The Makerspace at Portland Works

Only Lucky Dogs Theatre is partnering with Portland Works to create a theatre in the historic setting of Portland Works’ Makerspace. We’ll be incorporating the current range of events and activities that happen at Portland Works into our new programme of theatre, creating a welcoming multi-arts venue that presents distinctive work from Sheffield and beyond.

The intimate nature of the space, with a capacity of just fifty audience members and surrounded by busy workshops, makes it suitable for new work, fringe-style theatre, gig theatre, immersive and interactive productions. We are inviting companies and individual artists to propose work for performance from April 2021.

In difficult times for theatre-makers, we are looking ahead to 2021, and the possibility of kickstarting live performance once again, with hope. We believe that emerging companies and grassroots artists are essential to lead this, and we look forward to hosting exciting work that will help re-imagine Sheffield’s theatre ecology.

Our aims

• To provide a theatre and artistic space for the Little Sheffield area.

• To operate a space that supports the use of theatre and performance to explore the industrial history of the area and the city of Sheffield.

• To provide a venue that encourages and facilitates the expansion of theatre as a form of culture, incorporating a range of performers and styles that reflects the diversity of Little Sheffield and the wider city.

If you are not a company or artist with the intention of performing at the Makerspace, but are interested to know more about the project, please also contact us.

Applying to perform

We will open applications again for our second season of work in early 2021. In the meantime, here's what we asked for in our first callout, so you can get an idea of our ethos:

If you feel that you and your work are ideal for the Makerspace, we would love to hear from you!

Please send as much information as you can about you - the company or artist - and the show you want to perform in the Makerspace:

• We would like the key details to be in written form where possible - a short synopsis, cast size, creative team and company/artist biography, genre, and technical requirements. A tour pack is great but the main thing is to explain clearly who you are and what you will do in the space.

• If it’s more comfortable for you, once you’ve sent the basic details in written form, you can send us a video or voice note explaining your work and the show you want to perform at the Makerspace. Please try and keep recordings under five minutes in length.

• We would also love to see short clips of past productions where possible.

• Photos of rehearsals and past performances are helpful, as are images of any marketing material you may have used in the past. However, please try not to rely on promotional images alone to convey the sense of the show.

• Likewise, please don’t use the same language you’d use to market the show when explaining it to us, whether written or verbal. We’ll ask for marketing copy later on, which we are happy to help with if needed.

Send an email with all the relevant information, together with phone and email contacts you are happy for us to reach you on, to onlyluckydogs@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!