Please note - online booking will not be available after midnight 
on Thursday 13th September

THE PROGRAMME:

and breathe.....
- bLUE FROG THEATRE

When Thai Chi comes to the local village hall of Bramley, a group of ladies meet for their weekly session of movement and meditation.
But are they there to clear their minds and connect with their inner chakras? Or are they trying to work out who they are and where they are going?
We meet 7 women who all have a tale to tell…So, when you're told to clear your mind, what do you really think about?
Everyone has a story.

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The Imperial Hotel, Station Road, Stroud, GL5 3AP
Fri 14th Sept  6.30 p.m. ,
Sat 15th Sept 3.30 p.m.

AN HONEST POLITICiAN
- ​NATURA CONTEMPORARY THEATRE  IN  ASSOCIATION WITH THE WRITER' AND DIRECTORS'  WORKSHOP

Come and hear the outrageous diary of an honest politician,  John Wilkes. Nicknamed  the "King Mob" of eighteenth century England, Wilkes lies languishing in prison. Who cares that he's attacked the government and slandered the King -  surely everyone is entitled to express their opinion?  Brought to life with a whole host of colourful characters, John Wilkes is determined to deliver his version of events as only a politician can, with his own political diary.
'An Honest Politician' was written in 2005 by the playwright Caroline Summerfield for the National Portrait Gallery's Public Performance Season. Attracting a sell-out audience, John Wilkes is now travelling out of London to drum up support from you, as only an honest politician can.    
Natura Contemporary Theatre specialises in plays with historical and rural themes for contemporary rural audiences. It is the theatre production arm of the Cheltenham based Writers' and Directors' Workshop formed in 2017 for professional writers, actors, directors and producers. Since its inception Natura Contemporary Theatre have produced 'The Tree Charter Tapestry' for both the Cheltenham Everyman's Studio Theatre (2017) and  Canwood Herefordshire (2018). 

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The Old Town Hall, The Shambles, Stroud, GL5 1AP
Fri 14th Sept 9.30 p.m.,
Sat 15th Sept 8.00 p.m.,
Sun 16th Sept 8.30 p.m.

A Scotch Sitting Room, Vol 3​​
​- obvious arts

​Presenting select works of legendary Scottish absurdist Ivor Cutler, perfomed by veteran musical nitwit Fergus Ryan. Expect a porridgey feast of humour peppered with gruts of Lear, Milligan and Fergus’s special ingredients! Come away from the stress and be refreshed by an hour of beauty and nonsense.

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The Museum in the Park – Collectors Room, Stratford Park, Stroud, GL5 4AF
Sun 16th Sept 1.00 p.m.

The Alehouse, 9 John St, Stroud, GL5 2HA
Fri 14th Sept 6.30 p.m.,
Sat 15th Sept 9.30 p.m.,
Sun 16th Sept 8.30 p.m.

Behind Closed Walls
- THE COLOURFUL THEATRE COMPANY

​Everyone sees things differently, everyone has a different perspective.
Behind Closed Walls is a participatory performance that invites the audience to tell
a story. Watch the performance through peepholes cut into the walls of a vast
cardboard room, and write on the walls the story that you see unfolding before you.
An exploration into how different people's perspectives can be, and chance for you
to release your creativity!

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The Old Library, Lansdown, Stroud GL5 1BB
DUE TO TECHNICAL PROBLEMS THIS VENUE HAS BEEN CHANGED TO THE LANSDOWN GALLERY UNDERNEATH LANSDOWN HALL NEXT TO THE OLD LIBRARY
Fri 14th  Sept 6.30 p.m.
The Imperial Hotel, Station Road, Stroud, GL5 3AP
Sat 15th Sept 9.30 p.m.,
Sun 16th Sept 8.30 p.m.

CASSANDRA
​- MULTI STORY THEATRE COMPANY

​Cassandra, the King of Troy's daughter, is blessed to foretell the future and cursed never to be believed. Her compulsive need to speak the truth threatens the powers-that-be - especially at a time of national crisis - so they lock her away.  Her life is controlled by four men: the father whose love she craves; the brother she hero-worships; the palace-servant who is obsessed with her; and the vision of a foreign soldier who haunts her dreams.  Which of them will betray her?
Cassandra was acclaimed as a five-star must-see at festivals across Canada, the UK and in Prague - "a subtle, intriguing exploration of war and violence that neatly sidesteps preaching and sentimentality. This is beautiful theatre that gets under your skin." Conceived in the aftermath of 9/11, the questions it provokes are, regrettably, more pertinent than ever.

