THIRSTY 

THE PAPER BIRDS 

THURSDAY 7TH FEBRUARY, 7.30PM

Based on our nation’s love affair with alcohol, Thirsty weaves together real booze based confessions collected from a ‘drunken hotline’ and hundreds of questionnaires answered by young and old. From nightclubs to working men’s clubs, from house parties to dinner parties; Thirsty relays tales from the happy hours to the early hours.

Fusing live music, verbatim text and stunning physical theatre, The Paper Birds examine binge drinking culture in the UK; lost memories, gained traumas, tales of bruised knees, uncontrollable laughter, urine stained beds and sore heads.

A dynamic theatrical exploration delving beyond statistics, facts and figures Thirsty looks to the faces and the voices of everyone who likes a drink and asks why as a Nation are we so thirsty?

'It’s an engaging, frequently very funny and poignant show. On Fiammetta Horvat’s deft set, cubicles become phone booths, changing rooms and nightclub toilets…. Our generous hostesses come into their own when giving themselves over to the physicality of drinking, reaching a climax in a frantic, sodden ballet of shots and stumbles.'

The Independent

ORESTEIA 

SPLENDID PRODUCTIONS 

MONDAY 11TH MARCH, 7.00PM

★★★★ "Brilliantly imaginative... uproariously funny. multi-talented, multi-voiced, multi-bodied... needle sharp." The Reviews Hub on The Odyssey

Splendid Productions present an epic, murderous tale of family, history, vengeance and honour in a story nearly as old as theatre. 

Condensing Aeschylus’s classic trilogy into an hour, Splendid’s regal cast of three retell the story of King Agamemnon, his queen Clytemnestra, and their children, Iphigenia, Electra and Orestes. A legendary family born to power, but destined to rip itself apart in a bloody cycle of tragedy.

Splendid’s new creative adaptation explores the place where rage meets justice in an artful, political, physical, musical, entertainingly furious – and furiously entertaining - piece of theatrical magic. 

★★★★★ "A matchless way of introducing ancient theatre to the young." South Wales Argus

★★★★★ "I generally don't laugh this loud when called upon to watch a Greek myth." Bouquets & Brickbats

★★★★ "Brilliantly imaginative... uproariously funny. multi-talented, multi-voiced, multi-bodied... needle sharp." The Reviews Hub

EARTHQUAKES IN LONDON 

CANFORD DRAMA PUPILS 

WEDNESDAY 20TH - FRIDAY 22ND MARCH, 7.30PM

Burlesque strip shows, bad dreams, social breakdown, population explosion, worldwide paranoia. A fast and furious metropolitan crash of people, scenes and decades, as three sisters attempt to navigate their dislocated lives and loves, while their dysfunctional father, a brilliant scientist, predicts global catastrophe.

An all-pervasive fear of the future and a guilty pleasure in the excesses of the present drive Mike Bartlett’s epic rollercoaster of a play from 1968 to 2525 and back again.

Talented Canford students tackle this terrific text, which feels as fresh and relevant today as it did in the Headlong/National Theatre premiere back in 2010

ZOO HUMANS 

UPG - THE URBAN PLAYGROUND 

THURSDAY 9TH MAY, 7.30PM

Post -Show discussion with the Company included

In 1917 Franz Kafka told the story of an ape that made itself a human. Imitating the worst excesses of its captors it finally gained acceptance... as a variety performer. In 1967 Desmond Morris published the Human Zoo. His central theory: that modern humans resemble animals raised in captivity, divorced from their natural environment yet driven by underlying animal instincts. In 2017 One third of the UK’s children spends less time outdoors than its prisoners. By 2018 the UK is declared the most obese nation in Europe. Public Health England considers Physical Inactivity an epidemic, responsible for 1 in 6 deaths and linked to anxiety, depression and numerous other conditions.

In ZOO HUMANS The Urban Playground Team brings Attenborough’s smooth narrative to a Kafka-esque reality in which a group of humans have forgotten how to move. As they slowly become aware of the artificial world in which they’re living they must decide if they’ll chose to risk their comfort for freedom beyond the confines of a cage...

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