What's On

‘What do you know of the west of England?’
‘But surely that's a myth!’
‘I assure you, Mr Winchester, it is very real.’

Embark on this hilarious Victorian ghost story of a witless young man and a cast of eerie locals, with curses, skulls and Shin kicking. 

An old man languishing in his stately home awaits the arrival of his solicitor to share a tale of golden days... Oh, and the Butler is on fire. Journalist Thomas Carstairs is absolutely hopeless. He's foppish, foolish and above all totally unqualified to be a writer. Looking for inspiration, Thomas travels to a remote seaside town and immediately has an unceremonious welcome from the locals who see him for the pathetic, talentless toff he undoubtedly is. 

What starts as an innocent writing retreat leads to the discovery of a wizened and mysterious skull of terrifying origins. One that has the power to bring Thomas’ wildest fortunes into being and awaken a formidable foe… An armoured one.

Created by Bonnet Dog, ‘A Knight of Terror’ is a Victorian Gothic Ghost Story that mixes the uncanny tales of M. R. James with the silliness of classic British humour. Join us as we recite this ripping yarn that promises laughs as well as chilling spooks.

Bonnet Dog are Will Jones, Joe Brooks and George Jacobs, based in Weston-super-Mare. Frequent performers of weird in ‘From the Mud Cabaret’. Their other shows have included ‘Bad Things’, ' Making Plans for Hugo’ and ‘Fishing in Puddles’
 
Devised by Will Jones & Joe Brooks
Directed by George Jacobs
Photos by Adam Leppard
Knight Design by Erin Williamson 

Brief Encounter, a Noel Coward masterpiece directed by David Lean.  
Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard play two married people caught up in an illicit romance in 1940s England.  Cut glass accents conceal a deep passion which is contrasted with the comedy antics of the staff of a railway refreshment room and accompanied by a lush Rachmaninov score.
A special licence has had to be acquired in order to screen this treasure of British cinema, so don't miss this rare chance to catch it on a big screen. 

The Philadelphia Story
1940  Cert U  115 min

The Cotswold Playhouse is proud to collaborate with the Stroud Film Festival, bringing two classic films to the big screen, celebrating two shining lights of movie history who happened to share a surname. As the second film in a "mini Hepburn Season" we present the witty movie with which Katharine Hepburn engineered her own comeback. 

Philip Douch

‘First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage!’
Isn’t that how it’s meant to be? 
But what if life surprises and challenges you in ways you hadn’t expected?

Sarah and Rob want a child – a husband and wife struggling under strain.

Dani and Matt aren’t sure what they want – two students tentatively setting out together. 

Gemma and Josh just want a good time – a young couple fancying the pants off each other!

And then there’s babies - sometimes…. Or infertility? Adoption? Abortion? And what if you or the baby were disabled?

A play to make you think, cry a little and laugh so much more than you’d expect.

Audience praise for our production of Philip Douch’s previous award-winning play ‘Charlie’:
‘Funny, powerful, moving.’
‘So honest, raw, intriguing and well…different!’
‘The best thing I have ever seen.’

Audience guidance: ‘A special, beautifully written play’ (Judy Free, Cotswold Players Chairman).
Suitable for ages 16-plus – some swearing and emotional themes as above.
     

Returning to the Playhouse after last year's sell-out performance...

One newbie and two self-professed Janeites, through almost all means imaginable, tackle the entire canon of Jane Austen’s works – in just 90 minutes.

Come along for a fun, funny, and fast-paced romp through the masterpieces of Jane Austen with The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged. Three nimble actors take on all of Austen’s beloved heroines, friends, and love interests—and her incisive social satire—in just 80 minutes. It is a truth universally acknowledged that an audience in possession of high spirits must be in want of a ticket to this big-hearted comedy that will delight Janeites and newcomers alike.

