Oldham Coliseum Theatre has been working with four local artists selected from the Crafted programme to support them on their artistic journey and support the creation of new theatre. We are now giving the people of Oldham a first look at their developing pieces.

Craft Brew is a creative sharing session for the audience to experience new theatre, dance and performance work freshly brewed by Oldham artists. From 2:30-3:45pm, each artist will perform a short extract of their new work and following this until 4:30pm the audience will have the chance to talk with the artists and give them feedback. Tea and biscuits will be provided, and the session will be facilitated by Emmanuel Bajiiji.

Helen Goodman, Artist Development Coordinator of Oldham Coliseum Theatre said "It's truly inspiring to witness the exceptional quality of new work emerging right in our community! These artists bring a wealth of experience, and the four projects are incredibly diverse. Where else can you see a John Lennon look-alike alongside homemade instruments and performance poetry? Oldham is a vibrant hub, teeming with creative individuals producing extraordinary new theatre and performance pieces. Craft Brew showcases four of the finest projects, offering us a unique opportunity to contribute to the creative process."

Our Crafted programme for 2025 was designed to support four artists, living or working in Oldham, to develop and showcase their work. We are passionate about making opportunities to create supportive and inspiring spaces for fellow artists to meet, share and collaborate which is what Crafted is all about. The artists are being provided rehearsal space, expenses and bursary, mentors based on their creative processes, and creative production support from Helen Goodman to aid the development of their performances without the pressure of creating a finished product.

Below are descriptions of the pieces by the artists that will be showcased at Craft Brew.

‘Broken Bricks Build’ - Dada Zubeda

This solo piece takes you through the journey of Dada’s experience growing up brick by brick, how the foundations for change were laid in her life and how she learned to rebuild. All the emotions, phases of growth and development, observations and reflections will be acknowledged throughout while engaging with the audience to construct a vivid image of the blueprints that tell her history.

She guides you along her story using spoken word poetry, music, rhythm and body movements, making her own instruments with sounds that underscore the text to truly forge a tale of her own and present the process of building with basics, layering it beautifully till the complete project.

Mentored by Zodwa Nyoni who started writing poetry in 2005 with Leeds Young Authors and has now gone on to write full-length plays and multiple short films, the two share a passion for using rhythm and flow to express their creativity.

‘The Quiet Life’ - Elle Warsop

‘The Quiet Life’ is a bold exploration of sound, silence, and the complex layers of identity and communication. It follows a woman in her late 50s who suddenly loses all her hearing after being deaf in one ear her whole life. Through this piece, Elle will explore her own deaf identity and experiment with how to tell this story.

Elle hopes to work with a sound engineer to create an experience that helps audiences understand what it feels like to lose hearing. She also plans to work with a BSL interpreter, to integrate them into the narrative as part of the performance rather than just a translator.

Striving to balance humour and emotion, Elle wants to discover if the piece can make people laugh as well as cry. Mentored by Hull-based writer and director Maureen Lennon, who is currently an Associate Artist at Middle Child Theatre, the two will collaborate to tell a moving story that can be heard by all.

‘Flesh & Bones’ - Heather White

This is an original redeveloped piece by Heather exploring the colonisation, oppression and exploitation of the female body, as well as the reclamation of space and liberation of trauma

through movement. It weaves together a constellation of individual stories, tackling issues spanning topics such as self-image, pop culture and the porn industry.

Blending dance, contemporary movement, poetry and projection- ‘Flesh & Bones’ is both beautifully raw and glamorously real. Heather aims to create a powerful work that resonates with and builds community among women.

This is Heather’s most passionate project yet, combining her experience, skills, and knowledge to her emerging company. She hopes to craft an impactful piece that explores the complexities of womanhood with intelligence, humour and emotional depth.

[Most suitable for an 18+ audience due to adult themes].

‘On Air’ - Jake Scott

Jake Scott is passionate about queer representation, new writing, and uplifting under-represented voices. His piece ‘On Air’ embodies these values down to its production. The one-person play follows a trans man facing online harassment after challenging a transphobic guest on a radio show using a minimalist set to focus on what it means to speak/be heard.

