Songs of Innocence

Songs of Innocence

Part of the Six Plays One Day event at Tristan Bates, Songs of Innocence really stands out from the crowd. 

Six Plays One Day

Six Plays One Day

Threedumb Theatre returns to the Tristan Bates Theatre for another whole day of one-act plays, showcasing a wide variety of new writing. 

My Fern Flower

My Fern Flower

According to an ancient myth, the fern flower blooms for a very short time on the eve of the summer solstice, and those who are fortunate enough to find it are granted earthly fort… 

Am I Happy Yet?

Am I Happy Yet?

Written and performed by Jack Hesketh and directed by Coral Tarran, Is Trying Enough? starts with a young man bouncing out of bed to the upbeat sounds of Mr Blue Sky by ELO. 

Is Trying Enough?

Is Trying Enough?

Families come in all shapes and sizes. 

Noodles For Breakfast

Noodles For Breakfast

When Kate (Robyn Lovell) starts her new job working in a charity call centre for breast cancer care, her newfound workmate and desk-share partner Garry's (Matthew Bromwich) rel… 

A Bench at the Edge by Luigi Jannuzzi

A Bench at the Edge by Luigi Jannuzzi

A thought-provoking dark comedy that addresses mental health issues, suicidal thoughts and the fragility of the human condition. 

Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal in Bohemia! (and other stories!)

Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal in Bohemia! (and other stories!)

Join us on this fin-de-siècle rattling rollercoaster ride as we wheel and dip through some of the infamous adventures of Holmes and Watson while tackling the tenacious and enigmat… 

All the Little Lights

All the Little Lights

Joanne and Lisa were like sisters. 

When It Happens

When It Happens

‘This was an awakening. 

Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia!

Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia!

Roll up! Roll Up! For an all-female 90-minute Victorian circus act called A Scandal in Bohemia! This fin-de-siècle steampunk merry-go-round will be a rollercoaster ride of 5 women… 

Shadows

Shadows

Nat and James work together, struggling against a possibly imagined attraction. 

Sh*t Happens

Sh*t Happens

Sh*t Happens is a multidisciplinary performance exploring the taboos and challenges of living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, drawing on personal experience of one of the more tha… 

The Luncheon

The Luncheon

Do not come looking for answers. 

To Drone In The Rain

To Drone In The Rain

Relevant and gripping, this heartfelt play explores what we sacrifice on our path towards an easy access existence, our need for connection and the mental health issues resulting o… 

The Geminus

The Geminus

An adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Sharer, The Geminus tells the story of a young sea captain who, after discovering a fugitive clinging to the side ship, embarks on a j… 

Eggs by Florence Keith-Roach

Eggs by Florence Keith-Roach

Eggs is unique in showing two northern working class females being utterly honest, hilarious and vulnerable. 

Mortgage

Mortgage

Mortgage (a. 

A Piece of the Continent

A Piece of the Continent

The Actors Centre and Voila! Europe present a brand-new festival celebrating cultural links and theatre from our neighbours across Europe. 

Half Me, Half You.

Half Me, Half You.

What if you were black, gay and a woman in America right now? Jess and Meredith are a married, interracial, gay couple living in New York in 2017 – the era of Trump – weatheri… 

Classified

Classified

Three short, interlinking plays exploring the impact of social class on individual lives, set in the present day and an imagined near-future. 

Paved With Gold and Ashes

Paved With Gold and Ashes

Paved with Gold and Ashes is the story of five women who survive a hideous factory. 

Blasphemy

Blasphemy

In the sad world of factory farming the horrors of animals trapped in cages for the duration of their painful lives is well-documented and visually familiar. 

Dog / Actor

Dog / Actor

Dog and Actor are two short, explosive and vulnerable plays written by Steven Berkoff. 

Poetry in Motion

Poetry in Motion

Bethany Fox’s script explores the relationship between two jobbing actors, Jess (Bethany Fox) and Jack(Oliver Burkill), who, after a chemistry-charged first meeting outside an au… 

Poetry in Motion

Poetry in Motion

We are ‘Faux Fox Theatre’, a team of three young Northern creatives finding new and exciting ways to experience theatre. 

To She Or Not To She

To She Or Not To She

"Frailty, thy name is woman!" That is probably not most women’s favourite line from Shakespeare and could not be further from the truth when applied to Emma Bentley. 

The Story's End

The Story's End

I didn’t actually see this performance; not by virtue of being absent, but rather because I had followed the request of actor and spoken word poet, Paul Daly, to blindfold myself… 

Sincerely, Jodie

Sincerely, Jodie

Bored with NY suburbia, Jodie and her best friend Robyn move to Harlem. 

No Help Sent

No Help Sent

Gordon Brown once observed how Aneurin Bevan’s vision of a National Health Service was unimaginable in its day, yet it has withstood the test of time. 

