Roundabout

In 2014, when I was Joint Artistic Director of Paines Plough, we launched ROUNDABOUT.

ROUNDABOUT is a pop-up, plug-and-play theatre – the first of its kind in the world. It seats 168 people completely in the round and flat packs into a lorry. It features a revolutionary 628 LED lighting rig and surround sound.

It took four years to imagine, design, architect, engineer, persuade people it was a good idea and raise £500k to pay for it.

“A beautifully designed masterpiece in engineering.” _{‍
WINNER The Stage Award Theatre Building of the Year 2015}

ROUNDABOUT was designed to welcome people who may think theatre is not for them – a theatre that is unassuming, accessible, cheap and circus-like. ROUNDABOUT tours to places like Marsh Farm Estate in Luton (one of the most diverse estates in Britain), the pedestrian precinct of Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent, and a disused bowling green in Little Hulton, which has one of the least engaged populations in the country. In each of these places new plays appear as part of a week-long festival of theatre, comedy, music and events programmed and created by the local community, for the local community.

“Something strange and delightful has landed... It’s Paines Plough’s new portable Roundabout auditorium, a colourful, comfortable, spaceship-like venue that, delightfully, can be assembled in each new place it visits using only an Allen key.”
_{Evening Standard}

Roundabout was designed by Lucy Osborne and Emma Chapman for studiothreesixty in collaboration with Charcoalblue and Howard Eaton. It was built and developed by Factory Settings. Roundabout was made possible thanks to the belief and generous support of Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust, John Ellerman Foundation and hundreds of individuals who made invaluable donations.

Find out what Roundabout is doing now on the Paines Plough website.