We’re living in a time where changes within the industry are proving incredibly significant; conversations around making theatre accessible and a lot more diversified are greatly prominent. There’s a feeling that within the next few years that theatre will truly reflect its audience, both on and off stage. It’s a very exciting time and offers hope to many who perhaps wouldn’t have thought theatre was a space for them, due to the feeling of theatre being an elitist art form. Many initiatives are shaping our landscape, one of which – #CONNECT: Black Women in Theatre offers a space for black creatives within the theatre industry to contemplate various issues to further advocate change. Founder and Executive Producer of the initiative, Stella Kanu tells us more about the event’s second year!

A topic receiving greater prominence within wider conversations is that of ‘cultural appropriation’; an issue regarding taking an aspect of a culture unfamiliar to an individual, an aspect of great significance and commodifying it for financial gain or trivialising it due to its aesthetic. Playwright Lekhani Chirwa explores this issue in her debut play Can I Touch Your Hair? Ahead of her 2 date performance at this year’s Vault Festival, Lekhani talks about the show’s themes, working with Ovalhouse, HerStory Festival and Blacktress prior to the Vault Festival and what audiences can expect.

Iskandar R. Sharazuddin’s Silently Hoping taps into the topic of ‘duality’ – being of mixed raced heritage and questioning cultural identity. The concept of identity is a complex one, something that will continually be explored within wider conversations. Drawing from his Southeast Asian-British identity, Iskander looks to explore this crucial topic. Ahead of Silently Hoping‘s run at this year’s Vault festival, Iskander talks to us about his approach towards creating the show, working with director Mingyu Lin and the show’s plans beyond Vault festival.

Currently on a UK tour, The Isle of Brimsker has captured the imaginations of many. A tale of a lone lighthouse keeper joined one day by a mysterious runaway, Frozen Light’s mission to create accessible work rings true. Having met in 2006 whilst studying the Applied Performance Masters course at the University of Kent, both Lucy Garland and Amber Onat Gregory created their very own form of multi-sensory theatre for audiences with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) and this would become the blueprint for their theatre practice today. Mid-tour, Lucy talked to us about how her time as a support worker has shaped her practice, creating the The Isle of Brimsker specifically for audiences with PMLD and what audiences can expect from the show.

It can so often feel that those that have gone before us wouldn’t have at all understood what perhaps we’re going through now, and vice versa. It can so often feel that historical greats, are in fact so great, that the normal day to day wouldn’t have phased them at all. However, what history books tend to leave out is the fact that these were normal people, just like us, who just so happened to change the face of our history. Cue Helena Westerman and Caroline Simonsen’s ‘Galvanise’; a show connecting the lives of three modern day teens and influential female historical figures. Ahead of this year’s Vault Festival, both Helena and Caroline talk about working together, integrating animation and following their debut hit show ‘An Act of Kindness’.

“We are part of the last generation to remember life before widespread internet access” – expresses Dean Elliott, co-founder of theatre collective New Public; a sentiment ringing true for many of us. There’s no doubt that we now live in an age of media excess; news now accessible by the click of a button, whether that be on a smartphone, laptop, TV, tablet… the list goes on. A swift generational shift, we’ll soon forget those days where we depended solely on print and TV to find out the latest global goings on, a time where we could escape the media at our own choosing. Dean talks to us about the ‘relentless media machine’ as New Public prepare to perform their topical show ‘White Noise’ at this year’s Vault Festival!

“Theatres are one of the few buildings left in communities where people can come together whatever their age, ethnicity or class”. A sentiment shared by many within the theatre community and expressed by Architecture Adviser of the Theatres Trust, Claire Appleby. Founded in 1976, the Theatres Trust have worked to ensure ‘that current and future generations have access to good quality theatres where they can be inspired by, and enjoy, live performance. We champion the future of live performance, by protecting and supporting excellent theatre buildings which meet the needs of their communities’. For the past 12 years, the charity have also looked to support theatres they deem to be ‘at risk’ – these theatres featuring on their ‘Theatres at Risk Register’. This year’s list has been announced and Claire discusses what it takes to supporting and protect these valuable buildings.