SixteenFeet Productions has been bringing the magic of theatre out into the beauty of London’s parks and green spaces since 2008. Collaborating with writers, musicians and actors to produce new work and tell classic stories in a contemporary and inventive way.
Our Lambeth Voices Programme works with all sections of the community, increasing participation, inclusion and access to, creative opportunities. We work in partnership with Brixton Youth Theatre to deliver a programme of free workshops for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
SixteenFeet is strongly connected to its Brixton base and committed to working with local communities.
In 2008 I was approached by the Brockwell Park committee about increasing arts participation and attracting new people to the park, particularly a diverse young audience. I talked to some friends, and together and we came up with the idea of an adaptation of Lewis Carrol’s Alice set in the beautiful Walled Garden there, a hidden but not well-known jewel of a space. We decided that this production should be promenade so that the audience could explore the garden as they followed the action; the garden was the world of the play and the home to all these fantastic characters.
We secured funding to bring together a company of actor musicians and produced free weekday performances during that summer for our local audience. Bradley Cole agreed to write it, Guy Holden to write the music and Jenny Lee to direct and Alice in the Walled Garden took shape. We were invited to take the production to the official Brighton Festival in 2009 — and so the company was born — named Sixteenfeet in honour of a pride of four much-loved resident cats.
Since then, we have produced an annual promenade show,and have extended our reach from Brockwell Park to tour to some of the most special parks and green spaces across London, adding community new writing and pop-up panto initiatives along the way.
The scripts are always commissioned adaptations with original music, from local artists. Featuring much loved classics reimagined for a young urban generation and viewed through a contemporary lens. And stories which are always in dialogue with the natural world of their setting.
And we are proud to keep growing, of changing how we share our stories with successive audiences, particularly with those many for whom it’s a first live theatre experience — we aim to keep it special!
Caroline
‘As spellbinding for adults as it is for kids… precisely the sort of theatre that bring our parks and green spaces to life’.
South London Press
