Event type: Theatre

Pat the Painting Pig

Pat the Painting Pig at the Unity Theatre

In the heart of Wiley Wood lives a tremendous artist known as Pat the Painting Pig. His paintings are so magnificent that his talents start to bring unwanted fame and attention from the other animals. Pat finds all of this very distracting and so he hatches a plan to be able to work in peace once again. Just how far will he go to be left alone? And at what cost?

Join Pat and a host of other woodland creatures in this charming exploration of friendship, community and artistic talent. Pat the Painting Pig is a brand new play featuring set and props made at Bridge Inn Community Farm, and original music and songs. This pig-tastic adventure will have the entire family clapping along and oinking with laughter.

Written by Ed Bixter

Directed by Suzy Walker

Original Music by Sonic Mutiny

Produced by Gambolling Arena and Sonic Mutiny

Pat the Painting Pig | Workshop

Pat the Painting Pig | Workshop at the Unity Theatre

WORKSHOP 1:

5-8yrs old | 10:00 – 11:15

Workshop will begin with a short introduction of the story PAT THE PAINTING PIG and the actors will explore the characters of the animals and their sounds and develop a soundscape and finish with hands on session designing and creating flowers for the set

WORKSHOP 2:

9-11yrs old | 11.30 – 13:00

Workshop session will start with some ice-breaker exercises and a synopsis of the play followed by vocal warm-ups focusing on the animal characters and a collaborative workshop to create pieces for the set

Of Mice and Men

OF MICE AND MEN

by John Steinbeck.

Adapted by Nigel Miles-Thomas.

Presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International

Set against the harsh backdrop of the Great Depression, Of Mice and Men is the story of George and Lennie, two friends with a simple dream: to own a farm and live off the fat of the land.

There are times, though, when sharpwitted George feels the burden of looking after Lennie, while gentle giant Lennie doesn’t realise his own strength… As they drift from job to job, trouble’s never far away, and before long it’s time to move on again.

When the pair get work in Soledad, California, however, the dream looks set to become a reality. But a tragic turn of events threatens to destroy George and Lennie’s friendship and leaves George faced with an impossible choice…

 

Starring;

Nigel Miles-Thomas

Michael Roy Andrew

Directed by Larry Lamb

Bright Places

Join Carbon Theatre for the UK tour of Bright Places, Rae Mainwaring’s stunning debut play about living with MS.

I was 23 when it came crashing into my life; without warning, when everything was going so well, just when I was really, really happy… 

A three-woman, one-woman show about Multiple Sclerosis, MS for short, not to be confused with M&S or S&M. 

With 90s pop, a costume box and a whole heap of glitter, Bright Places is a darkly funny and deeply honest autobiographical story about growing up in the shadow of chronic illness. 

 

This award-winning play is written by Rae Mainwaring and directed by Tessa Walker. 

Presented by Carbon Theatre supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. The play was originally commissioned by Birmingham Rep in 2020, with generous support from the Barry Jackson Trust. Proudly working with charity partner, Shift.ms: the digital community for people with MS.  

 

 

Content Expectations: The production contains swearing, strobes and flashing lights. Many references to illness (specifically MS) to medical procedures and to disability and ableism as well as moments of distress and upset.

WoWFEST: Jimmy Rose: a radio play in a theatrical setting

Pariah Productions presents Jimmy Rose, written and directed by Tom Hall, produced for One Hour Theatre Company, by Victor Merriman.

Jimmy Rose is presented as a radio play in a theatrical setting, offering WoWFest audiences a unique collective listening experience.

At a tender age Herman Melville experienced a reversal of fortune upon the sudden death of his father, a man of apparently substantial means.  The family was suddenly confronted with a mountain of debt and the ruin of all their immediate expectations. Perhaps this turn of fate prompted the many critiques of American capitalism which appear both as themes and traces in his body of work.

“Jimmy Rose”, draws on Melville’s short story of the same name, set in old New York before the Civil War, and foregrounding a glamorous bachelor plutocrat who has attained an Olympian stature in the city. Everybody knows Jimmy Rose, the great and the good seek to dine at his table, where he dispenses wit, bonhomie, and business advice.

Yet when quite literally his ship(s) fail to come in, this paragon of American success falls from that Paradise from whose heights he once projected ultimate authority and influence.  It is an honour to present “Jimmy Rose” under WoWFEST 2026’s theme, New World Disorder, not least because of the origins of contemporary upheavals in a febrile world-financial system forged in nineteenth-century urban America. – Tom Hall, Dublin. May 2026

Jimmy Rose is Tom Hall’s fifth play for WoWFest, his Bartleby: A Tale of Wall Street featuring in the online festival (2021), Anything for a Laugh (2024), I Live Alone and My Own Free Voice (double bill, 2025). Tom was born in Vermont, USA, and has lived in Ireland since 1995, following periods in Mexico, where he began writing. Jimmy Rose develops the production values of previous plays, which featured solo performers, David Llewelyn (2021), Victor Merriman (2024 and 2025a), and Jane Hogarth (2025b), respectively. Tom assembled a cast of well-established Irish actors to record the play at Les Keye’s Arad Studios, Dublin. Brendan Conroy, who is known to Liverpool audiences for his lead role in Lizzie Nunnery’s Intemperance (Capital of Culture production, Everyman Theatre), plays Jimmy Rose.

Victor Merriman is Emeritus Professor in Drama at Edge Hill University, and a founder-director of One Hour Theatre Company.

Date: Tuesday 19th MayTime: 17.30 – 18.30 (doors open 5.15pm)Venue: Quaker Meeting House, School Lane, Liverpool (Beside Bluecoat Arts Centre)Tickets: £5