Forced Entertainment become Associate Company at Sheffield Theatres

Forced Entertainment have been welcomed by Sheffield Theatre as one of four local Associate Companies who will be supported in the development of their work and future collaborations. Part of new Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman’s ambition to develop work from within the city, spotlighting home-grown talent alongside national and international productions, the announcement marks the formalisation of relationships between a variety of exciting creative practitioners and theatre makers in Sheffield and its world renowned producing theatre.

The new Associate Companies are: Forced Entertainment, a Sheffield-based ensemble influencing the ecology and experience of theatre through collaboration with other artists; Roots Mbili Theatre, a company exploring cross-cultural and international collaborations reaching out from Sheffield; Stand & Be Counted Theatre, a Sheffield-based arts charity and the UK’s first Theatre Company of Sanctuary; and The Bare Project, an artist-led collective in Sheffield creating artistic experiences with communities.

The companies will each receive access to the internationally renowned theatre’s resources across their four-venue complex, from rehearsal space, technical equipment and staff to creative input from the theatre’s artistic and producing team.

Tim Etchells, Artistic Director of Forced Entertainment said:

We’re delighted to have entered this associate relationship with Sheffield Theatres – there’s a real value to organisations in the city collaborating and to working together to develop opportunities for exciting theatre in Sheffield and further afield. We’re different organisations with different approaches of course, but we’re brought together by a mutual belief that art, performance and stories all play a vital part in in the richness and diversity of the city we live and work in.