The Tolmen Centre is at the heart of village life in Constantine, Cornwall. Many residents and friends enjoy events here; a wide and loyal audience has developed for the varied arts programme including music, theatre and cinema, and the Centre has built up an excellent reputation in the Cornish arts community. Miracle, Cube, Cscape, and Pipeline theatre companies are regular visitors both to perform and to develop new work.
The Café Tolmen is often open for meals when there’s an event at the Centre. Please call us on 01326 340630 to pre-book your meal from 6pm.
The Tolmen Centre is a not-for-profit organisation entirely run by volunteer help – no-one gets paid for their time. This creates a rather special ethos around the place – and allows us to be ambitious in what we promote and undertake.
If you would be interested in volunteering in any capacity, please get in touch with member of our team. Volunteers receive free tickets to events at which they help.
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Sunday November 2nd - Wednesday December 17th
Journeys West – Past & Present Revisited
A trio of artists are presenting Journeys West
Les Trewin, Alli Marshall & Dave Pentin
@urbansketcherspenryn
Sunday 2nd November 13.00 to 16.00
Lunch and afternoon tea will be available.
Music
Saturday November 22nd
7:30 pm
Dillie Keane in ‘Still Curious’
with Michael Roulston on piano
Dillie Keane is a songwriter, singer, actress and cabaret artiste – perhaps best known as one third of the satirical cabaret trio Fascinating Aïda, of which she is the founding member.
For her new solo cabaret show, Still Curious, Dillie promises “a raft of new songs reflecting on life, art and the price of fish. Well, possibly not the price of fish. Rather like Father William, she is old. Thus her mind and heart are like old sea-going craft turned upside down on the shore encrusted with barnacles and possibly some desiccated fronds of seaweed. Whether this gibberish can be turned into song, of course, is another matter entirely. Newly hip with a brand new hip. Expect hilarity, pathos and high kicks.”
Reviews:
“A rare performer who can produce sharp, piercing satire and deliver heartbreaking songs with elan” – Huffington Post, New York
“ The wonderful Dillie Keane wears her genius lightly” – Onstage
“Life, love and the songwriting process are celebrated in this richly-layered cabaret” – The Stage
“Keane prompts gales of laughter with merely the raising of a quizzical eyebrow” – The Times, London
Pre show supper is now SOLD OUT
Event Starts: 19:30
Tickets £19.50 £16 (students, unwaged, low-waged) £10 (children 14+)
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Film
Wednesday November 26th
7:30 pm
BRIDGET JONES – Mad about the Boy
Bridget Jones navigates life as a widow and single mum with the help of her family, friends, and former lover, Daniel. Back to work and on the apps, she’s pursued by a younger man and maybe – just maybe – her son’s science teacher.
New Movie Café – 6-7pm. Offering a tasty veggie/vegan plate, with sides £5, ice cream/sorbet £2.50. Licensed bar. Cash or card. No need to book!
Venue Opens: 18:00
Event Starts: 19:30
Tickets £5 on the door.
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Music
Saturday November 29th
7:30 pm
Granny’s Attic
Acclaimed by the likes of Martin Carthy, the band is gaining recognition from across the folk scene for being one of the best young contemporary folk bands on the circuit today. Their latest album, The Brickfields, showcases their talents as composers, with music that is firmly rooted in tradition yet entirely new. The album has gone down a storm with press and audiences alike, with the band also doing a live session on BBC Radio 3 on Christmas Day.
Pre show supper is available from Cafe Tolmen – book in advance with Barbara on 01326 340630
Event Starts: 19:30
Tickets £16, £13, £8
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Music
Sunday December 14th
7:30 pm
Larry Stabbins with the Sarost Trio
Sarost is a trio comprising Mark Sanders Percussion, Paul Rogers Custom 7 String Bass and Larry Stabbins Saxophones, Bass Clarinet and FlutesPaul Rogers plays an AAL 7 string bass of his own design. In addition to solo concert performances he has played with countless major musicians on the European and US Jazz and Improvised Music scenes for over 40 years including many combinations with Mark, with whom he recently recorded with Paul Dunmall and was a member of the influential group Mujician with Keith Tippett, Paul Dunmall and Tony Levin. He also played with Larry in many groupings over the years, most notably the Keith Tippett Septet and Tapestry Orchestra and Louis Moholo’s Dedication Orchestra.
