Meet our New Beginners, Summer 2025

This Summer, we invited artists and creative companies to claim rehearsal space at Stanley Arts for a whole week. The opportunity encourages artists/creative companies to develop their next creative project whether that’s R&D, to support funding applications or simply to rehearse.

From 14th of July – 29th August 2025, we were joined by a plethora of aspiring creatives and saw Edinburgh Fridge previews, research and development of new shows, experimentations with AI, works in progress, rehearsals and more come through the Stanley Arts door.

Discover more about each of our New Beginners, below.

Youth In Flames by Mimi Martin

What did you work on during your time at Stanley Arts’ New Beginnings?

Whilst at Stanley Arts, we had the opportunity to rehearse our upcoming production Youth in Flames. We have been working on this solo play for the past year and these last few rehearsals helped finalise all the last details as we prepare for our premier at the Edinburgh Fringe this August. Youth in Flames, is a coming-of-age solo show set in Hong Kong during the 2019 protests. We follow Millie, a British expat as she searches for her sense of home whilst a city struggles to hold onto it’s own identity. Through her friendship with local HongKonger Jesse, she gets pulled into the heart of the protest but what begins as a night of dopamine-fuelled excitement quickly spirals into chaos.

How has New Beginnings at Stanley Arts helped to inform your practice?

Being able to rehearse at Stanley Arts allowed us to detail every element of the show, look into the transitions, and bash out any staging that wasn’t working. Being able to have a rehearsal space with a sound system was hugely beneficial as Guy Martin, our sound designer, has produced soundscapes that encompass the chaotic world of Hong Kong. Having access to the space over consecutive days allowed us to solidify the changes we made and give us that final boost of confidence we needed for bringing this show to the big stage.

@youthinflamesplay
@martini.mii
@jessica.whiley

Miss Havisham’s Clothes Swap by Helen Tennison

About Helen Tennison

Helen Tennison is an Edinburgh Fringe First Award winning Theatremaker. Her recent absurd lecture-performance, Doggerland, ‘This one-woman show is a tour de force performance that sweeps you away’, Broadway Baby, was nominated for Best Show of the Festival, Stockholm Fringe. Helen recently adapted ‘Mrs Dalloway’ for the Royal Society of Literature centenary celebrations and is about to direct a tour of her play about living with Dementia, ‘Navigating Margaret’. She works internationally as a theatre director specialising in Shakespeare, classics, devised and site-responsive performance. She works in professional and community contexts (ideally both at once) with a focus on theatre as a means of building community and connection.

Her work plays at the intersection of naturalism and expressionism. Helen’s experience includes work for Soho Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, The Old Vic, the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Camden People’s Theatre, New Diorama, and Creation Theatre. She was previously Artist in Residence at the University of South Florida and Associate Artist at the University of Greenwich. She works extensively in drama schools. Helen runs regular workshops and enjoys mentoring other artists at all stages of their careers. You can find her on Insta & YouTube.

What did you work on during your time at Stanley Arts’ New Beginnings?

Miss Havisham’s Clothes Swap, my new solo show about identity, fast fashion and their relationship to the colonialism/capitalism axis. The performance is hosted by Miss Havisham, a character from Charles Dickens’ novel, Great Expectations. She’s a fantastical, gothic figure, having remained in her wedding dress since the day she was jilted. This ageing, wealthy Victorian is an absurd, provocative and hopefully entertaining doorway to my themes.

How has New Beginnings at Stanley Arts helped to inform your practice?

The principal gift was the freedom to explore without pressure and the support of a welcoming environment. Everyone at Stanley Arts was so friendly, it felt great to be a part of my local creative community – for a freelancer, this is a huge thing! Rehearsal space is a huge expense, and so I’m used to working very quickly to produce results. However, to really create something new, artists need time to experiment. New Beginnings gave me that.

As well as being a piece of theatre, Miss Havisham’s Clothes Swap is an actual clothes swap. So having the opportunity to do a very low-pressure sharing of the work was invaluable. It gave me great insights into how to develop the piece and the audience interaction.
Before New Beginnings, Miss Havisham’s Clothes Swap was a hazy vision of images and themes; now I have a concrete sense of how to develop it and where to tour it.

You Will Smile Again by Alex Burgoyne

About

My name is Alex Burgoyne and I like to make work that is heartwarming, kind of mad and deeply rooted in the human experience. I like to combine contrasting disciplines together to find different ways to tell the same story. I experiment with live music, poetry, games, physical theatre and visual artwork to name a few. I like to build and destroy the status quo built in my work many times and get the audience to always be surprised by what comes next.

What did you work on during your time at Stanley Arts’ New Beginnings?

