Sweet Charity

Presented by the Cotswold Players on 12th to 15th and 18th to 22nd June 2013 at 7.30 pm.

This vibrant and colourful show tells the story of Charity Hope Valentine and her search both for a new job to take her away from the Dance Hall in which she works and for a man to love and cherish her.

The show opened in London in 1967 starring Juliet Prowse, was followed by a film starring Shirley McLaine and recently performed in London with Jill Halfpenny playing the lead.

The characters are well-drawn and the music by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields is lively and interesting and includes 'Hey Big Spender', 'Rhythm of Life', 'If They Could See Me Now' and 'I'm a Brass Band'.

Tickets £13

Moonfleet

Presented by Bristol Old Vic Theatre School on 26th June 2013 at 7.30 pm.

Smugglers, shipwrecks, a haunted crypt, hidden treasure, vengeance and enduring love are the ingredients of J. Meade Falkner’s classic tale Moonfleet, brought vividly to life in Bristol Old Vic Theatre School’s latest West Country touring production.

Set on the Dorset coast in the village of Moonfleet, orphan John Trenchard is captivated by the story of the ghostly Blackbeard and his lost treasure. His search leads him to high adventure with smugglers, the revenue men, and eventually to love.

As gripping a yarn as Treasure Island, Moonfleet has enthralled generations with its fast-moving and breathtaking drama. This is a new, literary adaptation written especially for Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and with an original score by Tim Laycock.

Tickets £11

The Taming of the Shrew

Presented by Madcap Theatre Productions on 19th July 2013 at 7.30 pm.

Watch as typical Shakespearean mayhem ensues with misleading disguises, witty banter and the inevitable rocky road to true love! Combining the original script, music, dance and physical theatre; join us for a funny and fast-paced version of the Bard's classic comedy.

MadCap Theatre Productions are a Midlands based touring company that bring engaging, exciting and entertaining theatre to venues all over the UK. For more information please visit: www.madcaptheatreproductions.co.uk

Tickets £12

Savoy Ghosts

Presented by Glitter and Twisted Theatre Company on 20th July 2013 at 7.30 pm.

February 1990. As the smoke clears and the dust settles after a disastrous fire at the Savoy Theatre a fireman picks his way through the debris. He picks up a charred programme and reads the history of the theatre, musing that, “if only these old beams could talk”…

Ghosts emerge from the wreckage, playing out memories of songs performed there between 1881 and 1903. But fire has warped history, and these numbers are now given the Glitter & Twisted treatment: men sing ladies’ songs; duets become solos; patter songs are now recitations; arias from different shows are merged together and common themes across the operas are explored. The show includes musical numbers from all the full-length Savoy operas, including rarities such as Jane Annie, His Majesty and Haddon Hall, as well as featuring many favourite Gilbert & Sullivan songs given a new treatment. Savoy Ghosts promises to be an emotionally moving as well as hilariously funny revue. Fully realised, with set and costumes, this will be far more than just a concert, it will be a theatrical experience.

Created by Stroud residents Simon Moss & Suzanne Barnes, and developed with a talented cast of West Country performers, this will be Glitter & Twisted’s third production, and Stroud debut!

Tickets £12

Two and eight: Life by Numbers

Presented by the Cotswold Players from 5th to 7th September 2013 at 7.30 pm.

 The Cotswold Players are thrilled to be bringing to the stage two fantastic one-act plays.
Two by Jim Cartwright (Winner of Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best New Play) depicts a cross-section of working-class life in a Northern pub in the 1980s. It’s a series of snapshots as fourteen characters played by just two actors drag us through the whole range of emotions. While our colourful hosts, the Landlord and his wife weave their way through each story we learn the truth about theirs.
Eight, puts the voices of eight very different people centre stage.
From Millie who specialises in the ‘re-invigoration’ of the British gentlemen, to Miles a 7/7 survivor or Danny, an ex-squaddie who makes friends in morgues; ‘Eight’ is about a generation which have grown up in a world where everything has become acceptable.

Tickets: £12

Stepping Out

Presented by the Cotswold Players from 9th to 12th October 2013 at 7.30 pm.