Mark Sanders is a drummer/percussionist who has played with countless renowned improvising musicians in concerts and festivals all over the world, including Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey, Roswell Rudd and Evan Parker, with Larry in a quartet with Howard Riley and as a trio with pianist Pat Thomas and played on over 200 vinyl and CD releases and is hugely in demand with visiting American musicians.
Pre show supper is available from Cafe Tolmen – book in advance with Barbara on 01326 340630
Event Starts: 19:30
Tickets £15 £12
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Family
Sunday January 18th
3:00 pm
A BRUSH WITH THE EMPEROR
A BRUSH WITH THE EMPEROR
The Chinese legend tells of a child’s dream of becoming a painter and his encounter with the greed of an evil emperor. Liang travels a long way to achieve his dreams and gain his freedom.
For the original version of a Brush With the Emperor Deborah Maurice worked with the renowned Czech theatre designer, Petr Matàsek. For her set she sourced silk, bamboo and inspiration while working in Pakistan. A tiny pagoda transforms into a vast arena of bamboo forest, a palace, a prison. Sounds and shadow theatre mingle with the dreams as Liang paints what the people need! The musician Kin Thiessen, with his range of instruments and voice is present and visible throughout the show creating an atmosphere of enchantment. Chinese lullabies, market atmospheres, the splendor of the imperial palace with its gong sounds; the viscous atmosphere of prison, drums densely fill the show and then Liang’s flight from the emperor’s army on the back of a dragon … magic!
Since its creation this show has toured and enchanted audiences in International puppet festivals,the Highland and Islands of Scotland, The Lake District, France, Switzerland and Madrid in Spain.
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Music
Saturday January 24th
7:30 pm
Moscow Drug Club
The band known as Moscow Drug Club, self described as ‘Transcendent Troubadours of Gypsy Latin & Swing’ hail from Bristol, not Moscow, and provide exciting musical entertainment from balkan folk to gypsy jazz to blues and cabaret.
Those who have experienced a gig with Moscow Drug Club – and they have played at the Tolmen Centre twice before – will be sure to remember the excitement they generate.
They are a tricky band to describe as they take music from a wide variety of musical genres: you may hear anything from Berlin cabaret from the 1930s: Hot Club Gypsy jazz: Tom Waits ballads; Jacques Brel: and much more.
They deliver a wonderful mix of numbers, built around the theatricality of vocalist Katya Gorrie and driven by the brilliant musicianship of Jonny Bruce (trumpet) Mirek Salmon (accordion) Andy Bowen (guitar) and Andy Crowdy (double bass).
Like all the best bands, together they are sometimes more than the sum of the individual solo parts – as they suddenly take off into irresistible, swinging jazz ensemble playing folded around Katya’s powerful vocals.
Once experienced, MDC are not easy to forget.
Venue Opens: 18:00
Event Starts: 19:30
Tickets £18, £15 (no children’s tickets)
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Moscow Drug Club (the band is named after the song) is a curious musical place where certain elements of 1930s Berlin Cabaret, Hot Club de France, Nuevo Tango & Gypsy Campfire meet, have a few to drink and stagger arm in arm into the darkness of some eastern European cobbled street on a mission to find the bar where Django Reinhardt & Tom Waits are having an after hours jam with the local Tziganes. Combining their original material with songs by the likes of Jaques Brel, Leornard Cohen, Tom Waits & Eartha Kitt. Moscow Drug Club provide an intoxicating & intimate musical experience. You are cordially invited to share a wry smile with us as you enter the darkly comic world of Moscow Drug Club…..this way please & mind the stairs!
A few audience responses:
- “Absolute Knock Out Performance!”