Throughout my time at Stanley Arts’ New Beginnings I developed my piece titled You Will Smile Again :). We follow ‘Boy’ (such a creative name, I know), who goes through an experience that changes him forever. Against his will he embarks on a journey alone to understand and love his younger self… BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. This is a one man show that uses puppetry, clowning, music, and Kantor’s “Room” to explore the relationship between someone and their past in an intimate manner. It covers topics such as dealing with a break up, what causes men to embrace toxic masculinity, the battle of repression and expression of feelings, and how the search for love in relationships can destroy us. At Stanley Arts specifically I experimented with what ‘Boys’ ‘self-improvement arc’ would look like, testing out different habits ‘Boy’ would implement into his life. I explored the ones that could be made fun of, and others that on the outside may be embraced, but are rooted in unhealthy motivations and psychology. I also developed a sequence where ‘Boy’ gives a eulogy… for himself. Mad.

How has New Beginnings at Stanley Arts helped to inform your practice?

I am so grateful to Stanley Arts for giving me this opportunity to develop my piece. The space I was given was perfect for the insular nature of the piece and everyone was so kind and eager to help out. With this time and space, I was able to try out so many ideas and really reflect on what the piece means to me and how I wanted this story to be told. I’ve even come up with a draft for the ending! The piece really needed space to breathe for me to find these elements. I have developed so much more content for the piece and know where it’s trajectory for the future. Before Stanley Arts, it was a self contained extract with ideas floating around. After Stanley Arts, I have almost an hour’s worth of content and a full scope for the rest of the show.

But You Don’t Have to Say Sorry by Tuva Berglund

About

Tuva Westgaard Berglund is a 24 year old choreographer, dancer, and movement facilitator from Norway, currently living in London. After completing her BA (Hons) in contemporary dance with a 1st class honours at Trinity Laban, she has been teaching and performing, while developing her own projects. Tuva is especially interested in movement as an alternative mode of communication, which can open up the space to express and explore feelings and experiences where words become insufficient. She is currently researching grief, joy, and care in sibling relationships affected by chronic illness for her new work “But you don’t have to say sorry”, and she is continuing her research into repetition, memory, and ephemerality through her project “The Invisible Library”.

What did you work on during your time at Stanley Arts’ New Beginnings?

During my time at Stanley Arts’ New Beginnings, I developed my solo piece «But you don’t have to say sorry». I experimented with poetry and spoken word, revised and edited, and rehearsed the piece for a private in-progress showing on the last day of my residency. The week allowed me plenty of time to think about my work in different ways, as I focused on a different element of the piece each day. It was wonderful to be able to come back to the same space day after day with thoughts and experiences from the previous days fresh in mind, and I truly felt that this consistency helped uncover new possibilities within my work.

How has New Beginnings at Stanley Arts helped to inform your practice?

As I consider myself to mainly be a dancer and choreographer, I have primarily worked with movement in my previous works. Through New Beginnings, I got the opportunity to widen my artistic practice, as I experimented with merging spoken word and poetry with my dancing. I have used writing as a creative tool for a long time, but I have never felt like I’ve had the time to investigate how these two modes of creative output could be merged – New Beginnings was therefore the perfect opportunity to start experimenting, as I was given the opportunity to further develop my work rather than having to start from scratch. I now feel more confident in using both movement and writing in my work from the very beginning of the creative process.

What did you work on during your time at Stanley Arts’ New Beginnings?

Our week at Stanley Arts gave us the space and facilities to rehearse my new show, The Brown Ranger, which premiered at The Nest (Chichester Festival Theatre), a week later.

The Brown Ranger is a solo theatre show that explores how representation in pop culture shapes an identity and our sense of belonging. Focusing specifically on the 1990s to late 2010s, the piece questions what happens when a person grows up consuming stories that don’t reflect them—or worse, reduces them to harmful stereotypes—and explores how these stories impact both how you see yourself and how others view you. It’s about the psychological impact of never seeing yourself as the hero, and the transformative power of reclaiming space through storytelling.

The narrative follows Thomas, a mixed-race (South Asian and White) boy who, after experiencing his first act of racial discrimination at the park one day, begins to question his place in the world. In response, he creates a superhero alter ego — The Brown Ranger — to insert himself into the worlds that excluded him. Inspired by Mighty Morphin Power Rangers — a show I loved growing up, even as its colour-coded casting told a more complicated story — this new ranger was born from the absence I felt: there was no Brown Ranger. Years later, that gap became the spark for a fictional hero who helps Thomas rewrite the narrative and imagine himself at the centre — even when the world would cast him as a villain.

