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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.
Review: SNOW WHITE at Tobacco Factory Theatres in Bristol
3 December, 2019
By Bryan J Mason
★★★★☆ Audiences do not habitually expect the expected in this part of Southville and will not be disappointed with an updated take on the classic fairy tale. At the outset we are treated to musical educatio...
Review: QUEENS OF SHEEBA in the Spielman at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
7 November, 2019
By Simon Bishop
★★★★☆ Young, gifted and black; women, four of them, telling it like it is on a blank stage. Sometimes the best theatre can force you to breathe in what it is to be human; to witness, with the least filter, rea...
Review: DEAD MEN’S EYES at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
28 October, 2019
By Mike Whitton
★★★★★ In our age of multi-million dollar visual effects, where so much popular entertainment leaves nothing to the imagination, it is refreshing to experience straightforward storytelling at its best. If you...
Review: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at the Tobacco Factory Theatre, Bristol
24 October, 2019
By Bryan J Mason
★★★★★ What really allows Much Ado to be completely user friendly is the clarity imbued in the spoken word and the tremendous playing in the round. Fantastic casting has given us truly believable characters t...
Review: ME & ROBIN HOOD at Tobacco Factory, Bristol
3 October, 2019
By Mike Whitton
★★★★☆ ‘Who is going to look after the poor, now that Robin Hood is dead?’ Writer-performer Shôn Dale-Jones seeks to find an answer to that question in this highly inventive and original one-man show. Aff...
Review: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE at the Tobacco Factory Theatre, Bristol
25 September, 2019
By Simon Bishop
★★★★★ Opera Project have returned to Bristol with a breezy take on Rossini’s tale of young love winning the day. With a strong cast making the most of their opportunity to work in the round under the assure...
Review: THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
26 June, 2019
By Mike Whitton
★★★☆☆ Right from the start there is a sense of fun, and of provocative social comment, too. On entering, the audience is greeted by members of the cast who hand out leaflets about a community project. ...
Review: NEXT DOOR at the Spielman Theatre, Tobacco Factory, Bristol
14 June, 2019
By Bryan J Mason
★★★★☆ Connections with others and memory of past friendships are prompted by an apparent lack of one for a recently deceased neighbour. A series of marvellously comic and meandering vignettes are woven togeth...
Review: THE STRANGER ON THE BRIDGE at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
16 May, 2019
By Bryan J Mason
★★★★★ The Stranger on the Bridge triumphs in being a genuinely thrilling theatrical retelling of the story of Jonny Benjamin who was talked out of jumping off Waterloo Bridge by a total stranger ...
Review: OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
24 April, 2019
By Graham Wyles
★★★☆☆ The action of Timberlake Wertenbaker’s play (based on actual events in the history of the transportation of convicts to Australia) revolves around the staging of a play, The Recruiting Officer by Georg...
Review: THE INTRONAUTS at the Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
23 March, 2019
By Graham Wyles
★★★★☆ The collaboration between Green Ginger and the Nordland Visual Centre has resulted in a show that mixes puppetry, human action and visual effects hardly bettered by cinema and which takes theatre into ar...
Review: Wardrobe Theatre’s ROCKY SHOCK HORROR at Tobacco Factory, Bristol
14 November, 2018
By Simon Bishop
★★★★★ Its mayhem with message approach pulls no punches in a subtext that exposes the pain of the American working class and the lure of Trump as its conduit of frustration...
