producer & commissioner

The fifth annual DARE Festival was presented live online via Shoreditch Town Hall from Thursday 25th to Saturday 27th February 2021. We recreated Shoreditch Town Hall’s Ditch in Gather.Town, and shows were presented on Zoom, Wonder.me and video game software Unity. We commissioned 6 artists/companies to develop new work for the festival and were supported through a two-month artist development programme of mentoring, peer support, sharings and producing and fundraising advice.

As with the previous festival, 2/3rds of our commissions were reserved for artists who identify as LGBTQ+, D/deaf or disabled, working-class or underclass, and artists of colour or from a minority ethnic background.

DARE 5’s festival theme was ‘we demand a better future‘, with all commissioned work relating to the theme in some way.

DARE Festival 5 was commissioned by Shoreditch Town Hall and supported by Arts Council England and Unity Theatre Trust.

DARE Festival is created and produced by Upstart Theatre. You can read the full evaluation report for DARE Festival 5 here.

DARE Festival 5 Artists & Shows
Speaks of Rivers – The Fourteenth Stop
Abby + Alice x Solidaritree – The Isthmus Project
ShumGhostJohn – Cart Noodle Show
Katurah Morrish – The Learning Lottery
Sean Hollands and Gavin Maxwell – The Think Tank
ThisEgg + Camilla Clarke – &then everything just-

UPSTART THEATRE FESTIVAL TEAM
Artistic Director: Tom Mansfield
Executive Producer: Emma Sampson
Producer: Hannah Tookey
Artist Mentors: James Blakey, Rachel Briscoe, Simon Carroll-Jones and Dawn King
Playtest Mentor: Jenni Jackson
Stage Manager: Maggie Slaboň
Audio Describer: Joe Boylan
Access Support Worker: Hannah Woods