Current work, on the back of a transformational, immersive and site-responsive live takeover of the Barnfield theater Exeter
Or explore the care centred process behind our latest work:
2021-ongoing: A guide to the creativity, conversations and purpose behind what is now a movement of care, workshop and liveness
2021-2022: Journey of reflection and radical R&D, cementing a process fuelled by live performance, sound and projection
2023-2024: the previous version of BOXED! A live performance exploring care, companionship, who theatre is for and how we can transform space together, staged from community spaces in South Devon, to Battersea Arts Centre and more
Our ongoing commitment and learning on the ‘relaxed’ space: How we imbed access and care throughout process and an introduction to our main workshop offer- come and make an Anon
from 2021-2026 and beyond.
A powerful and care driven exploration into disability, performance and multimedia interaction
Funders, Partners, Supportive Organisations and people to say thank you too
Instrumental to SqBx/embedded collaborators
Our latest collaboration sees a Squeeze Box transform the entire Barnfield Theatre into a live multimedia portal into the joy, humour, and resilience of disabled people… yet something dark lurks at the end of the corridor. Audience were full immersed in an absurd, multisensory, interactive, promenade-performance with escape-room-vibes, where their very sense of who we are is pushed to the limit…
Fully realised to adapt to unique spaces, from galleries and theatres to large, abandoned hospitals or small office rooms, this work plunges individuals into a dystopian privatisation experiment, where your name and identity dissolve into numbers and never-ending form-filling. [You are number 243 in the queue].
However, within broken, dehumanising and arbitrary systems, BOXED! creates a shared space for community and offers a moment for hope and true care.
October 2024-January 2025 – building on a year long associate of support and partnership from Exeter Northcott Theatre, Squeeze Box platform a 4-day takeover pilot in the Barnfield Theatre. Allowing audiences to be fully immersed in sound, projection and performance exploring care, empathy and what happens when these fundamental building blocks of humanity taken away, we engage community groups and artists/thinkers in new ways of working together. Ambition of the core artistic team, audiences, partners and Northcott is to expand this platform for 5 days takeover in January 2025, having the essence of Squeeze Box ooze through the walls of Barnfield, creating a fully immersive experience in multiple spaces that is open to the public.
2023 - with an Arts Council England Project Grant, Squeeze Box took over the MakeTank creative space, Exeter, with performance, workshop and live public spaces durationals. As part of this project, we collaborated with Longsight Arts Space/ Proforma to develop disability as positive identity workshops in Manchester. The resilience, structure and power of Squeeze Box came to fruition, with embedded relationship with Far Flung/a meaningful focus on access throughout our process, a dedicated producer and weaving a BSL interpreter into the performance and wider work.
The success of the MakeTank takeover led to a week residency at Battersea Arts Centre, supported by Another Route and Jerwood Arts.
2021 - during the limbo time of easing Covid restrictions but caution around social distance, and how we best care for each other, Squeeze Box was given time and space to play at Cockington Court. This R&D marked the first time Steve, Tim and Hugh came together to play and experiment. ACE supported, an emergence of sound, performance and projection materialised, depicting a 3-dimensional view of disability to capture the essence of being human - care, emotion, community and celebration of identity. Having free-range of Cockington Court saw the foundation of this work being realised from, large scale projections on a manor house to a full bloodied jam in a converted corn barn.
March 2024 – Squeeze Box artist undertook a week-long residency to build on the momentum of MakeTank and BAC, learn more about how we work together, deepen our care centred practise and create a springboard for feature tours. This was supported as part of Wide Open, a new creative and cultural programme in Paignton, Torbay. Please click on the Wide Open badge to see all partners who make this work possible.
