New Diorama Theatre’s ‘Intervention 01’ is a radical new programme designed for the challenges of the current moment. In a context of austerity, fatiguing Brexit trauma, government-backed culture wars, ‘protected heritage’ and rapidly declining living standards – for artists and for their audiences – we need to make space for real bravery and new thinking. We need to restore our belief in theatre as essential to our lives.
So NDT is stopping: making space, time and resource to support a cohort of creatives, offering artistic dreamtime, a space for messy new ideas and commitment to genuine R&D for 15 companies taking part – with no pressure for programming or any immediate outcomes. Intervention 01 is a call to bring together the UK’s most exciting independent theatre companies. Together with NDT, they’ll get off the treadmill and develop a bold slate of new ideas – aiming to break the current short-term programming and development cycles that are exhausting artists and stifling creative risk. Each supported company will receive a bespoke package of R&D investment, access to space and technical resource, a collective residential retreat, artist stipends and extensive partnership support towards their next steps.
“Post-pandemic, we promised to listen more and do better. The sheer catalytic energy required to ‘bring theatre back’ left artists on the brink of burn-out and exhaustion. So New Diorama is doing the most radical thing we can imagine: stop. Intervention 01 marks a once-in-a-generation moment, as we work behind the scenes to return in 2023 with a renewed vision, a re-energised artist family and bold slate of new work.” – David Byrne, Artistic Director of New Diorama.
Intervention 01’s call for entries closed in September 2022.
Find out more about the programme here.
