Barbershop’s funniest quartet. Three guys and a girl tell the tale of a matador who moves to Norfolk – expect laughs, tears and stampeding cows.
‘A feast of frenetic ridiculousness and technically superb singing’ – **** (Scotsman).
In association with Carn to Cove
After their hugely successful ‘Riot’, a new play from The Wardrobe Ensemble based on the epic rescue of 33 Chilean miners.
A tale of friendship, hope and Elvis Presley, 33 takes you beyond the newsrooms, past the cameras and leaves you 2000 feet under the ground. An outlandish, touching and funny modern legend of men on the brink of death, fame and madness.
Tickets £9, £8
Two Destination Language
Two performers have a difficult story to tell.They come on stage and launch themselves into an hour long attempt to put into words the utterly unspeakable. Delivered in English and Bulgarian, with pounding gypsy-inspired music, this beautiful performance fills an empty space with two performers, hundreds of fresh flowers and a storm of emotion.
Near Gone won a 2014 Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Festival for Innovation, Experimentation and Playing With Form, and received numerous four and five star reviews. The company are Artists in Residence at Salisbury Playhouse.
We saw this show in Edinburgh last summer and were entranced by it. The combination of two completely watchable actors, two languages, a mesmerising telling of the story (which several times explodes into a frenetic dance), the littering of the stage with hundreds of flowers, the whole show grips you completely. The images and effect remain with you long after the performance ends. Apparently simple, but full of complexity, this is a piece of theatre which deserves its accolades. Don’t miss this single performance in Cornwall on a nationwide tour.
“This is a difficult story to tell, performer Katherina Radeva warns us in Bulgarian through her translator and fellow performer, Alister Lownie, at the start of Near Gone. She is not wrong. Intimately exploring the themes of grief, loss and potential loss, the subject matter of Near Gone is not easy to talk about. However, Radeva and Lownie’s emotional story is told with great beauty, sensitivity and humour, creating art that is truly affecting, memorable and life-affirming”.
and Lyn Gardner said in The Guardian ‘Essential Theatre Picks’
“a winning heartfelt intensity…. a boon to the flower trade and to audiences too with its passionate, dance-filled look at the gulfs we cannot bridge”.
Alister and Katherina will host a short post-show discussion of some of the questions raised by the show.
Tickets £10, £8 Children £5
Crackling with energy and dripping with humour, this is a hilarious and heart breaking two-hander.
Bitch Boxer | Snuffbox
Chloe Jackson has just one more fight to win before she gets the chance to live her dream – to box for Team GB at the Olympics.
Tickets £10, £8, £6 Children 14+
Ken Lukowiak
In the wake of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, it’s worth remembering
the human cost of that conflict. Few one-man shows could give you a more gut-wrenching insight than this one. Ken Lukowiak faces his contrary wartime emotions with courage and honesty.
Redruth man Lukowiak served in the Paras in heat of the Falklands war. Subsequently his life was in turmoil as he tried to deal with the emotional after-effects of combat. Some years later he wrote a best selling book based on his experiences, and this was later made into the stage play A Soldiers Song by Guy Masterson (a regular visitor to the Tolmen Centre) – who initially took Ken’s role in what was a powerful and successful one man show.
Last year, Ken Lukowiak bravely agreed to take over the play himself for a run at the Edinburgh Fringe where it attracted widespread acclaim and full houses. Many serviceman and veterans were among the audiences, and all were deeply affected by Ken’s performance. It now comes to The Tolmen Centre as part of a very short tour across the country. Click here for lots more detail.
This show will be on Friday 1st March. The second show on Saturday 2nd will not now take place
“ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL WAR PLAYS EVER MADE!”
Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War and one of the hits of the 2012 Edinbrugh Festival, A Soldier’s Song is the real deal. A true story of conflict told by a guy who was there, bringing the battlefield to the stage in an extraordinary work of theatre.
This is the theatre of War in its facets, invoking the horror, terror, shame, black humour, futility and tedium of a soldier’s life on the front line and the lingering effects of Post Traumatic Stress. Deeply disturbing and frightening at times, it utilises a pounding, totally authentic multi-directional soundscape. It is also extremely funny, the dark “squaddie” humour offsetting the darkness. The brutal demotic language and reality of the battlefield is brought to vividly to life.
***** “This is the Saving Private Ryan of theatre!” (The Times)
**** “A GUT WRENCHING INSIGHT”- Daily Telegraph
In the wake of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War and with Argentina ratcheting up the pressure over the islands once again, it’s worth remembering the human cost of that conflict. Few one-man shows could give you a more gut-wrenching insight than this one. Ken Lukowiak, who served in the Paras, has stepped into the theatrical front line, delivering this potted version of his 1993 memoir of the gruelling campaign. Required to duck down, crouch and adopt defensive positions under loud simulated shellfire at times, he cuts an awkward if affable figure on stage, but that adds to the authenticity. As he relives grisly encounters with Argentinians dead and alive, recalls some sickening army gallows humour and recoils at the screaming nightmare of incidents like the bombing of Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram, you realise he is still battling his demons. Unsung heroism? This simple, humbling show embodies the phrase.
(Dominic Cavendish – Daily Telegraph – 19/08/12)
The return of the fabulous Medical Maelstrom with their hilarious evening of musical comedy. A unique act that will leave you with a smile on your face and aching with laughter.
In aid of the Cornwall Samaritans
Tickets £17.50 to include substantial nibbles
