugged Molin Forest) were nearly no more than a distant memory. Lost forever, and never to be found. All hope seemed lost, until a mysterious radio transmission soon changed everything.
Review
“Style, pizazz and hilarious physical movement that has become a trademark of Royal Kung Foolery. The two main characters are compelling, believable and highly sympathetic. The rampant hilarity is a giant cherry on top”. (Limerick Leader, Ireland).
The year was 1974. The ferocious storm was soon approaching. And it was at this precise moment that the Cetkovic Brothers (who were lost in the vast and rugged Molin Forest) were nearly no more than a distant memory. Lost forever, and never to be found. All hope seemed lost, until a mysterious radio transmission soon changed everything.
Review
“Style, pizazz and hilarious physical movement that has become a trademark of Royal Kung Foolery. The two main characters are compelling, believable and highly sympathetic. The rampant hilarity is a giant cherry on top”. (Limerick Leader, Ireland).
A Woman's Life
- Carolyn S Jones and company
Cheltenham 1881: In the kitchen of the von Holst household, Clara is wracking her brains to think what to cook for supper. Her two little boys, Gustav and Emil, are in bed, husband Adolph is visiting a Montpellier hostelry after a concert, and the new maid has taken to her room. Like so many Victorian housewives, Clara turns to Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management for advice. But Clara is a talented musician and her mind wanders from stockpots to a time when she still had dreams of her own. Then into her kitchen, bustles Mrs Beeton herself, the mob-capped matron of our imagination and Clara’s stern taskmaster. But is Bella Beeton all that she seems? As Adolph’s pupils ‘murder’ Mendelssohn offstage, a tragedy is to test Clara and bring the two women closer.
In A Woman’s Life, by BAFTA-nominated playwright, Carolyn S. Jones, directed by Marianne Gaston and featuring Emma Wilkes and Emmeline Braefield, long buried secrets now come to light…
In A Woman’s Life, by BAFTA-nominated playwright, Carolyn S. Jones, directed by Marianne Gaston and featuring Emma Wilkes and Emmeline Braefield, long buried secrets now come to light…
A Scotch Sitting Room Vol.3, Ep. 2
- Obvious Arts
‘Ivor Cutless’ returns to the festival after last years successful premiere! Fergus Ryan presents a sandwich of select works by legendary Scottish absurdist and Peel favourite Ivor Cutler, with a filling of Ferg. Defeat stress, defy intelligence and be rejuvinated by this porridgey feast of humour - an hour of beauty and nonsense.
An Audience With Babs Catland
- Midnight Storytellers
She's a crazy cat lady 'purr excellence', the cat's whiskers of feline fans. Introducing Barbara Catland and friends. Fur will fly when Babs gets her claws into modern life - 'Not enough naps' - and men - 'So like dogs!' Miss Catland will take questions but don't be surprised if she scratches.
Chloe of the Midnight Storytellers launches a new persona - blending comedy, stories and her love of everything that purrs. You will be a-mews-ed.
- Mild adult references, best for age 15+
Chloe of the Midnight Storytellers launches a new persona - blending comedy, stories and her love of everything that purrs. You will be a-mews-ed.
- Mild adult references, best for age 15+
Barry and Dotty's Big Night Out!
- The Colourful Theatre Company
For Barry and Dotty’s 50th wedding anniversary, their children clubbed together and bought them a night at the opera, complete with posh dinner and elegant gown hire. What could possibly go wrong??
With a mixture of masked and non-masked performers, Barry and Dotty’s Big Night Out! is a comedic account of one elderly couple’s night on the town.
With a mixture of masked and non-masked performers, Barry and Dotty’s Big Night Out! is a comedic account of one elderly couple’s night on the town.
Brits, Brats and Backpacks
- Spaniel in the Works Theatre Company
Captain of the Birds
- Drop of a Hat Theatre Company
Church of Phil
- Fire Donkey Productions
Fire Donkey blur the lines between fiction and reality as they present an absurd multimedia alternative comedy experience all about a cult that lives on a caravan park in Wales and worship the child star of a 90's pharmaceutical advert. Expect silliness, dance, a psychotic chimp, and just enough blood sacrifice to keep it on the right side of tasteful.
