Red Ladder Theatre Company has a long history of fruitful partnerships and collaborations. It’s something we’ve been doing long before I came here, and it’s something I’m keen to continue.
After running a series of workshops for Red Ladder last summer I could have hired at least half of all the actors, writers and directors who took part – they were that good. Sadly, there isn’t enough money for that, but it made me realise just how much artistic talent there is not only in Leeds, but across the North, and as an artistic director I want to try and nurture as many budding actors, writers and directors as possible.
And collaborating is crucial for this. The reality is you get more bang for your buck when you work with others which is why we have recently reignited our partnership with Leeds Conservatoire. We’ve been working with them as part of their Leeds Theatre Festival to produce a series of readings of original works from four brilliant new northern writers, performed by Leeds Conservatoire undergraduates and graduates, plus a scratch night featuring extracts created by playwrights from last summer’s Red Ladder writers' workshops, culminating later this month in a special evening when the actors, directors and writers from our 2025 workshops will present a series of new pieces, all of which is open to the public.
I’ve been involved in this and seeing these young people working together, learning and sharing new ideas has been inspiring and energising and tells me that Red Ladder is on the right path.
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The whole Leeds theatre ecology benefits from partnerships like this because writers have a platform for their work which gets seen by the public as well as bigwigs from the local and regional theatre industry who are always on the lookout for new talent. All of this is important to me personally because I had loads of support when I was starting out. I had residencies as a writer from the very beginning of my career with professional theatre companies, and when I became a director I had bursaries from the Arts Council that paid for me to be an assistant. The connections I made through this helped me get the rights to a play that I later won a major award for. Without this support I would have really struggled, and yet none of the opportunities I had are there anymore.
Something has to fill this gap and provide opportunities to all the emerging talent that I know is out there. Which is where partnerships between theatre companies and arts organisations come in. By collaborating with one another we’re able to reach more people and become greater than the sum of our parts. That’s why Red Ladder is collaborating with organisations like Leeds Conservatoire and the theatre company Wrongsemble, who are also just down the road from us.
We’re joining forces with Wrongsemble to take a double bill of Christmas shows on tour across the UK later this year, including our new comedy, A Proper Merry Christmess, written by Leon Fleming and debut playwright Seeta Wrightson, who came through Red Ladder’s workshops in 2024.
Our collaboration with Wrongsemble makes touring more viable for both of us, because we’re sharing the cast which means our money goes further. It also enables us to tap into each other’s expertise and knowledge – it’s a no-brainer! Red Ladder is all about finding and championing unheard voices, and our partnerships and collaborations help us achieve this. We’re always looking for new writers to work with, and one of our pledges is that we will always read the first 10 pages of every script we get sent. We can’t develop all of them, but we feel it’s a more inclusive way of finding new talent.
For both our last big show, Sanctuary, and our new one, A Proper Merry Christmess, we had open call outs for actors meaning it was open to anyone. And that’s the idea. Theatre shouldn’t feel like a closed shop; it needs to be welcoming to all communities.
But it’s not just about Red Ladder. In the future I’d love to see some of the people who have collaborated with us, or come through our workshops and courses, to start working together – kind of like a ‘grow your own’ talent pool. I’d love to see new theatre companies created on the back of all this, too. That’s my dream, and there’s no reason why it can’t happen.
Header Image: Cheryl outside CAPA College in Wakefield, some of whose students worked for Red Ladder on its musical Sanctuary last year. (Image: Ant Robling).
