News

This week we’ve been busy uploading information about brand news shows coming to the Tobacco Factory and Brewery Theatres from the end of August onwards. Our full programme will be announced in just under a month, but before then here’s a taster of what’s on offer. And you can book now for these shows online or by calling our Box Offiice direct. 

Comedy!

We’ve got some really cracking comedy shows coming to us this autumn. I’m afraid you’re too late for Michael McIntyre, which sold out in record time, but we recommend you get in there quick if you’re a Rich Hall fan. The star of the recent critically acclaimed BBC4 documentary, How the West Was Lost, Edinburgh fringe favourite and Perrier Award winner comedian is back on the road with his new UK tour. Catch him while you can!

Jeremy Hardy also makes a welcome return to the TF this autumn. One of the UK’s foremost social and political commentators and stand-up comedians, and regular on Radio 4’s The News Quiz amongst others, Hardy is a guaranteed good night out, with his “casual but crushing comments on class, politics and the dreary, unfriendly, unathletic place that is England” (The Guardian).

And last but by no means least, “Sheffield’s finest synthesizer player and twaddle talker” (Daily Telegraph) decides it’s time to instruct the Nation in moral matters. Yes, John Shuttleworth is back, with a show that considers not only the Nation’s moral decline, but also the vast range of exotic breads appearing in the high street, as the humble roll fades into obscurity… A must-see for anyone who’s wondered whether it’s possible to write a song about naan bread (it is).

Theatre!

Our autumn season kicks off with some great new shows with real-life drama, music, on-stage cooking and masks… (not all at once!)

Hit Me! The Life and Rhymes of Ian Dury is a warts-and-all portrait of the Blockheads’ lead singer. Touring direct from its second West End season, the show explore the highs and lows of Dury’s extraordinary career and inspirational life story, incorporating uncannyily accurate versions of seminal songs along the way. This Time Out Critics Choice is “highly entertaining and brilliantly theatrical”, according to whatsonstage.com.

Vamos theatre make their first visit to the TF with Nursing Lives, a full-mask show for everyone aged 8+ that takes the true stories of nurses at the former Worcester Royal Infirmary as a starting point for a tale about life during the second world war. Funny, touching and uplifting, this show from some of celebrated Trestle Theatre Company’s former members promises to be a real treat.

For one night only we’re joined by Edinburgh Fringe 2009 sell-out Hardeep Singh Kohli and his show The Nearly Naked Chef. A celebrated broadcaster, raconteur, writer and cook, Singh Kohli is effotlessly good company. Join him as he cooks up his favourite recipes live (he won Celebrity Masterchef, don’t y’know) and entertains in his characteristically well informed and amiable style. 

And for fans of new writing, Beanfield is a must. Local writer Shaun McCarthy presents a brand new play about oft-forgotten event in the west country’s recent history. On the 1st June 1985, a convoy of several hundred new-age travellers was attacked by riot police as they made their way to Stonehenge for the 14th annual Stonehenge free festival. Vehicles were destroyed, dogs put down and many people were seriously wounded as police pursued those attempting to escape across the beanfield. “Treading the balance with skill, Shaun McCarthy’s new play brings a dramatic dream-like glimpse of another world, ” says The Stage.

Keep up to date with what’s on by joining our e-bulletin mailing list. Just sign up using the box to the left of this page or email tickets[at]tobaccofactory.com. Receive our brand new brochure hot of the press by joining our postal mailing list. Just contact Box Office with your address.

More!

It’s the Edinburgh Festival preview season and at the end of the week the Bristol BrouHaha comedy festival arrives with a bang, A number of the shows have already sold out, but there are still unbelievably cheap tickets left for some really great acts. This is THE place to catch the stars of tomorrow before they make it massive! View the full BrouHaha programme here.