Originally founded by Jim Pope and Phillip Osment, Playing ON marks their milestone 10th anniversary this year by looking to the future in this year like no other, providing new training and education schemes. A newly founded leadership structure will deliver the company’s vision over the coming years. 

In the last five years, the company has helped their associates to grow as facilitators and writers, mentoring emerging practitioners by delivering training and intensive devising programmes. Osment’s legacy will be honoured with a writing opportunity in collaboration with his long-time friend and literary executor, Lin Coghlan. 

Playing ON have produced three full-scale theatrical productions to date, working with prisoners and prison staff, mental health service users and NHS staff, hospital patients, drama students, those in recovery for addiction, young people in care and youth offending teams. 

The company is in development with ‘UNshore’ , in partnership with Rose Bruford and their master’s students and Lewisham College. This is an exploration of gender fluidity, non-binary identities and sexuality through the prism of fish in an aquarium. They are also working with the NHS Foundation Trust on a project about mental health contexts, working with service users, medical and non-medical mental health staff. 

Artistic Director Jim Pope said: “Phillip and I had a vision to create a permanent theatre company which would enable disenfranchised people to have their voices heard in community spaces and in theatres. A lot has happened since we started in 2010. Phillip is sadly no longer with us having passed away last year; he left a powerful legacy of theatre practice as a tool for transforming people’s lives. As lives become more isolated and the gap between rich and poor widens during the pandemic, the need for our work has increased. We have made it to the ten-year mark and I am now convinced that we will be playing on for many years to come.”

For more information on the theatre company, please click here.