The Brown Ranger insists that people shouldn’t be defined by how others see them — that whilst we should be proud of our heritage, we are more than our bodies; and that we should be defined by what we love.

How has New Beginnings at Stanley Arts helped to inform your practice?

Stanley Arts provided us with essential rehearsal space, technical support, and storage facilities, creating the time and headspace we needed to develop the show in a focused, supportive environment. For me, it was also a chance to build a relationship with a nearby London venue — something that felt especially meaningful as an emerging artist — whilst gaining useful insights into the production process as a performer. The Stanley Arts team kindly offered to host a sharing and documented the work throughout rehearsals, giving thoughtful feedback that helped shape the final stages, support our marketing efforts, and strengthen our visual portfolio. Being part of the New Beginnings attachment also helped raise awareness of the project through their networks — support that’s especially valuable ahead of our London transfer in November. Overall, this experience has helped us strengthen existing processes, sharpen the final stages of development, and build a clearer vision for how we want to collaborate and present work going forward.

American Candy by The Mango Ensemble

About

We are The Mango Ensemble, a political new writing theatre company. We aim to champion new work by talented young artists, and overcome the economic, discriminatory, and geographical restrictions that define our theatrical landscape. We believe flourishing art is essential to a flourishing society. That it’s the soul of our community: its creativity, curiosity, empathy… its therapy… We believe theatre, more than any other art form, has the power to insist we live in a society. That it can inspire and guide; shape the world into a better place. That is, after all, what makes it so dangerous.

What did you work on during your time at Stanley Arts’ New Beginnings?

We worked on the upcoming production of our new play American Candy… a thrilling dark comedy inspired by the opening of mysterious American Candy Stores that take up prime real estate across the UK. No one seems to go in and many have been reported as fronts for criminal activity. American Candy is about capitalist corruption, the rise of the far right, and the distrust it generates.

Find out more about our tour here: https://www.mangoensemble.com/american-candy

Specifically, we used the space to trial certain set ideas our director, Francesca, and our designer, Ruby, were flirting with. The included exploring dynamic transitions, experimenting with different colour schemes, and testing the stability and practicalities of the mechanisms we were using. When we weren’t in the workshop assembling different set items, we ran character workshops with the cast, doing deep dives into their histories and motivations. On the final play, we did a full cast reading, swapping roles throughout to help us see the play in a different light.

How has New Beginnings at Stanley Arts helped to inform your practice?

It has been so valuable to have a space for the week to work through all the design elements of our production ahead of our two-week rehearsal period. Usually with small-scale touring shows, you don’t get to find out if the set design fully practically works until it is assembled in show week. As a result of the work we have done here, our director can structure their blocking around a set design we know works, saving us valuable time during our dress and tech.

It’s also been fantastic for the cast to do these intensive character explorations. It’s such a character-driven drama and, whilst very funny, the journeys they go on are quite intense and gruelling. It’s been great for them to find their feet and comfort with their characters ahead of the first day of official rehearsals start.

Physical Gestures and Language X AI by DNA Studio

About

At DNA Studio, we create immersive experiences that explore human behaviours and cultural changes through performance art and interactive new media. Our work centres on social issues, challenging audiences to engage and take action. By interacting with the audience, we aim to make an impact. We use multimedia and interactivity as creative tools to investigate, experiment with, and expand the boundaries of immersive art.

Founded in 2015, DNA Studio is a collaboration between Dor Frenkel, a physical theatre director and performer (trained at Jacques Lecoq; MA from Trinity Laban), and Amit Segall, a new media artist and musician (MA from Goldsmiths; Ableton Live certified trainer). As global majority artists, we bring diverse perspectives to our creative process, shaping our work through movement, storytelling, technology, and audience interaction.

What did you work on during your time at Stanley Arts’ New Beginnings?

During our time at Stanley’s arts’ New Beginnings, we researched a new project exploring how physical gesture and language are translated, distorted, and reimagined through AI systems.

We are interested in the shared human gestures that accompany everyday phrases across different cultures: movements that carry emotional, historical, and cultural weight. Using new technologies and AI systems, we created a responsive environment where gestures trigger AI-driven translations, projections, and soundscapes.

How has New Beginnings at Stanley Arts helped to inform your practice?

The residency offered us valuable time and space to delve deeply into research without the pressure of immediate outcomes. This intensive period allowed us to test new tools, take creative risks, and reflect critically on the intersection between embodiment, language, and technology. The supportive environment and access to Stanley Arts’ space gave us the freedom to explore early ideas that will form the foundation of future work.