Praise for Schoolhouse’s Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged
“An absolute must-see” - City Girl network *****
“Brilliant” - Bath Voice *****
“Hilarious” - Stagetalk magazine ****
“played to perfection... a delightfully funny romp through the Austen canon” - Bristol 247
“The show sparkles... a really lovely production” - Backstage Bristol 

The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan
Following the success of HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance was born and has become one of the most popular and enduring works of musical theatre to date. It premiered on 31 December 1879 in New York with Sullivan conducting, but there had been a single performance prior to this, of the opera in Paignton, UK to secure the British copyright.

The Pirates of Penzance subsequently ran for 363 performances at the Opera Comique in London after a successful 3 month run in New York. In a letter from Sullivan to his mother he wrote “I think it will be a great success, for it is exquisitely funny, and the music is strikingly tuneful and catching”. And indeed it is!

An unfortunate case of mishearing initiates the plot for The Pirates of Penzance, resulting in a dramatic change of direction for Frederic who sets course to become a pirate rather than a ‘pilot’! The twists and turns of this classic operetta unfold with ingenious characters, sublime lyrics and some of the best-known songs in opera!

Nicholas Bottom has always dreamt of being a performer. At Nick’s insistence, when just eleven years old, his father grudgingly bought Nicholas an old keyboard, and he taught himself the fundamentals before attending lessons with a purple-haired grandmother down the lane (you know, the one with the Afghan hound called Baboushka). Always in the background and spurned by his peers, who considered him rather ridiculous and certainly no scholar, Nick put his desire to take to the stage on hold for many years…until now. But, just as a peascod will expand and finally burst when exposed to the sun, so has Bottom at last come forth into the light of day (and moonlight) to share his story with you. With more than generous help from a very famous playwright, Nicholas also explores the nature and environment that surround us all, using several of said playwright’s most beloved characters and moments to highlight what we town-dwellers see, yet do not see, in a passionate invocation of the need to save our planet.
Much of this is a story you may know. Join Bottom on his journey as he narrates how it all began, muses upon the environment, falls into a daydream, and finally brings his masterpiece, hidden for all these years in the bole of an oak tree in the forest, to fruition at last.
Throughout, Bottom will play you his favourite pieces of live piano music, some of which he must admit to having written himself, then hidden from public view. Though, as we all know, the fairies at the bottom of the garden know all, and might just have the last say…

Following Bonzo Productions acclaimed Educating Rita and award-winning smash production of The Sound of Music Grace Hawker returns in the lead role in this iconic ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER musical.

TELL ME ON A SUNDAY is a one woman one act musical that follows a young English woman from Muswell hill,named Emma,as she travels to the United States in search of love. Over the course of the show she navigates a series of romantic misadventures in New York Los Angeles and Hollywood ultimately leading her to question if she has been looking for love in all the wrong places .The brilliant musical score and lyrics by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black make this show unmissable

A new piece of contemporary oral storytelling exploring endangered freshwater worlds through river legend, folklore and myth by Corinne Harragin

With over 4,000 miles of polluted waterways, Britain and Ireland’s rivers are in ruin. 
This vibrant new tapestry of transporting tales winds through stories that have shaped our relationship with rivers, the lifeblood of our landscape. 
Leaping salmon, fishtail women, mythical raves and sacred springs… These enchanting and surprising tales present characters who question what is set in stone and find their own flow.
With each meandering stream and rushing river, we dip our toes into vital waters and ask what new connections are found when we look with fresh eyes beneath the surface?

Running time 1 hour - no interval.
Created & performed by Corinne Harragin

“Delicious, captivating, funny, sexy, and brilliant!”
“Beautifully told tales – none of which I’d heard before”
“Mesmerising and sensual – the stories came to life”
Audience Feedback

‘Genuinely very funny’, ‘A masterful storyteller’ - Backstage Bristol

Lajaune Lincoln and Ben Bailey Smith

It’s school election time and while most of the school is busy enjoying their lunchbreak, a deadlock is taking place amongst the members of the school council. Bitter rivalries, secret alliances and false promises are laid bare. As a ruthless battle ensues, who will win and does anyone really care?