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The British School at Star Anise, Gloucester Street, Stroud, GL5 1QG
Fri 14th Sept 8.00 p.m.,
Sat 15th Sept 6.30 p.m.,
Sun 16th Sept  2.30 p.m.

CONQUISTADORS
- THEREBY HANGS A TALE

‘Tonight the moon was blood on a black sky’
***** “This extraordinary production…powerful, poetic, passionate…beautifully delivered prose…spellbindingly expressive movement. A unique piece of theatrical art.”  Theatre Bath
Thereby Hangs A Tale tells two astonishing stories - accompanied by live original music - of Spain’s bloody conquest of the Americas, as re-told in the 1930s by the American poet, Haniel Long.
Malinche (1939), interpreter and lover of Hernan Cortes, tells the story of her relationship with him and Cortes’ invasion of Mexico with insights into imperialism and the exploitation of women that still resonates today.
The Marvellous Adventure of Cabeza de Vaca (1936) retells the true story of a disastrous 1528 expedition for gold in Florida and Cabeza’s amazing salvation with the help of Native American Indians. Published in 1542, Cabeza’s ‘La Relación’ was the first literature to suggest that indigenous people should be considered fellow human beings.
Performed by Magdalena Ruiz and Tom Field. Music created and performed by Gavin Irvine. Directed by Jess Clough-MacRae

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The George Room, Subscription Rooms, George Street, Stroud, GL5 1AE
Fri 14th Sept 5.00 p.m.,  
Sun 16th Sept 4.00 p.m.

The Museum in the Park – Collectors Room, Stratford Park, Stroud, GL5 4AF
Sat 15th Sept 1.45 p.m.

DOG'S CHOSEN
-MONKEYDOG PRODUCTIONS

​An Anglo-Welsh atheist explores his Jewish identity.
Previously seen in Stroud as a traffic warden, a Danish monarch and a McCarthyite supergrass, Robert Cohen now plays himself, responding to recent controversies by seeking answers, in a manner both playful and deadly serious, to such questions as:
• what is a Jew?
• am I a Jew?
• what is anti-semitism and how much has it affected me?
• what, if any, is my relationship to the state of Israel?
• and if there’s a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, what’s my role, what’re the conditions, and where do I go for a job description?
 
Robert Cohen has been seen at the last three Stroud Theatre Festivals, last year presenting all three of his one-man shows – Something Rotten, High Vis and The Trials of Harvey Matusow – under the title Men Without Friends.
“Superb” – The Stage on Something Rotten
“Terrific stuff” – Daily Mail on High Vis
“The best one-hander I have seen this year” – Plays International on The Trials of Harvey Matusow

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The British School at Star Anise, Gloucester Street, Stroud, GL5 1QG
Fri 14th Sept 6.30 p.m.
Sat 15th Sept 9.30 p.m.,
Sun 16th Sept  8.30 p.m.

douglas 
- cheese and pickle productions

Simon lives a lonely life in a dull and messy flat in a tiny unnoticeable part of town. However, his life is thrown into turmoil when he adopts a cat called Douglas. What Simon thought was an ordinary cat is actually a talking, manipulative and cunning creature. Forced to face his demons, will Simon be led to murder or something much worse? 

Douglas’ wry take on cucumbers, Tom Jones’ ‘What’s New Pussycat’ & Soap Operas bring a wonderful balance of dark humour and uncomfortable viewing. Starring Steven Tarr of ‘Cheese & Pickle Productions’. 

“Thought provoking and absorbing. Steven deftly switched from character to character. A talent to watch” - Vicky Coope.
​“Awful” - Simon, the owner.”

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Lansdown Hall and Gallery, Lansdown, Stroud, GL5 1BB
Fri  14th Sept 8.00 p.m.

FOR THE LOVE OF A CHARTIST
- STUART BUTLER

​The Newport Rising was the last armed insurrection on British soil – 5,000 marched on the town in an attempt to kick-start a revolution. The leader, John Frost, had already been selected as the prospective Chartist candidate for the next election in Stroud. But the links do not end there – Stroud citizen Charlotte-Alice Bingham became the lover and tutor of the charismatic George Shell who was shot outside the Westgate Hotel and took three agonizing hours to die.
Written by Stuart Butler and read and performed by Keith Butler, Suzie Walker and Stuart.
A beautiful commemorative booklet, designed by Deb Roberts will be on sale, too.

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The Museum in the Park – Collectors Room, Stratford Park, Stroud, GL5 4AF
Sat 15th Sept 1.00 p.m.
Lansdown Hall and Gallery, Lansdown, Stroud, GL5 1BB
Sat 15th Sept  4.00 p.m.

ILLUSION AND REALITY
- PERSEPHONE THEATRE COMPANY

A one man production in two parts. The first part  introduces a magic trick and lays out the narrative of a great deception; the great lie.
The second part is a sharing of a personal truth and new knowledge gained, which only then, gives him an inner voice to speak a new truth. 

The Imperial Hotel, Station Road, Stroud, GL5 3AP
Fri 14th Sept  5.00 p.m. 
Sat 15th Sept 5.00 p.m.
Sun 16th Sept 4.00 p.m.

IMPROMPTU SHAKESPEARE
- IMPROMPTU SHAKESPEARE

​A brand new 'Shakespeare' play improvised on the spot and inspired by audience suggestions.
Bursting with love, poetry, comedy, tragedy, power struggles, mistaken identity, cross-dressing, the supernatural and everything in between – this show will delight Shakespeare nerds and novices alike. Impromptu Shakespeare have their tongues firmly in their cheeks and their feet planted in the works of the Bard. Join us for an hour of riotous fun as the cast buckle on the Bard’s britches to bring you the plays he never wrote.
Impromptu Shakespeare features a cast of leading improv talent. They’ve performed five critically-acclaimed runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, and were featured on BBC radio’s The Art of Improv. Other appearances have included the Bristol Shakespeare Festival, Oxford Comedy Festival, Birmingham & Bristol Improv Festivals, and the Nursery Theatre London.
“Shakespeare from the hip. Ingenious and very funny.”
Will Gompertz, BBC Arts Editor
 “Simply sublime, side-splittingly hilarious improvised comedy almost worthy of the Bard himself.”
★★★★★ Broadway Baby
 “’Go and see this show. It’s intelligent, it’s funny, it’s all of the adjectives for brilliant. I’m still not sure how they did what they did. ”
★★★★★ Pocket Size Theatre

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The Old Town Hall, The Shambles, Stroud, GL5 1AP
Fri 14th Sept 5.00 p.m.
Sat 15th Sept 6.30 p.m.
Sun 16th Sept 4.00 p.m.

it Takes two 
-The small spaces Theatre COMPANY

DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES THIS PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN CANCELLED. APOLOGIES FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE

let's summon demons
- Written and performed by Katy Schutte
(With help from Edmund Fargher and Jonathan Monkhouse.)

 Is it wise to ask the questions you always wanted to ask? Let's Summon Demons is a semi-immersive folk horror play in the round. It examines our attitudes to ritual, to revenge and to the uprising of female power. Can community lead to mob mentality? What are ghosts and demons and do they come from below or from within? If you stare into the abyss, can you come back? Join our coven for one night to encounter comedy, folk horror and - perhaps - some demons.

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Lansdown Hall and Gallery, Lansdown, Stroud, GL5 1BB
Fri 14th Sept 9.30 p.m.
Sat 15th Sept 6.30 p.m.

LOSING MY MINDFULNESS
- KATIE MCLEOD

Do you want to feel calmer more focused and relaxed? Imagine a life where daily stress just floats by like a cloud in the sky, not a rain cloud, a nice one, a fluffy one, yeah, do you want that that, you know you do, don’t you?
Join me at my Mindfulness workshop where we can leave our baggage behind and are in the moment, even if that moment is not quite what you thought it would be, cos hey, what is!! Sometimes that moment is f**king terrible. I’m joking, see mindfulness can be fun. Fun and calm. Yes calm….. Come please come, or not, its fine either way. I am FINE!! I’m fine really, EVERTHING is fine.