Innocence Lost by Kenny Wing Tao Ho

About

Hey I am Kenny Wing Tao Ho, choreographer and dance artist based in London, originally from Chesterfield in Derbyshire. I am a graduate from London Contemporary Dance School and come from a background in breakdance. My dance career has been primarily with Luca Silvestrini’s Protein Dance, Hofesh Shechter Company and Gecko Theatre, I am currently making and developing my own work and figuring out this combination of dance theatre, dance, physical theatre that I have experienced and trained in over my career.

My work is focused on creating authentic expression through the body, dance and movement. I am passionate about working with personal narrative and experiences, revealing the emotion, spirit and humanity that compels us to live.

What did you work on during your time at Stanley Arts’ New Beginnings?

I worked on my solo Innocence Lost, a two part evening of dance theatre exploring childhood, innocence and acceptance. I was specifically working on the second part which I want to be a pure dance piece, which means to me a piece which is all dance, no text, no speaking, no singing, no theatricality.

How has New Beginnings at Stanley Arts helped to inform your practice?

Me, Jae, Noah and the AIs Who Made Me Choose by Sojourner Hazelwood-Connell

About

Sojourner is an actor and multidisciplinary creative working across dance, martial arts, writing, stage combat, and fine art. They trained at Drama Centre London and hold a First-Class degree in Drama from Queen Mary University of London, including study abroad at UC Berkeley.

Performance credits include Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (Sirrah Sisters), multiple productions with Foreign Affairs (plays in translation), and The Show Must Go Online as Dido, Queen of Carthage and more which can be found on Sojourner Spotlight

As a writer, Sojourner is currently in conversation with a London venue about a second R&D of their play on Medusa, with the aim of a full production within the year. They’re also developing new writing centred on Dido and the Minotaur. Their creative focus explores the intersections of queerness, myth, and Global Majority experiences.

What did you work on during your time at Stanley Arts’ New Beginnings?

During my time at Stanley Arts, I continued development of a new solo show; Me, Jae, Noah and the AIs Who Made Me Choose. Across the week, I workshopped writing, explored choreography, held a table read and group discussion, and put scenes on their feet alongside some brilliant collaborators: Esmonde Cole, Natasha Brown, Kennedy Jopson, and Pid’or Tampa.

We shared some powerful conversations around the ethics of AI, digital intimacy, and how technology is shaping our emotional lives,  especially when it comes to connection, loneliness, and the boundaries we place around love, friendship, and family.

Although the play is written by me, two of the characters are AIs , with some of their dialogue created in collaboration with AI tools.

How has New Beginnings at Stanley Arts helped to inform your practice?

My time at Stanley Arts reminded me how much I value discussion and collective collaboration in the rehearsal room. Plays grow through exchange, through being spoken aloud and given voice. I thrive when I can test ideas, hear other perspectives, and shape the work through conversation. Sometimes that means realising a scene is doing exactly what I intended. Other times, it means discovering new layers, or recognising what needs changing or cutting altogether.

What struck me most was how readily people empathised with the characters, even when on the surface they had little in common. That generosity of imagination, time, and presence was a gift.

New Beginnings reaffirmed my belief that a rehearsal room is a space for engagement as much as creation. People showed up with care and curiosity, passion and commitment even without funding. That spirit reminded me that collaboration is where my practice comes most alive.

From Scratch by Common Ground

About

My name is Molly Walker, I am poet/actor/theatre-maker and the Artistic Director of Common Ground. Common Ground is a collective for creatives to collaborate, connect and workshop new writing. We run Open-mic nights, R&D’s, a writing workshop woven into a hike, mixers and Scratch Nights. Our entire ethos revolves around connection. We try to find new ways to bring people together, in a non-competitive, purely collaborative environment.

What did you work on during your time at Stanley Arts’ New Beginnings?

From Scratch is a brand new scratch night, where we work over 5 days to build an ensemble of creatives. Scratch Nights can often feel quite insular and isolated as the piece only gets shared on the night, so we’ve been using the space to involve as many creatives as possible, to build 4 creative teams. Each team is made up of actors, writers and directors who have not previously collaborated. One of the teams involved is made up of devisers, all of whom will develop their own piece from scratch.

How has New Beginnings at Stanley Arts helped to inform your practice?

It’s given us permission to play, and explore. By giving us the space to be creative without the pressure of a finished product, we’ve been able to focus on our craft and test out this new Scratch Night concept.

Group images credit: Lucinda Davidson

It’s our privilege to welcome such a variety of artists, companies and projects come through the Stanley Arts doors. New Beginnings will return for January 2026. Check out our website or sign up to our newsletter (below) for the latest news. Alternatively, follow us on Instagram & Facebook.