- “Evocative, Beautiful & Inspiring!”
- “Best Music Entertainment We’ve Ever Seen!”
- “Heady & Intoxicating”
Music
Saturday February 7th
7:30 pm
Budapest Café Orchestra
Back Again!
Legendary jazz violinist Christian Garrick returns with his four piece cafe orchestra to bring us an evening of dazzling virtuosity in a repertoire of Eastern European and gypsy jazz tunes, leavened with wit and showmanship of the first order. This will be the band’s fifth appearance at the Tolmen, and we expect another full house.
Advance booking required for cafe meals, via Barbara on 01326 340630.
Venue Opens: 18:00
Event Starts: 19:30
Ticket price £18
Concessions £15
Children £8.75
Theatre
Saturday March 14th
7:30 pm
LUKE WRIGHT presents LATER LIFE LETTER
Later Life Letter tells the story of Luke Wright’s adoption – the life he leads, and the one he might have done. What’s it like to stumble across your birth mother on Facebook? How do you honour the parents who have raised you while satisfying a curiosity about where you came from? Is it telling that you married a social worker?
Wright navigates his audience through a warm and honest hour of poems and stand-up with the wit, pathos, and silliness that has made him one of the most popular live poets in England.
This is a frank account of what it means to be someone’s child told by a performer who really knows what he’s doing. Expect raucous laughter, tear-stained cheeks, and a little smattering of drum n bass.
“Witty observation and rollicking acuity”
★★★★ Guardian
“His poems shoot arrows through the heart.”
★★★★★ List
“A sharpness and wisdom that lifts the soul and soothes the battered heart.”
★★★★ Scotsman
“A streetwise panache and a sardonic comic verve to rival Stewart Lee.”
★★★★★ Telegraph
“Honesty, humour, ire and wonder. He is at the peak of his powers.”
★★★★★ Stage
Event Starts: 19:30
Tickets £15.98
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Music
Saturday March 21st
7:30 pm
BOB FOX – An evening with the War Horse songman
BOB FOX
For more than fifty years, Bob Fox has been recognised as one of the truly iconic voices of British folk music. Deeply influenced by the working-class culture and industrial heritage of his native County Durham, he is a master storyteller through song.
Emerging from the vibrant folk revival of the 1960s and 70s, Bob has toured extensively throughout the UK, Europe, the United States, Australia and New Zealand – both as a solo performer and alongside artists such as Ralph McTell, Richard Thompson, Jethro Tull, and Fairport Convention. His debut album with Stu Luckley, Nowt So Good’ll Pass(1978), was named Melody Maker Folk Album of the Year, while his solo release Dreams Never Leave You (2000) was chosen as The Daily Telegraph’s Album of the Year.
Renowned for his warm, rich voice and accomplished guitar style, Bob has received numerous nominations for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and remains a much-loved figure on the live circuit. His collaborations include work with Billy Mitchell, The Pitmen Poets, and the BBC New Radio Ballads series. He also portrayed the Songman in the National Theatre’s multi-award-winning production of War Horse in London’s West End and on its acclaimed national and international tours.
More recently, Bob has reunited with Jez Lowe and Julie Matthews for New Radio Ballads Live and joined Home Service as lead vocalist. Expect an evening of songs of love, work, humour and humanity – from War Horse and New Radio Ballads to well-loved favourites from across his long and distinguished career.
“As soon as I heard him sing, I realised that Bob Fox must have one of the best voices in England.” – Ralph McTell
“Your voice and playing are undiminished in quality and expertise.” – Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)
“Pure and unadulterated folk music at its finest.” – Australian National Folk Festival
“Possibly the most complete male artist in English folk.” – The Daily Telegraph
Event Starts: 19:30
Tickets £17.50, £15, £7.50 (children)
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In July 2024, Constantine Enterprises company received a grant of £13,500 from Cornwall Council’s Good Growth fund. Together, with £1,500 of our funds we have used this grant to make acoustic, audio and lighting upgrades at the Tolmen Centre.
Read more here