Squeeze Box: An Elevate-d Reflection

Sam Parker, the now Artist Development Producer at the Northcott, was one of the original creatives on the Squeeze Box project (and in a tangible way, still is). I might be wrong here, but I think this showback/popcorn frenzy/condensed but mighty exploration of Squeeze Box, was the first time Sam and Martin had shared a creative space together. Literally the first time the new boss sees you working… Sam is still in post, just to say… Through this ‘up-for-taking-risk’ vibe, Martin and the Northcott were committed to this phrase of: ‘what you do is weird but brilliant’. This definitely stood me and the Squeeze Box team in good stead!

From that point, a whirlwind of emails, letter agreements and some very exciting meetings at the Barnfield space with Kelly Johnson (Development and Marketing Director) and Sam, and we are officially Associate Artists with the Northcott! A huge commitment by, I think it is fair to still say, a building with a reputation of perhaps being a mainstream organisation. Mainstream, my practise is not, and the space, resources, expertise, critical friends support, subsidised tickets, and community and exchange of ideas over the next two years is testament to the Northcott’s belief that theatre is for everyone and we all need to adapt to audiences in order to keep live art relevant.

95% of my collaboration with the Northcott team was done in a super accessible, relaxed, with mutual respect and pressure-free culture. There will always be pesky contracts and risk assessments and jargon, but I truly felt able to reach out to the Northcott and propose some whacky ideas, and every time the response came back with the words ‘Yes! What do you need from us?’. Moreover, when personal life got rocky and creative ideas needed to be shifted around, the Northcott were always up for parking ideas and there was little pressure to commit. They picked up on my honed instinct of knowing when an original idea is just not a goer… and when to fully commit to another one that is. This is the way I work in my practise, and the way this was organically implemented in the way we would work together was truly inspiring and enhanced our relationship.

An eye of the creatively charged storm moment was the new Northcott Strategy launch in Autumn 2024. When I received the invite to this, I freaked out a little, imagining a room of bow ties and champagne on ice. Upon arriving at the Northcott Theatre on the University of Exeter campus, with an emergency black tie tucked in my pocket, I was instantly put at rest when we were just so well welcomed. I remember Matin and Kelly chatting to me and both saying that they were just a little apprehensive about giving a speech to officially kick off the evening – like they were every day, ordinary people, not middle management class, genetically programmed to be confident and arrogant in front the low-level artist. The Northcott is made of people: genuine, creative and caring people.

Alongside the third joint chief executive, Emma Stephenson, they shuffled around on the stairs and just looked, well human. The rest of the night flowed with talks from different departments just checking-in. Again, another moment where I felt firmly at home was how they had so much thinking around community theatre and grassroots to be at the heart of how the Northcott tells stories. I will always advocate for an organisation with that much resource, mainly in the form of two magnificent theatres and infrastructure around that, to do more with community arts. However, I have been impressed throughout my two years with just how committed the Northcott is to Exeter, the wider region, diverse communities and art forms, people and stories.

Our associateship started in earnest with an amazing (if not technically challenging with our ambitions ever-growing project design) takeover of the Clifford Room at the Barnfield Theatre.

Squeeze Box is back to life. It was really energising being present throughout Elevate Festival 2024. It felt like we were part of the fabric of the building and was able to host two incredibly powerful workshops with learning disabled artists, alongside a complete showing of the work. Squeeze Box is all about multi-sensory and a blend of theatre, projecting and sound, and these workshops were the epiphany of this, with healthy lashings of inclusion and play. It was such a joy being… just being, in a playful space. The concluding Squeeze Box performance was packed, Sam kept squeezing people into the Clifford Room and the gig was electric. Thank you for all those who came and stayed for the post show Q&A – it was a joy sharing the work and the process behind it.

You can read more about my reflections on the week here.

The Northcott partnered up with Ramps on the Moon, an initiative to open the imagination of venues, to realise anything is possible with access and inclusion. Kelly reached out to us as part of the associateship to deliver a workshop exploring these topics. We brought out the Anons for this. In the workshop, staff members from the Northcott were brilliant and generous with going on a journey with us, using these 2D-mini-figures to create their own character and then focus on their needs. We then got into groups and explored how we could create a working environment which puts access first and creates a culture of care. This, plus a couple of theatre games was probably too ambitious for the two-hour slot we were given, and I like to think that I learnt just as much as a facilitator, as the participants did around access. It was really important for us to frame access as a creative tool, not a tick box exercise and this landed. Just, next time, it will be even more amazing if we focused on this core activity of how we understand and create a culture of care and use the limited time to zone in on what matters.

Being part of the Artist Assembly, alongside a steady stream of invitations to experience theatre, work in progress performances and workshops were real punctuation moments for me. I so value my time with this assembly and being in a room with theatre makers is always a win-win. The way Sam and the team framed these sessions as a conversation with a purpose was spot on. We were able to answer questions directly about the running of the organisation and how the experience of artists could be improved even more. But also, in a spirit of curious and genuine openness to go on wider thought-wonders, we were not held back when imagining together new ways of working and dreaming. I think this blend of real nitty, gritty and imaginations was a real case study on how to focus group.

And then there was the time when Humetheus, tired of his epic journey, decided to slumber in the Barnfield.

BUT ON THE PIER

WE CAN FIND A GROTTO

WHERE THE HOPE-LUCK-LADY LIVES

A LARGE, LUMINOUS CRAB UNDER TINSEL

SHE SENDS DRUID LUCK TO ALL THE MACHINES

Thanks Greek Choir for that random intervention!

This was a moment where the Northcott’s generosity and knowledge of how artists work on the ground came to the forefront. We had been supported by the incredible CRIPtic Arts to reimagine a digital work of Greek Myths and raw contemporary commentary for the live stage.

The program with CRIPtics was to conclude with a platform event at a venue in London. However, due to the (in our option) very problematic program decision taken by this venue, we/the creative team working on Humethues, made the decision that we couldn’t perform there. We felt that we could not, in any way, be associated with a venue that made the decision to cancel a Palestinian’s poetry/lecture. The venue cited a potential inflammatory title, but on my research and understanding, I believe that the event was cancelled from both a misunderstanding of language, and a deliberate effort of censorship.

The sheer horror on the ground for families in Gaza and the West Bank escalates month on month. What we do in these moments matter, although most feel woefully short of the mark, we need to do what we can to at least recognise and bear witness. Alongside trauma of every kind for tens of thousands of children, universities have been flattened, and for over two-and-half years now, journalists have been barred from entering Gaza. These two links I want to share with you are really simple ways we can voice our objection to the UK’s ongoing involvement in this bombardment of everything we believe in. Please do write to your MP and sign this petition.

Another thing we all can do is keep informed, with journalism that is independent, please do watch/read their work and support where you can. Novara Media have been reporting on the reality of Palestinians for over a decade now, and indeed the fear of violence every day Israeli families feel due the people in power shaping Gaza into a ‘Open-Air Prison’ (Human Rights Watch, 2022).

With the chilling perspective of genocide and mass displacement, our plight of not having a venue to platform Humetheus and the Quest for the Bronze Cloak, seems weird to talk about here… everything to do with the man-made suffering in Gaza and the West Bank seems to put everything in a perspective which is difficult to comprehend…

With a very much hollow feeling of was this boycott really worth it, we reached out to the Northcott…

[Here comes a change of pace]

We had a couple of chats with Sam and the Barnfield found itself hosting our 20-minute-ish scratch. Again, it was such a joyful and powerful event. About 10 Northcott staff came, thanks for all your feedback too. The right number for this experimental expression of myths and real chaos… and I got to swear at the top my voice, so the heavens could hear, we had Igglepiggle in the room, a procession set up with office furniture… it was glorious!

Even though some of the events are slightly out of chronological order, and very much out of context… I know for certain the conclusion of our associateship was a full throttle and unapologetic takeover of the Barnfield! With The National Lottery/Art Council England funding, we were able to realise BOXED!: a 90-minute absurd, multisensory, interactive, promenade performance with escape-room-vibes. In this waiting room labyrinth, time and choice are not necessarily your own, as the algorithm is just getting started!

Near the start of the associateship, we were welcomed into the Barnfield for three R&D days, free to let our imagination go wild, days. With the loose aim of experimenting with the Sound Beam, an inclusive tech adaptation which allows you to change sound and light with your body. It is brilliant piece of equipment, right? During this play time, our minds wondering with things we had experimented with years ago: forms that shift when you try to fill them out, boxes that disappear when you try to tick them. We imagined a world where nothing is what it seems and the more you ‘progress’, the longer the wait goes on. The Sound Beam technology could, in theory, trigger something when someone comes into a room without knowing. This thought led to the idea: what if someone did walk in and out of a room? What if the audience had to go to different assessment rooms, with a map that is inaccurate and door numbers which don’t match up? This sense of bewilderment, but also frustration which is evoked when waiting for an appointment… you are number 42 in the queue… for example.

Hey, the Barnfield has unusual office spaces outback, with a winding corridor, is there any inspiration we can take from that? What if we could partition the Clifford Room to create a sense of corridor and not knowing what’s around the corner?

After multiple funding applications, meetings with the Northcott and making/rehearsal sessions, Martin and the team said ‘well, instead of trying to make rooms, why don’t you just take over the whole Barnfield?’. A jaw drop moment and a meeting I will never forget!

So, in May 2026, our associateship concluded with this most creative and brilliant bang. Working with a range of artists and community groups, we transformed the Barnfield into a dystopian nightmare of tangling red tape, computer-said-no and waiting lists – total privatisation of the social care sector realised – for good or for worse… definitely for worse…