Church of Phil Mass Extinction Event
- Fire Donkey Productions
From the makers of Church of Phil and Welcome to the Future comes a new piece of absurdist comedy theatre to loosely complete the trilogy (or “Philogy”, as it were). In this installment we join cult members Polly and Liam in a state-of-the-art nuclear bunker deep below their commune-turned-caravan holiday resort in Pembrokeshire, as they conduct a special service to celebrate the life of Phil, the 90's child-star with links to Big Pharma, who made it all possible. Expect the unexpected in this surreal post-apocalyptic presentation, featuring home-made props, niche references to 90's pharmaceutical adverts, and a very brittle fourth wall.
Previous reviews for Fire Donkey:
“One to keep an eye on” - London Theatre Reviews
“Gleeful absurdity” - Buzz Magazine
“I know it happened, but I'm still not sure what happened” - The Swindonian
“If you can get past questioning why this show ever came into being, it'll be fine” - Stroud Theatre Reviews
And one woman simply wished us luck.
Previous reviews for Fire Donkey:
“One to keep an eye on” - London Theatre Reviews
“Gleeful absurdity” - Buzz Magazine
“I know it happened, but I'm still not sure what happened” - The Swindonian
“If you can get past questioning why this show ever came into being, it'll be fine” - Stroud Theatre Reviews
And one woman simply wished us luck.
Elephants
- Atomic Clock Theatre
Described by Rhys Hayes of the leading 'Off West End' Finborough Theatre, as 'an energetic, bold monologue that addresses mental health issues in a compassionate and thoughtful way’. ELEPHANTS is written by Niall Farnan and follows Squirrel, a young person in their late teens. Seen through Squirrel's philosophy of life it explores loss, and the character's inability to come to terms with it as they struggle with PTSD; and a system that has consistently abandoned them throughout their young life. Young people are often demonised but should never be generalised.
“You think you see me – but you don’t, not really”. - Squirrel.
"Deborah Riggs gives an outstanding emotional performance, with power and intensive expression" - Cardiff Times.
"Hilarious and revelatory in turn, with razor sharp writing and electrifying acting. Highly recommended." – Michael Beakhouse."
“This is very verité. Very real, very modern” -Bath Fringe Festival
Atomic Clock are a collaborative Theatre Company based in Bristol and Cardiff, who perform self-devised Drama, Performance and Live Art.
Recommended audience age 15 due to some infrequent very strong language.
“You think you see me – but you don’t, not really”. - Squirrel.
"Deborah Riggs gives an outstanding emotional performance, with power and intensive expression" - Cardiff Times.
"Hilarious and revelatory in turn, with razor sharp writing and electrifying acting. Highly recommended." – Michael Beakhouse."
“This is very verité. Very real, very modern” -Bath Fringe Festival
Atomic Clock are a collaborative Theatre Company based in Bristol and Cardiff, who perform self-devised Drama, Performance and Live Art.
Recommended audience age 15 due to some infrequent very strong language.
Everything Wrong With You Is Beautiful
- Tina Sederholm
Poet Tina Sederholm knows she is an adult, but still feels like the problem child. As her father descends into Alzheimer’s, Tina tries to uncover the facts behind a family story that never rang true. But as she digs into the past, she discovers the truth is not always easy to define.
A bittersweet, middle-aged rite of passage, Everything Wrong With You Is Beautiful melds memoir, comedy and poetry into a poignant story of healing and reconciliation, finding beauty even in heartbreaking circumstances.
A beautifully humbling and thoughtful storytelling experience dripping with hope, acceptance, and grounding self-mockery,’ Three Weeks *****
A bittersweet, middle-aged rite of passage, Everything Wrong With You Is Beautiful melds memoir, comedy and poetry into a poignant story of healing and reconciliation, finding beauty even in heartbreaking circumstances.
A beautifully humbling and thoughtful storytelling experience dripping with hope, acceptance, and grounding self-mockery,’ Three Weeks *****
Fauna
- Equal Art
Mark and Sally find themselves in a future they could never have imagined. Suffering is a by-product of everyday life, injustice is commonplace and nobody knows who is in charge. This original play will explore the depths of the human soul, the capacity of the mind and the stability of this planets future. All in Equal Art's debut theatrical performance.
How To Grow Victorians In Your Garden
- Bill Jones
Bill Jones offers sage advice on the subject of cultivating Victorians including such wisdom as- “In spring, tender Victorians need protecting from whooping cough, influenza and other blights. Cloches are recommended”.
An illustrated performance talk full of practical gardening tips, props including Bill's own illustrations and – of course – terrible puns.
