"Richard III" at the Tobacco Factory Theatre

Southville, in Bedminster, Bristol is old Victorian inner-city - now populated by Guardian-reading fifty-somethings with fashionably-long silver hair, leather-jackets and purposeful walking. Also detox shops, the odd ex-hippy and a non-oppressive sense of high-street community. Buy now while it's still affordable.

Don't know how much this gentle gentrification is down to the Tobacco Factory project but we ate at their student-union-style cafe (mezzas since you ask) and watched their extraordinary-accomplished "Richard III" this afternoon. Here's a picture of the small, intimate theatre just before the play started.

The Tobacco Factory theatre

"Richard III" is one of Shakespeare's earliest (and longest) plays, a fast-moving thriller with a notable villain in the eponymous ruler- who shares his murderous plans in multiple asides to the audience. The cast were uniformly excellent and the archaic language was hardly noticeable. It helped to have studied the Wikipedia articles on the historic king and the play beforehand - the family and royal connections are intricate.

So we really enjoyed it and plan to visit again soon for their next production.