Rural touring theatre returns this autumn

Cheshire Rural Touring Arts, a partnership between Cheshire West and Chester Council and Cheshire East Council have launched a new autumn artistic programme at various community venues across Cheshire.

Councillor Lisa Denson, Cheshire West and Chester Council Cabinet Member for a Fairer Future said: 

There’s a dark murder mystery, tales from a bed and breakfast, dance, Gypsy jazz and swing songs, after supper ghost stories and Tibetan monks plus much more.

Performance details and online booking is available on the CRTA website: www.cheshireruraltouringarts.co.uk Tickets: www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheshireruraltouringarts

Full programme

Devilled Eggs by Black Liver

Saturday 21 September 7.30pm
Upton Village Hall, CH2 1HX. Tel: 07712 611 616

Sunday 22 September 7.30pm
1^st Weaverham Sea Scout Hall, CW8 3NJ Tel: 07941 166 632

Saturday 28 September 8pm (doors open at 7pm)
Great Budworth Parish Hall, CW9 6HL. Tel: 07886 878047

Friday 29 November 7.30pm
Farndon Community Club, CH3 6NX. Tel: 07393 601292

Saturday 30 November 7.30pm
Hoole Community Centre, CH2 3AP. Tel: 01244 342741

Sunday 1 December 7.30pm
Gawsworth Village Hall, SK11 9QY. Tel: 07870 822 837

B&B owners Roman and Prudence (AKA Keith & Ruth from Black Liver) offer you ‘Devilled Eggs’; tales gathered from their world of small-town hospitality and the souls who passed over their threshold. This evening of entertainment will include songs, stories, poetry, audience participation - and a competition in the interval for good measure. Come try their ‘Devilled Eggs’ and soon you’ll feel like one of the family.

“Saw this in Blackpool last month and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Laughed out loud from start to finish.” – Audience member.
Suitable for 12+.

Wanderlust presented by Lara Deutsch and Adam Cicchillitti

Thursday 3 October 7.30pm
Ellesmere Port Library, CH65 0BG. Tel: 0151 337 4684

Friday 4 October 7.30pm
Tarvin Community Centre, CH3 8LY. Tel: 01829 741 468

Canadian musician, Lara Deutsch, collaborates with the guitarist Adam Cicchillitti on ‘Wanderlust’. Through the evocative sounds of the flute and guitar, this performance immerses you in a rich tapestry of folkloric music from around the world, conjuring images of natural landscapes and historical events. The voyage encompasses compositions by Canadian artists Jason Noble and John Armstrong, as well as renowned names like Bartok, Chopin, Piazzolla, Toru Takemitsu, and Gabriela Ortiz. The duo resonates with the diverse flavours of these musical traditions, creating a unique and captivating experience.
Suitable for all.

AFTER ALL by Solène Weinachter

Friday 4 October 7.30pm
Theatre Porto, Ellesmere Port, CH65 6QY. Tel: 0151 357 2120

Saturday 5 October 7.30pm
Hoole Community Centre, CH2 3AP. Tel: 01244 342741

From the Rural Touring Dance Initiative comes, ‘AFTER ALL’ by Solène Weinachter. Solène melds together comedy, storytelling and dance theatre to ask; what happens in the end? Through a series of comedic re-enactments of the funerals of those she’s loved, as well as imagining her own, Solène celebrates our vulnerable and courageous existence. ‘AFTER ALL’ is a heartfelt exploration of the death rituals we have; the ones lost and those that need to be invented.
Suitable for adults and 12+.

Kathleen Ferrier Whattalife! by Lucy Stevens, accompanied by Elizabeth Marcus

Friday 11 October 7pm
Macclesfield Library, SK10 1EE. Tel: 01625 374000

Saturday 12 October 7.30pm
Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE. Tel: 01477 765016

Sunday 13 October 3pm
Neston Town Hall, CH64 9TR. Tel: 07740 463 203 / 0151 336 7729

‘Kathleen Ferrier Whattalife!’ evokes the spirit of the war and post war years. It follows Kathleen from her debut as a singer in 1940, through her meteoric rise, to her tragic death in 1953. Kathleen was a Lancastrian who became a household name and her death, from cancer, came as a huge shock to the nation. A play with music performed by Lucy Stevens with pianist Elizabeth Marcus on piano/keyboard.
Suitable for adults and 11+.

