Barrel Organ

Barrel Organ multi-award winning collaborative touring company, making daring & generous work that gives voice to

And so for nostalgia trip #8.A key part of any creative process is trying out new ideas, figuring out what works and wh...
27/05/2026

And so for nostalgia trip #8.

A key part of any creative process is trying out new ideas, figuring out what works and what doesn’t, hanging out together, having a giggle, and honing the thing you’re trying to make (whether you know what that is or not).

So here, exclusively for you, are some behind-the-scenes pics and clips from past R&D rooms.

1. Line dancing while making CONSPIRACY
2. Dan with paper in his mouth
3. Kieran and a house in Scotland
4. Jack, Bry, Joe & Kieran learning some Matilda choreography in Leeds
5. Bry when we thought the stage for Anyone’s Guess was going to be covered in shredded paper
6. A study in perspective, Manchester
7. THE GANG, hanging out

Nostalgia trip #7A few years ago, as part of NSDF, we spent a week with young people at Curve Theatre, Leicester, explo...
20/05/2026

Nostalgia trip #7
A few years ago, as part of NSDF, we spent a week with young people at Curve Theatre, Leicester, exploring collaboration & livestreamed theatre by making a show together over the course of just a few days.

What we came up with was, in many ways, unlike anything we’d made before. It was a zany, strange, loud show about work, routine, and capitalism, but was also a hell of a lot of fun. You can watch the show by following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjO8uVvRsuU

Nostalgia trip week #6In a time lost by history, there was talk of a leader, someone who united a divided kingdom. A ki...
13/05/2026

Nostalgia trip week #6

In a time lost by history, there was talk of a leader, someone who united a divided kingdom. A kid who no one expected to achieve much.

In 2021, a group of artists looked back, hoping to reclaim the legend and let it inform their future.

But is it possible?
Is it useful?

Once & Future asked if modern life and myth can exist together, using the King Arthur story (Ali’s fave!) to think about England now, then, and what may be.

This project was a collaboration between Barrel Organ & Final Year students on the Theatre & Performance course at Manchester’s Arden School.

A big thank you to our amazing supporters who raise free funds for us on .If you're not signed up yet, please join toda...
12/05/2026

A big thank you to our amazing supporters who raise free funds for us on .

If you're not signed up yet, please join today and you can raise free donations for Barrel Organ every time you shop online. All the big names like TUI, John Lewis & Partners, Argos, Just Eat and many more are ready to make a free donation at no extra cost to you.

Please sign up today and we could win a massive £5,000 donation:

https://join.easyfundraising.org.uk/barrel-organ/hbsqyz/c2s/ZdU7Z020/CE955/textcopy/

Something a little different for you’s all on week #5 of our nostalgia trip: ALL YOUR HOUSES. A filmed theatre piece cr...
06/05/2026

Something a little different for you’s all on week #5 of our nostalgia trip: ALL YOUR HOUSES. A filmed theatre piece created with Guildhall School final-year Acting students in 2021.

“For survivors things go back to a reconfigured version of normal. For better or for worse people forget perhaps more quickly than they should, and the episode becomes a subject only for historians.”

History happens, crisis happens, we cope, time moves on. But how do we cope? Fourteen people look out of their bedroom windows. Something is coming, so they look to each other for help, only to find that they’re alone.

co-directed by ali pidsley & ed madden
text by rosie gray and company
design mentor anna reid
lighting designer eilidh macKenzie
costume design by tara boland, miriam houghton & lucy lawless
sound design by jonathan chan
cinematography by charlie jenkins
co-director of photography dan light
produced by ellie claughton

Guildhall School of Music and Drama | April 2021

Show #4 on our nostalgia trip: CONSPIRACYPRINCESS DIANA NEVER LANDED ON THE MOONELVIS PRESLEY LIVES IN AREA 51JFK DID 9...
29/04/2026

Show #4 on our nostalgia trip: CONSPIRACY

PRINCESS DIANA NEVER LANDED ON THE MOON
ELVIS PRESLEY LIVES IN AREA 51
JFK DID 9/11

Three people sit in a room. The context of their meeting is unclear, but they are examining an infamous photograph and something’s not right. They are conspiracy theorists and they think they’re onto something big; but each discovery leads to the next inconsistency, the next inconvenient untruth, until their whole perception of the world, or each other, of themselves, of the very concept of truth, becomes the object of their mistrust.

