Generosity. That’s Little Earthquake in a single word. They run support networks for artists, they do mentoring schemes, they nurture students and trainee actors. But it’s so much more than that. They listen to people, really listen, and they make everybody they meet feel so valued and so important.
Independent Artist
I’ll tell you a secret… Back in my programming days, I used to talk openly to my peers at other venues about the artists we were developing ideas with. But I always kept Little Earthquake projects under my hat, because the ideas were always so good, so juicy, so spot-on when it came to serving our audiences, that I was always a bit reluctant to share Little Earthquake with anybody else!
Former Venue Programmer
These guys are a masterclass in how to create a show with an audience genuinely at the front of their minds. And it shows in every detail of what they make. Our audiences love them. I only wish we could have them back with something new every year.
Rural Touring Promoter
The training sector benefits massively from Little Earthquake bringing their experience and perspective to students who are preparing to find their way into the industry. It’s not just because they make such special work, although that counts for a lot. More than anything, it’s their ability to instil creative confidence in early career actors, and to empower them as makers who are capable of taking charge of their own professional destiny.
Drama School Tutor
- 2005 – Present
Associate Theatre Company at Midlands Arts Centre.
Associate Theatre Company in Residence at University of Birmingham’s Department of Drama & Theatre Arts between 2015 – 2022.
Little Earthquake’s work is funded on a project-by-project basis. We have received funding from:
Arts Council England
Midlands Arts Centre
Birmingham City Council
John Feeney Charitable Trust
Baring Foundation
Sir Barry Jackson Trust
Creative Black Country
People’s Postcode Lottery
Birmingham Pride Community FundLittle Earthquake has received commissions from:
Midlands Arts Centre
University of Birmingham
Black Country Touring
Birmingham REP
In Good Company
Flatpack Festival
Birmingham City Council
Live & Local
National Rural Touring Forum
I’m Co-Founder and Co-Director of Little Earthquake, the Birmingham-based arts organisation that produces my collaborative work with writer Philip Holyman.
The core of what Little Earthquake does is work co-designed with participants, with communities and with other artists in Birmingham and beyond. Collectively we make theatre and cross-artform cultural experiences that are entertaining, thoughtful and transformative.
“Thou Shalt Not Bore” is the commandment we live by.
OUR VALUES
Little Earthquake’s work is built on three core values:
- Interdisciplinary
- Intergenerational
- Intersectional
OUR VALUES
Little Earthquake’s work is built on three core values:
1. Interdisciplinary
We bring together teams integrating different specialisms and expertise from within and beyond the cultural sector. External partnerships with venues, artists, cultural organisations and education institutions are central to these collaborations, as exemplified by our long-term relationship with Midlands Arts Centre.
2. Intergenerational
We’re a leading creator of work that brings together people of different ages. Their lived experiences, references and responses will be uniquely individual, but the communal experience is something they can share, enjoy and reflect on together.
3. Intersectional
We place great care into embracing how each person has multiple aspects to their identity and lived experience. The work we make, who we make it with and the way we make it develop as a result of this approach.
LITTLE EARTHQUAKE’S PROJECTS
The Way I See It
A series of short films inspired by twelve months of conversations with people across Birmingham about their experiences of life in the city during the first full year of this new Labour government.
The Dog With Two Dads
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Midlands Arts Centre"Here in Hometown are two million people. Night and day their lives unfold. And in amongst those two million people, one small story must be told..."
A show with songs about two papas and a pooch, celebrating families of every shape and size, and being loved for exactly who you are. For ages 5+ and their adults.
Nevertheless, We Persisted
For Midlands Arts Centre
"Equal rights for others doesn't mean less rights for you. It isn't pie."
An exhibition inspired by and featuring cards, letters and messages of support sent to Anderton Park Primary School in Birmingham from across the globe during protests around LGBTQ+ inclusive teaching.
Showcasing the gentle, eloquent force of the handwritten note as a powerful form of activism, the exhibition also explored 50 years of change and challenge in both legislation and social attitudes towards LGBTQ+ representation within education.
How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found
Little Earthquake's eighth production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
A fast-paced, cinematic and unsettling version of Fin Kennedy's award-winning play. It takes more than a new identity to escape the reality of who you are inside.
The Stolen Year
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Midlands Arts Centre as part of Celebrating Age"I'm telling you far more than my friends and family know about me..."
An immersive audio installation in which twelve older people told their moving and funny stories of living through the Covid pandemic — from moments of despair and panic, to the occasional illegal hook-up — celebrating the power of hope for the future and taking pleasure in small things.
The Bluebeard Trilogy
Little Earthquake's seventh production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
Three contemporary responses to the Bluebeard myth, rehearsed and performed entirely via Zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic. A group meet online to process the news that one of their mates is a serial killer in Caryl Churchill’s Bluebeard’s Friends. A panicked curator tries to wrangle the monstrous egos of conceptual artists in Philip Holyman's Bluebeard’s Art Club. A frazzled director grapples with #MeToo in Philip Holyman's Bluebeard’s On The Radio.