An illustrated performance talk full of practical gardening tips, props including Bill's own illustrations and – of course – terrible puns.
Jane Austen and the Cheltonians
-The Suffolk Anthology in association with Natura Contemporary Theatre
May 1816 Jane Austen and her literary muse Emma Knightly (née Woodhouse) find themselves in Cheltenham for the 100th anniversary of Cheltenham Spa. Left to fill her days, the temptation to indulge in matchmaking again proves too great for Emma with the arrival of Eloisa Fairweather, the widow of a wealthy ship owner from Bristol, and a young army officer, who claims to be a war hero from the Battle of Waterloo. Delicious complications follow as love letters go astray and Emma finds herself the attention of the young army officer.
The novel The Cheltonians, provides a witty commentary on marriage, morals and love. It remained unpublished in Jane Austen's lifetime as she passed away in 1817 and was believed to have been burnt immediately following her death, by her sister Cassandra . This lost manuscript now receives its world premiere in a dramatised reading with literary additions by Caroline Summerfield.
The novel The Cheltonians, provides a witty commentary on marriage, morals and love. It remained unpublished in Jane Austen's lifetime as she passed away in 1817 and was believed to have been burnt immediately following her death, by her sister Cassandra . This lost manuscript now receives its world premiere in a dramatised reading with literary additions by Caroline Summerfield.
Killing My Hamster Aged 6
- Steven Tarr
Steven recounts his childhood in a macabre comedy storytelling piece, covering all things death, hamsters, John McCririck and The One Show.
Life Fright!
- Rose Wadham
Truly bonkers character comedian and stand up comedian Rose Wadham presents her one woman show ‘Life Fright!’ that makes darkly comic light of the inner torment that drives us all.
Inspired by nearly 20 years as the director of a holistic wellness retreat (and unable to repress them| any longer) Rose will present her wild and whacky characters - an Australian Yogalates teacher obsessed with tightening her pelvic floor, a 'bi focal’ Hypnotherapist and a wellfullness blogger who has had quite enough of green drinks. Rose also sings as a Male Feminist and a former diva who sacrificed her art for wealth. She will end her show with a stand up set that will truly challenge your pelvic floor.
Inspired by nearly 20 years as the director of a holistic wellness retreat (and unable to repress them| any longer) Rose will present her wild and whacky characters - an Australian Yogalates teacher obsessed with tightening her pelvic floor, a 'bi focal’ Hypnotherapist and a wellfullness blogger who has had quite enough of green drinks. Rose also sings as a Male Feminist and a former diva who sacrificed her art for wealth. She will end her show with a stand up set that will truly challenge your pelvic floor.
Machines
- Loop of the Out
STAMP. An office room. STAMP. Papers stacked high. STAMP. A dimly lit desk. STAMP.
Tom sits, transfixed by his work. The ink is thick and warm. Threats of a disturbance linger.
After last year's sell out debut with 'Out of the Loop', 'LOTO' presents 'Machines’. A surreal piece set in a dystopian future, exploring the delicate balance between work and freedom, in a world where automation obviates the need for human labour. Be early, be efficient, and don't read the...STAMP
Tom sits, transfixed by his work. The ink is thick and warm. Threats of a disturbance linger.
After last year's sell out debut with 'Out of the Loop', 'LOTO' presents 'Machines’. A surreal piece set in a dystopian future, exploring the delicate balance between work and freedom, in a world where automation obviates the need for human labour. Be early, be efficient, and don't read the...STAMP
Miss Potter's Tailor's Tale
- Brandywine Theatre
Beatrix Potter – now Mrs William Heelis and a dedicated hill farmer in the Lake District – takes a break from lambing on a snowy night to share with us her candid recollections of how she became the most successful children’s author and illustrator of all time – how she lost the man she loved – how, after nineteen books, she regrets that she will not have a new one finished for Christmas of 1916 – and how the War Office have even tried to requisition her horse!
‘And how can you run a farm without a horse, I should like to know?!’
But, revelling in the joy she finds in her hard-working life and with her habitual good humour and wit, she delights in telling us the true tale of her favourite tailor.
‘And how can you run a farm without a horse, I should like to know?!’
But, revelling in the joy she finds in her hard-working life and with her habitual good humour and wit, she delights in telling us the true tale of her favourite tailor.
Odd Socks
- Acting Up
‘This is a powerful and sometimes harrowing piece about two sisters locked in to a web of secrets and lies.
