Elevate R&D is a research and development programme designed to support artists in exploring bold new ideas. It offers dedicated time, space and creative support to experiment, refine and shape work at an early stage.
As part of the programme, the selected artist or company receives a week of in-kind space in the Southernhay Room at the Barnfield Theatre for up to a week, along with a £500 contribution towards costs for the week. Additionally, participants have the opportunity to conclude their residency with a work-in-progress sharing, should this benefit their creative process.
This opportunity is geared towards early ideas and having space to play with them without the pressure on output. There will be limited technical support available across the week.
We are delighted to announce that Molly Gooch and Fynn Roberts will be receiving support under our Elevate R&D programme this year.
MOLLY GOOCH
Molly Gooch is a multifaceted creative, born and bread in the South West. As a professional writer, director, performer and facilitator, Molly loves to use her varied skill set and knowledge of the interconnectivity of the arts sector to inform her creative practice.
Notably, Molly has twice been awarded Seed Commission Funding from Landmark Theatres allowing her to develop her ideas into full scale productions including Seasons (2024), Mind Games (2025). Furthermore, she was selected as one of Exeter Northcott’s writers for 2025 in which she used to write her new play Tactile. Most recently Molly been awarded Graduate Development Scheme funding to take Tactile to the Brighton Fringe in 2026.
Tactile
“What will be left when I die?”
As our lives become more virtual by the minute, tangible objects (the things that carry our personal histories) are increasingly disappearing.
Tactile explores society’s ‘return to the analogue’ as coined on social media, in a culture that is becoming ever more digitalised. It examines what “real” connection means and how the things we hold – both physical and emotional can connect us across generations.
Tactile as a play or indeed myself as a creative wouldn’t be where I am now and have exciting things coming up this year without the support of Exeter Northcott as an organisation and yourself as a creative mentor and inspiration.
Molly Gooch, Elevate R+D recipient
FYNN ROBERTS
Fynn Roberts is a writer, facilitator and performer based in Plymouth. Their work is often silly and chaotic while occasionally sneaking in a deeper message like when you hide a dog’s medicine in their food.
Through their work they have been exploring different styles and forms. Fynn’s first show was a fusion of stand-up and theatre: Happy? Never. Laughter! They then pivoted to write a play based on a true story- Contraband Sandwich- which was about an astronaut who smuggled a sandwich into space. More recently they have are exploring with storytelling-The Roaming Librarian- where the eponymous Librarian travels the country, finding people in need of stories.
Previous recipients
-
IN BED WITH MY BROTHER are Nora Alexander, Dora Lynn, and Kat Cory, three mates who make shows together. Their work is loud, chaotic, messy, angry, anarchic and silly: not quite performance art, featuring a bit of dance, sometimes comic, always a tragedy, a gig that happens in a theatre (but definitely not gig theatre). Mainly, their work is super-duper live, driven by living through an increasingly scary time, they create a feeling on stage that anything can and will happen.
IN BED WITH MY BROTHER have made five proper show shows: TWINKLE TOES, WE ARE IAN, TRICKY SECOND ALBUM, RETRAINED and PRIME_TIME, and many more smaller works, cabarets, DJ sets and digital work. They won the Total Theatre Award for Innovation, Experimentation and Playing with Form for TRICKY SECOND ALBUM (2019) and the Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award for PRIME_TIME, which premiered at the Barbican in 2021.
IN BED WITH MY BROTHER’s work has received critical acclaim from The Guardian, The Stage, The Scotsman, Time Out and provoked Dominic Cavendish of the Telegraph to set fire to a copy of his own newspaper.
Philosophy of the World
The best worst band ever, The Shaggs
Unpicked, deconstructed and reassembled
We don’t know into what yet…
We’re gunna be working that out live on stage
But it will be sticky in every sense of the word
Soda cans, shit wigs, jump scares and hot takes on being a woman artist
Part tribute act, part fever dream, part feminist reclamation
Expect gabber kicks and bum notes.
And that’s all that we can guarantee;ljbhvgjkl;’\(Wikipedia link if you’re flummoxed: The_Shaggs )
-
Squeeze Box is a creative organism, a mycelium of makers, who support the artistic vision and disabled-led practice of Hugh Malyon. Their process allows them to understand the power of humanity more deeply, whilst developing together and growing as a care-centred transdisciplinary collective. Squeeze Box opens direct conversation on care as a universal experience through installation, performance and workshop.
