• At CPT we are committed to ensuring the best possible experience for all artists, audience members and other visitors to our space. We welcome customers and artists with disabilities and are pleased to assist you in your visit. 

    If you have any questions or enquiries, please do get in touch by phone at 020 7419 4841 or email at foh@cptheatre.co.uk.

  • Starting Blocks

    Image: Matthew Thomas

    Starting Blocks is CPT’s unique artist development / peer network scheme, tailored particularly (but not exclusively) towards solo artists.

    Each year, 5-6 artists or small companies develop new work from scratch over an intensive and collaborative ten-week residency at CPT. In recent years, Rachel Mars’ hit show The Way You Tell Them, Louise Orwin’s Pretty Ugly, Haley McGee’s The Ex Boyfriend Yard Sale and 2018 Underbelly Untapped Award-winner Queens of Sheba by Nouveau Riche have all started life on Starting Blocks and gone on to national and international tours, four- and five-star press reviews, with extended runs at CPT and beyond. Starting Blocks artists are selected by interview after an open call for submissions.

    Starting Blocks runs January to March for ten weeks every year at CPT. The call-out for applications is typically issued late summer and can be found on the Artist Call Outs page of our website.

    What do artists have to say about the programme?

    "Starting Blocks is THE artist support programme for emerging artists making work on the fringes." Jack Boal (SB artist 2022)

    "Starting Blocks is amazing, and the only reason I made my first show, did my first run at Edinburgh Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, toured to Norway, Germany and a thousand village halls. Apply, you sillies." Hannah Maxwell (SB artist 2017)

    "The rehearsal space is invaluable, as are the weekly meetings, which guide you towards the articulation and clarification of ideas. The sharing of experience and the sense of community add to that feeling of support, and there’s creative energy surrounding the whole thing which is infectious and inspiring.” Susan Kempster (SB artist 2016)

    Starting Blocks alumni since the scheme was launched in 2011:

    2011: Barometric (Thomas Martin & Nina Segal); Anoushka Athique; Ben Buratta & Barry Fitzgerald; Francesca Millican-Slater; Ira Brand.

    2012: Rachel Mars; HalfCut; Greg Wohead; Bread & Goose; Chris Dugrenier.

    2013: Louise Orwin; Emma Frankland & Keir Cooper; Anne Langford; Splinter Group (Anna Clover & Jessie Brooks); Joel Cahen.

    2014: Foxy & Husk; Grace Gibson; Tom Hughes; Lawrence Speck & Joe Wild; MOTHS; Natalie Clarke & Edmund Sage-Green.

    2015: Owl Young; Rebecca Biscuit; Caretaker Ministry; Venice as a Dolphin; Cape Theatre and On the Run

    2016: Marion Burge, Elisabeth Carlile, Philippa Hambly, Susan Kempster & Adam Foster, and Tanya Singh.

    2017: Christina Hardinge, Embolon Theatre, Haley McGee, Hannah Maxwell, Double Trouble and Ryan Calais Cameron

    2018: Natasha Simone; Claire MacNeill; Dirty Rascals; Kelly Green; Sebastian H-W; Natalie Liconti

    2019: Alex Roberts; Charlotte Fraser; Claire Gaydon; Peyvand Sadeghian; Sara Dawood; and Tom Chamberlain and Jack Tricker.

    2020: Adam Lenson; Appetite Theatre; Fran, Kat & Perdita; HIT THE GROUND; Miranda Prag; The Peaceful Defeat

    2021: Clumsy Bodies; Aminita Francis; Nick Blakeley; Frankie Thompson; Tom Ryalls; Callum Berridge.

    2022: Eden Jun; Jack Boal; Meg Hodgson; Louisa Doyle; Jonny Khan; Chris Yarnell, Shambles Ensemble.

    2023: Victoria Chen; Laurie Stevens; Maddie Wakeling; Héctor Manchego and Faizal Abdullah; Dan Egg; and Hannah Calascione

    2024: piss/carnation; Sara Amini; Eloise Heath; Jim Osman; Kathrine Payne; and Michelle Hudson.

    Katya Havok

    Starting Blocks Showcase

    Sun 24 Mar at 6.30pm 2024
    An showcase of new work by some of the theatremakers on CPT's flagship artist support programme, Starting Blocks. Sunday's showcase features: Eloise Heath, Jim Osman, and Michelle Hudson.
    Katya Havok

    Starting Blocks Showcase

    Sat 23 Mar at 7pm 2024
    An evening of new work by theatremakers on CPT's flagship artist support programme. Saturday's showcase offers a sneak preview of projects by piss/CARNATION, Sara Amini, and Kathrine Payne.
    Joe Twigg
    Miranda Prag presents

    An Attempt to Lose Time

    Tue 5 - Wed 6 Dec at 9pm 2023
    Would it be possible to live without time? A playful meditation on time blending the personal and the collective, a questioning of the status quo and an invitation to see time differently.
    WORK IN PROGRESS