The older sister, Chloe, is suffering from depression and anxiety following traumatic events which have occurred throughout her life.
Daisy, the younger sibling is constantly trying to pacify the sister she loves so dearly but on this particular night events come to a head and the biggest secret of all is revealed.
Not everything is as it seems and the mood of the piece escalates to leave the audience on an almighty cliff-hanger.
The older sister, Chloe, is suffering from depression and anxiety following traumatic events which have occurred throughout her life.
Daisy, the younger sibling is constantly trying to pacify the sister she loves so dearly but on this particular night events come to a head and the biggest secret of all is revealed.
Not everything is as it seems and the mood of the piece escalates to leave the audience on an almighty cliff-hanger.
Pigs Can Fly
- The Small Spaces Theatre Company
Performed as a radio play with a difference, “Pigs Can Fly” celebrates the important of the Short brother to the birth of British aviation, in this 50th anniversary year of Oswald Short’s passing.
A cast of 14 tells the story of relationships – of love, passion, commerce, bravery, disappointments and death; of the first Aero Club members and the development of British Aviation and its struggle to survive against a hostile Government, press and public - all seen through the eyes of Daily Mail reporter, Charlie Hands.
Charles Rolls’ visions changed the lives of millions of people in a short ten year span - a pioneer of motoring and with a passion for aviation. One half of the Rolls-Royce partnership he also planned for an aircraft company before his tragic death, the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with a powered aircraft.
A radio play with a difference??
Based on her book “The Birth of British Aviation – Prisoners of Hope”, Helen Landau incorporates in this innovative production, directed by Lisa Holman, costumes, projected images and a pig to tell this tale’s hazardous journey, which was only ended by a prank that even the Government of the day could not ignore.
All profit from tickets sales are being donated to Help for Heroes
A cast of 14 tells the story of relationships – of love, passion, commerce, bravery, disappointments and death; of the first Aero Club members and the development of British Aviation and its struggle to survive against a hostile Government, press and public - all seen through the eyes of Daily Mail reporter, Charlie Hands.
Charles Rolls’ visions changed the lives of millions of people in a short ten year span - a pioneer of motoring and with a passion for aviation. One half of the Rolls-Royce partnership he also planned for an aircraft company before his tragic death, the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with a powered aircraft.
A radio play with a difference??
Based on her book “The Birth of British Aviation – Prisoners of Hope”, Helen Landau incorporates in this innovative production, directed by Lisa Holman, costumes, projected images and a pig to tell this tale’s hazardous journey, which was only ended by a prank that even the Government of the day could not ignore.
All profit from tickets sales are being donated to Help for Heroes
Radicals, Revolutionaries and Poets
- Radical Stroud
London at the end of the 18th Century.....
Radical Stroud recreate the febrile atmosphere of London at the time of the French Revolution with an echo of Thomas Spence’s ‘free and easies’. Spence championed his plan for the common ownership of land through ‘free and easies’: songs and ballads and poems and political speechifying in ordinary down to earth language. In pubs and taverns and coffee houses. Men and women. Black and white and mixed-heritage. ‘The People’s Farm’.
We offer three ‘free and easies’ with spoken word recreations – some with song, music and dance over the three days of the Theatre Festival.
Radical Stroud recreate the febrile atmosphere of London at the time of the French Revolution with an echo of Thomas Spence’s ‘free and easies’. Spence championed his plan for the common ownership of land through ‘free and easies’: songs and ballads and poems and political speechifying in ordinary down to earth language. In pubs and taverns and coffee houses. Men and women. Black and white and mixed-heritage. ‘The People’s Farm’.
We offer three ‘free and easies’ with spoken word recreations – some with song, music and dance over the three days of the Theatre Festival.
Thomas Spence portrayed by Paul Southcott and Jane Evans – Spencean leader
William Blake as portrayed by Jonny Fluffypunk
Robert Wedderburn (Spencean revolutionary leader- the son of an enslaved woman) portrayed by Peter Anderson
Researched and co-written by Stuart Butler
Special Brew
- The Severn Wonders
Enjoy one hour of laughter from the South West’s premier comedy maestros. The Stroud team that brought you ‘From Here to Selsley’, ‘Aside her with Dozy’ and ‘Something Brewing’ present ‘Special Brew’, containing the best from the above together with a sprinkling of brand new sketches.
