Hosting Indoors

We are pleased to announce the latest Applause Indoors Menu for 2026-27!

To get a flavour of our shows, you can watch the show trailers on our YouTube channel. 

We’ve updated our menu for village halls and community spaces to include some exciting new shows now available to book. 

Don’t forget Applause offers financial subsidies so that you can book high quality shows at a more reduced rate, while the performers still receive the full price for their work. This helps more shows to be made and toured and venues can bring shows to their communities which otherwise might have been outside their budget. 

The new menu includes two brand new shows which have been created specially for the national Create Tour Connect partnership project. A Country’s Tale and George and the Drag Queen will be touring nationwide and we have just a few dates available so snap these up nice and early. All venues hosting Create Tour Connect shows enjoy extra publicity for being part of the project and will feature on the official tour list. 

This year we’re excited to partner with the Half Moon Theatre, the UK’s leading small-scale young people’s venue and touring company based in East London, to bring you three of their top shows. Jack and the Beanstalk (Sort Of) is a hilariously bonkers show which will delight children and adults, Tale of the Loneliest Whale brings beautiful puppetry and an important story about neurodiversity and Bones in the Desert has a powerful message and is ideal for adults and often underserved teenage audiences. 

The magical Once Upon a Whispering Wood is “truly delightful” and includes an opportunity for audiences to meet the puppets and take photographs in their woody grotto. Our friends at Half a String who previously brought us The Snowsmith are back with their new show Tiny Planet, described as “a truly unique piece of puppet theatre for the whole family”. 

There’s some strong one woman shows available. The witty Marcella’s Minute to Midnight would suit older audiences and SELENE (pronounced ‘Selaney’) features Australian actor Meg Drury who performs this storytelling show in the round. The brilliantly named Hah! Bumhug. reveals what happened after A Christmas Carol ends, performed by Lecoq trained clown Ethel Darling. 

Keeping with the classics theme, we have the two hander retelling of Jekyll & Hyde and an adaptation of the famous novel The Railway Children. 

After their success in our previous season, you have another chance to book Lung and a Half Full Theatre’s Tales for an Unruly Audience. 

We have a strong mix of music offerings this season. The fiddle playing frontman of the Noble Jacks, Will Page is touring as a duo and solo artist Hannah Scott brings her deeply personal and universally appealing music to rural venues. 

We welcome “the UK’s best and brightest” from the National Opera Studio with Opera Cocktail, a delightful mix of classics giving an engaging and accessible way for audiences to discover and enjoy opera.  

Bowjangles is an energetic and talented string quartet combining musical talents with physical theatre and comedy. Ideal for bringing some fun entertainment to your venue. 

If you’re looking for an acoustic folk band, we have Counter’s Creek who make original music inspired by the folk music of the British Isles and beyond. They come highly recommended from other rural touring schemes. 

African Night Fever blends the rich sounds of jazz, funk, soul and West African music. Led by Gambian master percussionist Musa MBoob and his collective, XamXam, they combine their musical backgrounds into a set which will get your audiences moving! 

Perfect for the festive season are Celtic Christmas, a feast of harp and guitar and for families, Jude Simpson offers her joyful nonsense show A Noise Annoys at Christmas. 

Schools

We also have a menu for schools. Covering Key Stages 1 and 2 we have specially selected shows to accompany the National Curriculum. To find out more click here Schools Menu 2025-6

To book any of the shows or to find out more about Applause and how to become an community host, email Sam at touring@applause.org.uk or call on 01892 457635. We look forward to working with you!