The practicalities of working with sound, both recorded and live engineered, are mediums that Jake enjoys exploring. 'On Air’ will showcase his experimentation with sound equipment/effects used on the stage along with segments of the script recorded and played back. Queer music culture will also be a key theme throughout.

Le Gasp! Productions are a group of neurodivergent theatre makers known for their bold new musicals who make the shows they want to see, tell the stories they want to hear and make them the way they want to. They will be mentoring Jake who wants to tell a trans-masculine story that honestly addresses transphobia and trans joy. ‘On Air’ is his opportunity to innovate with sound technology, experiment with playwriting, and grow as a performer.

For more details about the event and to book tickets click here.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Dada Zubeda

Dada calls herself the world's sibling, with "Dada" meaning "sister" in Swahili. Having lived in many places and heard many languages, she has a natural ability to connect with people and speaks four languages fluently.

Her art form is dynamic performance poetry, blending familiar structure with fluid expression. A core value in her work is the freedom of release—allowing the body and voice to harmonize in a performance that emancipates both the performer and the audience, encouraging unapologetic discovery.

Inclusion is central to Dada's work. Personal experiences with exclusion throughout her life have made inclusion a conscious and subconscious priority, and this symbolic invitation is consistently reflected in her art. Her exploration of past and present emerges dynamically in her performances. Her most recent performance was on January 24th at Commonword's Jam Night, where she shared a piece of spoken word poetry.

Elle Warsop

Elle is a freelance drama practitioner, playwright and actor. She writes comedy drama, mainly about women in their 50s/60s, and hopes that it is relatable, heartfelt but funny.

As an actor she has appeared in many Oldham Theatre Workshop (OTW) productions, including playing Acacia in last year’s ‘The Not Forgotten’ at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. She is a regular member of OTW‘s adult drama group and Writers group.She is a Speech Bubbles practitioner in two primary schools - a programme helping young children with communication needs, and runs drama workshops for 6/7 year olds at OTW.

Heather White

Heather White is the founder and artistic director of Weird Alice Entertainment. Her personal practice explores themes of addiction, sexism, pop culture and neurodivergence. She strives to tell untold yet relatable stories with intelligence, perspective and a bold aesthetic.

Heather has worked as an actor more than 10 years- appearing in stage productions, television, film and music videos. She now works as director, facilitator, filmmaker, writer, dancer and choreographer. As well as regularly performing solo works - spanning live art, durational movement and contemporary dance.

After graduating from The Arden’s Theatre and Performance degree, she trained with Epic Stages (National Youth Theatre) and was part of the CTRL Artist Development and DigiLabs 2023 cohorts with Imitating The Dog. She has had film works nominated by the BFI, several solo works programmed within the Manchester theatre scene such as her works ‘I, The Girl.’ and ‘No Caller ID’ - and she also received National Lottery Funding to develop and debut her company Weird Alice Entertainment’s flagship show - Sanspective.

She is currently developing a solo work for Forge Festival 2025 with The Knotted Project which is also an embodied trans-media exploration of time and connection. Alongside this- she is continuing the development of Sanspective and beginning to investigate climate focused live art with a brand new collective which she also leads.

Jake Scott

Jake is a full-time youth worker and an early career writer who enjoys working across different mediums - he took an original play to the Free Fringe at Edinburgh in 2023, and had poetry published in indie magazines.

Jake has written and performed speeches for events, dabbled in marketing writing, and is currently working on his first long-form prose project. Jake came to writing with a background in theatrical production roles and some experience performing as a hobby - he has been working on developing my professional practice for a few years now and in 2022-23 he undertook an MA in Creative and Critical Writing in which he got a distinction.

His writerly interests include weird fiction, playing with poeticism, and queer/transgender voices and narratives. Jake’s non-writerly interests include walking, cooking, and playing or listening to music.