Practitioner Focus: Headlong Theatre

The Stage references Headlong Theatre Company's capacity for ‘bold story telling’, something that has fuelled the organisation's work throughout the past five decades. Formed as a touring company in 1974 and known as the Oxford Stage Company until 2006, Headlong has been behind many memorable shows, including the recently revived People, Places and Things, Enron and 1984. The group is under the artistic direction of Holly Race Roughan.

Headlong's work is often informed by its frequent partnerships with new playwrights, theatres, directors and other companies that ‘bring fresh ideas and perspectives’. For instance, the 2024 production with Chichester Festival Theatre of Laura Lomas’ The House Party (pictured), a modern adaptation of Strindberg's Miss Julie, was also a collaboration with Frantic Assembly. The influence of multimedia in performance has also developed in recent years, such as in 1984 where large video projections created the omniscient surveillance of Big Brother.