Tickets go on sale today for Barnstaple Fringe TheatreFest

Tickets for Barnstaple’s annual Fringe TheatreFest go on sale today (Sunday, June 1) with booking for ticketed shows on the Fringe TheatreFest website.

The festival is a feast of theatre and performance events taking place in Barnstaple from Thursday, June 26 to Sunday, June 29 with 180 shows from 55 productions at more than 20 venues around Barnstaple.

Fringe TheatreFest has become known for the variety it offers audiences. There will be drama, dance, award-winning comedians, street-theatre, shows for families, magic, music and much more.

Venues include the Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple Baptist Church, Golden Lion Tap, JCT27, The Guildhall and The Castle Centre. With further performances taking place outside or in less formal spaces like Barnstaple Library, Green Lanes, and The Feel Good Larder.

Tickets are priced between £4 and £8, and there are also many pay-what-you-will performances.

Several shows combine music and comedy. Improperly are bringing an improvised comedy show that promises quick-wit and chaos. I Don’t Have A Maths GCSE is a musical comedy about failure, growth and not having a clue what algebra is.

Above: With ‘Improperly’, the brainchild of Sam Morgan (The Comic Strip), the audience gets to choose what this motley crew of performers do and watch them create your entertainment on the spot

Cavalier by i.e. Theatre, promises songs, old timey games, calamitous music and general debauchery, while local creator Sarah Lee-Pettifer (Mrs Animation) has written a hilarious musical packed with love, laughs, and an animated set called From Essex to Barry.

Above: Cavalier! was initially developed last year as part of the Landmark Theatre's Seed Commission programme for the creation of its new Welcome Weekender event. 

If folk tales, myths and legends are more your thing then there is Thor's A Dick — Viking Legends Not For Kids, spectacular retellings of Anglo-Saxon myths on Castle Mound in Whispers of Woden and Irish folk tales in Tatty Bogle.

Families can check out Alma and The Holly-Blue Butterfly, The Fairy who wanted to Fly, and We’re All Storytellers, all taking place at the library and in The Feel Good Larder.

This is all just a taste of the variety on offer at the festival this year. Details about the full programme are available on the website or pick up a printed programme from the Queen’s Theatre. Local venues, volunteers, supporters and sponsors enable this community event.

Above: Sophie Cobb, artist and storyteller, will present Alma and the Holly Blue Butterfly at Barnstaple Library

This year the festival sponsor is Lineal Software Support, with further support given by sponsors Wollens Solicitors, Hortons Estate Agents, Peninsula Management, and Rosie Bracher Solicitors.

In addition to buying tickets, you can get involved by volunteering.

Pete Buffery, volunteer and co-director, explained: “There’s a range of volunteering experiences on offer at the festival. You could do an hour or two of selling tickets or stewarding shows, or you could get stuck in with the full week, setting up venues and putting up posters.

“Volunteers have the option to sign up to shifts themselves so they can be in control of their own time and get to see the shows they want to see.”

Debbie Munro, also volunteer and co-director, said: “It’s such a fun four days, you meet lovely people and get to see Barnstaple in a new light. Whether you come along as an audience member or volunteer, everyone is friendly and welcoming.”

You can find out more online at www.theatrefest.co.uk or contact office@theatrefest.co.uk