Revelation 1:18

Revelation 1:18

"I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!" Although never spoken in Revelation 1:18 these words from the last book in the bible capture the aspirational i… 

Wine

Wine

Wine makes a return to the Tristan Bates Theatre following its successful run earlier in the year. 

Echoes

Echoes

A few years from now, in the aftermath of a devastating, deliberate bomb blast which has ruined a nation, two men stare each other down across a table, deep underground. 

Echoes

Echoes

A few years from now, in the aftermath of a devastating, deliberate bomb blast which has ruined a nation, two men stare each other down across a table, deep underground. 

Love Lab

Love Lab

Meet Livia and Perry, two people looking for The One. 

Spiders

Spiders

A touching two-hander examining friendship and the relativity of suffering. 

Getting Over Everest

Getting Over Everest

Defined by her relationship status, Libby knows little else. 

EUAN

EUAN

We’ve lost Euan. 

Half me, half you

Half me, half you

Jess and Meredith are a married, interracial, gay couple living in New York in 2017 – the era of Trump – weathering a new wave of intolerance, discrimination and oppression, wh… 

Locked Up

Locked Up

Two men are trapped in a confined space which they interpret as their cell. 

The Existence Formula

The Existence Formula

The Existence Formula returns following a successful Camden Fringe, this time to The Tristan Bates Theatre. 

So You Say

So You Say

When ex-lovers meet after a gap of many years, what can we believe about the stories they tell? ‘So You Say’ explores the divergence over time of the stories we tell about even… 

A State of Mind

A State of Mind

A one woman verbatim play about a well lived woman. 

HELD

HELD

Two interlinking stories set in the harsh reality of a men’s prison, exploring the broken lives of five inmates and the locked chains that bind them. 

HumanMachine - binary2

HumanMachine - binary2

A human improvising theatre with an artificial intelligence? Two actors performing in two theatres. 

Sorrows of Satan

Sorrows of Satan

The Sorrows of Satan is like an Oscar Wilde Doctor Faustus by way of meta-theatrical musical [Title of Show]. 

Glockenspiel

Glockenspiel

Three funerals. 

Sellotape Sisters by Lee Mattinson

Sellotape Sisters by Lee Mattinson

1966. 

Rat In A Box

Rat In A Box

Blood on the hammer, rats in the cellar and another package from the postman. 

Area 52

Area 52

Area 51 is the US Military site where alien life was ‘discovered. 

A Year From Now

A Year From Now

A Year From Now Where will you be a year from now? RedBellyBlack sets out to answer this simple question with honesty, empathy and visual dexterity. 

Rosie Wilby: The Conscious Uncoupling

Rosie Wilby: The Conscious Uncoupling

In a brand new solo theatre and storytelling show, Radio 4 and festival regular Rosie Wilby interweaves a rich, romantic narrative about two people connecting over a shared love of… 

BOUND FEET BLUES - A Life Told In Shoes

BOUND FEET BLUES - A Life Told In Shoes

In an epic journey from China via East Asia and Australia to England, British-Malaysian writer-performer Yang-May Ooi explores female empowerment and desirability through the o… 

再见 Goodbye

再见 Goodbye

As two lovers part at the airport, they relive the joys, passions and challenges of their love affair in English with Mandarin. 

Tamburlaine the Great

Tamburlaine the Great

Dictator, lover, husband and murderer, Controversial writer, Christopher Marlowe’s fierce and ferocious play Tamburlaine the Great, hits the stage in an all new gripping, physica… 

My World Has Exploded A Little Bit

My World Has Exploded A Little Bit

Bella and Esh (her hapless assistant) present an absurd, darkly comic guide to bereavement. 

NightFlyer By Martin Malcolm

NightFlyer By Martin Malcolm

They’ve had an epic night out. 

Game Theory

Game Theory

Two couples. 

The Glasshouse

The Glasshouse

Confined in a cramped, makeshift prison on the back line of the Somme, two men stand charged with cowardice and desertion. 

Bound Feet Blues - A Life Told in Shoes

Bound Feet Blues - A Life Told in Shoes

In her intriguing solo performance Bound Feet Blues, Yang-May explores themes of female desirability, identity and empowerment, taking us from the ancient practice of footbinding i… 

Safe Sex / On Tidy Endings

Safe Sex / On Tidy Endings

Harvey Fierstein, before he branched out into writing books for straight musicals, was a kind of theatrical barometer of gay life. 

Rosie Wilby: Nineties Woman

Rosie Wilby: Nineties Woman

The early nineties is a period that doesn’t often get a lot of attention. 

Pre:View

Pre:View

Held at The Traverse, a theatre that prides itself on supporting new writing in all its forms, Pre:View gave its audience an exciting insight into the process of perfecting play sc…