<img src='' title='Event Category: Drama' alt='' id='templ_icon_' width='' height='' /> Event Category: Drama

The Nag’s Head

Do you believe in ghost stories?

Do you want to hear tales that will chill you to the bone… that will make you wish you brought a spare set of pants?

After the death of their father, three estranged siblings return home for the funeral. Burdened with their dad’s failing pub and a weird painting arriving unexplained in the dead of night, they must decide whether to work together to save The Nag’s Head or succumb to their demons.

Make It Beautiful Theatre Company present their dark comedy play: The Nag’s Head. Featuring music from folk band Good Habits and real paranormal accounts, this sell-out production is an ode to rural England and the independent pub.

Birdcatcher

A schoolgirl with a long plait faces away from the camera towards a row of houses which have graffiti on them. The girl is wearing a backpack with a book called Memorial of Jesus' Death in the back pocket.
Birdcatcher, Ludlow - May 2026 for Pentabus

A Pentabus production in association with Papatango Theatre Company and Middle Child Theatre

Birdcatcher
A new play by Laura Waldren
Directed by Elle While

Birdcatcher is a darkly comic drama about a teenage girl navigating life inside a doomsday cult. Set in East Yorkshire, the play shines a light on the murky, repressive underworld of religious “high control groups” in the UK – and asks how you find yourself in a world you think is about to end.

Pentabus is the Nation’s Rural Theatre. This inaugural production is directed by BAFTA winning Artistic Director Elle While (Mother Courage, Richard III Shakespeare’s Globe) and written by rising star and award-winning playwright Laura Waldren, whose first play Some Demon won the 2023 Papatango Prize.

Content Guidance
This play explores life within a strict religious community, including themes of coercive control and institutional abuse. It contains strong language, descriptions of sexual harassment, and references to accidental death. As this is a new play, the content guidance will be reviewed and updated throughout the rehearsal process as needed.

Under The Hammer

Agent Dali, Agent Kahlo and YOU!

A Johannes Vermeer is going under the hammer at a charity art auction. Agents Kahlo and Dali of the Company of International Artists, a top secret art detective agency, are summoned by the organisers to oversee proceedings.

All is going well until intel from an unknown source throws everything into question…

A fine blend of theatre/improv, escape room and ‘who-dunnit’ style mystery, this immersive participatory experience sees attendees attempt to solve a fictional mystery inspired by real-world art crime cases. As newly recruited detectives of the Company of International Artists (a top secret global art detective agency) they must review evidence, decipher codes and crack puzzles to solve a case of art forgery before the culprit evades justice!

All Company of International Artists investigations are facilitated by quirky, exuberant lead investigators Agents Kahlo and Dali.

Under the Hammer is performed, written & produced by Brave Bold Drama – a multi award winning theatre company based in the south west. For the past 11 years they have been dedicated to making high quality innovative participatory theatre experiences for all ages. They pride themselves in making work that is equal parts fun, richly-detailed and edifying.

National Theatre Live: Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Christopher Hampton
based on the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
directed by Marianne Elliott

Olivier and Tony® Award winner Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) joins Aidan Turner (Rivals) in a striking new staging of Christopher Hampton’s celebrated adaptation of the classic novel, where among the glittering salons of the super-rich, one misstep can mean ruin.

Marquise de Merteuil is a master in the art of survival. Alongside the magnetic Vicomte de Valmont, they turn seduction into strategy and weaponise desire. But when their alliance collapses into rivalry, the battle between them threatens to destroy everyone in their path.

Filmed live on stage at the National Theatre, Marianne Elliott (Angels in America) directs this thrilling game of love, lies, and social warfare.

Robin Hood Rescues The Forest

In his bid to finally rid Sherwood Forest of outlaws the evil Prince John has decided to burn it down.

However, our eponymous hero has other ideas! With much cunning and more than a little help from the peasants, and even time for a spot of Morris dancing, Robin outwits his Highness.

This is a very interactive production filled with music and humour that combines “myths and legends” with an important study of ecology and the environment.

The Gingerbread Man

A real treat for the very young as they join our hero on his adventurous journey in search of somewhere better. Some amusing characters are encountered on the way but not all are as friendly as they may appear. Finally, our champion learns that there is no place quite like home.

Songs and music abound in this production designed specifically for children and their families.

‘Prospero’s Dream’ – an abridged version of The Tempest

A tale of magic and mystic curses
Shakespeare’s Tempestuous bardic verses.
Shipwrecked souls captured by Propsero
On an isle of spirits where the wild winds blow…

Treasure Island

Pirates ahoy, yo, ho, ho!
Treasure Island is where we go.
A map and a plan is what we got,
Calling all pirates to join our plot…

Jeeves and Wooster in ‘Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves’

We cordially invite you to an uproarious adventure with P.G. Wodehouse’s beloved characters, Jeeves and Wooster!

Enter the whimsical world of Bertie Wooster, an affable young gentleman with a penchant for getting himself in the most outlandish predicaments. Thankfully, he has his razor-sharp valet, Jeeves, to rescue him from all sorts of mishaps.

Facing misadventures, from ill-fated romances to comical escapades, all set against the backdrop of a world filled with eccentric aunts, quirky friends, and a host of unforgettable characters.

Featuring live jazz music, from our ensemble of actor-musicians – a jolly good time awaits you!

The Railway Children

No Wifi. No Xbox. And water from a well?! This definitely isn’t normal.

Bobbie (that’s me), Peter & Phyllis (ow! Stop pinching me) – I mean Phil – have been swept off to the English countryside by our Mom, who is suddenly far too busy to play with us.

Left to explore our new home, (if you can call it that), it’s not long before the railway calls from the bottom of the garden. As we follow the tracks to the local station, we discover a whole new world full of strange characters, romance (stop retching, Peter), peril and questions that definitely need answering!

What to get Mr Perks for his birthday when we can’t even afford sweets? Why is the 08.11 always late? And where has Dad gone anyway?

Come join us as we tell our story, our way.

Fresh from their 2025 tour of The Wind in the Willows (“Fun, funny and utterly charming”) and The Wizard of Oz (“”Utterly entrancing. A great mix of charm and sophisticated wit” ) Paperback Theatre returns to tour the UK with a brand new adaptation of E. Nesbit’s The Railway Children by Charis McRoberts.