The Hidden Garden by Blah Blah Blah Theatre

Saturday 26 October 12pm & 2pm
Theatre Porto, Ellesmere Port, CH65 6QY. Tel: 0151 357 2120

Sunday 27 October 12pm & 3pm
Hoole Community Centre, CH2 3AP. Tel: 01244 342741

‘The Hidden Garden’, is a heart-warming show exploring food poverty, community, migration and growing as activism. In a city full of concrete, there is a garden hidden away behind the rows of terraced housing, surrounded by a high fence. It is bursting with flowers, fruit, and vegetables. The man who lives here grows them to brighten up the grey, and to feed himself.

One day, a child accidentally discovers the garden; at first, he is not welcome, but as the seasons change, a friendship blooms. As the man’s trust in people grows through his friendship with the child, the walls of the garden come down and the man is encouraged to take his first steps out into his local community.
Suitable for 5+.

The Plot Thickens by Just Some Theatre

Thursday 31 October 7.30pm
Vicars Cross Community Centre, CH3 5LP. Tel: 07861 041795

Friday 1 November 7.30pm
Plumley Village Hall, WA16 0TR. Tel: 01565 722 259

Saturday 2 November 7.30pm
Kettleshulme Village Hall, SK23 7QU. Tel: 07775 330805 / 07909513251

Sunday 3 November 7.30pm
Kelsall Community Centre, CW6 0SB. Tel: 07951 794 442

For the Halloween season there’s a dark murder mystery promised to bring a lot of laughs. In ‘The Plot Thickens’ by Just Some Theatre it’s Alex’s first day on the job, but before he can even get to grips with the tea urn and stationary cupboard, he is given his first task, which proves to be absolute murder. As secrets are revealed, alliances are tested and backs are stabbed, will his colleague Madeleine succeed in changing the narrative and escaping with her life?
Suitable for 10+.

From the Roof of the World by the Tashi Lhunpo Monks

Friday 8 November 7.30pm
Five Villages Hall, CH1 6NT. Tel: 07743 490 726

Saturday 9 November 7.30pm
Neston Town Hall, CH64 9TR. Tel: 07740 463 203 / 0151 336 7729

All the way from their exiled monastery in India, the Tashi Lhunpo Tibetan Buddhist monks perform ‘From the Roof of the World’. The monks will share their unique culture with the outside world and present a majestic programme of traditional masked dances and sacred monastic chant, which captivated the pioneering mountaineers of Everest a century ago.
Suitable for 10+.

Christine Tassan and the Imposteures

Wednesday 13 November 7.30pm
Little Sutton Library, CH66 1QQ. Tel: 0151 337 6800

Thursday 14 November 7.30pm
Bosley St Mary the Virgin Church, SK11 ONX. Tel: 07927 024328

For an evening of Gypsy jazz and swing songs, Christine Tassan and the Imposteures are visiting Cheshire from Canada. The show reveals their life on tour across the world, through magnificent landscapes and delightful anecdotes. Get ready for the ascent of the Great Wall of China, a bike ride in Stanley Park in Vancouver, crossing the Rockies in a snowstorm, or visiting Samois-sur-Seine, Django Reinhardt's village.
Suitable for adults.

Silk Street New Orleans Band

Saturday 7 December 7.30pm
Little Budworth Jubilee Hall, CH66 1QQ. Tel: 01829 760 422 / 07963 073998

For a lively, social night of music, friends and neighbours, enjoy a performance by Silk Street New Orlean Jazz Band. The band formed back in 2003 as a new generation of early jazz band, offering a fresh alternative to other forms of jazz entertainment. As leading musicians in their field, they have recorded extensively for TV and Film, including programmes and commercials for the BBC and Channel 4, recording at both Abbey Road & Pinewood Studios. Appearances on ‘The F Word’, CBeebies ‘Zingzillas’ ‘Big Brother TV advert’ and the recent ‘More Th>n Feel the Love’ commercial.
Suitable for all.

After Super Ghost Stories performed by Gav Cross

Friday 20 December 7.30pm
Audlem Scout and Guide Hall, CW3 0AL. Tel: 07985 982 786

Renowned local storyteller, Gav Cross, brings his festive show ‘After Supper Ghost Stories’ as “It always is Christmas Eve, in a Ghost Story…” The tradition of gathering together to tell ghost stories in the cold and dark of winter surely stretches back far further to when we first imagined what lurks in the dark corners of the firelight? The Victorians, however, turned this parlour and party entertainment into an institution and expectation. First published in 1891, Jerome K. Jerome, famed author of Three Men in a Boat, perfectly parodies this spooky and popular amusement with these comic horror stories. A portmanteau of ghostly tales, told by an unreliable narrator and tied together with nonsense, noise and whiskey-punch…A Frosty Chiller or a Winter Warmer?
Suitable for all.