FRIDAY

In a society that is all too ready to squeeze us into boxes, where being average or normal is somehow idealised this workshop-style performance asks how do we transcend pressures of having to hide our true selves and feeling anonymous?

In our Art Attack/DIY workshop, bring blank canvases to life. Come into a space full of colour, creative grafts and endless possibility, surrounded by previous creations. Make a character based on your own uniqueness or invent someone new. 

However, even in this celebratory space, an element of shadow lingers, something doesn’t look right, I’m sure that one used to work in a restaurant, and that one there, they had their friend group taken away. What is going on?

A dark entity with their measuring stick is here, goaded on by misinformation, vile political rhetoric, stereotypes and excuses. For the disabled community, this apparition morphs itself into faceless names & nameless panels deciding the worth of an individual – who ‘deserves’ to be able to get up this morning, who shall we allow to eat today? It is like a quidditch match to dementors. 

Exeter-born Theodore Bayley Hardy went to the First World War as a Chaplain in 1916 - at the age of 52. 

"It's only me, boys!" he would whisper in the dark as he reached the trenches at the front of the allied lines. He would bring supplies (most importantly, cigarettes) to these young men and he would sit with them, talk with them, read with them and sometimes pray with them.

If they were injured he would lay with them until help arrived. If they were killed he would stay with them until their bodies could be retrieved. 

Hardy became one of the most highly decorated non-combatants in the war, recognised with the three most prestigious awards for bravery: Military Cross, Distinguished Service Order and Victoria Cross, the latter of which was presented to him in person by King George V, a few miles behind the lines. 

Despite many offers to come home (as Chaplain to the King), Hardy stayed with his men. He was wounded on 11 October 1918 and died from his wounds one week later, less than a month before the Armistice. This is his story.

Between Two Homes

Jung Borthwick

A 15-minute solo performance that explores the emotional complexity of living between two cultures. Using movement and nostalgic Korean children’s songs, it reflects on memory, displacement, and belonging. From playful innocence to quiet longing, the piece explores how the places we leave stay within us — even as we begin to call new ones home.

Mayfly

Winona Guy

Mayfly reflects on time’s passage—what fades, what endures—in a lyrical meditation on change, loss, and continuity. What lives and what is lost in the fleeting and the constant. With live electrocoustic music from Tom Parker.  

NEW WRITING DOUBLE BILL 

Alexa Stole My Parents

A cautionary tale where Alexa isn’t just listening, she’s in the cast.

Set in a not-so-distant reality, Alexa Stole My Parents asks what happens when convenience overtakes connection? Are we all just one smart speaker away from complete emotional detachment? 

In a home where no one talks anymore, Mum, Dad and teenage daughter each turn to Alexa instead of each other. Struggling with their own issues, they use her to manage emotions, avoid conflict and fill the silence, outsourcing their problems to a voice that always replies but never really understands.

It’s funny, awkward and full of passive-aggressive reminders along with the creeping dread of technological codependence.

“I’m from the spirit world, OK? We don’t stick to the script”

 The Bridge 

The bridge between dreams and reality, Sis, the last dream-keeper, is in perpetual labour. Her only contact is with ‘The Voice’, who gives out orders but no answers. So when she decides enough is enough, what happens? This is about systems change. This is about a new story. Following its first work-in-progress sharing at Exeter Northcott Theatre’s recent Reclaim Festival 2025, this is experimental new writing: a 20-minute dark, funny, uncomfortable exploration of imagination and purpose in modern times. 

The Wheel of Games. 

It's a wheel with games on it..... 

8 Games 

1 Host 

And an unknown amount of contestants 

We'll spin thaat wheeeel (it clicks and everything), then we will play the game it lands on..... and you will win Golden Nuggets....Simple!!! 

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION IS A MUST. 

NOT SUITABLE FOR UNDER 18s..... but your kids probably swear more than yo 

Ems Coombes is a comedian, theatre director and all rounder who has lived in Totnes for 24 ish years. She became Disabled at the age of 17, having had a brain haemorrhage and stroke, but it was the best thing that happened to her because she is awesome now. 

She became who she is through Dartington College Arts, 

studying theatre and Disability Arts. She ran a theatre company called Strictly Collaborative, an Inclusive Theatre Company, the first of its kind in Plymouth and is an advocate for access in a very inaccessible place, ie Totnes. She has been a stand up comic for 11 years and has found her calling "In this odd, dysfunctional world we need to find ways to 

laugh, I found it and now I'm helping others¡!" 

Tickets £10 (£8 concs), age guidance TBC, running time approx 105mins 

Get ready for a night of theatre and comedy bursting with fresh perspectives and bold ideas. Villages in Action brings you a scratch night like no other, featuring early-stage performances from Devon’s most exciting emerging artists.

Part of Villages in Action's From Devon With Love artist development programme, this evening is all about taking creative risks and making space for experimentation, set in the welcoming and lively atmosphere of the Barrel House in Totnes. Whether it’s laugh-out-loud comedy or captivating dramatic monologues, each short set offers something unexpected - and your presence and feedback will help shape what comes next.

Dancing, genies, animals, mother-in-laws and ghosts. Messages - phone calls, zoom calls, voice notes - reporting a nightmare of bombed hospitals and schools, children lying like rubble in the collapsing streets. Performed by some of their original creators, 19 plays by children from Gaza and the West Bank, written pre-October 7th 2023, are woven into a continuous 90-minute play, continually interrupted by messages from the genocide. Welcome to Gaza is produced by the Hands Up Project, and compiled and directed by award-winning playwright, Peter Oswald.

How do you fix Earthly Matters?

God is hosting a seminar in Inner Mongolia. You’re invited.

Shasha returns to China from the UK and comes out as gay, her Christian mother, Song, doesn’t take it well. Thank God—divine intervention is here to save the day. God forces Song to relive a buried past—an intense “friendship” with her daughter’s schoolteacher, Yi, that might have been more than it seemed.

Things spiral. Fast. And God? Not as all-powerful as They think.

“Be Gay, For God’s Sake” is a sharp, satirical, time-bending drama about queerness, family, and the pursuit of happiness across continents and generations.

Inspired by real events, the play interrogates the tension between East Asian queer experiences and a Westernised perspective. When shaped by different worlds and times, can a mother and a daughter truly understand each other?

Join Edward and Chris on their big Poetic Hunt! A silly and subversive word-safari of comedy, poetry and filth

Edward: award-winning stand-up poet, with a penchant for the surreal. Whether screaming about spatulas or soliloquising about Uncle Connor “who isn’t in the IRA,” Ed’s "a roaring fire of absurd wit" - Corr Blimey, as well as a prop-heavy and provocative performer.

Chris: performer, poet and soggiest bottom in all Exeter. The founder of Spork! Poetry, a multiple slam winner, and the first Riddler in Residence at Exeter Cathedral. Writing silly words about queerness, identity and ducks. “A knack for humour that can make you sigh in embarrassment, while also crying with laughter.” - Bristol 24/7

An adult orientated and surreal comedy/poetry show, with an emphasis (hopefully) on the comedy! 

GENRE: Comedy. Poetry, Spoken-word

AGE SUITABILITY: 16+

LENGTH OF SHOW: 1hr 

The debut show of brand-new sketch comedy outfit The Melting Pot.

Take an abandoned greengrocer’s, chuck in four improv comedians, write down the interesting stuff, and this is the result: a high-energy and low-coherence hour-long experience with very little substance to take with you when you leave. Grab a pint*, grab a seat, switch off that overworked brain of yours and let us give you a giggle.

The Melting Pot Presents: Melting Pot #1

*Serving suggestion, pint optional