Ripon Theatre Festival

Participation Zone with Yorkshire CREATE
2026-07-12 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-07-12 14:30 - 15:30 UTC | Ripon Spa Gardens, Park Street, Ripon, HG4 2AX, United Kingdom
Ripon Theatre Festival 2024
Dive into a vibrant day of theatre-inspired creativity for families, including mask-making, myths and more. Explore hands-on crafts inside or alongside our dedicated tent space in the Spa Gardens.
Participation Zone led by facilitators from Yorkshire CREATE – a Knaresborough-based organisation which provides opportunities for people of all ages. From performing arts to creative writing, messy play to fine art.
Sign-up for sessions on-site.
Ripon Spa Gardens
10.00-11.00am
11.30am-12.30pm
1.00-2.00pm
2.30-3.30pm
FREE drop-in session

The Soapsud Sisters
2026-07-12 13:15 - 13:45, 2026-07-12 15:00 - 15:30 | Ripon Spa Gardens, Park Street, Ripon, HG4 2AX, United Kingdom
‘Here come the girls!’
Pair up your socks, dig out your delicates, separate your silks, it’s laundry time with the magnificent SOAPSUD SISTERS, Rhubarb Theatre’s latest festival show for 2025.
Join our bubbly beauties as they take you for a spin through a washing cycle like no other.
Presented by Rhubarb Theatre Company
About the performers:
Rhubarb Theatre have been RTF regulars since 2023.
Kirsty’s professional acting career began with Pimlico Opera, performing in prisons, schools and on the London Fringe. She trained in the performing arts at Middlesex University and toured to Edinburgh Festival, performing with companies such as Great Eastern Stage.
Returning to Lincolnshire, Kirsty set up Rhubarb Theatre with Philip in 2000, and has since been involved in a huge variety of roles for Rhubarb’s shows and projects – creating, directing, acting, prop & mask making, storytelling, making audio recordings and even writing children’s story books.
Artistic Director, Philip has been treading the boards ever since he can remember, touring with numerous theatre companies and creating Rhubarb Theatre with his partner and fellow performer Kirsty.
As a professional performer, his skills include mask, physical comedy and improvisation. His personal highlights with Rhubarb include becoming the first ever Lincolnshire-based theatre company to be accepted onto the professional Rural Touring Scheme, and travelling to Australia to devise with, and direct, the award-winning theatre company KUSH CABARET which culminated in performances at the prestigious National Museum of Art in Sydney.
FREE EVENT
1.15am-1.45pm Ripon Spa Gardens
3.00-3.30pm Ripon Spa Gardens

Punch and Judy
2026-07-12 13:30 - 13:50, 2026-07-12 14:45 | Ripon Spa Gardens, Park Street, Ripon, HG4 2AX, United Kingdom
Beautiful, hand-carved wooden puppets come to life in a fast-moving and funny show that has lots of good old-fashioned knock-about fun, with loads of audience participation.
Each show lasts 20 minutes
For over 30 years, Professor Ron Wood has been a beloved figure in the world of entertainment, bringing the enchanting Punch and Judy Show to life for thousands of children and adults alike. With his traditional approach and authentic wooden puppets, Ron has captivated audiences at events both large and small, spreading joy and laughter through this time-honoured British puppet theatre. Each performance is a delightful journey filled with playful antics and memorable characters, ensuring that the spirit of this classic show continues to thrive in the hearts of all who experience it.
FREE EVENT
Ripon Spa Gardens
11.00am
12.15pm
1.30pm
2.45pm

Kismat Walla
2026-07-12 13:30 - 14:15 | Ripon Marketplace, Market Place, Ripon, HG41BP, United Kingdom
Thingumajig Theatre, who have performed A la Puppet Carte and Kit and Caboodle (pictured below) at previous Ripon Theatre Festivals, return with their brand new street theatre puppet show. Kismat Walla captures the bustling atmosphere of South Asian market streets in this two-person play set on and around a magical rairi (cart) telling a puppet plays about fate, fortune and serendipity.

About the performers:
Thingumajig Theatre creates and performs innovative puppet plays and interactive giant puppet street acts. Based in West Yorkshire, their puppets have played throughout the UK and 17 other countries and have been seen on television and a major Disney film.
Thingumajig’s co-directors Kathy and Andrew Kim met while working as performers on a Horse and Bamboo production in 2002. After several years commuting across the Atlantic to visit each other, they married and settled in West Yorkshire and started Thingumajig Theatre in 2006. They soon expanded to bring in freelance artists as needed and in 2024, they were joined by Reyyan Hammad as a core artist.
FREE EVENT
10.30 – 11.15am Ripon Spa Gardens
1.30-2.15pm Little Bird Market

Ripon Dance Academy
2026-07-12 13:45 - 14:00 | Ripon Spa Gardens, Park Street, Ripon, HG4 2AX, United Kingdom
Ripon Dance Academy offers high quality dance training in Ballet, Modern Jazz, Tap, Contemporary and Acro. Classes are offered from pre school to 18 and pupils have the opportunity to take part in IDTA examinations, full school shows and dance festivals.
RDA will also be performing on Saturday on the Cathedral Forecourt from 3.00-3.30pm.
FREE EVENT
10.00-10.30am Ripon Spa Gardens
1.45-2.00pm Ripon Spa Gardens

