A Spectacle of Herself

Laura Murphy

23 - 27 April

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Information

Time: 7:30pm

Tickets: Pay What You Can (Recommended Price £14)*

*all orders will be subject to a transaction fee of £2

Running Time: 1 hour (no interval)

Age Recommendation: 16+

This event takes place in person in our Council Chamber

A cinematic, acrobatic ride through mental health, queerness, rage & 21st Century space race.

Join Laura on a mission to serve herself up [in]appropriately for your consumption, in a bold, cinematic, acrobatic odyssey through the frontiers of mental health, queerness, rage & the 21st Century space race.

Directed by Ursula Martinez, with Laura’s critical and cheeky signature mix of autobiography, lip-sync, video and aerial rope, A Spectacle of Herself navigates the personal and political to seek out new worlds and ways to be seen. 

‘A testament to the transformative power of theatre’
★★★★★  Morning Star

‘A powerful and empowering piece of work’ ★★★★ The Scotsman

‘Wildly funny and deeply touching’ ★★★★  The Skinny

Trailer & Gallery

A Spectacle of Herself by Laura Murphy, credit Holly Revell.

View 6 images

A Spectacle of Herself by Laura Murphy image credit Holly Revell

A Spectacle of Herself by Laura Murphy, credit Holly Revell(1)

Credits

A Spectacle of Herself is written and performed by Laura Murphy  

 Creative Team 

Performer & Writer Laura Murphy  
Director Ursula Martinez  
Producer Nicole A’Court-Stuart  
Lighting Designer Jen Roxburgh  
Video Designer Ben Glover 
Filmmaker Holly Black 
Production Manager Dean Sudron  
Devising Projection Designer Mark Morreau  
Access Consultant Max Sutherland 
Lip Sync Supervisor Dickie Beau

A Contra co-production with Le Carré Magique and Cambridge Junction.  

Supported by Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants. Summerhall Mary Dick Award Winner 2023, Jerwood Circus Residency recipient 2022.

German language creative captioning commissioned by CircusDanceFestival Cologne. 

Supported by and created through residencies with The Island Bristol, Le Carré Magique, Jerwood Arts, National Centre for Circus Arts, La Verrerie d’Ales, La Grainerie Pôle Européen de production, Cambridge Junction and Jacksons Lane.

Represented by Aurora Nova.   

Laura Murphy is a genre-defying queer performance maker from Bristol, who makes text-driven and dynamic physical performance about things that she thinks needs to be talked about. Challenging, intimate and spectacular, her work is a cross-disciplinary fusion of theatre, live art, circus and verbal explosion.  

Contra is a collaboration between creative producer Nicole A’Court-Stuart and performance maker Laura Murphy. We make, tour and support the development of politically engaged, interdisciplinary and boundary pushing Circus work. Our practice is informed by our queer and neurodivergent leadership, as well as our shared passion for exploring the critical role virtuosic practices can have within live work.

Access

PRE EVENT INFORMATION

This event takes place in person in our Council Chamber. This space is on the first floor, with step-free access via a lift.

If you have booked a ticket you will receive an email from us before your performance detailing important information about your visit.

PERSONAL ASSISTANT/COMPANION TICKETS

If you require the assistance of a friend or helper to attend, we can make a free ticket available for your companion. You can book access companion tickets online or contact the Box Office to book by emailing access@bac.org.uk.

To book a free access companion online:

log in to your account here
go to ‘Other preferences’ and tick ‘I require a personal assistant/companion’.
Choose the performance, date and seats you would like and if you add at least 2 tickets to your basket, then one of these will automatically become free.

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

All performances contain integrated captions.

The post-show Q&A on Wednesday 24 April will be live-captioned by Joanne Petre.

Content

Flashing lights
Haze
Shouting
Loud Music
Nudity
Swearing
Latex balloon

PRE-SHOW INFORMATION

All performances will be Relaxed. We invite you to make yourself comfortable and move around if you need to. If you feel you may need to leave during the show, please take a seat in the front rows. This is to support the access needs within the cast, where any sudden loud noise or persistent movement can become a barrier to performing.

VISIT OUR ACCESS PAGE

We want our shows to be as accessible to as many people as possible.

We offer tickets to most shows on a Pay What You Can basis throughout the year.

Tickets for Council Chamber performances in 2026 start at £9.50, and we have recommended pricing to help you choose a price that works for you.

We know that ticket price is a huge barrier for some. If you can afford to pay the recommended price or more, choosing to do so supports those that can’t. It makes it possible for us to continue to offer Pay What You Can and welcome those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend.