We are heading to Nottingham today to hear about the only entirely student-run theatre and festival in the UK.
Based on the university campus, the New Theatre was established in 1969. Its productions are open to the public.
StuFF is their summer arts festival on the 10th and 11th June 2023. It is an annual platform for student and professional theatre makers alike to showcase their work.
Each show at StuFF is an hour long, at £3 a ticket, with Day and Festival passes available at £10 and £15 a person. With shows running from 11am-late on both days, there’s something for everyone.
More details at https://newtheatre.org.uk/stuff/.
We chatted to Molly Squires (Engagement and Events Officer), Farah Shah (Company Workshop Manager), Maisie Jack (External Relations Manager), and Oliver Kletz (Treasurer).
Nottingham New Theatre is entirely student-run. Tell me about the venue and its programming.
Molly and Farah: Nottingham New Theatre was granted a building on the site of University Campus in the 1960s. Sadly, we had to move into Studio Live in the Student Union this year.
This has not stopped us though, we have been able to put on 9 incredible shows, 2 Creatives shows (devised by the members of the society) as well as plenty of social nights like Green Room and Drag Night.
Our venue at the minute is a lot smaller than we are used to working with but as a student-run service, we have a committee formed of all the roles needed within the theatre community, from the president to technical directors, stage managers and engagement coordinators.
We oversee all productions within the individual roles to ensure they all run smoothly. This could be done by building and painting flats for a backdrop or working with publicity to get the word out about the show.
StuFF is your Student Fringe Festival opening this month. How did the festival come about?
Molly and Maisie: StuFF began in 2015 as a collaboration between a few different societies at the University of Nottingham, but has since expanded to include several external performers, as well as our devising group Creatives.
As an independent society, we wanted to share our love of the theatre with other communities. We have created a connection with Bedlam, our sister theatre in Edinburgh. We get to send a show team up to perform in the early spring and they bring a group down to us.
Heading to Edinburgh has always been a highlight of an NNT member’s time. This year, Bedlam are putting on Sherlock Holmes and the Bohemian Scandal.
So far, STuFF has survived through building closures, pandemics and many different committees. The sticking power of this student festival makes it a great project.
We aim to help shows produce at little to no cost to them and the chance to preview, try out, or perform again great shows to a varied student and public audience.
What are the highlights of this year’s Festival programme?
Maisie and Farah: This year, we have 12 performances over the two days. We have a returning external show, The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre.
We have five student performances, including a collaboration with UoN Pole Society and the play that’s headed up to Edinburgh Fringe Fest. If you would like a preview of the one-man performance, then come along!
All of the shows, whether performed by other students, other universities, or Nottingham-based creatives, offer audiences the chance to watch some low-cost high-quality theatre and support a student-run initiative.
The highlight, we hope, will be the experience of the audience.
You’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe later in the summer. What are you putting on up there?
Oliver: The production is my play Immanuel Kant Was a Real Pissant. It’s a satirical commentary on the industry of philosophy, featuring giants and unknowns, through the eyes of an anxious, overworked industry junior.
Philosophy tries to answer these questions. It’s been trying for over two and a half thousand years. But now we finally have the answer.
This cathartic and irate one-hour, one-person show exposes the contradictions and absurdities of this discipline older than maths that was, once, at the core of the way we live.
How are you coping with the financial impact of planning a small Fringe festival of your own?
Oliver: We never expect to make a profit from StuFF. We do it for the love of theatre! We fund the festival with the profits we make throughout the year from our shows and fundraisers.