Acting for the Planet
Join the community acting and writing company for Northern Broadsides’ Iron People project
This exciting project offers a unique opportunity for local residents to collaborate with professionals from the world of theatre and literature. Together, we will create brand-new performances that explore the landscape of Calderdale, our relationship to it, and how we can better protect the future of our environment.
We will be developing characters, telling stories creating a new myth for Calderdale inspired by The Iron Man and The Iron Woman by Ted Hughes, as well as creating an audio trail.
You will be working with Northern Broadsides Artistic Director Laurie Sansom, and other professional artists such as Movement Director Jen Malarkey, dance-theatre company Northern Rascals and poet Ian Humphreys.
No experience is necessary, but a commitment to attending most rehearsals is important.
Places are limited, and priority will be given to Calderdale residents and those with good availability for rehearsals. Sign up below under ‘Ways to get involved’/
For ages 16+
When
2025:
We will be working towards events on Saturday 29 & Sunday 30 March, and a performance on Saturday 26 April.
Where
Calderdale Music
The Old Courthouse
Blackwall
Halifax
HX1 2DL
(Wheelchair Accessible)
Price
FREE
Ways to get involved:
Get involved in 'Hidden in the Landscape - Stories of Cromwell Bottom' (Actors and writers)
We would love to work with you on an immersive audio walk around Cromwell Bottom Nature Reserve, which has a long and fascinating history. Working with poet Ian Humphreys, naturalist Paul Knights, and sound designer Jo Kennedy, together we will create an approximately hour-long audio experience combining history, poetry and dramatisations about the landscape and its many stories.
12 audience members at a time will experience it wearing headphones and we would love to work with you to continue devising characters and creative writing. This project will be entirely recorded, with no live element.
Please note that these sessions will be for those people who want to write, act or do both!
Here are the dates for your diary if you’d like to get involved in our Cromwell Bottom audio project
Acting, creative writing and devising workshops with Ian Humphreys and Laurie Sansom at Calderdale Music, Halifax.
- Sunday 26 January, 12pm – 3.30pm
- Saturday 1 February, 12pm – 3.30pm
- Wednesday 12 February, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
- Saturday 15 February, 1pm – 4pm
- Sunday 2 March, 1pm – 4pm
Between 3 – 9 March, we will work with you to find suitable times to professionally record the audio ahead of the launch at Cromwell Bottom on 29 and 30 March.
Click here to sign up
Get involved in 'Iron People @ Eureka!' (Actors only)
IRON PEOPLE
Iron People will culminate in a change-making event outside Eureka! on 26 April 2025. It will tell a new myth for Calderdale, and feature our Park Youth Theatre, the actor community group (that’s you!) and the Elland Silver Youth Band and three huge puppet creatures made out of rubbish by Thingumajig Theatre.
We are having an intensive period of putting the show together in April. Read more about the show here.
Dates for your diary for rehearsals (in Halifax, venue TBC)
- Saturday 5 April, 10am – 4pm
- Sunday 6 April, 10am – 4pm
- Saturday 12 April, 10am – 4pm
- Sunday 13 April, 10am – 4pm
- Tuesday 22 April, later afternoon
- Wednesday 23 April, late afternoon
- Thursday 24 April, 5pm – 8.30pm (dress rehearsal)
- Friday 25 April, later afternoon
- Saturday 26 April, 10am – 4pm (final performance)
Click here to sign up
“It is an opportunity to play… it’s very creative, freeing and fun, it’s really nice to open up to your community and collaborate with people.”
“It has opened my eyes to other parts of me that I haven’t explored before. And how I can interact with others creatively.”
“It’s so refreshing to do something totally different to your normal activity. Gets you thinking about the issues in life that you care about.”
“I have gained confidence, and it has helped me not to be scared of new people, or making mistakes; this is a safe space.”
Photos by Ant Robling
Laurie Sansom
Northern Broadsides’ Artistic Director
Laurie became Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Northern Broadsides in 2019, directing productions such as Quality Street and As You Like It. He previously was Artistic Director and Chief Executive at the National Theatre of Scotland, where his James Plays won multiple awards.
Laurie has directed across the UK, including at the National Theatre, Stephen Joseph Theatre, and the West End. His work includes The Driver’s Seat, Spring Storm, Frankenstein, and Kiss of the Spiderwoman.
Ian Humphreys
Poet
Ian Humphreys is Writer in Residence at the Brontë Parsonage Museum. His latest poetry collection, Tormentil (Nine Arches Press) won a Royal Society of Literature ‘Literature Matters’ Award, and is a Yorkshire Times ‘Book of the Year’. His debut collection, Zebra (Nine Arches) was nominated for the Portico Prize. Ian is the editor of Why I Write Poetry, and the producer and co-editor of After Sylvia: Poems and Essays in Celebration of Sylvia Plath (both from Nine Arches). Ian’s work has been highly commended in the Forward Prizes for Poetry, and he has written for the BBC.
Northern Rascals
Multi-disciplinary performance company
Northern Rascals are a multi-disciplinary performance company based in Yorkshire.
Driven by social conscience, Northern Rascals uses theatre and contemporary dance to lead audiences to original narratives rooted in the current socio-political climate.
Nationally recognised, the company is renowned for their raw yet poetic interpretation of today’s world and the people that inhabit it and celebrated for their dedication to using Northern voices to spearhead that poeticism.
Jen Malarkey
Movement Director
Jen Malarkey is a movement artist and co-director of Encounter Productions, creating new dance-theatre performances. She coaches actors, teaches movement, and collaborates with theatres like Northern Stage, Soho Theatre, and The Place.
This year, she is supported by Company Chameleon’s UPLIFT residency and Headlong Theatre’s Origins Scheme. Jen holds an MA in Movement from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and is a Lecturer in Movement at Leeds Conservatoire.
