Barrel Organ

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

With Edinburgh 2026 kicking off this week, we thought we’d continue our by diving back into Edinburghs past, when we w...
06/08/2026

With Edinburgh 2026 kicking off this week, we thought we’d continue our by diving back into Edinburghs past, when we were young and carefree. So we went on the big WhatsApp group of Barrel Organ founding members and asked everyone to share their favourite shows from back in the day. Dan was strict and only allowed one choice each (plus some honourable mentions of shows by some pals), but here, in no particular order, is what we came up with:

A Series of Increasingly Impossible Acts Lyric Hammersmith Theatre (x3)
The Afflicted groupwork
The Object Lesson Geoff Sobelle
The Gods Are Fallen and All Safety Gone Selma Dimitrijevic
L'apres Midi D'un Foehn Cie Non Nova - Phia Ménard
The Christeene Machine CHRISTEENE
This Is How We Die by Christopher Brett Bailey
30 Cecil Street Dan Canham
It’s True, It’s True, It’s True
Dressed. ThisEgg
5 Encounters on a Site Called Craigslist

Behind the scenes of last week's post.A story in three acts.
29/07/2026

Behind the scenes of last week's post.

A story in three acts.

For the past few Nostalgia Trip posts, we’ve been sharing a little bit of the work that we (Ali, Rosie & Dan) do when we...
28/07/2026

For the past few Nostalgia Trip posts, we’ve been sharing a little bit of the work that we (Ali, Rosie & Dan) do when we’re *not* on the clock for Barrel Organ.

ROSIE
As well as performing in Nothing, SPTAV and Anyone’s Guess How We Got Here, Rosie continues to work as an actor, facilitator, and maker outside the company and has recently started combining her theatre background with stand-up comedy (a show is cooking - watch this space). Some highlights include being a performer and maker in Olivier award-winning Old Bridge, playing Georgina in Hurricane (streaming on Netflix) and working with comedy writer Stefan Golaszewski on Babies (BBC). She also recently did a project with Women’s Aid as a facilitator/writer and cites it as one of the biggest honours of her career so far.

Pics:
Rosie standing up
Anyone’s Guess How We Got Here by Jack Perkins, Barrel Organ, UK Tour
Writers Retreat, dir. Mishaal Memon
Old Bridge by Igor Memic, Bush Theatre
Old Bridge winning an Olivier award
Andromeda by Hannah Greenstreet, Camden People’s Theatre/Nottingham Playhouse
Rosie with the Women’s Aid team

For the next few Nostalgia Trip posts, we’re sharing a little bit of the work that we (Ali, Rosie & Dan) do when we’re *...
01/07/2026

For the next few Nostalgia Trip posts, we’re sharing a little bit of the work that we (Ali, Rosie & Dan) do when we’re *not* on the clock for Barrel Organ.

ALI:
As well as directing NOTHING & SPTAV, Ali helped out in whatever way he could with Anyone’s Guess & Conspiracy, alongside a fledgling career as Assistant & Associate Director around the country and making shows as Director with the Young Vic, HighTide, New Diorama & Leeds Playhouse. From 2020 onwards Ali focussed a lot of his practice outside of BO on community work, working with Interplay Theatre, The Lowry’s Socially Engaged Arts Programme & for 4 years fulfilling his fanboy dream working with Forced Entertainment on their Participation Programme in Sheffield. Last summer Ali moved to SW Scotland and now works with The Stove Network as their Creative Producer, bringing together all his favourite things: community engagement, artist development & collaborative practice (oh & the wild outdoors!)

Pics:
Pops by Charlie Joesphine, Hightide/ Jake Orr Productions & Assembly
Antigone by Lulu Razcka, New Diorama/ Holy What Theatre
Me For the World by Molly Taylor, Young Vic Taking Part

For the next few Nostalgia Trip posts, we thought we’d share a little bit of the work that we (Ali, Rosie & Dan) do when...
23/06/2026

For the next few Nostalgia Trip posts, we thought we’d share a little bit of the work that we (Ali, Rosie & Dan) do when we’re *not* on the clock for Barrel Organ. That’s right, we all do other things too and, as Founding Member Euan used to describe it, this is like our version of the Rumspringa, when members of the Amish community step outside of their cultural norms to test the waters and enable a recommitment to their faith.

First up:

DAN!
As well as performing in Nothing, assisting dramaturgically with SPTAV, co-directing Anyone’s Guess and directing Conspiracy, Dan has also made work for the Pleasance and The Yard Theatre, and in 2025-26 worked as Resident Director on the NT’s national tour of Dear England. He also co-runs Hastings Theatre Project, and co-directed their inaugural show DFL.

Pics:
Big Guns by Nina Segal; Yard Theatre (designer Rosie Elnile, photo Mark Douet)
DFL by Nadine Passley; Hastings Theatre Project, various locations (co-directed with Poppy Rowley, photo Sophie Hale)
The Silver Bell by Alan Flanagan; Hope Theatre, Kings Head Theatre & New Jersey Rep (photo Paul Phipps-Williams)
Dan & Stage Management, Dear England by James Graham; national tour

For nostalgia trip #9: LIVEOver all these years, we haven’t just been making our own work; we’ve also been supporting a...
03/06/2026

For nostalgia trip #9: LIVE

Over all these years, we haven’t just been making our own work; we’ve also been supporting and developing the work of other artists. We’ve always put liveness and the audience at the heart of what we do so, in collaboration with CPT, we created LIVE, a programme supporting underrepresented and marginalised artists to put new work in front of an audience so they could test new ideas, see what landed, and receive mentorship from us here at Barrel Organ HQ.

After a few years running LIVE at CPT, and in the wake of the pandemic, we toured LIVE around Yorkshire, visiting Leeds, Bradford, Barnsley, Scarborough, and live-streaming to homes across the world along the way.

LIVE Bradford photos: Karol Wyszynski
LIVE LDN & Holbeck photos: Fly Girl Films

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.

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