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The George Room, Subscription Rooms, George Street, Stroud, GL5 1AE
Fri 14th Sept 9.30 p.m.,  
Sat 15th Sept 5.00 p.m.
Sun 16th Sept 7.00 p.m.

MILKSHAKE
- THE JOLLY ODDITIES

What have milk and an ice-cream got in common? Cows! But these girls are dairy free. A fun look at why we drink milk. Shaking up old habits to leave you bubbling with excitement.
A 20 min street show with songs and bubbles for ages 4 plus. A give-what-you-will show! A milk urn will be passed round for donations after the show. ​

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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.
​

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The Museum in the Park – Collectors Room, Stratford Park, Stroud, GL5 4AF
Sun 16th Sept 11.30 a.m.

The Alehouse, 9 John St, Stroud, GL5 2HA
Fri 14th Sept 8.00 p.m.,
Sun 16th Sept 5.30 p.m.

mrs diaries' dales
- keith butler

Taking inspiration from Alan Bennett's" Talking Heads", "Mrs Diaries' Dales" charts the rise and fall of a widow in a small village, whose struggle with the modern world causes inadvertent humour.

The Alehouse, 9 John St, Stroud, GL5 2HA
 Sat 15th Sept 5.00 p.m.

Nobbo
- OUR STAR THEATRE COMPANY  

​Nobbo, Pantomime’s trusty steed!  Behind the laughs, could the front and back legs be dancing off in opposing directions? Meet Ben and Jerry: the men behind the mule. Their lasting partnership has seen Nobbo reach (moderate) stardom amongst children every festive season, but is all of this about to come crashing down? Follow the motivations and revelations to Ben and Jerry's reservations on ‘keeping up the act’. Feel the frustration and heartache of both men through this fly-on-the-wall comedy-drama.
“Bittersweet Nobbo: physically and emotionally connected.  Hilarious and heart-breaking”.

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The Old Library, Lansdown, Stroud GL5 1BB
​DUE TO TECHNICAL PROBLEMS THIS VENUE HAS BEEN CHANGED TO THE LANSDOWN GALLERY UNDERNEATH LANSDOWN HALL NEXT TO THE OLD LIBRARY
Fri 14th  Sept 8.00 p.m.
The British School at Star Anise, Gloucester Street, Stroud, GL5 1QG
Sat 15th Sept 5.00 p.m.
Sun 16th Sept  4.00 p.m.

OUTOF THE LOOP
​- THREE TIER THEATRE

The dreaded commute. Two strangers are waiting for a train, little do they know that they are more connected than they think. This experimental comedy captures the true pain and anguish of the morning A-B. They have their tickets, they have their morning coffees now all they need is no delays but, the National Rail has other plans…
Recommended age: 15+
​

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The Alehouse, 9 John St, Stroud, GL5 2HA
Fri 14th Sept 9.30 p.m.
Sat 15th Sept 4.00 p.m.
Sun 16th Sept 4.00 p.m.

panda-monium
- panda-monium

Pandas playing harmoniums on the streets of Stroud. What more can you want? Please give generously to this endangered species

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Schutte the Unromantic
- kATY SCHUTTE 

Katy Schutte is not a romantic. Schutte the Unromantic is a storytelling stand-up comedy show, written and performed by Katy Schutte (Happily Never After/Knightmare Live/Who Ya Gonna Call?). This is the story of her trying to find love despite freezing up at chocolates, serenades and thoughtful surprises. For the record, Katy is perfectly happy to put Baby in a corner (where she has a great view of the room).
Latest Comedy Award Nominee 2018 ★★★★★ Latest Brighton "...like a good movie plot, it is coherent, candid and completely compelling."
​Listed as Best of Brighton Comedy by BN1 Magazine: "...this exceptional performer tells us her story of trying to find love...”

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The George Room, Subscription Rooms, George Street, Stroud, GL5 1AE
Fri 14th Sept 8.00 p.m.,  
Sat 15th Sept 3.30 p.m.,
Sun 16th Sept 5.30 p.m.

Table For The Damned/PINFALL
- SMASH THE GLASS THEATRE COMPANY

Table for the Damned by Daniel Paton –
Four soldiers from a pal battalion reunite soon after WW1, but the evening is overshadowed by their guilt of letting a comrade die; a guilt which they are all forced to confront.

