Third Angel

In partnership with Plymouth Culture, as part of the Heritage Active Zone Cultural programme HAZ, we’re very excited to be making a brand new version of our participatory, story-swapping, map-making performance for public spaces The Desire Paths in Plymouth this summer, and we’re looking for performers or artists who are based in, or have strong connections to Plymouth to be part of our team. 

The Desire Paths is a conversational, durational performance that involves drawing a street map on the floor with chalk, talking to the public and inviting them to rename a street after a hope or dream for the future. It also involves listening to any stories they tell you about themselves and/or the town, and maybe telling those stories back at the end of the project. You can see photos and video of indoor and outdoor versions of the show here.

We always research the history of street names in our new location, but we know from experience that it helps to have some people on the team who are already familiar with the city and its history. 

SO we are looking for 3 performers experienced or interested in engaging with the public, gathering stories (so listening and telling), drawing/writing in performance. You might be an actor or performer who wants to try some task-based work, a visual artist interested in installation and performance, a presenter, or anything else that uses those skills.

You’ll need to be available for at least one remote pre-production meeting in June, and then to work in person from Thursday 30 June to Sunday 3 July inclusive for rehearsal and performance, plus a little time on Monday 4 July to tidy up, collate and send over write-ups of the stories you’ve collected. We pay £130/day for 4 days minimum, 5 days maximum. Rehearsal and performance days are usually 6 1/2 hours plus breaks.

Interested? We would love to meet up and have a chat! We’d particularly like to hear from artists who have global majority heritage, d/Deaf or disabled artists and those from marginalised communities.

Our Co-artistic Director Alex Kelly will be in Plymouth on 25th of May for a site visit and to talk to interested performers. To book in for a conversation, please click here.

And if you have questions about the project in advance, drop him an email here. 

Recruitment is now closed for this post. Thank you for your interest! 

We’re creating the new, full-time permanent role of Projects & Communications Co-ordinator. Could that be you..?

The Projects & Communications Co-ordinator will be key to the successful delivery of Third Angel’s plans over the coming years, updating our project management processes to keep everything on track, and turn our Communications Strategy into a deliverable plan. We’re looking for an enthusiastic team member with experience of successful project management and marketing and communications approaches.

You’ll be skilled at scheduling and co-ordination, a great communicator, and confident using social media for professional purposes. Your experience could be gained through employment, voluntary work or through hobbies or passion projects. We believe that diverse teams make the best decisions and are always looking for opportunities to bring new ideas, perspectives and life experiences into our team.

We’d particularly love to hear from applicants who have global majority heritage and from those who are d/Deaf or disabled. We’re striving to be an inclusive and supportive employer, and would welcome any conversations about how we can make our workplace accessible to you.

The role is full-time (35hrs / week) and annual salary is £22,000 per year (equivalent to £2,050 per month before tax).

The closing date for applications is 9:00am on Monday 16th May and interviews on Thursday 26th May 2022. 

Unfortunately, we’re unable to be flexible on the interview date so please ensure you would be able to attend on that date.

You can download the Information Pack HERE [link now disabled]

If you have any questions please email us on mail@thirdangel.co.uk or if it would be helpful to have an informal chat you can call us on 0114 274 4974 and ask for Laura Holmes (our Executive Director)

Do you want to change people’s minds about what theatre can be?

We are looking to recruit three new Trustees to the Third Angel board. No previous board experience is necessary, as training and support will be given where needed. What’s important is that Trustees can champion our values and bring different perspectives, skills and life experiences to our conversations and our work. 

We will be holding an open information session and Q&A on Zoom on Tuesday 18 January 2022 from 5 – 6pm for those who would like to know more.

We are committed to having a broad range of voices at the top of our organisation – different ages, different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, D/deaf and disabled voices, LGBTQ+ voices to ensure that our strategic thinking and decision making remain creative, lively and balanced.

We are particularly interested to hear from:

• Artists, particularly those with experience of making small scale theatre
• Community leaders and advocates, particularly those with connections to Sharrow & Nether Edge (S7)
• People with good financial management skills
• Marketing, communications or public relations (PR) professionals
• Entrepreneurs, self-starters and original thinkers
• People involved in education & young people’s provision
• Leaders or influencers in the arts sector

Our values guide our decision making and how we operate and work with others. Third Angel is:

• Innovative and experimental
• Playful
• Collaborative
• Open and transparent
• Trusting
• Inclusive, accessible and anti-racist
• Socially and environmentally responsible

Third Angel is a theatre company led by founding Artistic Directors Rachael Walton and Alexander Kelly. We make shows and participatory events that tell stories, ask questions and invite conversations. We aim to create collective experiences that reflect and interrogate the ways in which we live in the world that surrounds us, now and in the future. We believe everyone should be able to access the arts and are committed to trying to break down the barriers, whatever they may be.

Please contact mail@thirdangel.co.uk for more information about the role or an informal chat. 

