Tree Rings

Initially created, directed, written and performed, with members of the Worcester and Malvern community as a large community cast production.

This Award Nominated show, is now being re-developed by a smaller, professional cast of artists for studio, and small/mid scale professional touring, debuting at Chelsea and Kensington Festival 2023

The Tree Rings uses humour, physical theatre, live music, movement, shadows and animations to tell the unusual story of a boy and a tree..

Trees hold stories, in more ways than one. They hold memories and myths. The rings within a tree’s trunk are archives of changes and events in our environment. What if they could tell you those stories? What if a tree could ring you?

Using physicality, shadow puppetry, music and quirky humour, we follow a boy’s relationship with a tree over several decades, until present. The show combines a childlike delight for magic and myths, stories from trees around the world, with insights into the growth of the environmental movement over the last 70 years, and a concern for our natural environment.

As said in the show: “If all the trees stopped breathing, we’d have had it!

The Tree Rings is suitable for most ages, but we recommend that it may not be suitable for children under 10. The show runs at approximately one hour and 50 minutes including an interval.

resh from a successful run of our previous show, The Endling, at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022 (4 star review from The Stage: "This is something seriously exciting... surreal and sombre... with a huge amount of intelligence and imagination on display"), our new show, The Tree Rings, continues the environmental theme and brings the same thoughtfulness and creative ingenuity to bear on the world of trees.

The show was originally created through community-based workshops, as well as with a company of student and emerging writer/performers, and featured original tree animations by University of Worcester animation students.