Watching the verdicts in the Gisèle Pelicot trial come in live on the BBC News page is sobering. So many names. Guilty all.

Important 🧵👇🏻

I’ve kept kinda quiet on this quite deliberately, I was waiting to see what the theatre/performance arts response to this would be. I honestly can’t hold my tongue any longer… WAKE UP FFS, THIS IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW AND NO ONE IS COMMENTING ON IT. Fuuuck… we are sleep walking. AGAIN!👇🏾 READ IT!!

I say this to all my male followers with love in the same way I do with my family and friends - have those uncomfortable conversations with the men in your life. Don’t allow the casual misogyny in conversations. Challenge abusive behaviour. Do the work. It’s on you. It always has been.

For what it’s worth my show of the year was undoubtably Nowhere by Khalid Abdalla. Still thinking about it. Always will.

Fuck What a day Freedom Studios Coney National Theatre Wales Hang on to each other The storm is starting

Some sad news out of Bradford today. How much longer can we keep shouting about the state of arts funding in this country?

…And now National Theatre of Wales! My god. Their production of The Passion with Michael Sheen remains the blueprint for me in terms of community engagement work and galvanising a whole town around an artistic endeavour. Gutting.

fuckin hell

Both Coney and Freedom Studios announcing they’re closing in the space of 24 hours. One organisation where I am a former board member and the other where I worked alongside force of nature Madani Younis. Both very close to my heart and helped shape me and my work. Gutting end to the year.

I know this will seem obvious to anyone who works in the arts or loves the arts but I genuinely think it needs saying again and again - I watched my son's secondary school xmas show last night and saw kids I've known for years shed all shyness and self consciousness to perform and it was beautiful

This morning two theatre companies (Freedom Studios and Coney) have announced their permanent closure. Both 'left' the National Portfolio in 2023 and have found the climate impossible since. Their statements are heartbreakingly similar. Without massive funding reform many more will follow in 2025.

Such a surprising and lovely photo!

or they start with one and there vision and mission drift as their own continued survival becomes the primary concern.

I really wanted to love intermezzo but lack of any character in these people, cultural nuance ( throwing a bit of Eastern European diversity but being too comfortable to actually interrogate it properly ) and just again writing about rich people’s problems , makes it so boring

Theatre has a vision problem. When I say vision, I mean an articulation of why a building or organisation exists. A purpose. A statement of how you want to change the world. A coherent, inspiring vision was essential to everything we did at Company Three. But so many theatres don’t have one.

🧵👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Proud of our community ensemble presenting a short performance inspired by "Home, Mother Tongues and what unites us" at The Engine Room in #tottenham #migranttheatre #refugeeswelcome #noborders #migration #theatre

It’s only a matter of time until they make that MUSICAL about LUIGI 🙃

The world is a cruel fucking place. It’s difficult to take. On one hand Dick Van Dyke is still working and dancing aged 99. On the other he’s doing it for Coldplay 😔

Another tone-deaf increase in a cost of living crisis, the NT are putting their most accessible membership up to £60 from £25 as well... sorry lads, but you've lost me there.

Interview with Louise Bourgeois

Luigi Mangione exposes the difference between individual murder and social murder. New post 👇 open.substack.com/pub/owenjone...

In today's piece, @hollyomahony.bsky.social explores why so many British theatres have been silent on the conflict - and attends a workshop on how to talk about Palestine ‘in a way that’s meaningful and not defensive’

What can (many) big arts organisations learn from (many) small, community ones? I’ll start - kind, thoughtful, human communication with freelancers.

Please if you can support our work. We receive no core funding

WE NEED SUPPORT! 2024 has been special. We toured #shapeshifting, created #tuggingatthesea, started a coproduction with SARTR Sarajevo, continued our free theatre classes for migrants&refugees. But our future is uncertain. Please if you can support our work: www.legalalienstheatre.com/donate THANKS

One day we will all simply be ‘directed by Jamie Lloyd’

Is it me or there's little engagement on @bsky.app ? You post, maybe get 2 likes or a comment... but it's hard to start conversations. Tags don't work as there's no "trending". It's like entering a room that's mostly empty or visited by one person at a time, each focused on a different thing

If theatre men can make shows about real life domestic abusers and murderers , where can I pitch an anti capitalist piece on radicalisation through pain and the evil of the US healthcare system ?

I need to stop searching for my dopamine in packages and order confirmations

We lost one of our giants today.

Nikki Giovanni was a political radical, her interview with James Baldwin a landmark, etc. She never disavowed this, nor should she, but she was bigger than it. Her work is about sensuality in all its forms, sex, food, music, the sky, the weather, the joy and rush of life.

The great Nikki Giovanni has become become an ancestor. Thank you for everything you have done over your incredible lifetime… rest well 🙏🏾 www.wdbj7.com/2024/12/10/w...

thank u 2024

2024, the year I learned I actually don’t want to be part of the ‘theatre industry ‘

Amen

Only £360 left to raise in donations and we will have reached our goal!!! 🫨🫨🫨 19 hours left. Yikes!

Stuck for festive gifts? Why not #BringYourBestie to see Santi & Naz @sohotheatre? We'll be there from 21st Jan - 8th Feb and just a reminder, the sooner you book the cheaper the ticket! sohotheatre.com/events/santi...

Grrrr… drama teaches so much more than theatre practice. Even if you are *only* concerned with making good little producer/consumers of the future, it earns its keep in the transferable skills it develops.

The last episode of my podcast, A History Of Scottish Drama, is out today! It is a discussion @traversetheatre.bsky.social on the last decade of drama, the current situation, and what comes next with Mark Fisher, Gareth Nicholls, Isla Cowan and Nicola McCartney. open.spotify.com/episode/0VGv...

My phone just reminded me that it’s been six years since the first Curious Incident schools tour ended. 12 weeks of touring, 60 school halls, 12,700 kids and 300 teachers. Plus one puppy named after my Grandma (don’t ask). Oh how I miss it. Oh how I’d rather gouge my own eyes out than do it again

Seek it out folks! 🫶🏻

ANANSI AND OTHER SUCH STORIES IS BACK BABYYYYYY. 6.45pm on Feb 21st and 22nd @sohotheatre Upstairs. Come for a chilled night of storytelling. With live drumming and good stories, I promise you a good time. It'd be a shame if someone was to spoil it... sohotheatre.com/events/anans...

When you're planning your community project, don't start by asking 'how does the community need to change?' Start by asking 'how do we need to change?'

‘An act of rebellion’: Haitian theatre persists amid political crisis and violence - such amazing bravery from these artists 💜 www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...

Really proud of this article on our project which conveys the depth, longevity, power, care and hope of the work.

How a theatre project in women's prisons shook up Shakespeare and transformed lives 👇 www.thestage.co.uk/long-reads/h...

The Scottish government has increased annual culture spending by £34 million in its 2025/26 budget 👇 www.thestage.co.uk/news/news/tr...