We write and perform all our own material and have been described as ‘pan-fried panto’. Our influences are from the golden era of comedy (e.g Black Adder, Absolutely, French and Saunders, Fry and Laurie, Dave Allen, Benny Hill, Carry On and The Two Ronnies).
The production would suit adults 18+
Reviews from past shows:
“ We loved the show tonight. It was hilarious – brilliant ideas, great facial expressions/accents. We were alternately aching and crying with laughter” - Margaret Davies
“Great fun, original and hugely entertaining” - Martin Fretwell
“I travel down from the Midlands to watch The Severn Wonders. Worth every mile!” - Richard Hancock
We write and perform all our own material and have been described as ‘pan-fried panto’. Our influences are from the golden era of comedy (e.g Black Adder, Absolutely, French and Saunders, Fry and Laurie, Dave Allen, Benny Hill, Carry On and The Two Ronnies).
The production would suit adults 18+
Reviews from past shows:
“ We loved the show tonight. It was hilarious – brilliant ideas, great facial expressions/accents. We were alternately aching and crying with laughter” - Margaret Davies
“Great fun, original and hugely entertaining” - Martin Fretwell
“I travel down from the Midlands to watch The Severn Wonders. Worth every mile!” - Richard Hancock
Tempus Fugit
- Eight Miles and the Moon
A promise. A deal. A curse.
How much time does it take to save a person’s life? How much time is needed to make a person live forever?
Tempus Fugit follows the tale of a storyteller who has struck a bargain to change the fate of a dear loved one, but at what cost?
Suitable for ages 14+
How much time does it take to save a person’s life? How much time is needed to make a person live forever?
Tempus Fugit follows the tale of a storyteller who has struck a bargain to change the fate of a dear loved one, but at what cost?
Suitable for ages 14+
Test Transmission From the Edge of the World
- Jonny Fluffypunk
In a ramshackle home-made shed high on the salt-licked shingle, a home-made man is having a love affair with radio. And a love affair over the radio. A love affair partially conducted in morse code, if you will. A lo-fi stand-up spoken word theatre show about imagination, invention and the magic of the airwaves. Oh yeah, and love. Of sorts. Suitable for anyone with a human soul.
Jonny Fluffypunk presents the premiere of the reimagined, reworked, fully valve-powered ‘proper’ version of the embryonic show he so expertly read off bits of paper last year.
Always conceived as a collaboration with the beautiful corrugated tin Radio Hut installation constructed by international artistic geniuses Miniature Museums, this year it is indeed just that.
Two shows performed in and around the Radio Hut, which will be in residence in the courtyard of the Museum in the Park, and a third indoors (but still in sniffing distance of the installation).
Jonny Fluffypunk presents the premiere of the reimagined, reworked, fully valve-powered ‘proper’ version of the embryonic show he so expertly read off bits of paper last year.
Always conceived as a collaboration with the beautiful corrugated tin Radio Hut installation constructed by international artistic geniuses Miniature Museums, this year it is indeed just that.
Two shows performed in and around the Radio Hut, which will be in residence in the courtyard of the Museum in the Park, and a third indoors (but still in sniffing distance of the installation).
The Ballad of the Bristol Baby Farmer
- Silkstone Productions
As Jack the Ripper’s reign of terror fades, a much more insidious and prolific murderer remains on the loose in and around Bristol, Cheltenham and Gloucester.
Amelia Dyer finds loving homes for children whose mothers can’t support them. In the absence of paternal responsibility and with abortion illegal, business is booming, but it’s also challenging. Who is the mysterious governess who stalks Amelia at every turn and why is her daughter so keen to make her own way in life? The answers only begin to emerge when a carpet bag is fished from the Thames.
A timely true tale of what can happen when society ignores the rights of mothers.
Not suitable for under 12s.
Amelia Dyer finds loving homes for children whose mothers can’t support them. In the absence of paternal responsibility and with abortion illegal, business is booming, but it’s also challenging. Who is the mysterious governess who stalks Amelia at every turn and why is her daughter so keen to make her own way in life? The answers only begin to emerge when a carpet bag is fished from the Thames.
A timely true tale of what can happen when society ignores the rights of mothers.
Not suitable for under 12s.
The Bird Show
- The Last Baguette
The Bird Show - a flap-tastic fact-filled family comedy by The Last Baguette
With frolics and foraging, flitting, flying and two unusual feathery friends, this is a madcap and touching show about birds facing changes to their habitat. The Bird Show uses live music, puppetry and lots of silly bird jokes in this heart-fluttering physical comedy about conservation, migration and imagination.
