Autumn Performance Programme

It’s been raining all summer. The village pub’s closing down. And a wild storm threatens to scupper the harvest show… Riddlestick Theatre present a new musical comedy telling tales of folk intrigue.

Threads combines dance, voice, film, sound, writing and personal stories to explore our changing relationships to fabrics over time.

The story of Luke Wright’s adoption – the life he leads, and the one he might have done. Expect raucous laughter, tear-stained cheeks, and a little smattering of drum n bass.

Step inside A Small Enclosed Room with Alfie Murphy – a funny and fearless dark comedy where fantasy tangles with reality. With sharks, cardboard cut-outs and a rap about Devon, acclaimed autistic artists Cian Binchy and Anna Constable invite you into a world that’s playful, surprising and quietly profound.

Have you got a wild side? Batty has. She dreams of running barefoot, wild swimming, lighting fires and talking to trees. In fact she’s starting to wonder if she might be a witch…

Newly widowed, Mrs Lovett ‘recalibrates’ her relationship with God. The scales of social justice may be tipped against her, but Eleanor has counterweights of her own: creativity, a can-do spirit, and a dream of joys to come. A fascinating, darkly comic tale of her life before she met Sweeney Todd.

Solo-storyteller Liz revisits her childhood memories and home in an attempt to understand whether she still belongs there, or ever did. This new LR Production takes us from laughter to tears and back again as Liz reconnects with voices from the past and her young family now, unearthing painful home truths.

‘Paper Swans’ draws on absurdist theatre, visual symbolism and the playwright’s personal experience, as a woman from a post-Soviet country coming to the UK.

Does AI spell the end of humanity, or the dawn of a new utopia? Fringe First Winner Joe Sellman-Leava might be a technophobe, but he’s going to try and find out!

Designer-performer Dylan Howells weaves psychological illusions and fragmented memories into a magical, chilling tale of a home that won’t stay still.

The Truth About Trees follows eight-year-old Alfie after he learns that paper can tell the story of the tree it came from. He must spring into action to save the trees and all the creatures that live there after he learns what the trees have to say.

An exhilarating fusion of dance, acrobatics, and martial arts that pushes the boundaries of physicality and human connection.

Join Spork! this Halloween for another spectacular & spooky spoken-word event, featuring the annual “Dead Poets Slam,” and the gruesome twosome of silly poetry; Chris “Ghostly” White, and Edward “Dead Wood” Tripp.

Written and performed by Sam Ward, Nation is a dark, brutal fable about the political power of stories, about the nation as an act of imagination, about the violence of community and those we choose to let in.

Period Drama by Olga Kaleta (with integrated BSL by Sherrie Eugene-Hart) is a surreal, episodic dark comedy about mental health, identity and recovery that mixes autobiographical storytelling with bold physicality. A deep dive into the question of wellness through a feminist lens, via slasher flicks, bloody knickers and the existential dilemmas of insects.

Ancient folklore collides with imaginary futures in this bold and visually captivating dance performance. Beginning with an act of endurance, three performers push their bodies to the limit before transforming through a series of mythical female archetypes. Witches, mermaids, mothers, and warriors emerge and dissolve as the work explores power, identity, and community, while challenging our ideas of progress.

Sex, drugs, and violence; cartoons and fairy tales. Just another day for the people who decide movie ratings. But how do you rate a person? Our film examiner duo spend a day negotiating power games while dealing with the weighty matter of who can see what, and trying their hardest not to fall in love.

Ever wondered how great performance really comes to life? Join a vibrant mix of local theatre-makers, comedians, dancers, musicians, actors and clowns as they step out with brand-new ideas, near-polished gems and experimental moves.

Join Spork! for our 7th annual Christmas Special, featuring the usual stockingful of spoken-word talent, some top-notch poets, a brass band, a drag queen, and a partridge in a pear tree!! Expect a big dollop of poetry, comedy, live music & festive cheer. The perfect poetry show for people who don’t like poetry.