A play about politics, populism and the ‘ping’ of a text message.

Performed by the Seniors at Thomford Academy 

"TELL ME EVERYTHING, HOLMES" 

1t’s 1906 - the Golden Age of Magic.  The Masked Magician bestrides London’s world of Magic like a colossus, UNTIL…one night, in mid-performance, the Magician vanishes. Dead? Kidnapped? In hiding?

After a month Scotland Yard is completely baffled (obviously) and call in Sherlock Holmes to help solve the mystery of the Masked Magician’s disappearance. Holmes (with an excitable Watson in tow) plunges into the secret world of Edwardian Magic only to find that the Masked Magician’s identity is Magic's best kept secret.

As they meet, and question, the Magician‘s peers (seeing a lot of Magic), the mystery of his identity and fate deepens.  As they unravel clue after clue, Holmes comes to share Watson’s wonder and discovers that it can sit alongside his logical outlook.

When Holmes finally uncovers the startling and surprising secrets of the Masked Magician he, Watson and the audience have to decide....

....are some mysteries best left as...mysteries! 

Back for a third year, Aylmers Circus returns with a brand-new spectacle - Making a Scene.

Step onto a film set like no other, where the cameras are rolling, the lights are dazzling, and every moment bursts into life. Starring the hilarious Nancy Trotter Landry, this high-energy circus adventure blends jaw-dropping acrobatics with playful storytelling and irresistible theatrical flair.

With show-stopping musical numbers, daring circus feats, the sounds of classic hits, and dazzling costumes, Making a Scene is packed with laughter, and plenty of audience participation - don’t miss this unforgettable family treat.

Children under 2 are permitted to sit on a parent/guardian's lap.
Children aged 2 or over must have a ticket for their own seat.

DOT Productions presents Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, a sparkling revival brimming with wit, charm, and the company’s signature comedic flair. This nimble five-actor adaptation brings Wilde’s razor-sharp dialogue and delicious social satire to life with inventive staging and playful character doubling.

When Lady Windermere begins to suspect her husband’s loyalty, a mysterious woman’s arrival threatens to upend her world. A whirlwind of gossip, temptation, and mistaken intentions follows—leading to a revelation that challenges every assumption.

Light-footed, stylish, and irresistibly funny, this production captures the heart of Wilde’s classic while offering a fresh, intimate twist. A delightful evening of scandal, elegance, and laughter awaits.

Live Wire Theatre Presents Chauntecleer & Pertelotte
A Beasty Babel Fable
By Dougie Blaxland

Loosely based on Chaucer’s Nun’s Priest’s Tale - an Aesop Fable style story about anthropomorphic chickens - Dougie Blaxland’s Chauntecleer & Pertlotte - subtitled “A Beasty Babel Fable” tells the quaint but utterly absurd story of how a jilted hen exacts eye-watering revenge on a faithless cockerel.

Winner of Best New Play at the Brighton Festival, Chauntecleer & Pertelotte has also been nominated for the Scotsman Fringe First Award and the Popcorn New Writing Award at the Edinburgh Festival.

Delivered in language combining elements of Chaucer with the “nonsensical gobbledy-gook” pioneered by comedy greats Stanley Unwin and Kenneth Williams Chauntecleer & Pertlotte has been described as “comedic and literary gold”.

With just two actors playing all 24 of the diverse human and animal characters that populate Blaxland’s outlandish “farmy-warmy” world Chauntecleer and Pertlotte is a ribbald romp of a play performed at “breakneck speed”.

“Wordcraft does not come much better than this;this is comedic and literary gold.” Broadway Baby *****
“Every so often a show comes along to remind us why we became interested in the theatre in the first place.” Fringe Review *****
“Fun and frenzied, Chauntecleer and Pertelotte is a wonderful piece of physical theatre and each raunchy, rhyming line is delivered with relish.” Ham & High *****
“Rude, lewd and great fun to see, Chauntecleer and Pertelotte will get your festival juices flowing.” British Theatre Guide *****