May is the month that simply refuses to be summarised.
Just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, it throws a K-Pop party. Or a children’s book festival. Or a Bristol singer-songwriter channeling Nina Simone on a Saturday night.
This month, we’re just going to revel in it. Because if April was about new beginnings, May is about everything blooming at once here at Taunton Brewhouse!
Here are a few of our picks.
We’re really proud to be bringing Niplash to the Studio at the very start of the month. This is urgent, ambitious and deeply necessary theatre a show that gives voice to mothers with a rare blend of raw honesty, creative innovation and political clarity. It’s the kind of work that makes you sit up and feel seen; the kind of work that stays with you long after you’ve left the building.
If you only see one piece of new theatre this month, make it this one.
This is ballet, but not as you might expect it. Ballet Cymru are one of the most exciting and distinctive dance companies in the UK, a Critics’ Circle Award-winning company committed to inclusion, innovation and reimagining what classical ballet can be. Their Sleeping Beauty takes the beloved fairy tale and brings it into the 21st century, with innovative choreography and stunning immersive projections that give the whole story a fresh, vivid life.
If you’ve never seen ballet live before, this is a wonderful place to start. If you’re already a fan, you’ll find something here that surprises you.
We are absolutely thrilled that Taunton is hosting the Waterstones Children’s Book Festival this May and that the Brewhouse is right at the heart of it. For a whole weekend, the venue will be alive with author talks, workshops, storytelling sessions, and creative activities, with some of the biggest names in children’s books coming to Somerset.
Highlights include appearances from Katherine Rundell, Rob Biddulph, Rachel Bright, Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre and children’s TV favourite Andy Day. Whether your child is a bookworm, a reluctant reader, or somewhere in between, this is the kind of weekend that plants a seed.
The full weekend programme is at Waterstones Children’s Book Festival – Taunton | Waterstones.
And we close the month in style. Lady Nade is one of the most singular voices in the UK music scene right now, a multi-award-winning folk and Americana singer-songwriter from Bristol whose performances feel less like concerts and more like gatherings. She gives you her story. All of it.
This show is a tribute to Nina Simone: an icon, a storyteller, a force of nature. In Lady Nade’s hands, that legacy is in exactly the right place. If you’ve never seen her live before, this is your moment.
As ever, this is just a handful of what’s on across the month. May also brings comedy from Mark Watson (21 May), folk legends Steeleye Span (12 May), and the joyful, interactive K-Pop Party for families (28 May) plus film, art classes and more throughout.
There’s something for everyone. There always is.
Kim, Lucy and Vic
Programming Team
