The Gobline and Swallowe Inne at Stray Theatre Company

Thrilling adventures! Fantastical locations! Mysterious and enchanting people!

None of these things happen in this play.

The Gobline and Swallowe Inne is a shabby little establishment in the grotty crotch of a forest in the middle of nowhere. Ted, the innkeeper’s apprentice, spends his days listening to the stories of his guests, dreaming of going off on his own quest. And surely he’s destined for it: abandoned as a baby on the front step of the inn, with no clue as to his identity except for that big axe that accompanied him. He’s certain that adventure is just around the corner.

Unfortunately, there’s pigs to muck out, wood to chop, customers to serve, the occasional dead body to remove from the common room, and the ever-vigilant eye of Baggy Jo the innkeeper. But now, rumour has it, there’s an elf princess and her retinue travelling through these parts. While Baggy Jo schemes to get the princess to stay at the inn, Ted carries on with his chores, convinced that little will change. That is, until a cloaked figure arrives in the middle of the night looking for a place to hide…

Featuring an angry garden gnome, a shy bard, perpetual stew, a wizard who can’t work out how to use his orb, clams, a child with a possessed finger, and more whimsy that you can shake an axe at, this is a play about finding your purpose. But mostly it’s just silly.