    BIG BANG: Tues 21 Nov

    Tues 21 Nov at 8.15pm 2023
    Big Bang is CPT’s regular scratch night: an explosion of performance from which new universes of theatre may one day emerge.
    WORK IN PROGRESS

    Big Bang: Mon 20 Nov

    Mon 20 Nov at 7.15pm 2023
    Big Bang is CPT’s regular scratch night: an explosion of performance from which new universes of theatre may one day emerge.
    Starting Blocks presents

    Starting Blocks Showcase 2023

    Sun 26 Mar 2023 at 5pm & 6pm 2023
    A showcase of the brand new work created and developed by artists on our trailblazing Starting Blocks scheme.
    WORK IN PROGRESS
    Meg Hodgson presents

    MOONFACE

    Fri 7 Oct - Sat 8 Oct at 7.15pm 2022
    2022. Shady billionaires make plans to colonise and mine the solar system behind all our backs, and one rocky satellite is dangerously close to the edge. One last cycle to figure out where it all went wrong and how (if) we can course-correct before it’s too late.
    Ben Hewis / Adam Lenson
    Adam Lenson presents

    But What If You Die?

    Tue 10 - Sat 14 May at 7pm 2022
    Merging gig, memoir and philosophical enquiry But What If You Die? is a solo show about what you learn when you’re faced with your mortality just when it feels like you’re getting started.
    WORK IN PROGRESS
    Charley Williams

    Starting Blocks Showcase 2022

    Sat 26 Mar at 7.00pm 2022
    A showcase of the brand new work created and developed by artists on our trailblazing Starting Blocks scheme

    Starting Blocks Showcase 2022 (Extra release)

    Sat 26 Mar at 7pm 2022
    Extra ticket realse for Chris Yarnell, Jack Boal, Eden Jun & Meg Hodgsons sharings
    Photo of Tom Ryalls
    Tom Ryalls presents

    Education Education Karaoke

    Tue 23 – Sat 27 Nov at 7.15pm 2021
    With a state education, a karaoke machine an unrehearsed performer takes a romp through the last 20 years of education and pop music.
    Adam Lenson
    Adam Lenson presents

    But What If You Die?

    Sat 30 Jan 2021
    Merging gig, memoir and lecture But What If You Die? is a solo show by Adam Lenson about cancer, parallel universes, time, and learning to live better.
    Alex Roberts presents

    No Place Like Home

    Tue 26 - Thu 28 Nov 2019
    A solo performance about violence in LGBTQ+ nightlife spaces. Mixing poetry, dance and music, it asks; are clubs still the place queers can call home?
    (1) Cathy Buckett (2) Ali Wright
    Kelly Green presents

    CHAV

    Tue 16 - Thu 18 Oct 2019
    Part lecture, part hen party, with a sprinkling of a conference and the grittiness of a squat rave,
    Daisy King
    Hannah Maxwell presents

    I, AmDram

    Tue 1 - Thu 3 May 2019
    Utilising queer theory, degree-level practice-based research and a showstopper of a smile, I, AmDram minds the gap between the identities we assert and the worlds we leave; all through the musty vibrancy of amateur dramatics.
    Starting Blocks 2019 (C) Jose Farinha

    Starting Blocks Showcase 2019

    Sat 16 March 2019
    A showcase of the brand new work created and developed by artists on our trailblazing Starting Blocks scheme
    Matt Peberdy
    Haley McGee presents

    The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale

    Fri 24 Nov - Fri 1 Dec 2018
    A hilarious and daring show about the cost of love or what love costs us.
    Ali Wright

    Starting Blocks 2018

    Sat 17 March 2018
    A showcase of the brand new work created and developed by artists on our trailblazing Starting Blocks scheme
    Nouveau Riche
    Nouveau Riche presents

    Queens of Sheba

    Tue 10 - Sat 14 Oct 2017
    Strong passionate women fight oppression in a racist and sexist society in this new show about 'misogynoir'
    Ali Wright
    Natasha Simone presents

    Everything I Am

    Tue 2 - Fri 5 Oct 2017
    Tash is Black. Tash is queer. Tash is a woman. All at the same time. A hilarious and captivating exploration of identity, power and belonging
    Nina Carrington

    Starting Blocks 2017

    Sun 19 Mar 2017
    Part of Sprint 2017: A showcase of the work created and developed by artists on our trailblazing Starting Blocks scheme
    Matador(a) Susan Kempster and Adam Foster

    Starting Blocks Showcase 2016

    Sat 19 March 2016
    CPT's artistic development programme Starting Blocks presents a showcase of five new pieces of work, made over 10 weeks.

    “British theatre would be completely stymied without tiny, under-resourced venues such as CPT, which are a critical part of the theatre ecology.”

    Lyn Gardner Stagedoor