Tobacco Factory Theatres Announces Dec 18 - May 19 Lineup

Tobacco Factory Theatres has announced the programme for its Dec 18 - May 19 season. The new season is packed full of theatrical delights, including the second Factory Company season, featuring a brand new resident professional ensemble, and a co-commissioned piece made in Bristol and developed during an artist residency at Tobacco Factory Theatres.

Other highlights this season include a welcome return from Pop-Up Opera, a trilogy of performances from international art clown Jamie Wood and a show which took Edinburgh Festival 2018 by storm. Plus, performing for the first time as part of the nationwide youth theatre festival National Theatre Connections, the Young Theatre Makers Perform Company present a new play written especially for a cast of young people.

The season is full of new Get Involved activities, allowing audiences of all ages to dive deeper, ask questions and be curious and creative. A highlight is a brand new Get On Stage acting company for adults, which kicks off in January to work on a production in the new Spielman Theatre for spring. There are also more workshops and events on offer for professional artists, who continue to enjoy 10% discount on events at Tobacco Factory Theatres by becoming members of the free-to-join Artist Membership scheme.

The Dec 18 - May 19 season will be on general sale from Wed 21 November. With tickets for most shows starting at just £12, plus a Multibuy scheme, audiences can see more and pay less.

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FULL DEC 18 - MAY 19 SEASON

Tobacco Factory Theatres is a magical place at Christmas and this year there are three cracking shows to delight and entertain you, your family and your friends. And for the first time, they're all under one roof! The theatre's own production of Mary Norton's The Borrowers, for ages 6+, plays in the Factory Theatre from Thu 29 November - Sun 20 January. Meanwhile, by day, the Spielman Theatre hosts the critically acclaimed Beasty Baby from Theatre Rites (Thu 06 December - Sun 06 January) for children aged 3+ and their families and by night, Shesus & The Sistas present The Gift of Presents (Fri 07 - Sun 30 December). Delivering something in between cabaret, comedy, a carol concert and therapy, this will be strictly for adults!

In January, the legendarily anarchic Improbable present The Paper Man (Thu 24 - Sun 27 January) - an intriguing story of political protest, power and football. Then, following Team Viking last year, Tangram Theatre Company present the next instalment of their heart-warming trilogy about friendship, A Hundred Different Words For Love (Wed 30 & Thu 31 January).

Pop-Up Opera bring their characteristically intense and intimate style of chamber opera back to Tobacco Factory Theatres in February with La Tragédie de Carmen, based on Bizet's opera (Fri 01 & Sat 02 February). International art clown Jamie Wood presents his unique blend of comedy, performance and clowning for one week only (Wed 13 - Sat 16 February) with a trilogy of wild and weird shows - O No!, I Am A Tree and Beating McEnroe.

The Factory Company Season this year will include Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Mike Tweddle (Wed 20 February - Sat 06 April) and Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker, directed by Anna Girvan (Wed 17 April - Sat 11 May). The productions will bring a fresh and dynamic new interpretation to these great plays, which both feature a play within a play and powerful, biting commentary on the societies in which they are set.

Two shows in March address some big societal questions. Multi award-winning, Bristol-based company Ad Infinitum present No Kids (Wed 27 February - Sat 09 March), co-commissioned by Tobacco Factory Theatres. Energetic, hilarious and moving, it explores the question asked by many couples - should we have kids, or not? And The Class Project (Wed 13 - Sat 16 March) by Arch 468 is a solo show by Rebecca Atkinson-Lord about class mobility and who you have to be to succeed in society today.

Green Ginger return with a new show that takes its cue from sci-fi movies and features innovative puppetry to propel audiences on a madcap journey deep within the human body - Intronauts plays from Wed 20 - Sun 31 March.

The organisers of BE FESTIVAL have packaged up three of their international festival highlights once again and will present them at Circomedia for the 3rd year running on Thu 21 & Fri 22 March. Then, one of 2018's BE FESTIVAL highlight acts and Circomedia-graduate Robin Boon Dale presents his award-winning show What Does Stuff Do in the Spielman Theatre on Wed 03 - Sat 06 April.

Connections is the National Theatre's nationwide youth theatre festival and this year, Tobacco Factory Theatres's YTM Perform Company have the opportunity to take part in the festival and perform Chaos, a new play written by Laura Lomas especially for a cast of young people.

In April, Javaad Alipoor presents his multi award-winning show The Believers Are But Brothers (Tue 23 - Sat 27 April) which will stun audiences with its exploration of online extremism, anonymity and hate speech. Actors Touring Company and Mark Lockyer return to Tobacco Factory Theatres at the start of May to pick up Mark's story where Living With The Lights On left off. Keep on Walking Federico tells a funny and moving tale of a journey across borders from Wed 01 - Sat 04 May.

Stardust is an original piece from Blackboard Theatre who visit Bristol for the first time and combine physical theatre with hand-drawn animation to journey into the dark heart of cocaine production and examine the stigma left by narco history on Colombia.

Starting out as a documentary made for Channel 4 in 2015, The Stranger on the Bridge by Postcard Productions (Tue 14 - Sat 18 May) is the true life story of Jonny Benjamin and his determination to find the Good Samaritan who changed his life.

dressed. is a powerhouse of a show from the 2018 Edinburgh Festival and also a piece of theatre that documents recovery and redemption following a life-changing event. ThisEgg and Made My Wardrobe present an emotional and powerful celebration of friendship and the power that clothes have to liberate us.

Family theatre is well covered this season with enchanting shows from DragonBird Theatre each month from January to April, a visual feast from M6 Theatre Company and Andy Manley with Little Gift (Sun 03 February), ThisEgg's plea on behalf of bees at half term, Me and My Bee (Mon 18 - Sat 23 February) and dance theatre at Easter with Peut-Être Theatre's Shh...Bang! (Thu 11 - Tue 16 April).

Comedy fans have even more reason to celebrate than normal with top-notch comedians playing in both the Factory Theatre and Spielman Theatre this season. The Comedy Box presents its usual array of big names in the Factory Theatre: Graham Fellows (Wed 30 January), Mark Thomas (Wed 06 - Fri 08 February), Sofie Hagen (Thu 30 May) and Tom Stade (Sat 01 June). Meanwhile a more intimate experience of comedy can be found with Chuckle Busters over in the Spielman Theatre: Olga Koch (Sun 20 January), Alfie Brown (Sun 17 February), Sarah Keyworth (Sun 24 February), Sean McLoughlin (Sun 07 April) and Tom Neenan (Sun 28 April).

Finally, Tobacco Factory Theatres continues to present its regular Hosted Shows - productions and events from emerging artists, local community and education and amateur groups. Events next season include Southside Stories, co-produced by Zion Community Space (Wed 06 & Thu 07 February), The Actors' Workshop (Sun 26 May) and University Centre Weston (Mon 03 & Tue 04 June).

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