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​Pinfall by Domenic Edwards -
A professional wrestling company in England, 1995 invite back a veteran performer to wrestle one final match. The wrestler is Joseph Manford, who after wrestling under the name ‘Steve Slaughter’ all his career, has now adopted that name and persona. Filled with spite he agrees to the match for one final night in the spotlight. After uncovering one of Kurt’s dark secrets, he forces him to do something shocking in his final match.

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The Imperial Hotel, Station Road, Stroud, GL5 3AP
Fri 14th Sept  8.00 p.m. 
Sat 15th Sept 8.00 p.m.
​Sun 16th Sept 7.00 p.m.

TANGLETREE 
 - JDJB PRODUCTIONS and TLBB PRODUCTIONS

​For Hazel and her Mum Ivy, life has suddenly shifted - backwards, sideways and in every possible direction ... But to what? To  where? Unrecognisable terrain lies ahead. What choices are there? So, together decisions need to be made. Do they take the bull by the horns and forge a new route? Or tread a not-very-well worn path?
This play is based on wide research involving health professionals, and people living with the outcomes of brain injury.
This play, is about courage, desolation, fortitude and quirky discoveries.
...But most of all...its about being human, and the love of being oneself.
(Suitable for ages 14-114 years.) 

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The British School at Star Anise, Gloucester Street, Stroud, GL5 1QG
Fri 14th Sept 5.00 p.m. 
Sat 15th Sept 8.00 p.m.
Sun 16th Sept  5.30 p.m.

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. 

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The Little George, 21 George St, Stroud GL5 3DP
DUE TO CAPACITY PROBLEMS THIS VENUE HAS BEEN CHANGED TO THE LANSDOWN GALLERY UNDERNEATH LANSDOWN HALL 
Sat 15th Sept 6.30p.m. 
Sat 15th Sept 8.00p.m.

The Museum in the Park – Collectors Room, Stratford Park, Stroud, GL5 4AF
Sat 15th Sept 11.30 a.m.
Sun 16th Sept 2.30 p.m.

The Old Library, Lansdown, Stroud GL5 1BB
​DUE TO TECHNICAL PROBLEMS THIS VENUE HAS BEEN CHANGED TO THE LANSDOWN GALLERY UNDERNEATH LANSDOWN HALL NEXT TO THE OLD LIBRARY
Sun 16th Sept 5.30p.m

The Accidental Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
- TOBACCO TEA THEATRE

​When Sherlock Holmes unknowingly murders his own client, the game is on to track down the criminal mastermind who did it – Holmes himself! Do Watson's troubling financial straits and inability to pay his rent have anything to do with the accident? Has this case been secretly planned by a narrative genius? Could Moriarty's hunger for detective fiction fuel a global terror plot of unimaginable proportions?
Satire maestros Tobacco Tea Theatre Company bring you this witty, absurd take on Arthur Conan Doyle's creation. Expect extraordinary plot twists, metafiction, twisted logic and “almost unparalleled entertainment”! Sell-out show at Edinburgh and Brighton Fringes. ***** Theatre Bath. ‘Fine crime foolery.’ **** TheReviewsHub.com 

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Lansdown Hall and Gallery, Lansdown, Stroud, GL5 1BB
Fri 14th Sept 5.00 p.m 
Sat 15th Sept 8.00 p.m.
Sun 16th Sept 4.00 p.m.

the bear
-THE  SMALL SPACES THEATRE COMPANY

​Anton Chekhov's play "The Bear," also sometimes called “The Boor” or “The Brute”, is a comedy said to have been inspired by his friend Nikolai Nikolaevich Solovtsov’s boorish performance in a French Vaudeville production, not dissimilar to today’s television situation comedies.
Elena Ivanovna Popova, mourning for the death of her cheating lying husband, has sworn to never love another man, or see any man until her death, just to show her deceased husband the meaning of faithfulness and true love.
Well, that is before she meets Grigory Stepanovitch Smirnov. Still owed money by Popova’s deceased husband Smirnov wants repaying and repaying immediately. But can she do this? Should she do this?
They get into an argument about propriety, the capricious female nature and the fickle “female logic” of women. This escalates to Smirnov challenging her to a duel and, which to his surprise, she accepts.
Fast-paced with biting dialogue and exaggerated over the top emotions this hilarious comedy reflected on, and poked fun at, Russian mid nineteenth-century liberal discussions and women’s emancipation.  Has much changed in the 1950’s? We shall see.
The Small Spaces Theatre Company was formed in the autumn of 2016 following the successful summer tour of the murder mystery play “The Drop of a Pin” by Carol Sheppard. The Company intends to bring quality theatrical productions to audiences in both towns and rural countryside.

