Past Performances

THE MERLIN RECOMMENDS!

Following her smash-hit debut WASTED, rapper and spoken word poet Kate Tempest’s incendiary new play combines lyrical fireworks with exhilarating live music.

Danger, the fragility of existence and the desire to survive; we’re surrounded by these things in the relentless challenges of life. How do we respond? With fear, anger, determination? Renowned for exhilarating choreography that leaves you breathless, James Wilton’s work draws on martial arts, break dancing and capoeira to create raw, earthy and ground-breaking performance.

As part of the Spring Forward Festival 2014, Take Art’s dance and drama services will be collaborating with InspirED primary schools around the county to showcase an evening of dance and drama performances from local primary schools and groups.

THE MERLIN RECOMMENDS!

Award-winning clown troupe Le Navet Bete bring their new show to the Merlin- a whirlwind of live music, physical comedy, audience participation, pistols at dawn and sugar glass bottles. Will outlaw and all-round bad guy Loco Perdro rid the town of Kidneystone of all it’s gold? There’s only one way to find out…

Fabulously entertaining poetry from award-winning poet, Nathan Filer. Nathan will read and talk about both his poetry and fiction and reveal why he was deported from Israel on his 2012 truth-finding trip …

Merlin Associate Artist Pip Utton brings two of his award-winning, one-man shows to the Merlin. All proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Edventure, Frome

“Utton is a national treasure” Fringe Review

Award-winning TV comedian Mark Thomas takes to the Merlin stage with his latest show, a hilarious, subversive and inspiring account of his decision to commit 100 acts of minor dissent in a year.

“Touching but brilliantly funny" -The Times

A beautiful family show from Io Theatre. Join Gwyn as he is drawn into a dangerous adventure on his 9th birthday. With dark forces to confront he is helped in his quest by Arianwen, a silver spider from another world…

The award winning Merlin Theatre Company’s musical Christmas show has become a ‘must see’ as a start to the festive season. This year with over forty different characters on stage it promises to be a fun packed, visual delight for all of the family to enjoy. Join us as we re-tell this timeless classic.

Emma is married to Robert, a publisher. But for seven years, she has been having an affair with Jerry, a literary agent and Robert’s best friend.

Betrayal begins after the end of the affair, and pursues an intricate, gripping journey back to its very beginning.

Guy Jones, recently widowed and looking to expand his social life, joins PALOS – his local amateur light operatic society – who are in the early stages of rehearsal for their production of The Beggar’s Opera. Unable to say ‘no’ to anyone, he quickly finds himself in the arms of one frustrated wife, and in the bed of another, whilst a succession of casting mishaps results in his being rapidly promoted out of the chorus and through a range of roles, until he ends up playing the lead!

Andrew O’Neill, struggling to maintain concentration for long enough to write a new comedy show, decided to write about the fact that he was struggling to maintain concentration long enough to write a new comedy show.

Also, he has been on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle and heard on Radio One and Radio 5 Live.

“THIS SHOW IS NOW SOLD OUT.”

Jonathan Goddard plays the infamous Vampire Count, whose sinister and ruthless ambitions challenge the very fabric of Victorian society. As his victims and opponents rally against him they must face the darkness and savagery within themselves.

A bitter-sweet physical comedy for everyone who is a day older than yesterday! Two elderly Spanish sisters in a foreign land live against the backdrop of a battered rug and a mountain of mysterious boxes.

“There are no elephants in Australia. Well, no elephants except this one…” Written especially for parents to enjoy with their children, The Elephant Bridesmaid is a magical musical about weddings and wombats and the loveliest elephant the world has ever known.

It’s 1899 and escaped prisoner-of-war Winston Churchill is in a fiendish spot of bother: lost in the African savannah, wanted ‘Dead or Alive’ and hounded by the scathing words of his dead father.

Join Vienna Festival Ballet on a magical journey with their world premiere production of Snow White.

The poor Miller Jean-Pierre and his wife are starving. The wind does not blow to turn the mill to grind the corn. The rain does not fall, the plants do not grow and there’s no food for the animals. In desperation, Jean-Pierre appeals to The Wind and The Rain for help with fantastical results.

The Shakespeare Schools Festival works with 1000 secondary, primary and special schools all over the UK, making it possible for them to stage abridged Shakespeare productions in their local professional theatre.

