The Nuffield Theatre is a key uk venue for commissioning and presenting contemporary theatre, dance and live art. This season features award-winning shows, local residents working with major artists, karaoke-singing soldiers and some distinctly dangerous puppets...  

Download the Nuffield Theatre 2009/10 brochure (0.61 MB)

The Nuffield Theatre provides a distinctive and structured approach to artist support in the region, usually delivered BY artists FOR artists. This includes masterclasses, residencies, bursaries, festival events and the Practice Reflected symposium series. Further to our programme of events, we can also offer bespoke advice (both creative and business related) to those engaged in making contemporary performance: if we can’t help you then we will probably know someone that can. Lastly, if you have ideas on how we could further support the development of both emerging and established artists, then please get in touch. Contact Alice Booth, Projects and Artist Support Officer. Email: alice@nuffieldtheatre.com or call: 01524 592994. See ARCHIVE SUPPORT ITEMS for past artist support events or projects.

For the second time, the Nuffield Theatre is producing a UK tour for our 2007/2008 International Fellows, Cupola Bobber, with their new piece, Way Out West, the Sea Whispered Me. Alice Booth, creative producer, has put together a four spring tour dates (at the Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster, 22nd and 23rd Feb, at the Greenroom, Manchester on 26th Feb, at Exeter Phoenix on the 2nd of March and at Chichester Showroom on the 4th March). Alice is currently booking tour dates for Autumn. For more information, see www.cupolabobber.com, or contact alice@nuffieldtheatre.com

Talking Birds ran a 5-day
intensive school in Morecambe's highly charged Winter Gardens. The week shared and exposed some of Talking Birds’ strategies for making site-based performance and the group experimented with some new ideas. Exploring both Victorian and contemporary theatre tricks, the week culminated in an immersive and evocative installation generating spooks and hauntings and things that go bump! Participants attended from a range of artforms including performance, visual art and sound/music.

An informal showing took place on 30th August 2009.  

Download Document (0.37 MB)

DIY 6: 2009

For the third year running, Nuffield Theatre Lancaster (with LANWest) is hosting the North West part of the DIY 6 programme – Professional development projects BY artists FOR artists that is specifically based in, and/or stimulates and benefits artists from the North West. All projects will take place in August and September 2009, and are aimed at both emergent and experienced practitioners. The DIY 6 programmes take many forms, including a 24-hour immersive experience, a 1000 mile bike ride, as well as a series of workshops, discussions, and encounters.

The proposal selected for the North West is by Lorena Rivero De Beer, and is called: Exercises to Activate the Political Imagination of the City Wanderer. It takes place from Wed-Sun 23-27 September in Liverpool, and is a collaborative workshop for artists who are interested in cultural politics and critical thinking to research and respond creatively to the city’s public sculptures. 11 people from across the UK and Ireland have been selected to take part. For more information, see www.thisisliveart.co.uk.

This project forms part of DIY 6, a Live Art Development Agency initiative developed in collaboration with Artsadmin, New Work Network, The Basement, Colchester Arts Centre, Nuffield Theatre & LANWest, and PLATFORM

Inspired by the work of artist Tehching Hsieh, we are working with a pair of artists for one year to explore the idea of time. They ask: How might a performance last an entire year? How do we mark time and how does it mark us? How do we document time? How can we make the time to make art?

More information on the selected artists will be posted soon. Contact Alice on alice@nuffieldtheatre.com if you would like to know more.

In 2008, Peter S Petralia was awarded a bursary from New Work Network (NWN) and Nuffield Theatre Lancaster as part of NWN’s Activator Bursary Scheme. He was tasked with conducting research into what networks might be missing from the northwest region and then producing a programme to address any gap identified. Over the course of several months, Peter interviewed artists, programmers and funders in the region. A summary of his findings is available for download here.

The resulting programme that was created is called The Sunday Lunch Club and it is a theatrical work-share and networking event for contemporary performance makers centered on a generous exchange of ideas over a delicious Sunday lunch. The event is currently invitation only with participants suggesting new members on a regular basis. Participating venues include Lanternhouse / National Creation Centre, Bluecoat Arts Centre, Greenroom, Nuffield Theatre Lancaster, Leeds Met Studio Theatre, Axis Theatre Crewe, UCLAN, and Rose Theatre Ormskirk. See www.proto-type.org for more information.  

Activator Research Findings (0.06 MB)

LANWest came about in 2003 as an informal gathering of regional promoters and producers with an interest in live art and contemporary performance. Organised by hÅb, and hosted by greenroom, it offers a forum for peer exchange and discussion. A key shared agenda for LANWest is the what next? question: the need to offer progression to the wealth of new work produced in the region, in terms of regional touring of contextualised early career work, and the support of key work to break free of the emergent regional label and to find its place on the national circuit. The network is currently undertaking a 3 year distribution project funded by Arts Council England – including the In Transit annual tour, this website and proactive support of developing contexts in Preston and Carlisle.

For the last three years, the Nuffield has run a professional development programme as a way of unlocking the extensive range of experience running through the theatre each season. Sessions are aimed at artists who want to develop their practice in new areas, and students and recent graduates beginning to define their practice outside of formal training. Past masterclasses have been run by Forced Entertainment, Lone Twin, Cupola Bobber, Reckless Sleepers, Walker Dance Park Music and others. For more information, contact Alice on alice@nuffieldtheatre.com

Nuffield New Works is a commissioning programme supporting the research, development and dissemination of new theatre and dance practice. Working with established companies with a national and international reputation, and a range of UK and international co-producers, the scheme enables artists to explore new collaborations or to experiment with new areas of practice. Most shows have toured extensively nationally and internationally, and several have been selected for British Council showcases. Nuffield New Works supported shows include The World in Pictures (Forced Entertainment); Broken Chords (Vincent Dance Theatre); Alice Bell and Daniel Hit By a Train (Lone Twin); OAP (Ursula Martinez); Dinner with America (Rajni Shah); Silence of the Soul and 5-2-10 (Walker Dance Park Music); Incarnate (Marie-Gabrielle Rotie); Hotel Methuselah (imitating the dog); A Pastoral (Uninvited Guests); Making the Difference (Small Change); Relative (Niki McCretton and Kathy Hinde); Years, years (Deer Park); The Lastmaker (Goat Island); Song of Songs (Sonia Hughes). For more information, contact Matt Fenton on 01524 593431, matt@nuffieldtheatre.com

Practice Reflected provides an opportunity for artists to reflect formally on their practice, often for the first time in an academic/artistic context, and to invite responses from other practitioners, writers, critics and academics. Events are open to the public, students, artists and academics, and take place alongside new performances supported or commissioned by the Nuffield Theatre. Events include artists’ letters, lecture demonstrations, happenings and performances as well as more traditional critical papers and discussions. Sited within Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts at Lancaster University, the Nuffield Theatre is ideally placed to facilitate these events, and draws on a wealth of research, practice and creative industry specialisms from across the University and nationally. Full details are available at www.cascpp.lancs.ac.uk. Recent events include:

Goat Island: Lastness, raiding the archive, and pedagogical practices in performance (Mar 08)

I Can't Go on Like This: Approaches on Lone Twin and Related Practices (Feb 07)

Between You and Us: A Symposium with Uninvited Guests (Nov 06). Full papers available now from www.uninvited-guests.net and via downloadable word document

Middle, End, Beginning: Adventures in narrative in contemporary performance (Oct 06)