A strange new act has arrived at Trafalgar Fair's freakshow. Who is Grinpayne and how did he get his hideous smile? With the help of an old puppeteer, his pet wolf and a blind girl, Grinpayne's tale is told. When word spreads across the capital, everything changes. Desperate to know the terrible secrets of his mysterious past, Grinpayne leaves his true love behind and embarks on a journey into an even crueller world - the aristocracy. The Grinning Man is a fairy tale love story streaked with pitch-black humour, lashings of Gothic horror and swashbuckling adventure. It opened at Bristol Old Vic in 2016 to great acclaim and transferred to the West End's Trafalgar Studios in 2017 where it achieved cult status and rave reviews. "Defies theatrical convention by keeping its hand on its heart and its tongue in its cheek." - The Guardian "Blackly comic brilliance." - The Telegraph "The best British score in years" - WhatsOnStage

Kneehigh now finds itself celebrated as one of the UK's most exciting theatre companies. This collection contains the performance texts of four of their highly acclaimed shows: Tristan & Yseult, The Bacchae, The Wooden Frock and The Red Shoes. With forewords from Emma Rice, Tom Morris, Anna Maria Murphy and Carl Grose, it offers a unique insight into Kneehigh's approach to making theatre, revealing how ascript can emerge from a collaborative devising process.

Times are tough for the family in the wood They'd eat like kings if only they could But hunger gnaws - famine stalks the land Something quite wicked has the upper hand! Poor mother and father must do "what is best"... And Hansel and Gretel will be put to the test! Armed with their very last slice of bread Will they eat to survive Or ........leave ....................a ..........................trail ...................................home ..............................................instead? The school edition of Carl Grose and Kneehigh Theatre Company's acclaimed version of Hansel & Gretel, which includes notes for teachers and those studying the play for GCSE English, as written by Anthony Banks.

Kneehigh Theatre Company presents Dead Dog in a Suitcase written by Carl Grose. What the HELL is the world coming to? Based on The Beggar's Opera, John Gay's classic musical satire, Dead Dog in a suitcase (and other love songs) is busting with wit, wonder and weirdness. An extraordinary Kneehigh cast of actor-musicians shoot, hoot and shimmy their way through this twisted morality tale of our times...by turns SHOCKING, HILARIOUS, HEARTFELT and ABSURD! Mayor Goodman has been assassinated. Contract killer Macheath has just married Pretty Polly Peachum and they plan to escape to a better world - but they aren't going anywhere. Not if pickled pilchard, hair gel and concrete tycoon Les Peachum and his wife have anything to do with it. See, they aren't happy with their daughter marrying Macheath. Not one bit. Before the day is out Macheath will face the hangman's noose and much more besides. All the while, the dogs are howling, the pier is creaking, the babes are crying, the concrete is cracking and the truth won't stay hidden for much longer... This is now, this is it The world is poor and man's a shit The game is rigged, nothing's truer Death's a joke and life a sewer!

Cornish conspiracy theorist Virgil Ploy is paranoid. He thinks that everyone is out to get him - that includes his mother and her new husband, Dusty. He might well be right. It's hard to know who to trust these days. But then, living on top of a secret M.O.D. chemical weapons plant can do strange things to you. Very strange things indeed... Horse Piss For Blood is a bizarre and darkly funny new play about family, madness and Cornwall's darkest secret... Are you ready for the truth?

1903. In the back streets of Monmartre, the Theatre du Grand Guignol opens its doors to an unsuspecting public. The plays performed, rife with madness and murder, are sold out every night. A psychiatrist obsessed with the playwright s gruesome dramas ingratiates his way into the company. But when he starts to unpick the author s mind, the boundaries between theatre and truth begin to blur... Not suitable for those under 14 years of age

Bringing together five plays exploring our notions of family, myth, death, truth and the ever-fluctuating nature of reality, Carl Grose: Plays One celebrates the possibilities of theatre and humanity’s desperate need to tell stories in order to survive. This collection includes Grose’s blood-splattered love letter to the theatre, Grand Guignol, plus a quartet of anarchic Cornish-set comedies: Superstition Mountain, Horse Piss For Blood, 49 Donkeys Hanged and The Kneebone Cadillac.