Afro Cuban Sensibility is a weekend of events celebrating the root of Afro Cuban culture and beliefs. Taking place at the Merlin Theatre and Rook Lane Chapel, this weekend-long celebration will encompass film, food, workshops, visual art, live music and discussion sessions.

Folk recording artist and songwriter Ange Hardy is appearing at the Merlin as part of her Bare Foot Folk tour.

How much is beauty worth? Can I have a glass of milk? These urgent questions and others are answered in The Price of Everything, a performance lecture about value.

The story of Mr & Mrs Anybody… living a quiet life, following a comfortable routine. But things aren’t always what they seem. No more routine for these characters as logic is rethought, new uses are found for everyday objects and fantasies are intensified.

Performed by Tri.art Theatre Summer School students this wonderful musical features fantastic dance routines set to a glorious score including the classics Good Morning, Make ‘em Laugh, Moses Supposes and the legendary Singin’ in the Rain.

Expect fantastic Feet tapping fun with all the music coming from the wonderful “Happy Feet” films.

No other touring open-air theatre company has performed so many different Shakespeare titles to so many people, winning so many awards, as Illyria.

A FROME FESTIVAL EVENT

Long established as one of the UK’s best female comics Jo Brand returns to her stand up roots this winter trying out brand new material.

Sold Out

A FROME FESTIVAL EVENT

This much-loved ‘play for voices’ is presented as an open-air community theatre production, directed for FDC by Philip de Glanville.

A FROME FESTIVAL EVENT

The team captain of “Never Mind The Buzzcocks”, a regular on “QI”, Phil Jupitus follows his Frome Festival debut last year with the Idiot Bastard Band.

Sold Out

A FROME FESTIVAL EVENT

Larger than life Nigerian percussionist Lekan Babalola, described by the Washington Post as a “wizard percussionist”, is bringing members of his band The Afrobeat Messengers to The Frome Festival for a musical and cultural treat.

Witness is a large scale three screen cinematic dance event.

A FROME FESTIVAL EVENT

A firm festival favourite but this year with a new home and a new look.

A FROME FESTIVAL EVENT

Poet, broadcaster & comedian Ian McMillan and Olympic composer Luke Carver Goss present a hilarious night of poems, music & improv – like nothing you’ve ever seen before!

A FROME FESTIVAL EVENT

Deadly serious and seriously funny!

A FROME FESTIVAL EVENT

Join us to celebrate 21 years of Frome’s very own unique amphitheatre. During the celebrations a plaque will be unveiled illustrating the stones and their history.

Smugglers, shipwrecks, a haunted crypt, hidden treasure, vengeance and enduring love are the ingredients of J. Meade Falkner’s classic tale.

Moonfleet, brought vividly to life in Bristol Old Vic Theatre School’s latest West Country touring production.

A bank robbery. A wager. Two determined men. A race across the globe in eighty days.

Peter Rabbit knows very well that he is not to go into Mr McGregor’s garden; especially as it was there that his father met his untimely end – put into a pie! But he cannot resist….. and it’s only after several nasty scrapes (and minus all his clothes) that he finally escapes home to a severe telling-off from his mother.

Ballet Central 2013 will feature an exciting programme of ballet, contemporary, jazz and narrative dance. The varied repertoire includes a mixture of newly commissioned works and celebrated revivals, which showcase the talent of the company’s young and emerging dancers.

Daisy and Lottie came up with the idea for Makeshift Musical because it gave them the creative freedom to devise a production around their favourite musical numbers from the West End shows that inspire them.

A perfect start to half term… Farmer Hoggett wins a piglet at the fair – and everyone knows what fate awaits piglets raised on a farm.

Kit’s trademark sultry vocals and virtuoso guitar playing have wowed audiences across the UK through extensive touring with the guitar hero, John Etheridge. “A welcome curiosity, with a style that skips cheerfully across boundaries” said The Guardian when reviewing Kit’s unique blend of rootsy-blues and folk.

“Don’t step down Miss, take my advice. No one will believe that you willingly descended, people will always say that you fell”

Don’t miss this opportunity to see the stars of the future as they perform routines from musicals such as Singin’ in the Rain, Into the Woods, Avenue Q and Moulin Rouge.

The perfect way to pretend you have read the 1000 page book! From this highly acclaimed company comes a fabulous telling of Dumas’ epic tale through the eyes of the employees of a cigar-rolling factory. Edmund Dantes is, falsely imprisoned by his jealous companions; he escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge