Show Of Strength Theatre Company

About

Show Of Strength is a professional theatre company telling true and fabulous Bristol stories in unusual spaces and places. Informal and accessible shows are inspired by fascinating and potentially forgotten stories.

Launched in 2018, Blood, Blackbeard and Buccaneers reveals the truth about the world’s most famous pirate - who came from Bristol - after 300 years. This walking tour of Bristol docks (pausing at a few appropriate hostelries) was so successful BBC Radio Bristol coproduced a Blackbeard documentary with SOS.

Blood and Butchery in Bedminster is a hugely popular Tuesday walking tour of Bedminster, visiting several pubs all linked in some way to the stories told in them. Hanging judges, concrete coffins, outrageous impostors and the biggest heist in British history. @WeirdBristol Tweeted ‘Best walking tour I’ve ever done”.

Raising Cary Grant  - The Bristol Footsteps of Archibald Leach introduces you to the streets that Archie knew as a boy and that Cary returned to, again and again, for the rest of his life. Theatres and cinemas, hotels and restaurants, and the harbour – places that helped form and transform him into a Hollywood star and style icon.

Sarah Guppy: The Bridge, The Bed, The Truth is the story of a neglected female engineer, the first woman in the world to patent a bridge – in Bristol in 1811.  She also married a man half her age and patented an Exercise Bed.

Frankenstein in Bath tells the forgotten story of Mary Shelley writing her iconic novel in the city in 1816. Winner Best Live Performance, Creative Bath Awards 2017.

Saints and Sinners in St George is a walk through 800 years of history includes a rare medieval survivor, a Tudor monarch and the grand tombs and monuments of the industrialists whose Victorian collieries and factories swept away the old market gardens and changed the landscape forever. Even locals will see something they’ve never seen before.

Treasure Island Story Walk is full of pirates and buccaneers; hidden spy holes; dark secrets, dirty deeds and lashings of doubloons. Hear the story where it all began: Bristol docks. Laced with terrible pirate jokes and Ted, the fact checking parrot, to make sure your pirate gets the story straight.

Crime and Crinolines in Clifton reveals the extraordinary people behind the elegant facades. Fabulous buildings, scenery and stories: a jilted barmaid’s brush with death; a runaway Empress; the only forger sentenced to death to keep his head and have it on a banknote; and the Georgian terrace that housed the Holy Grail. 

Magic and Mayhem in Medieval Bristol  See the Bristol of 1486 through the eyes of Dame Edith Comfrey, Redcliffe servant, maker of spells, flirter with alchemy, and seasoned gossip. Edith was there when King Henry VII arrived in 1486 and… you’ll have to do the walk if you want to find out more!

Show of Strength supports local performers, set designers, production teams and venues with performances that work with, and promote, local talent. Shows are for locals and discerning visitors who want to learn something new and remarkable about this great city. Tours and shows are also available for private performances and student groups (where appropriate).

Recent funders and partners include: Ove Arup Foundation; BBC Radio Bristol; Bedminster Business Improvement District; Bristol 247; Bristol Festival of Ideas; Bristol Women’s Voice; HM Government 1918-2018 Celebrating Votes for Women; Quartet Community Foundation; UWE Bristol
Show of Strength famously created the theatres at the Hen & Chicken – still flourishing 30 years later, and – in 1998 - the Tobacco Factory Theatre. In 2015 SOS coproduced Walking The Chains - the story of the Clifton Suspension Bridge - at Brunel’s Passenger Shed at Temple Meads Station.
At March 2019 SOS is shortlisted for a Bristol Life Award (Arts).

For information on current shows see www.showofstrength.org.uk with regular Facebook updates www.facebook.com/showofstrength/