We follow Henry the Heron and Sally the House Sparrow on a zany journey to become friends while facing ecological threats to their habitat. This colourful, visual show uses music, object puppetry, and dance to gently explore the impact of humans on nature and asks the question - what can we do differently?
“The energy and commitment of the company is infectious. This is unique small scale theatre with a great heart” Theatre Bath
Suitable for the whole brood including fledglings from 4+
thelastbaguette.com
With frolics and foraging, flitting, flying and two unusual feathery friends, this is a madcap and touching show about birds facing changes to their habitat. The Bird Show uses live music, puppetry and lots of silly bird jokes in this heart-fluttering physical comedy about conservation, migration and imagination.
We follow Henry the Heron and Sally the House Sparrow on a zany journey to become friends while facing ecological threats to their habitat. This colourful, visual show uses music, object puppetry, and dance to gently explore the impact of humans on nature and asks the question - what can we do differently?
“The energy and commitment of the company is infectious. This is unique small scale theatre with a great heart” Theatre Bath
Suitable for the whole brood including fledglings from 4+
thelastbaguette.com
The Breath of Love
- Learning Through Theatre
The year is 1590 and the wind of change is blowing through the field of knowledge.
Doctor Leglimbo, renowned alchemist, is on the brink of a profound discovery - a divine elixir that will open Death’s door and guide the departed back into the light. Missing a key component, he enlists his hapless servant Harlequin to capture the vital vapour…But, when love is in the air and everyone is out to get rich... who knows where their greed will take them?
“When Quack and Zany are thus met
The world of Science begins to fret!”
A Commedia dell’Arte play involving unscrupulous masters, artful servants, the dead and … the undead. This timeless comedy will entertain audiences of all ages, serving up a feast of farce, dashing blades and high energy half masks.
Doctor Leglimbo, renowned alchemist, is on the brink of a profound discovery - a divine elixir that will open Death’s door and guide the departed back into the light. Missing a key component, he enlists his hapless servant Harlequin to capture the vital vapour…But, when love is in the air and everyone is out to get rich... who knows where their greed will take them?
“When Quack and Zany are thus met
The world of Science begins to fret!”
A Commedia dell’Arte play involving unscrupulous masters, artful servants, the dead and … the undead. This timeless comedy will entertain audiences of all ages, serving up a feast of farce, dashing blades and high energy half masks.
The Metamorphosis
- Leap Theatre
Leap Theatre make use of physical theatre in their debut; an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Gregor, the eldest son and breadwinner of the household, begins to struggle with the life he has led for so long. Inner struggles begin to manifest themselves physically. His relationship with his family is strained and deteriorates. There is no going back to how things used to be.
The Numbers Station
- White Hippos Productions
Welcome to The Numbers Station, the most secret of TOP SECRET, secrets.
It is a difficult time to be a spy, the future is uncertain and modern technology means that a Nation's secrets can be uncovered and shared in an instant. To combat this Britain has gone backwards; radio waves, code books and writing things down by hand are now the processes to keep Britain safe. Late one night as the codes come in, a lone radio operative stumbles upon the conspiracy to end all conspiracies. Or it might just be a clerical error.
Following ‘The Boy Who Fell in Love with the Stars’ and ‘TALL’ White Hippos Productions return to the Stroud Theatre Festival for the 3rd time with a brand new show, one that takes a look at the not too distant future and what you will never know about it.
"A brilliantly written and performed one-man play which manages to simultaneously convey both the bloodboilingly frustrating jobsworth bureaucracy of working for a large institution and the sinister hold that social media has over us. Wickedly funny and incisively analytical. " - The Daily Fringe
"Brilliant show. Beautiful writing – as we have come to expect from White Hippos but a terrifically totally engaged performance too! Don’t miss it." - Gill Nathanson – Fringe Theatrefest
It is a difficult time to be a spy, the future is uncertain and modern technology means that a Nation's secrets can be uncovered and shared in an instant. To combat this Britain has gone backwards; radio waves, code books and writing things down by hand are now the processes to keep Britain safe. Late one night as the codes come in, a lone radio operative stumbles upon the conspiracy to end all conspiracies. Or it might just be a clerical error.
Following ‘The Boy Who Fell in Love with the Stars’ and ‘TALL’ White Hippos Productions return to the Stroud Theatre Festival for the 3rd time with a brand new show, one that takes a look at the not too distant future and what you will never know about it.
