Jumble It Up

Throughout 2006 and 2007, Jumbled ran Jumble It Up  - exciting evenings of experimental theatre and performance works at an early stage of their development.

We were supported by the Oxford Playhouse, with performances taking place at The Burton Taylor Studio at Oxford Playhouse.

Through a national call, we sought artists that challenge and explore the forms in which they work.

Jumble It Up First Dates was bitesize chunks of work, often on their first outing in front of an audience.

Jumble It Up Best of Before invited two of the companies who showed work at the previous round of First Dates to return with longer versions; all the better for the First Dates' audience feedback.

The Feedback Cafe

Both First Dates and Best of Before were accompanied by the Feedback Café; always announced to the audience as the 6th performance of the evening! The Feedback Cafe was a way we found to give genuinly helpful and supportive feedback to artists, while making this an engaging part of the evening for the audience. The structure was developed by drawing on the World Café conferencing system and on a mentoring scheme run by the Nightingale Theatre in Brighton that someone told us about. In brief, we buddied the artist up with a feedback friend, who served as a note-taker, a hand-holder, and, most often, an artist who knew how to give their own feedback sensitively. We then asked the audience to move around from table to table, artist to artist, spending only 5 minutes with each. A set of principles or useful suggestions encouraged feedback towards being positive and away from needing to be an expert. And feedbackers were always encouraged to duck out and head to the bar whenever they wanted - some Law Of Two Feet from Open Space Technology was in there too! We have found it a really successful model for engaging and inspiring the audience to give feedback, in a way that is not intimidating for those who are not theatre-makers. The method aims to sit between the formal post-show talk and ‘buy the artist a drink in the bar’ systems, and avoid the pitfalls of both. For more details of how the Feedback Cafe worked contact lucyfoster@jumbled.org.uk

Here is what the Daily Information had to say about the nights in June 2007.