Oedipus
Little Earthquake's sixth production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
Created, rehearsed and performed entirely via Zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic, live TV news kept the cameras rolling in real time as the tragedy of Oedipus became eerily intertwined with the chaos of our own global crisis.
Behind The Screams — Jurassic Park Edition
For Little Earthquake, in collaboration with Zoë Roberts
Behind The Screams lifted the lid on the making of Jurassic Park with an exclusive audio commentary from the movie’s scene-stealing scaly star: none other than T-Rex herself!
Available to stream whilst watching the movie at home during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, listeners were able to join our TALON-ted actor for the scandal-filled and tofu-fuelled story of how she stomped, chomped and romped her way to international fame through one of the most iconic roles in cinematic history.
Culture Club
For Midlands Arts Centre as part of Celebrating Age
I co-led the strategy for Culture Club at Midlands Arts Centre, a Baring Foundation-funded meeting ground for participants aged 70+ to explore different art forms and create their own work.
In 2021 I made The Stolen Year with members of Culture Club; in 2019, the group collaborated with Denis Sözen to produce a panel for the Moon Museum tile for MoonFest.
Animal Farm
Little Earthquake's fifth production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
Two bites of the Orwell apple, one scuppered by Covid in Tech Week and one marking a defiant post-lockdown return to live performance. Same set, different ensemble, eighteen months apart.
A permanently timely tale of who and what is considered expendable as the Manor Farm pigs make their unstoppable shift to the far right.
Rocket Fuel
For Little Earthquake as part of MoonFest
in collaboration with Kaye Winwood ProjectsCommissioned by Midlands Arts Centre
In space, no one can hear your tummy rumble.
An immersive dining experience inspired by Neil Armstrong’s in-flight menu during his journey to the Moon. An edible adventure that was truly out of this world, combining surround sound, 360° projection, opera, live camera feeds, performers and an 8-course meal.
MoonFest
For Little Earthquake
In partnership with Midlands Arts Centre and University of Birmingham"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
A nine-day cross-artform festival to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, timed to start the very second Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were launched into space five decades before.
Grimm Tales Retold
Little Earthquake's fourth production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
Jacob and Wilhelm’s famous fairy stories get a Little Earthquake-over, with four new adaptations showing familiar characters in a dark new light. Spiked with black humour and sprinkled with gore, these tales are decidedly Grimm and deliciously unexpected.
DART: Developing Artists for Rural Touring
For Live & Local
Co-developing and leading the inaugural Developing Artists for Rural Touring initiative for Live & Local, supporting and mentoring ten artists and companies to connect with the UK's rural touring network.
I Ain’t Afraid Of No Ghost
The dead can scare us. The dead can protect us. Sometimes, the dead just want to steal our KitKats.
Winner of National Rural Touring Award's Performance of the Year.
A tongue-in-cheek deconstruction of autobiographical theatre and a comic exploration of a childhood haunting where nothing is quite what it seems — all wrapped up in some formidable fashions and set to a cheese-tastic chart-topping soundtrack.
A Tale Of Two Chippies
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Creative Black CountryAn attempt to carve out a whole new sub-genre, the souvlaki Western. A saga of bitter rivalry between Greek and Turkish chip shop owners, exacerbated by a Bulgarian migrant playing both sides off against each other.
Written and directed by Philip Holyman.
East Meets West
An artist-led development programme for the Midlands theatre sector. Mobilising artists, companies, producers, programmers and venues from across the entire region, East Meets West reduced barriers and encouraged collaboration between and within the East and West Midlands, cementing the foundations of a more proactive, democratic and supportive community.
Orlando
Little Earthquake's third production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
With the help of a band of biographers, Orlando re-tells, re-lives and re-edits their five-century search for the perfect partner and the perfect poem. A lively, witty and fast-paced version of Virginia Woolf’s gender-bending novel, adapted for the stage by Sarah Ruhl.
Yamlet
The media thought it was an April Fool, but this project was absolutely no joke — a meditation on class and culture which translated sections of Hamlet into Black Country dialect before we filmed them on the mean streets of Cradley Heath, resulting in a web series which has received over 250,000 views.
Written and directed by Philip Holyman (with help from William Shakespeare)
The Good Sisters
Little Earthquake's second production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
Friendships and family ties soon come under strain when a million Green Shield stamps and a limitless world of free prizes are at stake. A rowdy and raucous production of Michel Tremblay’s masterpiece Les Belles-Soeurs in a Northern dialect version by Noël Greig.
Even The Ghost Is Lying
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Birmingham Literature FestivalA promenade piece around the giant book rotunda of the Library of Birmingham. Guided by unreliable narrators, audiences were split into groups and led on a winding journey up and down travelators and along normally inaccessible balconies, perfect for telling a story of menace, marriage and murder.
Written and directed by Philip Holyman. Based on Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s stories which inspired Akira Kurosawa’s film Rashōmon.
The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant
Little Earthquake's first production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
Marking the 70th anniversary of Fassbinder’s birth, home truths flowed faster than the gin and tonics in this classic melodrama from the boozed-up bisexual bad boy of German cinema, all set to a sizzling soundtrack of German kitsch pop classics.
