Huge congratulations to all our Elevate 2025 cohort for a truly joyous, creative and inspirational residency at Outdoor Arts 101 last week.
The residency was the culmination of our Elevate 2025 programme, which each year trains and supports early career artists interested in mask and physical theatre. Participants are chosen from a series of free full mask taster workshops held across the UK, where participants immerse themselves in Vamos Theatre’s approach to mask theatre, creating physical character and devising non-verbal theatre that connects and moves audiences. Our taster workshops include an exclusive event for deaf artists, led by a deaf practitioner and with BSL interpretation. All Elevate graduates become part of our Alumni and are offered opportunities for further online and in-person training in the future (funding dependant).
This year's residency was co-led by deaf and hearing facilitators, in BSL and English. The focus for the four days was the exploration of non-verbal, physical, devised theatre and the visual vernacular in performance, and it finished with a filmed performance devised by the participants.
Thank you to all our wonderful Elevate participants - Eve Biard, Bertie Bond, Katherine Church, Lucie Dolezal, Molly Gooch, Poppy King, Rachael Maltby, Jude Powell, Holly Roberts, Jonathan Skinner, and Mai Worth - and to our residency facilitators, Honor Hoskins, Gavin Maxwell, Mary-Jayne Russell de Clifford, Ciaran O’Breen and Aadil Din. Also, thank you so much to everyone at Outdoor Arts 101, which is such a wonderful, welcoming venue.
Vamos Theatre's Creative Producer, Honor Hoskins, who co-led the residency commented, "We had a phenomenal residency. Having four days in a room co-led by BSL and hearing facilitators was very exciting and so much was learnt by everyone. Our Elevate participants were a joy and brought commitment, skill and generosity to the sessions. Thank you to everyone involved for creating such a wonderful experience."
Participant Holly Roberts commented, "The idea to include physical theatre and BSL/Visual Vernacular into mask performance was really interesting and I am really grateful for the ambition to incorporate hearing and deaf performers into one creative space. It was a really unique experience that I’m so glad to have had."
Molly Gooch added, "A creative bubble like no other. Full of joy, generosity and challenges that we faced as an ensemble. Working with both deaf and hearing participants and creatives has changed my life and has made me dedicated to making my work more inclusive."
For more about our Elevate programme, see our Learning pages.