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Sprint is London’s biggest and best established annual festival of new and unusual theatre and performance. It showcases work by the most exciting new artists and companies in the UK and beyond. 

Applications are now open for the 2015 festival, which will run from March 5 to 29, 2014. Ideally, proposals will be for work that is finished by March 2014, but they will also consider works-in-progress, ‘scratch’ performances and on-site artist development (see Starting Blocks). 

Since its inception in 1997 as a showcase for ‘physical, visual and unusual theatre’, Sprint has continued to grow in scope and reputation. Companies who found early success at Sprint include Unlimited Theatre, Cartoon de Salvo, Fevered Sleep and Shunt. More recently, the festival has featured the work of Idle Motion, Made In China, Paper Birds, Stoke Newington International Airport and Search Party.

 

What they want

• New work, new ways of making theatre, new experiences for audiences

• Work to take place in the theatre.If you are applying to perform in the theatre, please come and see a show and ensure you’re familiar with the size and character of the space.

• Work to take place elsewhere in the building. They are open to proposals for intimate-scale and/or one-on-one performances that may lend themselves to other spaces in the building.

• Site-specific and/or off-site work. They are interested in work that takes place in the streets and squares, waterways and byways beyond CPT’s doors – as long as the artist has a realistic idea of how such a project might be achieved. It will by necessity be the artist’s responsibility to seek permission to perform in the specific location. (CPT will support this process, but cannot take full responsibility.)

• Virtual work. They welcome proposals for audio projects, walkabout projects, auto-teatro – or projects that in other ways take theatre off the stage and into the world (or the audience’s heads). Specific technical equipment – e.g. headsets, iPods, smartphones – may need to be provided by the artist.

What they don’t want

• 'New writing’. They usually work with artists who create collaboratively. Playwriting, in the conventional sense, isn’t usually part of their process. They will consider exceptions, provided an innovative approach is demonstrated

• Revivals of classic plays

• Dance. They are primarily a venue of theatre and performance, and not a dance venue per se. They will consider proposals for dance-theatre performance, where the emphasis is on ‘theatre’

What they provide

the arrangement with Sprint artists is flexible according to the needs of each show, but the usual offer is: 

• Full PR and marketing support, inclusion in brochures, flyers, website, social media activity

• 50:50 box-office split

• Technician to support get-in and get-out. CPT technician may be able to operate ythe show - subject to arrangement

• Discount tickets to other events in the Sprint festival

Download the Sprint 2015 application form here.

Applications are also invited for Starting Blocks, a creative community for developing new theatre work that runs alongside Sprint. 



Starting Blocks offers the opportunity to create new theatre work with the support of Camden People’s Theatre, as part of a peer network that encourages collaboration and engagement between participating artists. Over ten weeks, the selected artists will meet weekly to share practice, ideas and their developing works. They will also be given space to develop their particular project and practice. The scheme runs from January to March 2014, allowing time for the participants to develop work, or work-in-progress, to be shown at CPT’s prestigious Sprint festival.

They are particularly keen to receive applications from solo artists. Please bear in mind that Starting Blocks involves a significant time commitment. Rehearsal space is made available weekdays 10am-6pm.

Applicants can apply with just an idea, or with an idea that has received early-stage development, and now needs space, structure, and peer support to help bring it to life. Projects that have already been developed at another organisation, or with the financial support of a funding body, will not be considered.

Recent successful projects to have been developed through Starting Blocks include The Way You Tell Them by Rachel Mars, Pretty Ugly by Louise Orwin, Don Quijote by Tom Frankland and Keir Cooper, Brothers of Justice by Joe Wild and Lawrence Speck and Fox Symphony by Foxy & Husk. Participating artists (2011-14) include: Greg Wohead, Ira Brand, Fran Millican-Slater, HalfCut and Anne Langford.

The scheme is overseen by CPT director Brian Logan, who alongside CPT staff will select participants by application form and interview from an open call for submissions.

Download the Starting Blocks 2015 application form here