Some of our previous plays and projects

FEAST: a play in one cooking

This original play by Olivia Negrean features six of Shakespeare's most famous female characters, brought together onstage to make...dinner? Through a mixture of Shakespearean text, historical reviews, and contemporary commentary, this witty, sharp play will warm your heart and your belly! Performed at Verona Shakespeare Festival in August 2023. 

The Lost Theatres of Newham - 2023

An audio walk borne out of research, local history archives, and oral history interviews with residents of Newham over the years.

The Pitsea and Vange Treasure Hoard - 2023

A project delivered for Creative BasildON. Intergenerational storytelling and community identity building through sharing of personal items and collections. creativebasildon.co.uk/projects/open-lab/open-lab-pitsea

A little patch of ground - 2022

An audio walk delivered as part of the Birmingham Shakespeare Library’s Everything to Everybody project, derived from the Polish items in the Shakespeare Collection.

Creative Producers Solihull MBC - 2021-2022 

A year of work to promote cultural engagement within Solihull, with projects ranging from pop up theatre tours to sustainable fashion shows and to celebrate the Commonwealth Games, Welcoming Windows – to light up tower blocks, and On Yer Bike Solihull, a new musical celebrating cycling and community.

Shake Fear | Break Walls - 2020

A European Collaboration about the power of art and theatre to break down barriers in society, for the Gdansk Shakespeare Festival, part of Shaking the Walls 2018-2020 shakingthewalls.eu (Recently released: 'Making Of: Shake Fear | Break Walls')

A Midsummer Nights Dream - 2018. Craiova International Shakespeare Festival

Our site specific productions involved 80-100 performers, took audiences and performers across the city, using multiple locations and reimagining public spaces. They engage the whole city in the world of theatre and Shakespeare.

Audio Drama sequences include – Harold, the Last Elected King which told the story day by day of the battles of Fulford and Hastings in 1066, and the days in between haroldthelastelectedking.co.uk | I witness history – a monthly drama which remembers a historical event through the words of someone who might have been there. iwitnesshistory.co.uk | If These Stones could Speak – an architectural walking tour of the buildings of Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. | In My Mind’s Eye – an audio play produced in June 2020 celebrating the local history of important sites in Newham. newhamheritagemonth.org/records/in-my-minds-eye | This Distemperature – a conversation between William Shakespeare and the environment. thisdistemperature.co.uk

Half a Cod a Day - Hastings 2013, rural touring UK and internationally

A small scale touring theatre production, about fish, fishing and a sustainable future, drawn from conversations with the Hastings Fishing community. “I really enjoyed the fact it tackled such an important issue and managed to do so with humour. It was informative, interesting and entertaining too.” – audience response

Margate Hosts the Boat Project 2012

In November 2011, Parrabbola were invited to plan, programme and deliver a four day festival as part of the UK Cultural Olympiad to celebrate the visit of the Lone Twin Boat Project in Margate. Working with artists, organisations and the Margate community, we developed an exciting programme  – Margate Hosts the Boat Project - building on Margate’s history as a welcoming seaside resort. Music, theatre, carnival, craft, art, dance all formed part of a high profile community celebration.

Land of Liberty, a community play for Rickmansworth 2009 - 2011

Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, a community play based around the history of the first chartist settlement at Heronsgate in Herts, juxtaposed with contemporary issues around the right to protest

Secret Stirchley and Bromford Dreams – Inhabit, Birmingham 2010 - 2011

As part of the Inhabit programme of pop up tea rooms, we developed two site specific pieces. Secret Stirchley was a street performance, performed by three professional actors, and explored the tension between the past history of Stirchley and the opportunities for the future as a new young community move into the area. Bromford Dreams asked the community to tell us their dreams for the area.

The Scouse Operas – Liverpool and Merseyside 2009 - 2014

The first of the Merseyside Community Operas – designed to build on the region’s longstanding tradition of political theatre and popular culture, The Wedding was performed in March 2011. An immersive event theatre piece set within a wedding reception.

Pericles – Gdansk Shakespeare Festival – 2010

Funded by a grant from the EU, we developed a site specific, community play version of Shakespeare’s Pericles, in and around the streets of the suburb of Dolne Miasto in Gdansk, involving local participants alongside international performers. The project explored the outsider in society and was the first community play in Poland. In 2011 a short film on the project Pericles Prince of Dolne Miasto, won the jury and public prizes at the Movisie International Art and Culture Film Festival.