The Stove
**** The Reviews Hub
**** A Younger Theatre
**** Everything Theatre
Design by Kathryn King
The Stove sits within a house. The house is at the end of a lane. The lane is long. But on a good day, with the wind blowing in the right direction, the smells of cooking and the sounds of stories can spread, filling the air all along the long lane…
Part participatory performance, part communal meal, The Stove invites you to forge communities through storytelling. The Stove is a virtual meeting place - a fireside, kitchen table, cooking pot composite – a place to share stories over dinner and create new worlds with people you haven’t yet got to know.
The Stove was originally created in March 2020 as a response to the lockdown rules, which left many people incredibly isolated. The Stove began as a virtual performance designed to replicate the sense of occasion and togetherness that live theatre can bring, and was performed at Electric Dreams Festival Online and Living Record Festival, with support from Crossover Labs and Arts Council England. Since then, it has become an in-person storytelling experience, complete with a shared meal. The Stove is a place where entertainment meets company, and where participants have a real sense of each other’s presence.
In a new in-person version of the show developed for Tsitsit Festival with support from Arts Council England, The Stove explores the stories Jews carry with us from our different cultural backgrounds, and the inherited tales we bring to the table. It’s a journey to the ‘old country’ and back again, with food provided.
The Stove is ready to be hired, recommissioned, adapted and developed. The eventual aim with this show is to build to a large-scale version, with many tables, many performers, and many stories being created and shared. For now, The Stove can be performed for up to nine guests in studio spaces, hospitality spaces or domestic settings.
If you would like to book The Stove, either for a run of performances or for a private event, or to request a marketing pack with more information, get in touch!
"Brand creates a magical world of comfort for all to share." ****A Younger Theatre
"Thoughtful, and quietly moving, it’s heartening to see that we can still fashion our own fictions when real life has been put on hold." (**** Reviews Hub)
"As Emma closed the call, I felt a warm feeling come over me, and I reflected on how wonderful it is to meet strangers and create something together." (**** Everything Theatre)