Ripon Walled Garden & Jennyruth Workshops - The Big Red Shoes
2026-07-12 14:00 - 14:30 | Ripon Spa Gardens, Park Street, Ripon, HG4 2AX, United Kingdom
The Big Red Shoes is a playful, participant-built performance created with Ripon Walled Garden, Jennyruth Workshops, and The Art Guild CIC. Using oversized props, movement, humour, and Makaton, it reimagines The Big Red Shoes as a story about pressure, fame, rest, connection, and the joy of dancing together.
Ripon Walled Garden supports adults with learning and physical disabilities through creative activities. They say, “Our members love participating in the theatre festival and love sharing their creativity with new audiences.”
Jennyruth Workshops is a hub of creativity and skills development dedicated to providing meaningful work and opportunities for adults who have learning disabilities.
Project led by Douglas Thompson and Sharon Hockin from The Art Guild:
Douglas is an artist and workshop leader. He helps people make art, drama and creative projects together, bringing people of all ages and abilities together to have fun and learn new skills.
​Douglas teaches creative workshops and helps run local arts events and festivals. He is studying for a PhD in art and disability studies and works to make the arts open to everyone.
Sharon loves art and loves how creating art makes her feel. She loves experimenting and playing with lots of different techniques and materials. She was a teacher and now works with local charities, festivals, community groups and individuals exploring and developing work and ideas. She says “I get a huge buzz out of working with people and hearing what they want to say, that is when the magic truly happens!” Sharon believes in having a voice and knows that art enables you to shout out about what is important to you.

FREE EVENT
2.00-2.30pm Ripon Spa Gardens

Sound Board
2026-07-12 14:00 - 14:45 | Ripon Spa Gardens, Park Street, Ripon, HG4 2AX, United Kingdom
Sound Board
Zest Theatre
It starts with a conversation. Where it ends? That’s up to you.
Part chat show, part game, part live performance – Sound Board has been made especially for young people and their community. Packed with quick-fire debates, playful challenges, and surprising moments of honesty, it’s a show shaped by you in real-time. One moment, you’re playing a game. Next, you could be reflecting, cheering, or celebrating what makes you unique under a shower of confetti.
Put on your headphones, listen in, and see where it takes you. No two Sound Board shows are the same, but each is full of big ideas, bold opinions, and unexpected moments that unfold around you. No scripts, no barriers, no filters – just the energy of right now.
Hosted by professional performers and local young people, this is your space to talk, discover, and connect. Dream big, make some noise, or let things go. However you show up, Sound Board makes sure your voice is heard.
Age Guide: Made for 11-18s but suitable for all.
Every performance will feature integrated Audio Description. A touch tour is available 10 minutes
before the start of each show.
zesttheatre.com/soundboard
FREE EVENT
11.15am-12.00pm Ripon Spa Gardens
2.00-2.45pm Ripon Spa Gardens

The Rubbish Shakespeare Company: Romeo & Juliet
2026-07-12 14:00 - 15:00 | Ripon Spa Gardens, Park Street, Ripon, HG4 2AX, United Kingdom
Romeo and Juliet
Rubbish Shakespeare Company
Enemies. Balconies. Kissing… SAUSAGE ROLLS!!??
Three hapless idiots perform Shakespeare’s famous tragedy using nothing but tatty wigs and a burst airbed they found by the bins. This frenetic 60 mins of fourth-wall-breaking, ludicrous action features clowning, slapstick, and mischievous storytelling, ensuring everyone from 5 to 105 knows what’s going on!
This isn’t boring Shakespeare – it’s bonkers!
Suitable for ALL AGES!
Described as ‘like Horrible Histories but funnier’ (Primary Times), the ‘delightfully wacky’ Rubbish Shakespeare Company present an anarchically joyous, family-friendly treat.
Featuring clowning, slapstick and mischievously interactive storytelling, this ‘side-splittingly funny’ (The List) tragedy is the perfect introduction to Shakespeare – or even theatre itself!
‘A genius way to bring the Bard to fresh audiences’ West End Best Friend
‘It’s pure rubbish… and you’ll love every minute’ Wee Review
About the performers:
The Rubbish Shakespeare Company (or RubSC, if you’re in a hurry) is a family-friendly theatre company with a passion for Theatre and Creative Education. Their mission is to prove that Shakespeare isn’t rubbish – he’s brilliant, bold, and a bit bonkers – just like them!
It all started in 2007, when three drama graduates from Liverpool John Moores University decided that Shakespeare needed a shake-up. Since then, they’ve toured the UK (and beyond!), turning classrooms and community halls into raucous arenas of rhyme, rhythm, and ridiculousness. What began as a passion project is now a full-blown mission: to make Shakespeare fun, fearless, and fantastically accessible for all.
FREE EVENT
11.15am-12.15pm Ripon Spa Gardens
2.00-3.00pm Ripon Spa Gardens

The Crow House
2026-07-12 15:15 - 16:15 | Ripon Spa Gardens, Park Street, Ripon, HG4 2AX, United Kingdom
A derelict house appears in the middle of the street. The windows are shattered and a Keep Out sign bars the front door. Three captivating and multi-skilled performers use aerial, acrobatics, live music and slap-stick comedy to battle the furious crow who has taken up residency. Who will win?
A wonderful silent-movie inspired show using an eclectic mix of circus, puppetry, musical saw, harp playing and audience participation.
Presented by Circo Rum Ba Ba
About the performers:
Circo Rum Ba Ba is a well-established, highly experienced women’s circus theatre company which fuses spectacular theatre with a diverse range of circus skills, comedic characters and narratives to bring extraordinary shared experiences to communities and audiences across the U.K. The company are committed to developing wonderfully bizarre, offbeat shows, promenades and walkabout characters for free to the public arts and community events. They bring theatre and circus to places where it is not expected to engage incidental audiences who don’t always have access to the arts. From the subtle cameo to the grand parade, Circo Rum Ba Ba combines the surprising with the impossible, to produce a thrilling phenomenon of spectacle and show.
FREE EVENT
12.30-13.30pm Ripon Spa Gardens
3.15-4.15pm Ripon Spa Gardens
