Featured Show: Barleycorn at The Wardrobe Theatre
Bristol folk theatre company returns to the Old Market theatre with a brand new show
Riddlestick Theatre returns to The Wardrobe Theatre this summer with their brand new folk musical Barleycorn.
For those who love a bit of Hot Fuzz, The Wicker Man and This Country, this show is perfect.
It’s set in the fictional south west village Hopley Drew. The Barleycorn Inn is holding its annual Harvest Show with the audience invited to join the locals with their celebrations.
But there’s something not quite right about the non-stop rain. Could it be due to a mysterious curse?
With live music, morris dancing, sing-alongs, games and a raffle, this is a show for the Greater Good – although we hope no one is burned alive at the end.
Riddlestick Theatre says this a show for anyone who’s ever lived in, visited or even passed through a ‘slightly peculiar English village’. We all know the ones. Where there always seems to be a fayre with a slightly menacing hobby horse giving off Midsommar vibes.
Co-Artistic Directors Kate Stokes and Thomas Manson, were inspired to write the show after attending folk customs and events around the country.
They travelled to such events as apple tree wassailing in Taunton, The Hunting of the Earl of Rone in Combe Martin, Devon and the The Sidmouth Hobby Horse trials.
At the heart of the show is a celebration of how such customs unite local communities – as well as the importance of social spaces like the village pub.
The company has always been ‘inspired’ by folk culture and performance, Kate Stokes and Thomas Manson say. They tour the country in the style of a ‘travelling troupe’ often blending Mummers’ plays and folk music into their performances.
Riddlestick Theatre was formed in 2016 by graduates of the University of Bristol.
As well as co-directors Kate Stokes and Thomas Manson, the company includes performers Alison Cowling and George Meredith who studied studied BA Drama.
Sophie Jackson, the show’s co-composer and musician studied BA Music.
Performer Ashley Scott is a Drama and Film graduate of nearby Bath Spa University.
Riddlestick Theatre have had previous sell-out runs of The Cabinet of Madame Fanny Du Thé and their late-night Christmas show – Undercover Christmas Club – which saw the company determined to celebrate the season despite being banned by the Puritan-led parliament.
Barleycorn will be at The Wardrobe Theatre from 05 – 09 August 2025
For more information or to book, visit: thewardrobetheatre.com/shows/barleycorn/
For more information about Riddlestick Theatre: https://riddlestick.com/
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