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Lansdown Hall and Gallery, Lansdown, Stroud, GL5 1BB
Fri 14th Sept 6.30 p.m.
Sat 15th Sept 5.00 p.m. 
Sun 16th Sept 6.30 p.m.

THE BIZARRE HOUR - ALMOST LIVE
- SPANIEL IN THE WORKS THEATRE COMPANY

A lover of all things strange, bizarre or just downright peculiar John Bassett presents a lively new show offering a wry and witty look at the world of the weird. Based on stories gathered from three years presenting the Bizarre Hour on Stroud FM, this show looks at subjects as diverse as UFO abductions, conspiracy theories, organon and werewolf ointment. there will even be a chance to take part in Six Degrees of Wikipedia. Unfettered by the chains of broadcasting regulations there will be adult themes and possibly a few naughty words - in context. So come along for a show filled with bizarre facts, interesting tracks and maybe a little rant or two.  

May contain strong language, sexual references and nuts!

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The George Room, Subscription Rooms, George Street, Stroud, GL5 1AE
Sat 15th Sept 6.30 p.m.,
Sun 16th Sept  8.30 p.m.

THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF COMEDY
- FABULOUS OLD SPOT THEATRE COMPANY

​A piece of most excellent edutainment brought to you
By
Mr Oliver H Crick, Actor and Polymath
In which….
By way of a very active lecture demonstration, the whole history of dramatic comedy, from Aristophanes to the present, will be explained, deployed, performed, diagnosed and digressed, together with explanation and exposition of the necessary performance skills.
With….
Jokes, manipulative skills, illusion, theatrical mask and disguise, state of the art theatrical research, audience involvement and good-natured bluff, all of which will all be deployed to inspire the mind, amuse the body and educate the audience.

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The George Room, Subscription Rooms, George Street, Stroud, GL5 1AE
Fri 14th Sept 6.30 p.m.

The Old Town Hall, The Shambles, Stroud, GL5 1AP
Sat 15th Sept 9.30 p.m.

The George Room, Subscription Rooms, George Street, Stroud, GL5 1AE
Sun 16th Sept 2.30 p.m.

THE DUCK 
- Autact Theatre Company

“I am a duck. I am the paddling type, the one with the legs, the one that moves serenely through the world with a nod and a smile – or a flap and a… beaks can’t smile, or maybe they always smile, is it a smile if the emotion isn’t there too? I suppose it must be, I can do that, and when I do that I am still smiling, yes. With a flap and a smile.”
A funny and moving new one-woman play, written by autistic writer and poet, Rhi Lloyd-Williams. The Duck is an exploration of what a diagnosis of autism can mean.
Starring Lucy Theobald, and Directed by Jo Loyn, prepare to be washed this way and that as you follow the tangential threads through The Duck’s mind. Patterns and connections are fashioned from fragments of memories in this powerful and beautiful play.
Imagine you spent your whole life believing everyone was pretending to be someone else - that the mask you had constructed was the same as everyone else’s - only to discover that yours is the only mask. Imagine you are the swan who, instead of growing out of being an ugly-duckling and finding your place in the world, built a duck-mask and learnt to waddle instead.
Described by audiences as, ‘fast-paced’, ‘frenetic’, ‘funny’, ‘life-changing’, and ‘moving’, and as, ‘The best representation of an autistic woman I have seen’. 

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The Old Town Hall, The Shambles, Stroud, GL5 1AP
Fri 14th Sept 8.00 p.m.,
Sat 15th Sept 5.00 p.m.,
​Sun 16th Sept 7.00 p.m.

