Andy Smith is a theatre-maker based in Lancaster.
Recent work includes the plays The Preston Bill (2015) SUMMIT (2018), as well as the performance work COMMONISM (2018), a collaboration with the Norwegian artist Amund Sjølie Sveen.
For the last six years he has been developing a longer project called PLAYS FOR THE PEOPLE. Rather than be performed by actors for an audience, these plays are for audiences and groups of people to meet and read together. Each play aims to present ideas, questions and dilemmas that encourage discussion between participants.
The plays are THE ACTIONS (made in collaboration with Sam Pritchard), ARE WE RACIST? (created through discussion and collaboration with Aleasha Chaunte) and THE RULE OF SIX, written for that many participants to perform during lockdown.
The latest and most ambitious of these works is A CITIZENS' ASSEMBLY. Created in collaboration with applied arts practitioner Lynsey O'Sullivan.
He has collaborated with the theatre maker Tim Crouch since 2004, co-directing (along with Karl James) a number of plays including An Oak Tree, The Author and most recently Truth's A Dog Must To Kennel. Tim and I also co-wrote and performed what happens to the hope at the end of the evening together in 2013. He is also a Lecturer in Theatre Practice (part-time) at The University of Manchester.
