Times are tough and the news is grim. Daisy and Pablo were in need of some hope, so they thought they should make a show about it. They wanted it to be a show about the triumph of hope, but it turned out that things are not as simple as that. They are knotted and complex. Hope and hopelessness hold hands. So this is a show about determination and resilience, about not giving up, about keeping going despite the odds. Hope is hard work, and it’s even harder when you go it alone – but perhaps something will happen if we’re all in a room together. Here’s hoping…

Directed by Roanna Mitchell, with lighting design by Jai Morjaria and sound design by Eoin Furbank.

We attended home games and met the Gallagher Stadium community. We got to know big and small supporters, those who have been following the club for decades and those who have just started. We chatted, made badges, collected impressions and feelings, and recorded personal stories. The final celebratory event coincided with one of the home games and was made up of a series of small but sweet exchanges. Carrying mini-football pitch trays we invited fans to listen to some of the mini-stories we had recorded, asking supporters to write down a wish for the club and releasing it skyward on a yellow balloon. As a parting gift we gave each person a small piece of a larger puzzle, because MUFC is more than the sum of its parts.

No one appreciates the detail of being alive more than the dead…

As you draw a map of your life, you will see all the little lines are connected by the people you have met along the way. Some are present, others have come and gone. Some are still here, lingering like echoes.

here is where we meet is about living and making sense of what’s left behind when you’re gone. Weaving together John Berger’s extraordinarily vivid stories with their own, Accidental Collective have created a visually striking, rich and evocative piece of theatre. This show is a heartfelt attempt to sort through memories and fictions as if they were objects found in a dusty attic. here is where we meet opens up a meditative space for us to contemplate the here, the now, and the passing of things.

everyONE is looking for someONE was an exuberant, touching and exciting show about the essential human drive to look for someone. Drawing on a variety of classic double acts, One and the other One were a thoroughly likeable pair and entertained people of all ages. Involving walkabout, interaction and moments of pop-up theatre, the piece could adapt to different contexts, whether urban or rural locations.

Why not stop for moment… Pause… Take a breath… Take a deep breath… Aren’t you feeling better already?

Accidental Collective offers you the opportunity to take a little break, and step into a bubble of calm and relaxation. As an individual, or in pairs, you will be able to enjoy a soothing experience – just for you – that will leave you renewed, re-balanced and ready to face the world. Pause; offers you a wide menu of performative treatments – take your pick. This life-affirming and intimate experience will help you rid yourself of any nagging doubts or worries, refresh your perspective, or simply escape from the everyday hustle and bustle… We look forward to treating you.

Pause; was an intimate encounter for one or two audience members at a time which lasted 7 minutes and ran on a durational basis in public places.

The project culminated in a life affirming, multi-arts event that ‘occupied’ Kent County Hall in Maidstone. Part village fête and part sit-in, the building’s chambers of power were filled with interactive performances, open debates and thought provoking takes on traditional activities like cup-cake decorating and badge-making. Throughout the event, the sections created by the eight communities were brought together and added to by the audience to make one large new world map. The project was an accessible platform inviting the public to explore ways in which we all – as tiny individuals – are able to (re)construct the world.

The piece was designed for the University of Kent’s Senate building (the institution’s metaphorical seat of power). The event was durational, lasting 14 hours in total. It mixed audience participation (live and via Skype) and task-based activities. The audience were invited to step into an unusual world and take a journey through a series of atmospheric environments. At the heart of the event was a “sweatshop“ of 30 people working in shifts to systematically cut up atlases, and stitch them back together in a new arrangement.

Our investigation into the roles played by the audience focused on Roland Barthes’ paradigm of the audience/reader as author and their agency in the construction of meaning. When brief fragments of performance are stripped of context and supporting narrative structures, what life do they have of their own? How will the audience read them and navigate the myriad of interpretations?

The audience entered and, drinks in hand, found their seats at one of the tables. One by one the lights were turned off by the performers…

What followed was a kaleidoscopic and highly charged piece where images, gestures and sounds, said more than words ever could. Taking place amongst the tables, the piece offered each small group of audience members a unique and intimate experience. Periods of total blackness were punctuated by disparate lights, performers engaged in voodoo-esque actions, dreamlike images rhythmically darted around, and shards of narratives collided with each other. The piece was something of a profane incantation, where the mysterious and the humorous inhabited the same space, and recognisable archetypes were conjured out of the darkness.