 ‘Stepping Out’ is a warm & funny play about the lives, laughs & loves of a group of women (and 1 man) who attend a tap dance class in a North London village hall. There is an ex-professional dancer, Mavis, who runs the class; cheerfully overweight Sylvia; Andy, a plain do-gooder with no confidence; snobby but well-meaning Vera; timid Dorothy who works in Social Security; Maxine, attractive, sharp & very shrewd; fat plain Lynne;  Rose, the self-styled ‘token spade’ & Geoffrey, the lone male.  As the play progresses the class’s dancing improves to such an extent that they are invited to perform at a local village event. To add to the fun there is Mrs Fraser the pianist with no sense of humour.

Tickets £12 - available in August

Jane Eyre

Presented by Live Wire Theatre Company from 16th to 19th October 2013 at 7.30 pm.

Adapted by award-winning playwright Dougie Blaxland, this one-woman show begins in the parlour of St John Rivers’ cottage at the moment when the adult Jane hears the disembodied voice of Rochester calling to her from across the moors. It then move back in time successively to the significant stages of her life: her unhappy childhood in the Reed household, her education at Lowood School, her work as Governess at Thornfield, her life on the moors with the Rivers family and finally ends, as does the novel, with Jane’s return to Rochester and the burnt ruins of Thornfield.

Tickets £12 - available in August

Romeo and Juliet

Presented by Ballet Cymru/Stroud Arts Festival on 24th October 2013 at 7.30 pm.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life

Critics Circle Award winning company, Ballet Cymru, present an extraordinary adaptation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece “Romeo a Juliet”.
Intense fighting, passionate duets and universal themes echo through dramatic and lyrical choreography. Exquisite costumes and extraordinary video projections create a world of danger and excitement where two young lovers are caught in an age old feud.
“Romeo a Juliet” is a dynamic and unique collaboration between 3 of Wales’ outstanding arts organisations, Ballet Cymru, Coreo Cymru (The Dance Creative Producer for Wales www.coreocymru.com) and The Riverfront Theatre in Newport (www.newport.gov.uk/theriverfront)

Ballet Cymru have collaborated with some of the best creative artists of today to produce this dynamic performance offering explosive dance, physical theatre and classical ballet.

 Tickets £16 (£12 under 18) from August

An Evening with Dementia

Presented by Trevor T Smith on 25th October 2013 at 8.00 pm.

Public demand calls An Evening with Dementia back to the Cotswold Playhouse.

The play gives a portrait of an aging actor living in a care home who ' accepts' rather than 'suffers' from his condition. The wryly intelligent text allows the audience to empathise with the state of being called dementia. When it was played in London Trevor T. Smith was nominated as the Best Male Performance in the The Off West End Theatre Awards and the British Medical Journal  stated, “The play enlightens, inspires, and most importantly, teaches what the individual with advanced dementia might want others to understand if he could be the teacher.”  The Daily Express called it, “A love letter to the wonders of a life well-lived”. “Insightful and undercut with a surprisingly upbeat sense of humour” and “it is a joy to watch with the ability to frequently provoke tears and laughter throughout, this deeply moving, inspirational performance proves that dementia does not mean the end” were the Edinburgh papers verdicts.
All the play's reviews can be read on the play's website www.aneveningwithdementia.co.uk

 Tickets £10 - available in August

The Caucasian Chalk Circle

Presented by the Cotswold Players on 22nd, 23rd, 28th and 29th November 2013 at 7.30 pm.

Civil war.  An abandoned baby.  A corrupt judge.  What hope of a happy ending?
In this, arguably his greatest play, Brecht the master storyteller weaves together the stories of two unlikely heroes: a servant girl who gives up everything to protect a helpless child; and an amateur judge who dispenses rough justice with a twinkle in his eye and a bottle by his side.
A refugee from fascism, Brecht had no time for authority or the establishment – and that included the established theatre.  So, no wordy conversations in middle-class drawing-rooms: instead, he whisks us along from city street to farmhouse kitchen, from mountain pass to peasant hovel, in a new style of theatre, packed with action, colourful characters, gritty everyday language – and songs.

Tickets £12 will be available from September.