We’re well into The Distraction Agents second run, and we’re labelling, stamping and posting as fast as we can, we thought we’d give everyone a little ‘making of’ time with Freya and Daphne, aka Rachael and Stacey. Over to them…

And don’t forget, you can still buy The Distraction Agents from this very website! And click before the 17th December, and you should even get it before Christmas. 

Shot and edited by Helen Varley, Digital Marketing Manager

We’re delighted to announce the appointment of our new Trainee Community Producer, Liliya! Liliya will be helping out with our participation work, including the Future Makers workshops which are now in full swing!

Liliya actually started a few weeks ago, so we’re handing over to her to introduce herself and tell us how it’s been going so far.

I first learned about Third Angel when I was nineteen and retaking my A-Levels, seeing promo for ‘The Department of Distractions’. Sadly, I couldn’t see the show due to school and other commitments, but the following year I was lucky enough to be offered a place on an ‘Introduction to Directing’ course created by the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme and facilitated by Third Angel.

By that point, I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in the performing arts, and after the eight-week course, I felt a strong pull towards Third Angel as a company. I really admired how dedicated, ambitious and welcoming the team was. Now, almost three years on, I am really happy to be working on that team as the Trainee Community Producer!

Most of my creative past has been on stage. Acting is my deepest passion and I’ve been auditioning to drama schools for the past few years. My most memorable performance so far was playing Nora Helmer in a production of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House with the Lantern Theatre. I like to think I still have some of Nora’s individualism, awareness and boldness after embodying her. 

Recently, I performed with Walk with Amal with Sheffield Theatres which was such a joy to be a part of, and again so fulfilling to see so many people engaged with the performance and message of the event! Alongside performing, I love facilitating theatre in one way or another: from stage managing a production of Twelfth Night to creating costumes, I enjoy many different elements of theatre production.

Being Third Angel’s Trainee Community Producer is a real honour: I get to encourage other people to explore their creativity and passion through creating new work. Facilitating Future Makers has been so wholesome. We recently collaborated with The1Devotion (Dominic Heslop) for the rap and spoken word workshop, and seeing young people engaging so wholeheartedly with expressing themselves through spoken word was beautiful. I feel really lucky that I get to give what younger me would have loved to experience.

It’s difficult for me to accurately say what my realistic expectations are for this position, being a raging perfectionist! Some days it seems like I’m always thinking “I could have done x better” or “why didn’t I think to say y?” Or “I shouldn’t have done z in this way, what was I thinking?” But one thing I can say is that I’m really looking forward to how this environment fosters my confidence, self-belief and connection to the arts in a new perspective among a team which feels like home.Third Angel is a company which has highlighted to me just how performance arts are crucial to feeling connected to ourselves, to others and to wider issues in our communities.

Outside of Third Angel, I’m working with the Sheffield Theatre’s Young Company, getting music lessons in Yellow Arch Studios or going to acrobatic, yoga and dance classes amongst other creative, holistic and freeing endeavours. I’m excited to see where these six months take me! 

Win a copy of our limited edition challenge experience!

Following a successful first run of The Distraction Agents in the summer, we’re delighted to give you another chance to play. And to celebrate, we’re giving away three boxes for free!

The Department of Distractions, a clandestine organisation that claims its job is to plant stories in the world “to make life more interesting”, is on the search for new recruits… and they think YOU might be just what they need.

The Distraction Agents is a game, a puzzle, a challenge, and a story that can be enjoyed from home in your own time. The experience includes a mysterious box delivered to your door containing five tasks set by the Distraction Agents themselves. Immerse yourself in the world of this top secret organisation, follow the video instructions sent by your recruiter, and then complete the challenges to reveal the secret code and unlock your prize! Here’s a little taster…

This competition is open to UK residents only and as it is a free draw, it’s free to enter!

How to enter:

The competition opens on Wednesday 17th October (10am) when our first posts will go out on our social media channels. 

Enter on Twitter – Like and retweet any of our ‘competition’ posts. You get an entry for every retweet, so the more posts you retweet the more chances you’ll have!

Enter on Facebook – Like and comment on any of the ‘competition’ posts tagging someone who you think would like this experience. You’ll get an entry for each person you tag.

Enter on Instagram – Like and comment on any of the ‘competition’ posts tagging someone who loves puzzles, mysteries or board games (one tag per entry, so the more you tag, the higher your chance of winning). You can also get an extra entry if you share the post to your stories. Make sure you tag us @third_angel_uk or we won’t see your share!

How the winner is chosen:

There is one winner per platform. For each retweet/share/tag you receive one entry, each additional retweet/share/tag will earn you an additional entry. So the more you share, the higher your chance of winning!

The competition closes 8am on Wednesday 3rd November 2021. Any shares after this time will not be counted.

All the entries will be entered into draw and the winner will be picked at random. There will be a draw for each platform, so three chances to win!

We will contact the winner by direct message on the social media platform they entered on.

The prize:

The prize is a free copy of The Distraction Agents experience.

