While it's never been our style to look back too much, it has given us hope that - even in the most turbulent of times - there's still a lot of light.
We can't wait to welcome you back to NDT in 2021. For more information on our reopening... read on!
1. Holy What's Stunning Antigone
Way back at the start of 2020 we opened Holy What's Antigone
★★★★
2. It's True, It's True, It's True broadcast on BBC Four
This time last year, Breach were running their festive and lewd Joan of Leeds
Despite being off-stage throughout 2020, Breach have been busy. Earlier this year their show It's True, It's True, It's True
We couldn't be prouder of this incredible and moving production from one of NDT's Associate Ensembles.
3. Our latest NDT show, The Incident Room
In February, we opened our latest in house production The Incident Room
The production was quite an emotional one with many of the real characters from the show visiting performances. Including relatives of the victims and even the real Megan Winterburn who was the central character in the show.
★★★★
★★★★★
4. Supporting everyone who makes NDT special
In March, when we closed our doors, we began working behind the scenes to ensure everyone who makes NDT special was supported during lockdown.
While we never thought we'd be closed this long, we ensured that all our contracts and in-process commissions would be honoured. We paid all our freelancers for every upcoming shift all through the summer and have made over £60,000 in no-strings attached grants to ensure that, when we return, we'll have artists to put back on our stage.
As our Artistic Director David said at the time:
"In good times you talk about values, in a crisis you live them. We’re closed until further notice. All NDT actors & freelancers will be paid for every upcoming shift in full. Bookers not making donations will be fully refunded. We close the way we ran: doing the right thing, together."
5. work_from_home on Zoom
We were gutted to have to cancel Incoming Festival this year. It's always one of our annual highlights, introducing us to loads of new artists every year. But that cloud had an online silver lining. We mounted our first ever production on Zoom.
From writer Nathan Ellis, work_from_home
★★★★
★★★★
6. Help is on the way - Project North Star
With theatres across the country closed, our invaluable freelance workforce was left in a desperate situation as they saw their work disappear with many left with no safety net.
When Arts Council England announced support for these individuals it was a huge life line. But it left many having to apply for public funds for the very first time and nervous about getting it wrong at this, the most critical of moments.
In response, we launched Project North Star, bringing together insights and knowledge from a huge national partnership network including the National Theatre, The Lowry, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Jerwood Arts. While we may be a small studio theatre, our network of friends and partners far outstrips our size.
Through this National Application Reading Service we read and advised on hundreds of emergency funding applications. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of grants were secured for freelance artists and other small theatres who had never applied for funding before.
7. Camden Youth Theatre
Working with Camden People's Theatre, one of the best things we do is run Camden Youth Theatre .
With teenagers cut off from their peers and unable to leave home during the summer, NDT and CPT knew we needed to keep our popular, twice-weekly, youth theatre sessions running outside of term time.
Thanks to some incredible work by insanely talented facilitator Lakeisha Lynch-Stevens and the CYT team, and with extra support from John Lyons' Charity, we moved CYT online and carried on right through the summer. They even produced a podcast.
Morning Brush with CYT is a new podcast focussing on young creatives. There are four episodes live on Spotify and Apple Podcasts now.
8. Online broadcasts with Deafinitely Theatre
We were delighted to partner with our long-term collaborators Deafinitely Theatre on Deafinitely Digital , online broadcasts of their most critically-celebrated productions. Including our NDT co-productions of Mike Bartlett's Contractions 4.48 Psychosis
This brilliant initiative from Deafinitely Theatre meant BSL speakers had streaming theatre productions to enjoy throughout lockdown, ensuring entertainment was on hand for one of our most isolated communities.
★★★★
★★★★
9. Shine Black
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed many of our society's inequalities and imbalances. None more urgent than the continuing issue of racial inequality raised by the Black Lives Matter movement.
In response and solidarity NDT Associate Ensemble The PappyShow hosted an evening of celebration created and curated by Black artists. Shine Black was a huge success, raising over £1000 for two Black-focussed charities hosted with PappyShow's usual style of silly, fun and jaw-to-the-floor levels of talent.
Southall Black Sisters - empowering Black women to escape domestic and gender-related violence.
Black Minds Matter UK - connecting Black individuals and families with free mental health services provided by professional Black therapists.
Fans of The PappyShow will be delighted to hear that they feature heavily in our 2021/22 plans. So watch this space...
10. One more sold out show...?
Quite a few people have been writing to us saying they missed live theatre and asking how they can support NDT.
Solving two problems at once, we’ve come up with Ghost Show
We promise we will return and not just run off with the donations. Even if you can't afford to support us right now, we thought you could all do with a laugh.
And for those who want the full experience type MEALDEAL12 in as your Promo Code at the Box Office.
Read more about Ghost Show here
Thinking about the future... The theatre space at New Diorama is about 8 meters by 6 meters. It's a bare space.
Yet every year over 20,000 of you come, sit, and watch, as we fill it with stories, ideas and glimpses of the future and the past.
This year has given us time to think. What do we want the future to look like? And how can we play our part in getting there.
We know we have a responsibility to return stronger than before, to address and overcome the inequalities this crisis has exposed.
We have a responsibility to take the big risks on artists, investing in new, ambitious work like never before.
This pandemic has given us insight into a world where we no longer come together. But next year we'll be back. And believe us, we're about to take some pretty huge swings at big, new ideas. 2021 will see us gambling like we’re never going to lose and running into the walls trying to make the impossible happen.
The theatre space at New Diorama may be only 8 meters by 6 meters, but in 2021, we're going to use this small space of ours to try and change the world.​
We'll see you there...
