Bristol's Tobacco Factory has announced its season from September to
January:
Sound of Silence
Sampad presents Samudra
Wed 7 Sep 8pm £10 full / £7 concession
Hailing from Kerala in South India, Samudra bring their dynamic fusion
of ancient and modern to the Tobacco Factory as part of their first
ever UK tour. Live musicians, stunning visuals and striking costumes
combine with spectacular dance.
The Fall of the House of Usherettes
Forkbeard Fantasy
Thu 15 – Sat 24 Sep (excluding Sun 18) 8pm £12 full / £8
concession
Bristol-based Forkbeard Fantasy make their Tobacco Factory debut with
a revival of their 1996 hit. This is the tale - in glorious Technicolor
- of a crumbling old cinema, and the Usherettes who guard it against
tomb-robbers from The National Archive. The magic of early film fantasy
is mixed with the surreal comic strip ingenuity of Forkbeard at their
most gloriously anarchic.
Meat Yard
Angus Balbernie
Wed 28 – Fri 30 Sep 8pm £10 full / £7 concession
Director/choreographer Angus Balbernie is now an associate artist
of the Tobacco Factory and is back with what promises to be another
remarkable piece. Inspired by a dust-covered 1957 photograph, ‘meat
yard’ explores the depth, connection and isolation of human bodies,
as they flicker in and out of light, static as photographs, fluid
as film.
La Bohème
By Puccini
Opera Project
Tue 4 – Sat 15 Oct 7.30pm
(Performances Tue/Wed/Fri/Sat) Tue 4/Wed 5 Oct £22, Other performances
£32
Opera Project are back with Puccini’s masterpiece about two lovers
fighting to cling on to life, love and laughter in the seedy world
of 19th century Paris. Deeply moving, often comical and ultimately
tragic, Puccini’s masterpiece is sung in modern English and accompanied
by a chamber orchestra.
Quade and Paiva Double Bill
Wed 19 – Sat 22 Oct 7.30pm £10 full / £7 concession
Quade and Paiva are based in the Netherlands and have been creating
innovative work using dance and puppetry together since the late 1990s.
Here they present two solo pieces as a double bill:
Angel
Devised and performed by Eduardo de Paiva Souza
A tramp encounters a stone angel in a graveyard and develops a relationship
with him, transporting us into a confused world of dreams, tribulations
and revelations… With his twisted wit and flair for the transgressive,
Paiva blends dance and puppetry into a spellbinding tale.
Nude Vol
Devised and performed by Ulrike Quade
An ambitious mountain climber gets into a fight with her guardian
angel before being overcome by an avalanche. Lying in the snow,
the angel blows new life into the climber, and as her arrogance
gives way to submission, they look for a place to get their strength
back.
Inside the Skeleton of the Whale
Odin Teatret
Performances Thu 27 – Sat 29 Oct 8pm £15
Work demonstrations Sun 30 Oct 4pm + 6pm £8 full / £6
concession
Masterclass Fri 28 – Sun 30 Oct 10am – 2pm £100 full
/ £80 concession
Odin Teatret is one of the world’s most acclaimed theatre companies,
yet their work is rarely seen in the UK. This is a unique opportunity
to see the seminal company in action, with performances, work demonstrations
and a masterclass. Inside the Skeleton of the Whale is about
the essence of rituality in theatre, and what remains when theatre
has lost everything except for the skeleton of the action.
Odin will also be giving two work demonstrations on Sun 30 Oct, plus
a three-day masterclass aimed at theatre professionals will be taking
place. For further details, email theatre@tobaccofactory.com
The Obituary Show
People Show 114
Tue 1 – Sat 5 Nov 8pm £10 full / £7 concession
What’s your life worth? Two lines? Half a page? The whole shebang?
Nothing? They’ve already decided. And there’s nothing you
can do about it. Or is there? The
Obituary Show. It’s only words. Live music, soundtrack,
dancing and extraordinary visuals weave a show that promises to be
a worthwhile way of passing yet another hour and seventeen minutes
of our existence. www.peopleshow.co.uk
Firsts
The Tobacco Factory presents highlights from this year’s
Firsts, a showcase of performances from the Linbury Studio
Theatre of the Royal Opera House, an exciting mix of contemporary
dance, theatre and music performed by the UK’s most dynamic emerging
artists.
Tue 8 – Wed 9 Nov 7.30pm £5
A programme including:
Waves and Valves
Tartan Chameleon
Bass trombone, poetry and dance are brought together in a short
excerpt from ‘The Secret House’, by physical theatre company
Tartan Chameleon.
Cloud:Burst
Theatre Absolute
Dominic’s 10 year old daughter Natalie has been murdered and
after weeks of his story being splashed across the media, the reporters
move out and on to another headline grabber. Dominic is left to
pick up the pieces …
Memento Mori
Momentum
A physically dynamic, mesmerising piece based on the Greek myth
of Orpheus and Eurydice. The work takes you on an intense and powerful
journey through the mind of Orpheus; encompassing love, death, the
dark insanity of the underworld and the self-discovery of a man.
www.momentumtheatre.com
Firsts:
Fri 11 – Sat 12 Nov 7.30pm £5
Trojan Women
Theatre Cryptic
As relevant as ever in these turbulent and volatile times, ‘Trojan
Women’ tells a story of acute suffering as the women of Troy
wait to hear their fate... Theatre Cryptic presents a multi-artform
production combining poetic language, projections and sound design,
with the chorus manipulated live on stage through real-time visuals.
Rust
Green Ginger
UK Premiere
Tue 15 – Sat 19 Nov 8pm £10 full / £7 concession
Bristol-based Green Ginger’s trademark grotesque puppets, animated
sets and absurd humour are welded into a dark, comic-book vision of
low-life on high seas in Rust. Two pirate radio stations are
anchored in the same murky coastal waters, one transmitting from an
ageing lightship; its rival from a submarine lurking just beneath
the surface. Something has to give, or be taken…
The Cult of Scheherazade: The Sword of a Thousand Cuts
Para Active
Thu 24 – Sat 26 Nov 8pm £10 full / £7 concession
Enter the Temple of Scheherazade – the famous storyteller of
the Arabian Nights. With her dances, songs and stories, the Scheherazade
lures you into her world… Every tale is written on her body like
a scar, disclosing stories of fantastical adventures, terrible tragedies
and dramatic resolutions to the mysteries and misfortunes of life.
May contain scenes of a disturbing and explicit nature.
Weights
Lynn Manning
Sun 27 Nov 8pm £10 full / £7 concession
Lynn Manning is an American award-winning playwright, poet, actor,
Paralympic Silver Medallist and former Blind Judo Champion of the
world. He accomplished all of this after being shot and blinded in
a Hollywood bar at the age of 23. ‘Weights’ is a one man
show performed by Lynn Manning using characterisations, tight prose,
poetry and humour to tell the story of the fateful night of the shooting
and how he deals with this twist of fate. www.lynnmanning.com
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Tobacco Factory Productions
Thu 8 Dec 05 – Sun 22 Jan 06
£12 adult / £8 child / Family tickets: £36 / £32*
/ Preview night: Thu 8 Dec £8 adult / £6 child (*2 adults
and 2 children £36 / 1 adult and 3 children £32)
Adapted by Dan Danson and Richard da Costa and directed by Richard
da Costa.
Come to Sherwood Forest and meet a host of familiar characters –
Little John, Will Scarlet, Maid Marion and the Sheriff of Nottingham
as the theatre is transformed for The Adventures of Robin Hood.
