JANUARY
– The Palace of Varieties, written by local playwright, Kevin Fegan about the life and times of Derbyshire MP, Dennis Skinner kicked off the year in spectacular style, playing to sell-out audiences.
“Using music hall and Broadway songs to tell the story of former MP Dennis Skinner’s colourful Commons battles makes surprising sense”
★★★★
The Guardian on The Palace of Varieties
© Simon Dymond
– Derby Theatre announces new associates for 2022/2023 – Anansi Theatre Company, B Team, Emily Holyoake, Farrell Cox, Front Door Theatre, Ghostlight Theatre Collective, Hubbub Theatre Company, LaPelle’s Factory, Rebecca A Withey and Simon Marshall.
– Plus One, a creative partnership project delivered by Derby Theatre with QUAD, Déda and Baby People for young people in care and care leavers, started delivering weekly creative workshops in residential homes for young people, delivered by Creative Mentors.
FEBRUARY
– We hosted 3 days of workshops by Separate Doors on their Silent Approach to working with actors with Learning Disabilities.
– Omar Khan joined the Theatre under the Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme (RTYDS), the UK’s foremost programme of paid professional artist development for theatre directors in the UK, offering bespoke training opportunities to artists, from the earliest stages of their career through to leadership development.
MARCH
– Derby Theatre was awarded Theatre of Sanctuary status in recognition of the work done to welcome people seeking sanctuary to the Theatre – with highlights including: co-hosting Meet Your Neighbour parties with Maison Foo, a Theatre Company of Sanctuary based in Derbyshire; opportunities for neighbours seeking sanctuary in the UK to meet, connect, share food and have fun; free monthly Community Cuppa sessions, welcoming and bringing together those seeking sanctuary to take part in creative sessions and the creation of an audio tour, Sorry, I Disappeared, co-created with ThickSkin and new arrivals to the city.
“We are absolutely delighted that Derby Theatre has been recognised as a Theatre of Sanctuary. For many years, this amazing organisation has been at the forefront of welcoming those seeking sanctuary into their venue.”
Andrew Jackson (Chair of Derby City of Sanctuary Network)
© Grant Archer
– The Bone Sparrow, an original novel by Zana Fraillon and adapted by award-winning playwright, S. Shakthidharan plays on the main stage at Derby Theatre, the third production as part of a Pilot Theatre, York Theatre Royal, Derby Theatre, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and Mercury Theatre Colchester collective to produce theatre for young audiences.
The production also included a curtain-raiser performance presented by students from Tibshelf School, a piece of theatre they created in response to the refugee crises around the world. Exploring a kaleidoscope of opinions, the students examine how the world responds to the displacement of communities and whether we are all doing enough.
“A heartrending tale about how our stories make us”
The Times on The Bone Sparrow
– The Emperor’s New Clothes, a Derby Theatre, Hiccup Theatre and Polka Theatre co-production, and the Theatre’s third fully accessible BSL integrated and Captioned production featuring a wonderful cast of actors, including musicians, hearing, Deaf and interpreting actors, wows young, family and schools’ audiences. As part of the production, we also launched our first VR embedded programme working with Derby QUAD and Firecatcher. Following its run at Derby, the production transferred to the Polka Theatre in London.
“A clever, thoughtful production which crafted very relevant themes into a fabulously fun piece of theatre”
Limping Chicken (The World’s Most Popular Deaf Blog)
on The Emperor’s New Clothes
© Pamela Raith
APRIL
– We launched a new Carers’ Café in partnership with Universal Services for Carers and theatre practitioner, Nicky Bellenger; to meet and welcome those living with dementia and their families into the Theatre.
© Carers’ Café
MAY
– Derby Theatre team members visit Milan as one of the partners in ConnectUp – European Theatre for Young Audiences, an international collective of theatres, festivals and universities from 10 countries, all working in the field of Theatre for Young Audiences.
– In partnership with Take Art, through Making and Believing, their project which offers high quality experiences through multi art-form, creative residencies and performances within early years settings; Derby Theatre tour productions to local nurseries.
JUNE
– Derby Theatre Youth Theatre present two double bill performances in the Studio.
– Derby CAN launches Over to You, an exciting and extraordinary project which offered a wonderful wealth of opportunities for members of the community to work with a professional team and get involved in the creation of an exhilarating circus show on Markeaton Park. Opportunities to get involved included: performing, site construction, big top tent build, health and safety practices, plus mentoring and training placements.
© Grant Archer
– Derby Theatre hosts a Catholic Multi Academy Trust project performance, Stronger Together involving 25 schools from the local area.
JULY
– Home Girl plays on the main stage, a professional and young people’s unique co-production of Alex Wheatle’s novel adapted for the stage by Nathan Powell and Sarah ‘Rain’ Kolawole in collaboration with care-experienced young people and young theatremakers.
