Next Wednesday (20th January) Bristol Old Vic begins the first of many planned theatrical explosions under the heading of the Bristol Ferment.

The idea behind Ferment is a mini explosion of work-in-progress showings from new and established theatre-makers working across a variety of different forms. Artists involved include Kneehigh’s Tristan Sturrock, performance poet John Hegley, and Bristol Old Vic regulars Tom Wainwright, Toby Hulse and Ed Rapley.

The aim is that Bristol Old Vic’s smaller spaces such as the Paintshop, Basement, Studio and other hidden spaces will become engine rooms where the best of Bristol’s extraordinary artistic community can find and develop their theatrical voices through the combination of a rough performance idea and an adventurous audience.

Presented informally across eight days, this first outing of the Bristol Ferment is a chance for artists to share their early wares and for you to share your thoughts, so if you fancy tapping in to some new theatrical possibilities be sure to check out the details of all of the performances here on theatrebristol.net

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Wed 20th Jan

6.30pm

Tom Wainwright and Sam Halmarack – Mouth

Using only their mouths, performer Tom Wainwright and musician Sam Halmarack tell the heartburning tale of a Lancastrian cow who won Masterchef by thinking the unthinkable. Probably the first part of a trilogy…

8pm

Alan Williams – The Girl With Two Voices (1) Alan Williams is a writer and actor – this is the first outing of his new trilogy of fifty minute plays about how returning to your home country after fifteen years away feels like going to somewhere even stranger than a strange land.

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Thur 21st Jan

6.30pm

Alan Williams – The Girl With Two Voices (2) (see Wed 20th)

8pm

Wattle and Daub Figure Theatre – Triptych

Three brand new stories about love, loss and letting go, told through a lively cocktail of visual theatre, shadows and puppetry: magical, lively and a little bit dark.

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Fri 22nd Jan

6.30pm

Alan Williams – The Girl With Two Voices (3)

(see Wed 20th)

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Sat 23 Jan

2pm

Toby Hulse – Grandmother’s Footsteps

A new play for families about playing, laughing and grieving, and about the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren.

3.30pm

Timothy X Atack – And the line goes dead

A performance for two people: one alive, one dead

Tim is a writer, performer and music maker. He is responsible for the rather wonderful Buzzard in September. This is something else he is making…

6.30pm

Natalie McGrath – Coasting

In this new short play, hustlers Ocean and Pearl win on the fruit machines only to find themselves caught up in a whole damn riot.

8pm

Shiona Morton – Remarkable Frost*
A layer of sulphurous dust descends, a woman is sold for a shilling, a man awaits the Last Judgement, and the trees wither.

Jimmy Whiteaker – Choking Hazard *
Matches can hurt you, even when hidden in a high cupboard. Even a sturdy cupboard with dovetail joints.

Shagufta K. Iqbal – Untitled and Jam for Girls

Two spoken word pieces about love, femininity, identity and the multiple identities we wear in modern Britain

9.30pm

Owen Ridley DeMonick – a movement monologue

Part of an ongoing monologue work in which dancer Owen Ridley DeMonick explores his own unique movement language. A look at how we move; at space, sound and the connections in between…

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Wed 27 Jan

6.30pm

Stewart Wright and Craig Edwards – The Nothing Show (part 2)

One clown, an empty stage, a musician, and you. Welcome to the Nothing Show – This is part two…

8pm

Timothy X Atack – Janet Gaynor*
Five very different women in joint pursuit of the perfect image.

Lee Coombes – Rinsed *

A surreal kitchen sink romp through the deep unconscious processes of a dysfunctional couple caught in a sticky web of intrigue, deceit and ironing.

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Thu 28 Jan

6.30pm

Hattie Naylor – Ivan and the dogs

In this moving new play a small boy runs away from home and finds himself living on the cold Moscow streets with a pack of wild dogs…

8pm

Ed Rapley – Who Knows Where

Following his recent hit, The Middle Bit, the inimitable Ed Rapley presents the beginnings of the End Bit. Starting here: Happiness, desire and a car crash. Going…

Shagufta K. Iqbal – Untitled and Jam for Girls

(see sat 23rd)

9pm

Adam Peck – Kick-off*
Football, fighting, family. In that order.

Alex Jones – Noise *

Full of hope two teenagers start a new life in a housing association flat but fault lines are exposed as neighbour Matt comes crashing into their lives.

Friday 29th Jan

6.30pm

Tristan Sturrock – Frankenspine

A brand new solo piece by Kneehigh’s Tristan Sturrock. A moving, beautiful and comic theatrical journey. A true story of Mayday and monsters, falling and hospitals, old bodies and new hopes…

8pm

John Hegley – Dancing with Deckchairs

John moved to Bristol in 1970. Here he met Anthony Curtis, a native of the City. They have remained in touch, playing and dancing together with and without potatoes. Tony has remained in Bristol.

John will enact a loosely woven drama, set in part on the beach. Tony will provide atmospheric moments with his keyboard. As this is a scratch performance, the beach will be represented by sandpaper of the coarser kind.

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Sat 30 Jan

2pm

Alex Hykel meets Corina Bona – Fishwife, fishing for finery

A modern adaption of a Brothers Grimm fairytale, for people of all ages. Using puppetry, music, words and design, Cori and Alex tell the magical tale of a fish who can grant a wish…

3.30pm

J Liam Axe – Mourning Maggie Brown*
Lonely Maggie is held captive by a stranger over the holiday season in a dark winter fable.

Craig Norman – New Earth *

The last remaining inhabitants of a remote Scottish island prepare to leave their isolation and face the new world of the mainland.

6.30pm

Tristan Sturrock – Frankenspine

(see Fri 29th)

8pm

Laura Neal – Far Way Back*
In a rundown farming village an hour off the M4 Elliot and Luke are trying to work out what to do with the rest of their lives. But when the need for money, a burnt down barn and Kirsty enter their lives, can they withstand the pressure?

Jon Welch – Georgio *

The Roma slums on the outskirts of Naples, where no middle class, middle-aged

Georgio (non-Romany) would ever go – particularly if followed by his 12 year old son.

9pm

John Hegley – Dancing with Deckchairs

(see Friday 29th)

*Selection of hand-picked scenes from brand new plays developed through our Writers’ Room