The Boy Who Became A Beetle
For Little Earthquake as part of Young Producers
Commissioned by Black Country TouringWith live music, a sprinkling of songs, riotous action and thrilling transformations, The Boy Who Became A Beetle was a funny, messy and moving new show for everyone who knows what it’s like to feel different.
For ages 5+ and their adults. Loosely based on Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Created in collaboration with 100 primary school children as part of Little Earthquake and Black Country Touring's Young Producers project.
Young Producers
For Little Earthquake
In partnership with Black Country TouringOver one academic year, 100 pupils in five Black Country primary schools became Young Producers, working with Little Earthquake and Black Country Touring to create a brand-new piece of theatre for family audiences: The Boy Who Became A Beetle.
The Young Producers were involved in every element of the theatre-making process: from developing the show idea, through to recruiting the cast and creative team, contributing ideas for the design and music, and, finally, to hosting and promoting a performance in each of their own schools as part of its initial tour.
Professor Harry Hackett and his Box of Treats
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Birmingham REP and FlatpackA theatrical treasure hunt — complete with clues hidden in bags of popcorn and candyfloss, and a secret coded message on a flock of Hook-A-Ducks — climaxing in an exclusive vaudeville show from Professor Harry Hackett and Miss Tuppence Change.
The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe’s story of murder in the dark transformed into a thrilling live Foley experience. Featuring a wordless and entirely bloodless eight-minute dismemberment sequence conjured up with mime, manipulated sound and a whole greengrocery’s worth of fruit and vegetables.
It’s Only A Paper Moon
A fantastic voyage which spanned three continents, four hundred years and half a million miles. Mixing multimedia and multiple languages, It's Only A Paper Moon entwined four stories about lunar landings and lycanthropy, the birth of cinema and the miracle of conception. The show offered new insights into the pock-marked sphere of stone hovering up in the night sky and a new appreciation of how extraordinary the world is down here.
The Nocturnal House
For Little Earthquake as part of The Three-Week Window Festival
For one day only, an ordinary shop window on an ordinary street was transformed into a mysterious twilight world. Hundreds of pedestrians pressed their noses to the glass and peeked at the shy and secretive creatures who emerged from the shadows for a disco each hour.
The Three-Week Window Festival
For Little Earthquake in collaboration with Tin Box
Commissioned by Point Blank and Make.Shift StudiosThree weeks. One window. Limitless possibilities. An interactive festival for Birmingham's busiest high street.
Every day for three weeks, a shop window was transformed by artists who presented an array of work designed to intrigue, attract and engage thousands of passers-by. The Festival featured theatre, dance, music, photography and visual art — and alongside the Birmingham contingent, our collaborators hailed from as far afield as Manchester, Lancaster, Sheffield… and even Brazil.
The Year Is Twenty-One
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Pilot NightsA 21st birthday party for a man coming of age to fulfil his diabolical destiny. Rosemary’s Baby repackaged as a cupcake-fuelled intervention, offering a chance for Andy and his audience to take charge of their own fate.
Celluloid Adventures
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by FlatpackA series of immersive film screenings for Flatpack: The Queen Ant Made Me Do It! (Empire of the Ants, directed by Bert I. Gordon); Operation Red Soup (The Witches, directed by Nicolas Roeg); Popcornocchio (Pinocchio, directed by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske); Bunny Games (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, directed by Robert Zemeckis).
Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Lichfield FestivalCelebrating the centenary of the first public radio broadcast, six actors brought Salome’s scandalous story to life in a pitch black auditorium, using Foley sound effects and the limitless power of the audience's imagination.
Writen and directed by Philip Holyman.
The Houdini Exposure
Fuelled by guilt and grief, Harry launches a moral crusade which tears his friendships apart and sees death threats rain down on him from his enemies in this world — and in the world beyond.
The Haunting
Leaving the safe confines of the theatre, we invited audiences into the dark, enveloping shadows of England’s reputedly haunted halls, houses and hotels. Heritage properties across the country hosted an unforgettable theatrical event, an evening quite unlike anything audiences had experienced before.
Hit The Baby, Natasha!
A radical reimagining of Chekhov’s Three Sisters, told from Natasha's perspective and populated with an ensemble of puppet and human actors.
Written and directed by Philip Holyman.
Spines Will Tingle
An intimate evening of gentle chills and pleasing terrors from some acknowledged masters of the macabre.
The Masque of the Red Death
A tense, claustrophobic thriller based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story of the same name. Whatever you do… don’t wear red.
The Premature Burial
Obsessed by Edgar Allan Poe’s stories of untimely interment, our lonely hero lives in mounting terror of being buried alive. When his waking hours become a living nightmare, he resorts to increasingly desperate measures in his battle against a fate worse than death.
Written by Philip Holyman.
Madman
Little Earthquake's very first production — an inventive, highly-charged version of Nikolai Gogol’s gripping short story Diary of A Madman. Reason and order fall spectacularly apart when Poprishchin falls truly, deeply… and madly in love.