-
Laura Horton is a multi-award-winning writer and was the first playwright Laureate of Plymouth from 2020-23. Her debut play Labyrinth Diet was an OFFCOMM winner in 2021. Her follow-up Breathless was awarded the Pleasance Regional Partnership. It won a Fringe First, was a finalist for the Popcorn Award and was shortlisted for other prestigious prizes. The show enjoyed runs at Soho Theatre and 59e59 Off-Broadway in 2023, where it was New York Times critic’s pick. She has written several short plays. Her first short film, A Summer of Birds, was Toast of the Fringe winner in 2021.
Laura was an Artistic Associate of the Barbican Theatre Plymouth in 2024. She co-wrote and directed Ciderella for the Barbican in 2024. Laura presented her play Lynn Faces at Edinburgh Fringe 2024 where it won the Birds Of Paradise Exceptional Theatre Award. Lynn Faces is touring to Norwich Theatre, the Barnfield Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth and New Diorama Theatre in early 2025. An associate of The Space, Laura launched digital projects Hidden by Things and Theatre Stories, for which she was in The Stage 100. Laura was on BBC Voices South in 2023. Laura also runs Bad Sex Writing workshops and shows. She is represented by United Agents.
A Summer of Birds
A Summer of Birds is a play exploring the strength and fragility of life and the ways we start to see things differently when we slow down. When Lydia loses everything she retreats from the world and finds the most beautiful connection with Erica, a seagull who joins her to watch the sunrise each evening. A play about seclusion and finding connection in obscure places.
-
Alex Robins is a playwright and game developer currently based in the South West. He has worked as a practitioner for Theatre Royal Plymouth, With Flying Colours and the Barbican Theatre. Alex has been commissioned to write for theatre and video games, including Fireworks (Arts Council Funded) which toured to London’s Vault Festival and Mondays: A Sisyphean Typing Game which has been exhibited in Salzburg, Bavaria, and New York. He received a distinction in MA Creative Writing from the University of Exeter.
Meet Mayor Max
Meet America’s friendliest politician! He isn’t afraid of the RUFF questions! He won’t ROLL OVER on the big issues! Vote for him to SIT in office!
The sharing is a development of the co-created play Mayor Max for President, which was performed in Idyllwild, California last October. Comparing South West UK to South West USA, we’re using this amazing true story to examine legacy, loss and the communities that bind us together.
Written and performed by Alex Robins. Directed by Jon Nash.
-
Claudia Jefferies is a theatre maker, writer and performer. Her work cross-references multiple genres and performance styles to highlight and critique everyday social injustices. She works across a variety of performance styles, from naturalistic acting to clowning, drag, spoken word and performance lecture.
WORK
WORK is a piece of experimental performance art that comments on the workforce as an entity, the things we say, and do, and the parts of ourselves we abandon in order to become and remain employed. Set to an original sound track of distorted field recordings and uncategorisable noise, it explores everything from staff room diet chat to the long-term suppression of our animal impulses.
Inspired by many years of being an artist working various day jobs, WORK uses text from old CVs, application forms, and interview-speak to shed light on the absurd nature and necessity of employment as we know it. WORK was first presented in June 2024 for Plymouth Performance Festival at The House,
University of Plymouth. Following Elevate R&D, it is now being developed into a site-specific piece -
-
-
-
Danny Laine is a director and theatre maker working in the south west. Danny has worked on various projects for Theatre Royal Plymouth, Barbican Theatre, and Sterts Arts. His practice as a director is grounded in the belief that theatre can be a tool for transformation and empathy.
Connor Reed is a dynamic actor from Plymouth with a diverse career across theatre and film. He’s performed worldwide with Junk!, a high-energy fusion of percussion and mime, and worked as a puppeteer for the spectacular large-scale project The Hatchling. On screen, Connor recently appeared in Alex Parkinson’s debut film The Last Breath (Focus Features), alongside Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu.
This marks Danny and Connor’s first collaboration under the banner of a new theatre company yet unnamed. Their shared vision: to create bold, physical, visually inventive work inspired by the traditions of Jacques Lecoq and early Complicité — work that moves, surprises, and stays with you.
You may also like