Futures Festival
Applications for Futures Festival are now closed.
Each year Pleasance commits to supporting six London based theatre makers/writers for a two year residency as our Associate Artists, providing them with the transformative tools to take their work and craft to the next level. We asked them to curate a festival based around themes of their choosing. Futures Festival is the result!
Futures Festival showcases developing productions from leading independent performance makers and companies.
Futures Festival Spring 2025
Our 2025 Futures Festival themes and curators are:
Week 1 - The Future Is HETEROSEXUAL presented by piss / CARNATION
A week of shows exploring queer futurity, family, and erotics. We are especially keen to hear from queer and trans writers, performance artists, and those working beyond traditional new writing or fringe theatre.
Week 2 - The Future Is FALLING FLAT ON ITS FACE AND GETTING BACK UP AGAIN (THEN FALLING AGAIN FOR COMEDIC EFFECT presented by Voloz Collective
A week of shows featuring physical theatre, clowning, and comedy that offer playful yet sharp reflections on where we are now and where we might be headed. Through bold storytelling, inventive performance, and a spirit of mischief, these shows will tackle the absurdities, anxieties, and possibilities of our time.
Week 3 - The Future Is LIVE presented by Jonathan Oldfield and Lorna Rose-Treen
A week of shows that celebrate the live-ness of theatre—unrepeatable experiences that thrive on a present audience. We seek interactive performances driven by improvisation, immersion, change, and participation—shows that cannot exist without an audience and leave space for surprise.
- 2 performances and 100% of the box office revenue for the show
- Technician provided by the Pleasance
- 1 day of rehearsal space
Futures Festival takes place in our Studio and each night you can expect to perform alongside the other curated shows in your given week. Shows must be a maximum of 60 minutes in length with a 30 minute shared turnaround between each show, with this in mind your show needs to be easily strikable with a compact set. While Futures Festival is a work in progress festival, shows need to have had some development ahead of making an application be this a reading, R&D or scratch.
Unfortunately our Studio space is not wheelchair accessible.
Applications for Futures Festival are now closed.
If you have any questions about this opportunity, please get in touch on [email protected].
Futures Festival is supported by Katie Bradford Arts Trust and Behrens Foundation.