★★★★★
Behind the Arras on Home Girl
© Chris Webb
– Derby Theatre launch the Reimagine Festival, in partnership with other arts and creative organisations in the city, a month-long festival of creativity, community and culture led by young people of Derby.
– In Good Company and Derby Theatre produce and present Departure Lounge, a summer festival of cool, contemporary and cutting-edge theatre, for a 10th year.
© Chris Webb
– Plus One produce and present the Odyssey VR project in collaboration with young people across the care sector, including virtual-reality workshops and a VR experience for people to engage in. At the Roundhouse at Derby College, audiences experienced the piece performed live by the young people with the audience immersed in the virtual world of their ideas. Stepping through a series of rooms, audiences saw ‘home’.
© Eartha Johnson
AUGUST
– Derby Theatre start work on a co-production with Theatre Company Pinklec in Croatia as part of the ConnectUp project, exploring issues faced by the Roma community in Croatia and England.
SEPTEMBER
– Derby CAN, as part of Over to You, produce and present The Wing Scuffle Circus Spectacular Double Bill with Revel Puck Circus on Markeaton Park – with performances from local companies including: Derby Pride, Chinese Welfare Centre, Hoverla, Ukrainian Dance Ensemble; Derby Refugee Solidarity, Derby LGBTQ+, other local artists and an Over to You community performance.
© Grant Archer
– In partnership with Take Art, through Making and Believing, Derby Theatre produce Let’s Play Messing Around for under 5’s which toured to libraries and nurseries across Derby, Surrey and Somerset.
– Jekyll and Hyde, a brilliant and extraordinary adaptation by Neil Bartlett, and the fifth co-production between Derby Theatre and Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, opens at Derby Theatre to rave reviews from audiences and press alike. Following its run in Derby, the production then transferred to play at the Queen’s Theatre.
“A Jekyll and Hyde with all the Victorian creepiness you’d expect”
The Guardian on Jekyll and Hyde
© Grant Archer
– The Big House, a tailored support programme for the Creative and Digital Industries (CDI) sector in the region successfully completes. The Big House, funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership and the Creative Local Growth Fund programme, funded by Arts Council England; supported thousands of creatives, artists and organisations during the life of the programme.
OCTOBER
– Derby Theatre launches a new website with a refreshed visual design to create an exciting and seamless user experience that is vibrant, friendlier, warmer, accessible and more welcoming – and to showcase and increase the visibility of each of the Theatre’s main strands of work.
NOVEMBER
– Derby Theatre remain as part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio to support key strands of the Theatre’s programme of work from 2023 to 2026.
– The Theatre hosted a one-day Hubbub Way workshop on their approach to working with actors with learning disabilities.
– Derby Theatre was awarded a two-year funding grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to support our ongoing work with care-experienced young people through the Plus One programme.
– The Wind in the Willows, adapted by Toby Hulse and directed by Trina Haldar, opens as the main house Christmas production for 2022 to a fantastic reception from audiences and the press alike.
“A faithful take on Kenneth Grahame’s classic tale, with enough songs, puppetry and knockabout comedy to brighten the festive season”
★★★★
The Stage on The Wind in the Willows
© Graeme Braidwood
DECEMBER
– tutti frutti productions in association with Derby Theatre present the utterly charming Ugly Duckling for young audiences in the Studio.
“Delightful, beautifully detailed and really quite magical”
Mumsnet Nottingham on Ugly Duckling
© Brian Slater
– Derby Theatre and In Good Company announce a new scheme to support early-career producers supported by the Jerwood Developing Artists Fund.
– The Theatre opened up its upper foyer to offer a Warm Bank, to offer free hot drinks and to welcome in anyone who may be in need of a warm space to relax and rest a while.
– Derby Theatre is nominated in two categories as part of The Stage Awards 2023, linked to two projects which the Theatre leads on in partnership with organisations across the city and beyond, one for Digital Project of the Year for Odyssey, as part of Plus One; and one for Community Project of the Year, as part of Derby CAN for Over to You.
Other highlights include:
– Our 11 Associate Artists and Companies continued to meet up for mentorship, training and to receive seed funding.
– We filmed and recorded a series of nursery rhymes for free distribution across libraries in Derby in association Derby City Libraries.
– We ran industry days with students from the University of Derby where students got more hands-on to understand a variety of roles in theatre.
– Derby Theatre supported 3 Deaf actors to work with freelance Director, Bryn Holding on new approaches to Shakespeare integrating British Sign Language.
– A theatre group from Croatia performed Snow White in the Derby Theatre Studio, a show performed in Croatian with captions in English, where people with English as a second language from Derby were invited to see and enjoy the show.
Plus much much more…
2022 has been a busy and brilliant year and we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to our successes and highlights – audiences, funders, members of the community, young people, companies, artists and many more.
We are very much looking forward to 2023!