News

Annoying, isn’t it, when people say, “Oh it was amazing, you should have been there”. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Yes, this September the TF is doing its own version of BBC i-player (kind of), making the unmissable unmissable! That’s right; we’re bringing back 3 of the best shows from the last couple of years to play here again to give even more people to experience them, because really, they’re that good.

As days start to get shorter and colder, what could be better to take us back to the long, hot, dry days of summer than Action Hero’s super atmospheric A Western? There’s dust, heat, music and a splattering of ketchup in this “beautiful pipe-dream of a show” (The Guardian’s Lyn Gardner’s words, not mine). TF Director Ali Robertson has described it as “one of the most significant shows to come out of Bristol in recent years - fresh, funny, inventive and utterly engaging, I was floating for a week after I saw it first”. And there’s more - you can get a free shot of whiskey if you arrive before 8pm. Click here to read and see more reasons why you should not miss it.

Second up in our ‘Best Of…’ programme is TinkerTing and Pickled Image’s dark, grotesque and engrossing adult puppetry show Hunger. Imbued with some seriously Scandinavian surreality, this corker of a show premiered at last year’s Bristol Puppet Fest and received standing ovations. These guys are puppet masters of the highest order - exquisite skill and precision with a unique visual style. You’ll be disturbed – in a very good way. Click here to find out more.

Attention! See both Hunger and A Western on Weds 15 Sept for just £15 (£10). Bargain!

Filter’s exhilarating Twelfth Night is the third show we just didn’t get enough of first time round. There’ll be more on that towards the end of the week; meanwhile click here for the low-down, including a video trailer.

See next year’s hottest shows here first at Prototype this coming Sunday. Come along to see six brand new pieces of theatre in their very early stages of development and help answer the artists’ questions about how they might develop them further. Expect the unexpected… This season’s installment includes pieces from visual theatre company Wattle & Daub, gravity-defying Champloo front man Wilkie Branson (in collaboration with Seth Honnor) and the maverick live art-sters Sedated by a Brick. There’s more info here.