"A brilliantly written and performed one-man play which manages to simultaneously convey both the bloodboilingly frustrating jobsworth bureaucracy of working for a large institution and the sinister hold that social media has over us. Wickedly funny and incisively analytical. " - The Daily Fringe
"Brilliant show. Beautiful writing – as we have come to expect from White Hippos but a terrifically totally engaged performance too! Don’t miss it." - Gill Nathanson – Fringe Theatrefest
The Reduced Literature Degree
- Shirley Halse
With rising tuition fees and the value of higher education being increasingly called into question, Shirley Halse has condensed three years worth of the BA curriculum down into a far more efficient one hour show. We start the course with some ridiculous Old English, zip through bawdy Chaucer, needy Sidney, catty Dryden, loved-up Keats, moody Larkin, Woolf, and finally check in at Literature in the 21st century. No essays required.
Tideman's Piece
- Raw Material Productions
We can choose our friends but not our families… but would we choose differently
If we could? This show is a celebration of people in my family and of places that were important to them, and an attempt to find a way into some of the secret history that all families have, and that makes us who we are, together with original and traditional tunes on the fiddle
If we could? This show is a celebration of people in my family and of places that were important to them, and an attempt to find a way into some of the secret history that all families have, and that makes us who we are, together with original and traditional tunes on the fiddle
Two by Jim Cartwright
- Foulisfair Theatre in association with Dramestics
A warm welcome to our pub! What’ll it be, a double? Yes! We’re your landlord and landlady: always happy to see you; cracking smiles and jokes - (just don’t catch us skulking behind beer barrels, having a crack at each other…) Enjoy your home-from-home right here and mingle with our motley crew of colourful regulars passing through the doors. Laugh at them, cry with them; drink their humanity down. At the bar the evening wears tirelessly on, though beneath the shiny surface, a broken memory festers. Dark tragedy stands in the shadow of the doorway in the form of a small boy, waiting to step in like a ghost. Opening the door might break us completely…or could it spark a tentative awakening, a fragile reconciliation? Might the pale light of hope spill into our lives?
Gemma Bolwell (Foulisfair Theatre/Drama Adventures) and Edward Derbyshire (Dramestics/Gloucestershire Youth Players) are Gloucestershire-based theatre-makers, performers, directors and drama teachers, performing together for the first time in Two. Playwright Jim Cartwright is well known for Road and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. Two was the winner of The Manchester Evening News Best New Play award in 1989.
Gemma Bolwell (Foulisfair Theatre/Drama Adventures) and Edward Derbyshire (Dramestics/Gloucestershire Youth Players) are Gloucestershire-based theatre-makers, performers, directors and drama teachers, performing together for the first time in Two. Playwright Jim Cartwright is well known for Road and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. Two was the winner of The Manchester Evening News Best New Play award in 1989.
Waiting For Samuel
- Brandywine Productions
Elizabeth Pepys is fully aware of her diary-keeping husband's dissolute doings in the fleshpots, theatres and coffee houses of Restoration London for, while it took scholars many years to decipher the system of shorthand in which Samuel wrote his famous diaries, Elizabeth mastered the code from the beginning and has only to read last night's entry to find out what ‘the dirty little devil’ was up to yesterday.
Luckily, Elizabeth is blessed with a sense of humour and, in any case, she has rather too many secrets of her own which she is quite happy to reveal to us - in confidence - though she has far more sense than to ever write them down.
Flicking back through the pages, she re-lives and shares with us the ups and downs of their married life - their wedding, the return of the King, Samuel's steady rise to prosperity, the horrors of the plague and how they barely survived the Great Fire when London blazed and tumbled down around them. But now, though she has tolerated Samuel's numerous peccadilloes, and often matched them with her own, she fears that he has at last fallen deeply in love with a girl young enough to be their daughter.
Luckily, Elizabeth is blessed with a sense of humour and, in any case, she has rather too many secrets of her own which she is quite happy to reveal to us - in confidence - though she has far more sense than to ever write them down.
Flicking back through the pages, she re-lives and shares with us the ups and downs of their married life - their wedding, the return of the King, Samuel's steady rise to prosperity, the horrors of the plague and how they barely survived the Great Fire when London blazed and tumbled down around them. But now, though she has tolerated Samuel's numerous peccadilloes, and often matched them with her own, she fears that he has at last fallen deeply in love with a girl young enough to be their daughter.
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