Supported Artists
Each year Offbeat supports emerging artists with funding to develop new work and bring it to the stage. Supported artist also get free access to a series of development workshops to help them build skills and take the next steps in their careers.
2024
In 2024 our supported artists received £1,000 to help develop their show, a guaranteed performance slot in the 2024 festival programme, a £500 preformance fee, free places on all our professional development workshops, and additional support from the Offbeat team.
Our 2024 supported artists were:
Molly has thyroid cancer but she’s like, totally fine. More than fine, in fact - she’s doing great. Because Molly has figured out how to have cancer and still be okay, and she’s ready to grace the world with her advice.
Stuck in a dull hospital waiting room for yet another appointment, Molly shares her rules on how to have cancer and be totally fine. But as the minutes tick by and her story unfolds, her definition of ‘fine’ becomes more and more blurry.
Grab your broomsticks and join WhatNot Theatre as we whisk you away on a mystical mayhem of an adventure. Meet Esmeralda Blunder, a lovable but calamity prone apprentice Witch who just can’t quite seem to master the art of spells and potions.
Offering a unique window into often overlooked aspects of the city of Oxford, “Portals and Parallels" is an exploration of the duality that defines this place, blending elements of theatre, comedy, spoken word, visual art, music and more.
A woman opens the door at two in the morning and tries to hang on to normal. Lisa doesn't have the right words or know what questions to ask in this new world of crime and law. So what happens when doing the right thing isn't the right thing any more? This solo show explores the world of knife crime from a fresh perspective as a woman is forced to confront the unfamiliar world her son has collided with and compromise on what she thinks she believes in.
"Have You Met Stan?" is a musical that weaves together the complexities of identity, family, love and heartbreak into a poignant, powerful story. Set in an Irish pub in London, it takes the audience on a journey through the intersecting lives of two immigrants - Stan from Poland and Séan from Ireland - as they come to terms with their identities and their struggles as LGBTQ+ individuals.
Through a fusion of Irish folk tunes and pop-folk melodies, the story unfolds, bringing to life the challenges faced by both characters as they navigate the often-tumultuous waters of immigration, adolescence and love.
Pigeons in Transit is a daring solo performance by composer and songwriter Hannah Fredsgaard-Jones. The play intricately intertwines the realms of climate change, conspiracy theories, pigeons and a resilient hope for the future.
A woman grappling with the overwhelming weight of environmental despair experiences a surreal awakening when mysterious parcels appear on her doorstep.
She Vanishes in the Air is an interactive theatre game that challenges the audience's perceptions by exploring the impact of cancel culture on artistic creation. The game, which lasts for one hour, is inspired by the mysterious case of a woman's disappearance. Three artists have joined forces to create a politically correct reconstruction of the story, which the audience can engage with through an app, from which they can cancel, vote and choose one of the hypotheses.
2023
In 2023, Offbeat offered five seed-funding pots to Oxfordshire artists to develop their work.
RAGE is a participatory live art performance exploring rage as catharsis. The piece is a one-to-one performance where audiences are invited to beat a sofa with a baseball bat, accompanied live by a piano quartet. It is a space where participants can explore, process, and let go of strong or repressed emotions through movement and guided by music.
Developed using the thoughts, opinions and ideas of 120 young people during a week of intensive workshops facilitated by Emma-Jane Greig and company dancer Viki Cercek, When This Is Over is an innovative retelling of experiences known by young people the world over.
Recollections is a documentary film involving professional and amateur actors ranging in age from 30 to 85, all of whom currently live or have lived in Oxfordshire and have been part of a Troika Theatre production. Through a series of unscripted one-on-one interviews and lively group conversation the actors will recount some of their most memorable moments from their collective years in the Oxford Theatre community.
This House Believes is a new musical that is pushing the boundaries of the expected conventions of the genre. It is a story of a black, working class young man from Tottenham who finds himself amongst the aspirational political set of privileged students at Oxford University.
A broken Cyberdyne Systems Model T-101 is captured by the resistance, reprogrammed with Windows 95, and sent back to a world before Judgement Day to discover what it means to be human.
2022
In 2022, Offbeat gave seed funding grants of £1000 to five Oxfordshire artists, to work on a specific project.
Vita Peach and Tamsin Heatley create parody dance theatre.
Vita and Tamsin have created work together for nearly 25 years – It’s an equal collaboration: Vita brings the dance element, Tamsin is the shrewd observing eye and story maker.
Mandala Young Company’s adaptation of Ionesco’s Rhinoceros is a commentary on society today, a chilling observation on conformity amid chaos and the struggle to know what the truth is, amongst so much propaganda and misinformation.
Oxford People’s Theatre is a new community theatre company launching in September 2022, for adults & young people 12+ with a curiosity and passion for theatre; both performance & backstage.
Georgie Steele is a physical theatre performer and storyteller. We supported her show And I’ll Blow Your House Down.
T(ART) Pride: 1 - 24 July 2022.
A gorgeously queer festival featuring workshops, performances and social events in Oxford.
2019
In 2019, Offbeat offered a programme of support for six artists, all at early stages of their careers.
Each artist was given tailored support in dramaturgy, marketing, travel, accommodation and technical theatre – and each had three performances at the festival to develop audiences and work on their show.
There was spoken word and music from Channie B, a VR experience from Electrick Village, a poetic play from Rowan Padmore. Thomas Page Dances brought an intimate dance duet, Plaster Cast created a radically queer dance party, and Ashanti Wheeler-Artwell presented her first one-woman show.