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Tobacco Factory Theatres produces and presents excellent theatre in its iconic building in Bristol, offsite in the South West and on tour nationally and internationally.
We present a jam-packed programme of diverse and exciting shows, workshops and events, from international comedy acts to opera, family shows to modern classics and timeless masterpieces. It also runs an expansive programme of engagement, participation and development opportunities for young people, artists and audiences.
Tobacco Factory Theatres has forged an inspirational path to becoming one of the country’s most respected venues. The diversity of the programme, combined with the astonishing average attendance capacity of 80%, make it one of the most well-attended, loved and popular theatres in the country.
We are at a key moment in the theatre’s evolution and a step change in the level of our ambitions. We recognise that a truly great theatre is all about the consistent production of great shows and to achieve this we are investing ambitiously in more of our own productions and co-productions with key partners.
The redevelopment of Tobacco Factory Theatres saw it building the brand new 84-seat Spielman Theatre, refurbishing backstage areas and improving front of house areas in 2018.
MIKE TWEDDLE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, TO STEP DOWN IN OCTOBER
13 March, 2022
By StageTalk
Mike Tweddle, CEO and Artistic Director of Tobacco Factory Theatres, to step down from the role...
Review: BADASS BE THY NAME at Tobacco Factory Theatres
18 February, 2022
By Graham Wyles
★★★★☆ What you get for your hard earned money is some of the best and wittiest physical theatre available on today’s circuit. All in all, it's an hour of hoot-out-loud fun of the sort your parents would defin...
Review: DESTINY at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
26 June, 2021
By Graham Wyles
★★★★☆ In this one-woman show Ms Espeut-Nickless has pulled off the almost magical feat of making the unlovely loved. Her creation is the kind of girl whom the police have, historically, not bothered with, havi...
Review: SEX EDUCATION at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
18 June, 2021
By Graham Wyles
★★★★☆ Harry Clayton-Wright, the actor, stand-up, whatever, spends a lot of time sitting at a table making cucumber sandwiches for the audience - which of course they couldn’t eat because of Covid....
Review: OH MARY! at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
13 June, 2021
By Graham Wyles
★★★☆☆ The story of Mary Bryant is hardly a story for our time, capital punishment for what we might now call misdemeanours and commutability via transportation have gone the way of slavery and child labour . ....
Review: THE BEAST IN ME at the Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
11 June, 2021
By Simon Bishop
★★★★☆ This is the latest production by three-piece ‘The Devil’s Violin’. This story-telling musical trio are led by narrator Daniel Morden in a series of atmospheric, sometimes chilling but for the most...
Review: Raymond Briggs’ FATHER CHRISTMAS online from Tobacco Factory, Bristol
11 December, 2020
By Adrian Mantle
★★★★★ In place of a traditional fairy-tale style character Briggs’ Santa is a regular proletarian working man who enjoys his tea, dotes on his pets and needs the loo in the morning. This, of course, provides...
Review: PEOPLE SHOW 137 God Knows How Many at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol
13 March, 2020
By Adrian Mantle
★★★★☆ Each show is different and given an identifying number: this one is People Show 137. It’s tricky to categorise them and that’s probably how they like it. I won’t be the first to describe them as s...
Review: BOAR at the Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
6 March, 2020
By Adrian Mantle
★★★☆☆ It’s a highly entertaining, hour-long show and Doherty is certainly skilful at what he does in managing to portray such a variety of characters. My favourites were the yuppie prince, the cabin boy an...
Review: WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
26 February, 2020
By Adrian Mantle
★★★★☆ A married couple go at each other as if they’ve hated one another for their whole 21 years of marriage. Bickering; insulting and rude; the jibes and taunts come out like pellets from a gun in a kids c...
Review: RETURN TO HEAVEN at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
6 February, 2020
By Bryan J Mason
★★★★★ Contemporary dance, like contemporary theatre can take many guises. To the unfamiliar it may appear baffling or overly technical or even, dare whisper it, pretentious. It can also be thrilling, chall...
Review: Living Spit’s SWAN LAKE at the Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
1 February, 2020
By Mike Whitton
★★★★★ This show is a hoot, or perhaps that should be a honk or a quack. Yet it all starts very quietly, for we are presented with the romantic vista of a tranquil lake, edged by silver birch trees . . . ...
