Plymouth Performance Festival is a summer showcase of great theatre, dance, spoken word and comedy from the best local artists.
DOUBLE BILL 1 - 6pm
A WAY WITH WORDS
Beneath The Tracksuit
A Way With Words is a spoken word show that blends poetry, storytelling and lived experience, delivered with warmth, humour and honesty. The performance moves between light, relatable moments and deeper reflections on mental health, disability and everyday struggles, creating space for both laughter and silence. It’s conversational rather than theatrical, focused on connection over perfection. Each piece stands alone, but together they form a journey that’s raw, human and accessible. This is poetry without pretence real words, real stories, and a performer inviting the audience to meet him where he is, beneath the tracksuit.
ON GIRLHOOD
Millie Parker
‘On Girlhood’ is a contemporary dance and physical theatre work. Described as ‘relatable’, ‘chaotic’ and ‘whimsical’, the work navigates the universal experience of discovering identity and aims to answer the question – how does your idea of what it means to be a woman change as you grow up?
A work in 5 acts, each telling a different story, it travels through nostalgia, innocence, eldest daughter energy, indignation, expectations, the external eye, grieving change, harnessing quiet anger and finding sisterhood. It hopes to encourage audience members to reflect on their own moments when they realised being a woman meant something different to what they thought.
DOUBLE BILL 2 - 8:15pm
MURDER SHE TRIED TO WRITE
Chelsea Vincent
‘Murder, She Tried to Write’ is an ambitious one-woman show that begs the question: ‘what is it like to discover that you could be neurodivergent as a fully grown adult, and what has Angela Lansbury’s iconic character Jessica Fletcher got to do with it?’
Suspecting that you might be neurodivergent in your 20s can often feel like you’re unravelling a mystery, and this show is a reflection of that. Using the lens of an episode of predictable, easy-to-follow tv mystery ‘Murder, She Wrote’, the show examines all the tiny revelations that add up to one culprit – neurodivergence.
MARINA AND THE DIAMANTES
Step into a night of sparkle, silliness, and just a touch of chaos. Marina and her trusty accomplices, Lizi and Juliet, join her as she serves up a whirlwind of stand-up developed from performing around the UK in 2025, alongside character comedy, sketches, and musical numbers that are equal parts clever and ridiculous.
From shared personal stories and sharp observational humour to outrageous personas, this trio leaves no comedic stone unturned -and no audience member unchanged. Expect laughter, unexpected songs, and the occasional moment of “what did I just see?” Perfect for anyone who likes their comedy smart, silly and sparkling.
Plymouth Performance Festival is a summer showcase of great theatre, dance, spoken word and comedy from the best local artists.
Produced by Performance Plymouth
Supported by the Barbican Theatre through the Pathways programme