Scratch Night At Exeter Phoenix
We are offering artists the opportunity to take their new ideas a little bit further with support for their performance development during our regular Scratch Nights.
The successful applicants will receive a rehearsal space, the opportunity to perform their work in front of an audience and £150 to support their practice, which they can use however supports them best.
Alternatively, we are hosting Little Scratch sessions on the last Wednesday of each month for artists who are not ready to share in front of a ticketed audience.
Commissions archive
Scroll Arc Theatre: Bound by the Wind (2025). Experience the transformative journey of a deified warrior reclaiming her lost humanity.
Sam Gilroy: Belly Flop (2024) is a vibrant and heartwarming solo about becoming a working mother.
Christopher Hill, Grace Bowyer & Parker Register: Compulsion (2024) A dynamic and mesmerising piece inspired by works from Edgar Allen Poe & Vincent Van Gogh.
Fruitful Productions: Sparks (2024) With our debut production 'Cherry' being taken to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August, 'Sparks' is a new work in progress, following the stories of a series of queer characters.
Spot on the Ceiling Productions: SOS (2024) SOS is a true story about two lost souls searching for answers and how, occasionally you just don’t have enough time to find them.
Four of Swords – The Magical Screentest of Isobel Jeffery (2023) This show is the true story of how Isobel has dedicated herself to following her dream, conquering speech therapy and developing all kinds of innovative strategies.
South West Dance Hub - Acceptably Human (2023) The choreography begins with gestural movement taken from the dancer's own expressions around the question, ‘How would your life be without restrictions, self or superimposed?’
Micha Colombo: The show that still needs writing (2023) It might be about climate change, it might be about feminist rage, it might be just me standing on a stage but there WILL be words on the page.
Rosalie Roger-Lacan and Alice Bebber: Death, Cheddar and Other Urgent Matters (2025). Searing, funny, intimate, and urgently alive—even in death, the show must go on.
Timespun Theatre: Do You Want To Know? (2024) Welcome to the post-information age, where historians grapple with endless streams of memes, hashtags and selfies.
On The Brink: Bye Bye Baby (2024) A dark comedy that delves into the complicated dynamics of a young marriage dashed by betrayal… and paperwork. With the lawyers holding a microscope to their relationship, boundaries are crossed and hidden characteristics are revealed.
Nia Powell: Tears of Joy (2024) follows three women (a Daughter, Mother, Grandmother) as they negotiate the ebbs and flows of motherhood, grief and intergenerational care. It is based on losing a close relative and friend and how we can produce something for their legacy and memory.
Ghost Light Productions – Exposure: A New Ghost Story (2023) After a troubling series of events, Jules visits Simone, a unique therapist highly recommended by her mother. Unfortunately, Simone is unaware of the fact that Jules believes she is being haunted...
Eliza Fraser (2023) Using the idea of airline safety announcements and people's response to them, this show explores how prevalent stalking is in the UK and how victims feel unheard and untrusted to the point of not trusting themselves until, sometimes, it's too late.
Sneaky Beast: Bodies (working title) (2023) Through this highly visual, compelling immersive performance Sneaky Beast explore what our bodies mean to us and the feeling of home we can create and find within them.
Riversmeet: THE OCEAN CAN BE A BRIDGE (2025). Exeter’s lost history – political impact and personal dilemmas in the fight against slavery
Stewart Wright: Circus Calamitous (2024) is a vibrant family comedy dripping in fun, danger and frolics.
Rob Pybus: Dinner With Dallog (2024) Comedy performer and illustrator Rob Pybus is excited to share his tongue-in-cheek take on immersive storytelling, using the medium of animation, projection and his other main prop – his body.
The MTS Company: ‘Its Just Walking’ (2024) An experimental showcase of one person’s lonely struggle to overcome the powerful emotions and physical challenges created by a rediscovery of a love of dance after a 20 year absence from it.
Mattie Konig – Cleft in Twain: A Dispatch from Doggerland (2023) This Menippean slop of video, audio and still imagery invites you to consider if life on another Earth would really be any better than our own – and if bridging the gap between the two would really make things better for either of us.
A Press of Suspects: The Willtordian Ballorian Edwardian Experience ft Murph (2023) Song themes range from Parenting, Mindful Activities (of a dubious nature), Clubbing in your 40’s and the odd Advert. He also likes a good quiz. And chaos.
Charlie Coldfield: Frankendodo (2023) Frank is attempting to bring the dodo back from extinction in his garden shed. With him is his daughter Dorothy, nicknamed Dodo, although she may or may not be actually there.
Four of Swords: Whispers of Wōden (2025), a spectacular retelling of Anglo Saxon myth, told with magical rituals, cryptic illustrations and captivating puppetry!
We’re All Friends Comedy: The Quest for Love, Murder and Revenge in Space (2024) Five actors, five genres! What happens? You decide.
Declan Duffy: Call Yourself An Irishman?! (2024) He’ll be considering the history of Irish migration to Britain, the difficulties encountered by the people who made that journey, and how all of it has influenced us, their descendants, in our consideration of who we are, what we are.
Mark Jardine: The First Men in The Moon (2024) This extract from The First Men in the Moon by HG Wells, is a solo stage adaptation of the classic adventure novel brought to life by Devon based actor Mark Jardine.
Tash & Friends – STORIES, or How to Lift a Family Curse (2023) A one person documentary play that tells the true story of a family living in Devon, some of whom believe in the existence of a generational curse.
BossyB*tchProductions: In Memoriam (2023) “In Memoriam” invites you inside the lives of the Woodman family the morning of Graham’s funeral - a time for the family to mourn in peace together and reflect on the loss of their loved one.
Alasdair Wallace: (S)he Who Delights (2023) This deeply personal retelling of the myth of Iphis and Ianthe is about growing up knowing that you’re different. It’s about having to hide who you are to survive. It’s about that first horrible crush.
