Elevate Festival

14 - 19 October 2024

Building on the legacy of our Futures Festival, we are relaunching our annual celebration of South-West artists at our city-centre Barnfield Theatre.

Elevate Masterclass – Forging Relationships with Theatres and Running a Building

Drawing from over 20 years working across a range of freelance and artistic leadership roles, this interactive conversation led by our Creative Director and Joint Chief Executive Martin Berry will explore practical steps that freelance artists can take to build meaningful relationships with arts organisations.

Free and exclusively for Elevate members.

Mon 14 Oct, 5:30PM

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A photo of Martin Berry, wearing a shirt and jeans, leading a conversation of people seated on chairs in a rehearsal studio, facing him.
Photo by Kyle Carter
Promotional image for 'Scaffolding': a middle-aged white woman lies on grass among dandelions. She is wearing pyjamas and talking on a wired telephone. Her arm is laying above her head.
Photo by Alice Carfrae

Scaffolding

Sheridan is having a bad day. Her church is closing, Adult Social Care are on her case and she can’t work out what ingredients she needs to make a bomb. With no one else to turn to, she climbs the scaffolding around the leaking church steeple with a few questions for whoever is in charge.

From multi-award-winning Documental Theatre,  Scaffolding is an explosive show about strength, love and community.

★ ★ ★ ★
‘Little gem of a play’
The Stage

Mon 14 Oct, 7:45PM

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ARTISTS’ SOCIAL

Co-hosted by Exeter Northcott and Theatre Royal Plymouth, this is an opportunity for Elevate members to come and spend time with other creatives, share ideas, and meet the artist development teams for both theatres, who will share their plans for their work with artists moving forwards. Each attendee will receive a complimentary drink.

Free and exclusively for Elevate members.

Tue 15 Oct, 5:30PM

BOOK NOW BECOME AN ELEVATE MEMBER
A group of Failspace participants are standing and laughing at another participant's funny story in the Barnfield Theatre's bar.
Photo by Kyle Carter
Elevate Shorts artwork. Black background with write text: 'Elevate Shorts'. Cut-out images, bordered in yellow and white, are arrange in a collage around the text: a man and a woman swimming underwater wearing goggle and swimming caps, a variety of birds (dunlin, kingfisher and avocet) and two people paddle boarding.

ELEVATE SHORTS

Exeter Northcott has commissioned four local playwrights to pen a collection of brand-new short plays, brought to life by a team of directors and actors from across the region. Elevate Shorts is an evening of new writing that puts South-West stories centre stage:

Salvage by Helen Thomas, directed by Jon Nash
Shout Out To My Exe by Ed Viney, directed by Jon Nash
Soup by Holly Fitzpatrick, directed by Roisin McCay-Hines
A Summer of Birds by Laura Horton, directed by Roisin McCay-Hines

Tue 15 Oct, 7:30PM

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Elevate Masterclass – Fundraising for Freelancers

Off the back of a successful run of Scaffolding at Edinburgh Fringe and drawing from their experiences building a theatre company from scratch, Lucy Bell and Naomi Turner from Documental Theatre lead a hands-on introduction to fundraising, featuring a range of tools and tips that freelancers can use to optimise their chances of finding funding.

Free and exclusively for Elevate members.

Wed 16 Oct, 5:30PM

BOOK NOW BECOME AN ELEVATE MEMBER
A lady stands in a dimly lit classroom holding a sheet of paper and explaining something to a man in front of her.
Photo by South West Theatre Photography
White text on black background reads: Failspace

ARTISTS’ FAILSPACE OCTOBER 2024

Failspace is an informal gathering for South West-based artists, making a playful space to embrace FAILURE. Join us to chat, laugh, question and share the best (and worst) of our collective endeavours.

We will provide snacks, a free drink, a warmly facilitated discussion and an opportunity to network with other artists.

Wed 16 Oct, 7PM

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Newsicals

An informal afternoon of drinks, chat and ideas for new musicals, hosted by Documental Theatre.

Devon has a growing musical theatre scene. A number of exciting and ambitious new musicals are being developed right here in Exeter and the surrounding areas. Newsicals will showcase original musical theatre songs by local talent.

Thu 17 Oct, 1PM

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A woman in a burgundy leather jacket seen from the waist-up on a dimply-lit stage. She spreads her arms wide and sings with a smile
Artwork for 'Orphan Planet': against a black background an astronaut wears a mask, in its reflection is a galaxy. Text reads: ORPHAN PLANET BY DANNY LAINE MADE WITH SUPPORT FROM THEATRE ROYAL PLYMOUTH

ORPHAN PLANET

Orphan Planet is an autobiographical theatre piece combining real stories. once lost, now found, family footage and space exploration. All to try and answer the question of how to live with grief. Written and performed by Danny Laine.

Thu 17 Oct, 7.45PM

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Play, Pint, Pasty

Moveable Type Theatre Company are excited to bring their lunchtime theatre to the Barnfield Theatre.

Black Pill and Paternity is an exploration of the seductive power of incel culture, its violence and misogyny, and a possible way out.

Two young men meet online and find themselves hounded by their histories and tied together by a single tragic event. As they grapple with a culture that tells them to hate and resent, can they find redemption in their connection to each other?

Fri 18 Oct, 1PM

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Artwork for 'Play, Pints & Pasty': against a black background a laptop glows red. Text reads: Black Pill & Paternity a new play by Marika Mckennell
Centre: Hugh Malyon, a performer with close-cropped dark hair and a moustache and beard in a wheelchair, in front of a wall displaying a blur of rainbow colours.
Photo by South West Theatre Photography

Elevate Festival Resident Company: Squeeze Box

We’re providing a local theatre company with space and support to spend some time making.

Squeeze Box is a creative organism, a mycelium of makers, who support the artistic vision and disabled-led practise of Hugh Malyon. Their process allows us to understand the power of humanity more deeply, whilst developing together and growing as a care-centered transdisciplinary collective. Squeeze Box opens direct conversation on care as a universal experience through installation, performance and workshop.

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Elevate Masterclass – Access and Care in the Rehearsal Room

Squeeze Box invites you into a space of empathy and care, challenging perceptions and overcoming ableism together, in their relaxed, workshop-style Q&A.

Free and exclusively for Elevate members.

Sat 19 Oct, 4PM

BOOK NOW BECOME AN ELEVATE MEMBER
Photo of a man with dark hair in a black collared shirt looking over a sound desk and smiling.
Photo by South West Theatre Photography
Playwrights for hire artwork. A cut-out photo of a printer, outlined in yellow against a black background, with paper sitting in the loading tray at the top. Text on the paper reads: 'Playwrights for hire'.

Playwrights for Hire

Look out for our resident busking playwrights stationed around the Barnfield Theatre across the week of the Elevate Festival. They will be armed with laptops, caffeine and a blank page waiting for your brilliant ideas for one-page plays.

Give our playwrights an idea, title, or any other prompt of your choosing, and they will craft you your very own, very free, very short play right there on the spot! You’ll get a copy to keep, a copy will be displayed in our gallery, and at the end of the week, artists from across the Elevate Festival will come together to perform as many new one-page plays as they can stage in an hour!

Sat 19 Oct, 7PM

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Become an Elevate Member

Our free Elevate membership gives South West artists access to exclusive opportunities, press nights, social events and discounts, including a 10% discount at the Northcott and Barnfield bar and café, and ticket discounts on selected shows.

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SUPPORT OUR WORK WITH ARTISTS

If you like what we’re doing, please consider donating to support our work with artists. We are a charity and every donation helps!

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