A development programme for underrepresented artists from across the UK’.
LIVE is Barrel Organ’s long-running artist development programme which supports underrepresented artists to develop a new idea. As well as offering mentorship and seed funding, the LIVE programme culminates in a night of new, short performances that challenge the limits of the live theatrical event.
LIVE offers a night of varied entertainment and a space for artists to test new material in front of a live audience. It presents a range of daring, experimental and inclusive ideas that tackle a wide range of issues and ideas. Audiences can engage with artists through crucial critical feedback.
In 2021/22, LIVE returned in a new hybrid in-person/digital form. In this new model, we host artists who are presenting work digitally and work in-person and these are received by an in-person and digital audience. Our most recent LIVE's took place at Camden People's Theatre and Slung Low, Holbeck.
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Over the past decade, LIVE nights have been shared across the UK in cities including London, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester and Cardiff. We have supported the initial creation of shows such as 5 Encounters on a site Called Craigslist (YESYESNONO), See Through (Clare Gaydon), Here Comes The Sun (Joseph Morgan-Schofield), Phroot Salad (Jules Orucolo), Suitman Jungle (Sam Bailey and NABOKOV), and more recently Category: Peach, demo theatre collective, The Growth House and Speakup Theatre, amongst others.
LIVE is one of the strands of work we at Barrel Organ are most proud of; some extraordinary work by artists of the highest quality has been developed under the LIVE banner, and a community of sorts has been formed in its wake.
