The Tempest Rerigged: Supporting Community Theatre

The Dorset Performing Arts Fund has just launched, and we caught up with previous recipient Charmaine K to see how the funding supported her project.

I am very fortunate to have been awarded a grant from the Dorset Performing Arts Fund to support my work on the community theatre project for Portland, The Tempest: Rerigged. After speaking with members of the local community, I found they had a passion to have a go at some Shakespeare and, in particular, they wanted to tackle The Tempest, perfect for a Portland adaptation. We created three plays that were written, co-created and performed by groups of the local Dorset community, led by a team of professional writers and SISATA.

The grant I received funded my transportation between locations and communities in Dorset. It was instrumental in bringing the diverse groups together. The project impacted more people from a wider range of backgrounds, and included a wider variety of voices. It was also considered match funding in my Arts Council England application, making it a stronger offer.

Community Collaboration

The project brought together diverse groups from across Dorset, enabling inter-community co-creation and the celebration of Portland’s natural environment, an area of Dorset that so often gets overlooked. 

John Foster, Sarah Acton and Bhadra Subramanian, all at different stages of their writing careers, collaborated with and mentored writers in the community to create a three-part adaptation of ‘The Tempest’, responding to three locations on Portland where the story will be set and considering the impact of climate change on coastal communities.

Arts University Bournemouth, for whom I am a visiting tutor, were on board from the start. Their students have been making all the costumes – from the principal characters to all the community players – since the beginning of the year. They explored the island with the team at the beginning of the year and took part in our Research and Development period at the Lighthouse, Poole. 

The Lighthouse in Poole, Weymouth College, Portland Marina, Bournemouth University and Atlantic Academy all offered us in-kind support with free rehearsal space. 

This is my most ambitious and collaborative project to date, bringing together many partners and community groups across Dorset and beyond. This kind of cooperation is essential with a project of this scale, as well as financial backing, either in-kind support or with match funding.

It has already been a joy to see so much creativity by such a diverse range of people and to see new, and hopefully ongoing, creative partnerships formed between different communities. I’m so grateful to the Arts Development Fund for making this possible by funding my transport between groups.

‘The Tempest: RERIGGED’ was performed at three sites on Friday 15, Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 September 2023. It was recently part of b-side’s Fringe Festival.

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Lighthouse, Poole, Arts University Bournemouth and Bournemouth University.

Dorset Performing Arts Fund is currently open to applications. Find out more here.
The Dorset Performing Arts Fund (DPAF) is delivered by Dorset Community Foundation.