Winner of the new diorama & underbelly Untapped Award 2019.

And, might we add, little did we know the absolute batsh*ttery of conspiracy theories which would emerge over the subsequent years.

written by jack perkins
​directed by dan hutton
design by rosieelnile
lighting design by josh pharo
sound design by kieran lucas
​performed by azan ahmed, shannon hayes & rose wardlaw
​made with members of the company
joe boylan
bryony davies
rosie gray
ali pidsley
​produced by ellie claughton

NOSTALGIA WITH BARREL ORGAN #3: Anyone’s Guess How We Got HereSadly, but perhaps inevitably, our “palindromic” show abo...
21/04/2026

NOSTALGIA WITH BARREL ORGAN #3: Anyone’s Guess How We Got Here

Sadly, but perhaps inevitably, our “palindromic” show about debt, payday loans, grief, and friendship hasn’t lost any of its relevance. It was, ostensibly, a two-hander, but really there were three characters here - two friends travelling back to the Midlands on the eve of a funeral. And the eight-year-old version of one of them, who ends up killing her older self (soz, spoilers).

With references to Thelma and Louise, Life on Mars, Robin Hood, King Crimson, Cash Converters, and Dale Winton. With a bit of Sleaford Mods and fake mud thrown in for good measure.

written by jack perkins
​directed by joe boylan & dan hutton
​performed by bryony davies & rosie gray
​additional performances with jade ogugua
​made with members of the company
joe boylan
bryony davies
rosie gray
dan hutton
kieran lucas
jack perkins
ali pidsley
​lighting design by lucy adams
​sound design by kieran lucas
produced by joe boylan & francesca duncan

ps this show was not sponsored by Boost

Next up in our nostalgia series: SOME PEOPLE TALK ABOUT VIOLENCEFollowing up on NOTHING, our sophomore show (which we af...
14/04/2026

Next up in our nostalgia series: SOME PEOPLE TALK ABOUT VIOLENCE

Following up on NOTHING, our sophomore show (which we affectionately refer to as SPTAV, pronounced "Spuh-tavv") also depended on elements of liveness, with cast members being assigned their roles by random envelopes at the top of the show. It included some absolutely stunning monologues, a microwave, and screaming into the void.

written by lulu raczka
directed by ali pidsley
assistant director jack perkins
​performed by
joe boylan
bryony davies
rosie gray
euan kitson
jack morning-newton
kate thorogood
​
additional performances with
craig hamilton
ellice stevens

lighting design by joe price
​
sound design by kieran lucas
produced by francesca duncan

​Some People Talk About Violence debuted at Summerhall as part of the Edinburgh Fringe before a two week run at Camden People's Theatre in London. The show then toured in autumn 2016.

This week it’s NSDF! It’s a very different - and far more accessible - festival now to when we used to go as baby theatr...
08/04/2026

This week it’s NSDF! It’s a very different - and far more accessible - festival now to when we used to go as baby theatre-makers. But it got us thinking back to sunny days and smokey nights in Scarborough TWELVE YEARS AGO, when we took our first show NOTHING to the festival.

Which then, of course, got us feeling all nostalgic. So over the next few weeks, we’re going to take you back through some of the shows we’ve made over the years.

Written by Lulu Raczka (winner of the Sunday Times Young Playwriting Award), NOTHING was a show of eight monologues about alienation and youth, and its stripped-back aesthetic was dubbed “austerity theatre” by one critic (we're still not sure whether we like that or not).

It was a lot of fun for us, because the performers improvised a new cut of the text with every performance, each starting the show without knowing which particular monologue they would be performing on that occasion. NOTHING was a game for both performer and audience, but also, we hoped, a serious interrogation of the structures within which we live.

written by lulu raczka
​directed by ali pidsley
assistant director jack perkins
​co-made and performed by
joe boylan
bryony davies
rosie gray
dan hutton
euan kitson
kieran lucas
jack morning-newton
kate thorogood

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