We've Won - Christmas Starts in September!

#StoryGivesBack Winners Announced

We are delighted that Shadow Road Productions have just been announced as one of the two winners of this year's #StoryGivesBack initiative from Story Events!

Following the online vote, first by previous visitors to Story's renowned London Christmas Party Show and then by the wider public, we have been named as one of the two boutique suppliers they would most like to meet! As a result, our prize is the offer of a free stand at the 2021 show on the 7th and 8th September, so that they can do just that!

You can read more about us and the show - and find out how to register to visit yourself - on the #StoryGivesBack page on their website, here.

As some of you may already be aware, Shadow Road is a small independent theatre company which specialises in bringing exciting pieces of theatre for all ages and occasions to unusual venues and spaces in creative new ways. Our work usually involves a charitable aspect of some kind – raising awareness or funds - or, as with Fireside Folktales in particular, taking live entertainment out to people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to enjoy it.

We are now aiming to branch out into events, corporate entertainment, and private parties – offering something original and exciting to these markets and, in turn, enabling us to fund more of our voluntary and charity work elsewhere. Winning this competition is a wonderful opportunity for us to meet many of the people who could help us take those next steps into the future and we can't wait to show everyone the fantastic entertainment – festive and otherwise – that we have to offer!

We're On Patreon!

Sponsor us on Patreon!

Like so many other people and organisations, our plans for 2020 have been rather radically disrupted by the current situation - perhaps even more so than some, given that we are all freelancers  and performing artists. While we wait with everyone else to hear how the rest of the spring and  summer will pan out, however, we have kept ourselves busy tackling some of the mountain of theatrical admin that piled up over the winter - and writing some new plays! 

One piece of long-planned, never-previously-executed admin is the creation of this beautiful new Patreon page for Shadow Road Productions - hooray!  We'll be posting regular updates there (some for everyone, others exclusively for our Patrons), and we very much hope you'll enjoy visiting it and getting to know us - and that you'll feel free to join in with our little community wherever possible.

Thank you and see you soon - stay safe in the meantime! :-)

A New Brochure!

Fireside Folktales is one of many projects run by Shadow Road Productions, a small independent theatre company which specialises in bringing exciting works of theatre, for all ages and occasions, to unusual spaces in creative new ways.

As well as continuing that tradition with Fireside Folktales, retelling myths, legends and classic stories from around the world as original short plays performed by a company of four professional actors, we also offer much more, including the UNBROKEN Festival & Short Film Prize, a variety of murder mystery events, full-scale theatre productions, and our soon-to-be-launched cross-platform venture, Secret Storytellers. 

This fantastic new project will see us producing some exciting online content based in a new, immersive story-world, in order to enhance the impressive work of our two-person teams, who will be busy delivering a range of thrilling live performances. In common with Fireside Folktales, and in keeping with the world in which the overall project is set, all music and sound effects are performed live by the cast, so no electricity or technical equipment is required, once again allowing us to be extremely flexible in terms of venue.

Finally, whether for team-building purposes, school visits, or those with a simple interest, we also offer several creative and educational workshops. Some of these are designed to accompany a particular production, so that you might watch the play and then take part in the workshop afterwards, while others - such as the general Drama Workshop, An Introduction to Playwriting, and An Introduction to Stage Combat, etc - can be delivered as standalone events.

So that we have all the information in one place, we have put together a shiny, new PDF brochure outlining everything that Shadow Road has to offer theatre lovers, schools, events organisers and private clients with parties to throw! We hope you will find it both interesting and helpful. If, after reading, you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch - we would love to hear from you.

Anyone interested in finding out more can download the brochure HERE.

We look forward to working with you!

Happy New Year!!

After such a successful summer, we were delighted to enjoy a wonderful end to the year as well, with sold out shows at The Coach & Horses and Southside House swiftly followed by a tour of local hospices, cancer centres, and retirement homes to spread a bit of Christmas cheer!  These special venues included Lynde House, the Teenage Cancer Trust, The Mulberry Centre, and Brinsworth House, Royal Variety Charity Home.

A huge thank you to our fantastic audiences, it was a joy to go on this festive journey with you.  We wish you a brilliant 2020 and look forward to seeing you again later in the year!

We will be back soon with news for the New Year and more pictures of Scrooge's adventures. In the meantime, here are just some of the lovely comments from our Visitors' Book for A Christmas Carol.

*****

“Thank you for a brilliant and professional performance this afternoon. The changes of emotions and clothing with such integrity of acting was quite moving. So pleased to be with you - a gem of an afternoon!" - John P

“Absolutely fantastic show. well done everyone." - Jane B

“Simple wonderful afternoon and I hope to see more of what you do come Easter?" - Françoise G

“This was amazing, would love to view again." - J Zaman

“Such an innovative and engaging performance! My 4 year-old son and I enjoyed it - and we especially loved the future spirit and the magical tunes!" - A.V.Elliot

“Wow! Thanks you were wonderful." - Lili L

“Stunning & talented. Thank you" - Anonymous audience member

“This was an excellent production. I found myself entirely engrossed in the tale. Well done!" - Jim

“Great performance - Thank you." - Jolene

“Wow! What a fantastic show." - Nicky

“A beautiful production! Very emotional. Well done." - Michelle

*****

We are currently arranging the schedule for our 2020 production of A Christmas Carol, when we again hope to visit as wide a variety of venues as possible.  If you would like to discuss the possibility of us bringing the show to you, whatever your venue, please email us at: firesidefolktales@gmail.com

“A merry Christmas to everyone. And a Happy New Year to the World!"

A Christmas Carol - Rehearsals

We are thrilled to have SOLD OUT our special, candlelit performance at Southside House and cannot wait to see you all there!! 

Happily, we still have tickets available for The Coach & Horses, Barnes, on 23rd November at 3pm & 7pm - get yours online now at www.ticketsource.co.uk/shadowroad or in person from The Coach and Horses and prepare to get your festive season off to a fantastic start with us...🎄✨❄️

We look forward to seeing you there.  In the meantime, we thought you might enjoy a sneaky peek at some behind the scenes photos of our wonderful cast during rehearsal! 

Meet the Cast #6 - Sophie Carmichael

We are delighted that the lovely Sophie Carmichael - last seen as Peter Pevensie in Shadow Road's 2018 Christmas production of The Lion, The Witch &The Wardrobe - will be joining us for our 2019 winter season as well, playing a number of roles in certain performances of A Christmas Carol! 🎄✨❄️

Sophie has moved away from acting in recent years, in favour of retraining as a Speech and Language Therapist.  As you can tell, she’s doing well shaking the bug!

Theatre credits include: Macbeth (MOPA Theatre Company UK tour) Last Post (Theatre Royal, Bath), Just So Stories and The Princess Bride (Theatre Alchemists) Hansel and Gretel (Teapot Theatre), Bullpen (Theatre Delicatessen) and The Lion, The Witch &The Wardrobe for Shadow Road.

Television includes: Search for the Brontës (BBC), Football Focus (BBC).

This Christmas! ❄️✨🎄

After an extremely successful summer season, we are delighted to launch our winter production A Christmas Carol. We will be moving indoors, gathering round fireplaces with mulled wine, mince pies and Christmas Spirits. 🔥🍷👻

Our first performance will take place in Barnes on 23rd November at The Coach & Horses. This community pub in the heart of Barnes is the perfect place for friends and family to gather together for Christmas cheer. Come join a reluctant Ebeneezer Scrooge on his adventures.  Over the course of sixty fast-paced, funny and moving minutes, you will discover whether or not he can redeem himself in time to enjoy a Happy Christmas! 🎄✨❄️

There will be performances at 3pm & 7pm, with pre-show carol singing.
Tickets: Adult £12.50; Children (under 16) £10.
Available in person from The Coach & Horses, 27 Barnes High Street, SW 13 9LW or online from www.ticketsource.co.uk/shadowroad


We are also delighted to announce that we will be at the enchanting Southside House, Wimbledon, for a special candle lit performance on 30th November!

“Southside House is not a work of art but something more precious - a house created and adorned by those who inhabit it.”   Simon Jenkins (England's 1000 Best Houses).

Be transported back to Dickensian London in front of a roaring fireplace as the ghosts of Marley, Christmas Past, Present and Future grapple with Scrooge - can they set him on a different path... or is it already too late to save him? 🎩 🔥 🎻

Doors open at 6:30pm - feel free to take the opportunity to explore this remarkable house before the entertainment begins.

Tickets: £20.00 (includes a mince pie and a glass of mulled wine or a soft drink with every ticket) - These will be available to purchase shortly through Southside House's website; if you would like to reserve a ticket now please email us at firesidefolktales@gmail.com

Location: Southside House, 3-4 Woodhayes Road, London SW19 4RJ

Please check our Events page for full information.

The 'Grand Picnic' at Ham House!

Huge thanks to the whole team at Ham House for making us so welcome and for all their invaluable support throughout the weekend.  We couldn't have asked for a lovelier venue in which to perform - or for more enthusiastic audiences! :-)  We're already looking forward to returning next summer...

To read more of our audiences' wonderful feedback, please visit the REVIEWS page.

Some Changes Afoot!

In mid-June, Emma King-Farlow and Amy Floyd sat down to discuss the changes in cast and script that were being made to the Fireside Folktales scripts in advance of their upcoming bookings at St Osmund's Church (July), Ham House & Garden (August), and Strawberry Hill House & Garden (September).  Somehow, they also ended up talking about Australian vocabulary!

Meet the Cast #5 - Maia Gibbons

We are delighted to introduce you to our newest cast member! Maia Gibbons!! 🎭 🎪

Maia trained at Cygnet Training theatre, Exeter. Since graduating she has been involved in a number of stage productions around England at both indoor and outdoor venues. Credits include; Kate/Maria in a double bill of The Taming of the Shrew and The Tamer Tamed (Bournemouth Shakespeare Players), Agnus in She Kills Monsters (Arena Theatre), Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bournemouth Shakespeare Players), Elizabeth de Vries in Robin Hood (Shadow Road Productions), Celia in As You Like It (Mayhem Theatre Company) and Mistress Ford/ Anne Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Creative Cow Productions)

Maia will be making her Fireside Folktales 🔥🍡 debut this Saturday, 6th July, performing as Fox in Aesop's Fables, Sergeant Cooper in A Tale of Robin Hood, and Demeter in Persephone & the Pomegranate Seeds.

🎫 You can buy your tickets to see her perform here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/shadowroad 🎫

Four Months On...

In the previous episode of the podcast, Emma King-Farlow and Amy Floyd were making plans for the next phase of their Fireside Folktales adventure. As they sat down for a chat on their four-month anniversary in late May, that second phase was already well under way, with several new bookings confirmed - including one for their first ever evening performances at St Osmund's Church, Barnes SW13 9RT (tickets available HERE)!
 

Feedback on Film!

As promised, here's a selection of the fantastic feedback we captured on film after our debut shows at the Barnes Children's Literature Festival 2019!

‘Fireside Folktales at BCLF 2019 - Audience Reaction' from Shadow Road on Vimeo.

What Next?

A few days after Fireside Folktales made their hugely exciting debut at the Barnes Children's Literature Festival 2019, Emma King-Farlow and Amy Floyd sat down to discuss their experiences - and to think about what comes next...

We Did It!

Well, we did it!  Our hugely exciting debut at the Barnes Children's Literature Festival saw us delivering no less than six incredibly well-received performances, each to a packed out audience, across the weekend of 11th-12th May 2019.  Many photos were taken and enthusiastic audience reaction recorded - both on paper and on film!
 

We'll be sharing some more of that feedback with you very soon.  In the meantime, however, we have now arranged some of the photos we took at the festival - and in rehearsals - on our beautiful new GALLERY page!  Do take a look and see what you missed if you were unable to make it this year.

If you did happen to come along to see us at the festival and you didn't get a chance to sign our Visitors Book or to record a vox pop on the way out, we'd still love to hear what you thought or to see any photos you might have taken.  Please drop us a line at firesidefolktales@gmail.com with any comments or pictures you'd like to share - we'd be delighted to hear from you!

One Week To Go!

On 2nd May 2019, with a little over a week to go until the Fireside Folktales company make their debut at the Barnes Children's Literature Festival, Amy Floyd and Emma King-Farlow take stock - and consider the dubious merits of releasing an unedited episode of the podcast!

Meet The Cast #3 - Alice Wilson

Time to meet another cast member! 🎉👏🎭

We're excited to announce Alice Wilson, who will be playing the roles of Grasshopper in Aesop's Fables; Hermes in Persephone & The Pomegranate Seeds; and Alan a Dale & Matthew in A Tale of Robin Hood.

Alice is currently finishing an English and Drama degree at Queen Mary University of London, and greatly enjoying the chance to escape from essays into the world of folktales. After working with Emma in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, this is the second time she has been involved in the fantastic Barnes theatre scene.

Recent theatre credits include: Edmund Pevensie in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Biscuits, The Future is Now and Macbeth Studios with Queen Mary Theatre Company; Space Dogs at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in its London run; Noel Fielding in Bake Off the Musical; and Deadline at Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Alice also recently wrote and directed the play Ashes, co-wrote the play Biscuits, and composed and directed the political rom-com musical Across the Commons.

Meet The Cast #2 - Clare McAndrew

Time to meet more of the cast! 🎭👏🎪

We're delighted to announce Clare McAndrew, who will be playing the roles of Hare and Ant 9 in Aesop's Fables; Persephone in Persephone & The Pomegranate Seeds; and Robin Hood, Dancer and Messenger in A Tale of Robin Hood.

Clare graduated with a degree in English and Drama from the University of Kent. Although she now spends most of her daytime working in event planning, she makes sure that she still finds time to tread the boards. This is her second time working with the fantastic Emma King-Farlow and she is excited to have the opportunity to bring these much loved literary characters to life with Fireside Folktales. (Performing in a bell tent is also great fun!)

Recent theatre credits include: Susan Pevensie in The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, Alice in Dick Whittington, Margot in Legally Blonde, Iris in Fame, April in Company, Smitty in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Roxy in Chicago.

Three Months On...

Three months after their very first chat about Emma's mad idea of doing some 'theatre in a tent' - and two weeks before their opening performances at the Barnes Children's Literature Festival on May 11th & 12th 2019 - Amy Floyd and Emma King-Farlow reflected on the huge amount of progress they'd made over the previous 12 weeks...

Meet The Cast #1 - Sarah Robinson

It's time to meet the cast! 🎪🎭👏

We are excited to introduce you to the wonderful Sarah Robinson, who will be playing the roles of Ant and Narrator in Aesop's Fables, the Gardener and Lukas in Persephone & the Pomegranate Seeds, and Friar Tuck and Alice in A Tale of Robin Hood.

Sarah is delighted to be performing with Shadow Road Productions for the second time, having previously played Mrs Beaver in The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. Since training at The Bridge Theatre Training Company, she has played roles such as Miss Merry in Misfits, Mrs Cratchit/Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol and Mug in The Empire Builders. She has also performed in pantomimes and musicals including 9 To 5, Cabaret and The Witches of Eastwick.

Two Plays Down, One to Go!

On the 12th April, Amy Floyd and Emma King-Farlow discussed their progress, following the previous weeks' Fireside Folktales rehearsals. Topics of conversation this time around included the weather, the tent, a lack of shoes and the continuing search for a meaningful ending!