Tin Shed Theatre Company

Lead artists: Tin Shed – Georgina Harris and Justin Cliffe

Venue partner: The Welfare, Ystradgynlais

Tin Shed Theatre Co. is Justin Cliffe and Georgina Harris two theatre makers based in Newport. Inspired by the strange and the wonderful, they tell stories that are driven by their characters and make highly physical theatre that blends classic iconography with neon light. They love story-telling and the unpredictable energy and experience of the live event.

Boxes

Tin Shed’s working title was Boxes. They explored themes of death and absence and how this might work in a theatre context for children aged 7+. They also looked into YouTube and immersive spaces. To find out more about what death means to the people of Ystradgynlais, they talked to towns people on the street, at the venue and at local open mic nights. They created a character called Terry and invited groups to celebrate his life with them. They called upon the services of collaborators such as Stephen Donnelly and have developed a partnership with Communities First (through which they have worked with a local school group to further explore ideas around death, loss but also life and the need to celebrate it). Tin Shed also attended training courses, watched a lot of shows and talked to many other creators of young people’s work.

The first phase of their residency culminated in a presentation and performance workshop in front of an audience at The Welfare, Ystradgynlais, which helped them gather feedback to take into the next phase.