If you aren’t lucky enough to win the prize, you can still buy The Distraction Agents from early November, but you’ll need to be quick as we only have a limited number of boxes available.

Questions? Contact us at mail@thirdangel.co.uk

EDIT: DEADLINE EXTENDED! Contact your Work Coach to discuss a referral. 

Exciting news! We are hiring a new Trainee Community Producer to join Third Angel for a six month placement. This is a Kickstart position open to 16 - 24 year olds in receipt of Universal Credit. If that sounds like you, and you are passionate about theatre, drama and performance, keep reading…

Third Angel’s community projects are at the heart of what we do. We provide support for the next generation of artists, as well as delivering creative workshops in Sheffield with the goal of making theatre and performance accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. As part of our programmes, we encourage individuals to explore their own creativity, express themselves and learn new skills relating to drama, performance and production.

We are looking for someone with enthusiasm and confidence to work alongside our skilled team and deliver our busy schedule of creative workshops for young people and community groups in Sharrow and Nether Edge in Sheffield over the coming months.

The Trainee Community Producer will gain hands on experience in designing and delivering engaging creative activities and exercises for different people, be trained in safeguarding and creative evaluation, and gain skills in leadership, administration and project management. They will be supported by a mentor and buddy within the company, and through training and 1-1 advice from our partners Creative Access.

In order to apply, you must be:

• Aged 16 - 24
• In receipt of Universal Credit (and not have had any paid work in the last five weeks)
• Available mid-October to March next year
• Able to work in-person in Sheffield

This is a paid, part time opportunity (25 hours per week, including some weekend work) starting in mid October.

There is a simple application process involving answering three questions in a short video or voice message, but applicants must be referred to us by a Work Coach at Job Centre Plus in order to apply. No prior experience of this work is required as full training will be given; we are looking for someone who is excited by the work and eager to learn.

We are particularly keen to receive applications from people that have personal knowledge of the Sharrow and Nether Edge area of Sheffield, or of the communities that live there.

More details about the job and how to apply will be sent directly to applicants after we’ve received a referral from their Job Centre Plus Work Coach. The closing date is Wednesday 6 October 2021 at 5pm.

We’re really excited to be able to have a new creative voice on our team to help us complete this valuable work. If you know anyone that might be suitable, please do share. We welcome

If you need any help with applying, please contact our office on mail@thirdangel.co.uk or 0114 272 4974.

We’re delighted that the second Big Reveal of our New Year, New Team announcements gives us the opportunity to introduce you to a familiar face, although in a different role. The fabulous Stacey Sampson is joining us as our Community Producer, helping us to find new ways for Third Angel to support people to express their own creativity, find their voice and tell their stories. Over to Stacey…

If you follow the work of Third Angel, you’ll know that last year marked their 25th anniversary, and to honour that they released a collection of work – There’s A Room. It’s a title that resonates with me because I feel as though I’ve been wandering in and out of that room for the past seven years.

I first worked with Third Angel in January 2014. I remember it vividly because it was my first day back in a rehearsal space after having a baby. I walked in, saw Rachael and Alex’s welcoming faces amid a constellation of dancing paper butterflies and thought – this is a room I really want to be in. That meeting sparked a conversation about birth, which eventually evolved into our ‘verbatim cabaret’ Partus. It became a huge part of my life, and I wrote a blog about it here.

Since then I’ve also spent an unforgettable month at Edinburgh with The Paradise Project; chalked city-streets on Desire Paths; delivered industry masterclasses for Future Makers; collaborated with sixty amazing young people to devise Inherited Cities; toured with The Department of Distractions; and proudly took part in the launch of There’s a Room.

So now… It’s 2021 and I’m walking back into that room, but with a different hat on. I’m taking up the role of Community Producer – a post that’s not only new to me, but to the company. They’ve always been committed to creating work that defies boundaries, transcends traditional theatre spaces and actively acknowledges their audiences; But this post will allow for even greater focus on Third Angel’s relationship with groups and communities, forging partnerships and designing projects together.

It’s something I’ve been doing for a long time – collaborating with people of all ages in schools, libraries, community centres and theatres; but also parks, take-aways, police stations and disused steelworks… It’s a cliché, but I really am passionate about the arts being for any time, any place, anyone. 

As well as my part-time role at Third Angel, I’ll continue to freelance as a performer, facilitator, writer and dramaturg. The role of Community Producer will give me chance to draw all of these threads together. I can’t wait to get stuck into working with fantastic organisations like Artfelt + Sheffield Children’s Hospital, finding inventive ways to deliver activities to young people during the pandemic and beyond, growing the reach of Future Makers and Desire Paths, and developing new ways of framing arts experiences that massively chimes with my ethos.

Above all, I’m excited to become a more permanent member of this exceptional team. Third Angel are – as individuals, and as a whole, some of the most dedicated, innovative and supportive people I’ve ever had chance to work with. And this ‘Room’ that they’ve spent 25 years cultivating, is a really special place to be. I’m so happy that I now get to take off my coat, pull up a chair, and settle in.