Our work explores ideas through telling stories
and tells stories through exploring ideas. Each time we create
a production we start out on a new journey. At this stage we often
feel as if we know nothing – despite our years of experience.
We deliberately empty our bags for the journey so we can make
space for the new ideas that we gather along the way. Through our work we hope to connect our creativity to the imagination of our
audiences.
Lizzie Allen Co-director
dressing up
reading
dancing to The
Sound of Music
sibling rivalry
daydreaming
wearing my Gran’s knitted cardigans
And when I grew up...
drama at Bristol University
community arts worker, Derbyshire
Freehand Theatre – former performer, now writer, director,
designer
still thinking...
Lizzie’s play, Under One
Roof, has recently been produced by Polka Theatre,
London. Find out more.
Simon Hatfield Co-director
messing around in boats
camping
building treehouses
playing chess
wearing my Mum’s knitted jumpers
And when I grew up...
history at Oxford University
PGCE at Leicester University
teacher of Media and Communications
community worker
Freehand Theatre – performer, designer, maker
Background
Freehand Theatre was created in 1982. It started as an experiment
and we’ve been experimenting ever since. Our first incarnation
was as Nomad Puppets and under that name we spent our first year
touring America and Canada with our theatre on the roof of a Ford
Maverick. Returning to this country we established Freehand Theatre
in West Yorkshire and swapped the Maverick for a rat catcher’s
old van.
Now, more than twenty years down the road, Freehand Theatre is
a well established company (with a decent van!), with regular
funding from the Arts Council and Bradford Council and a history
of high quality theatre productions. Over the years there have
been many highlights including appearances at International festivals,
a British Theatre Association Award for design, a Gulbenkian bursary
for artistic development, performing at the Royal Festival Hall
as part of an opera conducted by Simon Rattle and extensive touring
that has taken us to a huge and varied range of venues.
From 1994 to 1998 Lizzie Allen and Simon Hatfield were artistic
directors of the biennial Art of Puppetry festivals which
they instigated and programmed in conjunction with the Alhambra
Theatre in Bradford.
Most of our productions have been designed for children aged
5 and over but recent work has concentrated on children aged 3
to 7.
Creative Approach
A new production is developed over many months.
Ideas are explored, rejected, expanded, turned upside down and
inside out.
Each production has its own style, its own aesthetic, its own
language.
A puppet may be painstakingly carved out of wood or swiftly
improvised from an object.
Lateral thoughts often lead us down a side path.
We try not to repeat ourselves.
We’ll say that again. We try not to repeat ourselves.
In our work we look for humour, for poignancy, for empathy,
for poetry, for spoken language where language is needed, for
non verbal communication when . . .
Freehand Theatre likes, where possible, to work with creative
collaborators. We bring in, as needed, composers, directors and
designers.
Our work is designed to be experienced and relished by children.
When we are making a new production, children are always at the
centre of our thoughts. And there, in the centre of our thoughts,
we meet ourselves, the adults. So our work is also there to be
enjoyed by the adults in our audiences.
The journey continues...
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