THE MEDIATORS
- DROP OF A HAT THEATRE

​Life has its own story, its ups and its downs, its own narrative that has nothing to do with you. Can you explain how you feel? No! Of course you can’t. And no one would want you to either. So why not try the The Mediators.
Drop Of A Hat Theatre Company performed The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter at the Stroud Theatre Festival in 2016. Through gritted teeth, they return with a comic attempt to master the art of mediation, through the absurd, physical theatre and clown.
Its mediation for the nation. 

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Lansdown Hall and Gallery, Lansdown, Stroud, GL5 1BB
Sun 16th Sept 5.30 p.m.
​Sun 16th Sept 8.30 p.m.

The Midlife Crisis of David Cockington
- OMF THEATRE

David Cockington’s life is spiraling out of control. He just wants to get his work on stage.
 This ‘sort of’ one man show is a story of a man who holds up the Hay on Wye Literary Festival in order to get a contract for his play. It is a dark, comedy tale of how difficult it is to get ones work read and performed, told by a dying man desperate to make it before he dies. He’d even accept an ITV4 deal. 
 David’s justification for his actions is that he has not been successful in any other way and knows these hostages can make his dream a reality. He doesn’t mind writing from prison yet he soon realises even this approach will not work as the room tells him six months is too short for backers to finish the projects they’re on or for rehearsals which leads to more dead bodies.
 David’s rantings whilst the hostages try to read his work, his comical demands from the police and his plot enhancing murders of hostages are all ways he tries to show his imagination and his talent for dialogue in order to get one of them to sign him up.
 Maybe there is more to life, but not for David.  

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The Imperial Hotel, Station Road, Stroud, GL5 3AP
Sat 15th Sept 6.30 p.m.
​Sun 16th Sept 5.30 p.m.

TIDEMAN'S PIECE
- RAW MATERIAL PRODUCTIONS

Probably best summed up as "My Family and Other Weirdos", this show celebrates and queries the entanglements and ramifications of family history and legends. Actor and musician Paul Southcott leads you on a journey with family legends and stories and marvellous musical interludes.

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The Alehouse, 9 John St, Stroud, GL5 2HA
Fri 14th Sept 5.00 p.m. 
Sat 15th Sept 8.00 p.m.
Sun 16th Sept 7.00 p.m.

The Museum in the Park – Collectors Room, Stratford Park, Stroud, GL5 4AF
Sat 15th Sept 3.15 p.m.

Tiptree: No One Else's Damn Secret But My Own
- HEADPICTURES

James Tiptree Jr:
Government official, international traveller, “ineluctably masculine” writer of science fiction.
…And, in 1976, outed as Alice Sheldon, a 61-year-old woman from Virginia.
What happens when your secret’s out, but it’s only the signature that’s changed?
Duration: 1hr
​

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The British School at Star Anise, Gloucester Street, Stroud, GL5 1QG
Fri 14th Sept 9.30 p.m.
Sat 15th Sept 3.30 p.m.
Sun 16th Sept 7.00 p.m.

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE
- FIRE DONKEY PRODUCTIONS

​From the makers of the award-winning Church of Phil ('Best Original Piece – Swindon Fringe 2017) comes a new show about the future. The year is 2058. Humanity has been on a bit of a decline recently. Brexit is in its 32nd round of negotiations. Climate change? You bet. All the cows died out so we've been experimenting with vegetables, which has had some side-effects. Namely, humans are now being ruled by mutant man-eating carrots. Liamtron McKenborg (Liam McKenna) and Pollythena Prestopia (Polly Preston) are fugitives on the run from the vegetable overlords and will do all it takes to save Planet Earth, which may involve the help of a group of people they found cryogenically frozen in a bunker underneath a caravan on an abandoned holiday resort. Imagine Planet of the Apes but with carrots. That's basically what we're going for.
Previous praise for Fire Donkey:
“Gleefully absurd...unlike anything I've seen before” - Buzz Magazine
“Appealing grubby anarchy” - The Swindonian
“Good luck” - Some woman a few years back

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The Old Town Hall, The Shambles, Stroud, GL5 1AP
Fri 14th Sept 6.30 p.m.
Sat 15th Sept 3.30 p.m.
Sun 16th Sept 5.30 p.m.

​Stroud Theatre Festival is supported by

Media Partners

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