Our Commissions
We commission a broad range of voices and stories. Here's full details of our current slate.
CURRENT CO-PRODUCTION GRANTS INCLUDE
Babel’s Cupid is a star-crossed love story set on the edge of global apocalypse, where the lovers share no common language. The play looks at how the languages we use exert power over bodies, land, hearts. Part political-negotiation; part ritual dance; entirely love triangle.
RECENT CO-PRODUCTION GRANTS INCLUDE
Dear Young Monster by Pete MacHale. A solo show centring a young trans man in early stages of medical transition. Isolated and othered he finds comfort in a midnight screening of Frankenstein, leading him into a tumultuous exploration of gender euphoria and dysphoria, discovering what can happen when you embrace being the monster the world is telling you that you are.
The Colour of Dinosaurs by Otic. A brand-new show for families inspired by Bristol based Palaeontologist Dr Jakob Vinther and his fascinating exploration of the Colour of Dinosaurs. Featuring soaring music and powerful poetry, the show sparks imaginations and encourages questioning minds to keep questioning.
cheeky little brown by Nkenna Akunna & co-produced with tiata fahodzi, cheeky little brown is a failed night out, a musical, a show about heartbreak and queerness, taking place on a journey through the city Lady calls home. With original songs, this coming-of-age story examines a friendship between two Black women on diverging paths of self-love and acceptance.
CURRENT SEED GRANTS
Odd Mortals - Amy Mason A bold, funny new play in development about the 1700s queer theatre-maker and writer, Charlotte Charke. It will be a raucous, riotous and invigorating call to arms for creativity, live performance and living authentically, made with an all-queer team.
Lilypower - Amy Bethan Evans A play about three generations of neurodivergent women told in a neurodivergent way and narrated by a chorus of intrusive thoughts. Amy is seeking to develop the piece with a neurodivergent creative team to and create access for neurotypical audience through neurotypical consultancy.
Froggy - Sasha Frost A two-hander play in development based on real life events, part verbatim and part dramatisation. A young mixed-race woman works to rebuild her relationship with her estranged father Froggy, a legendary underground soundman, and she comes to terms with how his life has shaped hers, as family secrets and black Bristol history-are uncovered in a vividly personal way.
[Arguments for the Sake of Heaven] מחלקת לשם שמים - Elana Binysh, Maisie Newman & Ben Osborn A speculative documentary fluctuating between the sacred and the casual; a poetic, reparative and tender exploration of assimilation and forgotten identity. This development process will concentrate on fragments of poetic artifacts, rituals, songs, arguments and discussions of the British Jewish experience.
The Roaring One - Jenny Davies A developing anarchistic, queercore punk restructuring and reimagining of Middleton and Dekker’s Jacobean play The Roaring Girl, experimenting with video and sound technology to create a sensory audience experience connected to onstage visuals.
We Sing in Fire and Blood - Hazel Grian A trailblazing musical about violence - a collaboration between writer Hazel Grian and composers Duncan Speakman & Sarah Anderson. In 2010, alone at home in Bristol, Hazel was brutally attacked by an intruder & left for dead as the house burned. Immediately the city went above and beyond to help, transforming Hazel’s life, and this process will support her to develop her incredible story for the stage.
Untitled Project - Manu Maunganidze A project focusing on the mythology of multicultural Britain and inequality with a specific focus on a street corner in East Bristol.
Izzy Gizmo - Elizabeth Westcott Izzy Gizmo is an ambitious little girl who builds mad inventions... that often do not work. It is a story about determination, engineering and love. Taking inspiration from Izzy, the development of this adaptation of Pip Jones' book will be bold and noisy, particularly with the use of original music making machines, dance and puppetry, combining to call attention to the importance of resourceful innovation in this swiftly changing world of ours.
Blinded by Your Grace - Tom Bevan, Florence Espeut-Nickless & Stef O'Driscoll An idea for an epic ensemble community theatre show made with/by and for young people in the South West. It celebrates the power of community, of coming together and uniting in a time of trauma. It’s full of music, energy, celebration and dance, but also pain, heartache and loss.
A Cherry Orchard - Cat Fuller, Julia Head, Naomi Obeng & Tilly Taylor An idea for a radical redevelopment of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov. Set in the orchard of a decaying rural English estate, it follows a Gardener whose family has maintained the trees for generations and his daughter who will inherit nothing, alongside Lyuba whose family have owned the estate for generations and her daughter Anya who will inherit everything.
RECENT SEED GRANTS
Smalltown Boy by Brenda Callis A heart-warming play which explores grief, connection and queerness in a rural setting. We also want it to be an emotionally explosive drag show, and a great night out. This project will develop side-by-side with a drag artist to try to bring these art forms together, whilst using interviews and research time to strengthen the important themes of the play.
Snapshots by Beyond Face A limited series for stage. 5 episodes of theatre which explore snapshots into the lives of 5 women; Effie, Earl, Gina, Marilyn and Lisa. Co-written by Alix Harris, Corinne Walker and Shiquerra Robertson, Beyond Face plan to continue developing each of the episodes, using this opportunity to think about all of the ways that they might be shared with an audience.
Taking it's Toll by Priya Hall, Leila Navabi & Pravanya Pillay A developing idea that refuses to make a point. It’s proudly and unapologetically pointless. It might be a show about 4 toll booth workers awaiting the reopening of the Severn Toll Bridge. They honour the sacred oath they took to safeguard this passage of the M4. This is their life. This is Taking Its Toll. As they wait the audience will probably wait with them and get absorbed into their surreal world.