Our Space is a creative programme supporting adults facing multiple and complex challenges. It provides experiential interventions and transformative experiences that address issues surrounding mental health and well-being, community integration, resilience, and hope.
The programme provides individuals with free, regular and meaningful activity that contributes to recovery and rehabilitation.
Interested in finding out more?
Please call or text 07732 499859 or email ourspace@theatreroyal.com.
To register your interest/make a referral please click here.
You can also register via the phone or call and arrange a time to pop in and see us to complete the form.
“For two hours in the week, I’m not depressed, for two hours I’m the person I could be, the person I want to be, the real me!”
Our Space participant
Supported by National Lottery Community Fund.
Supported by the Veterans’ Foundation.
In partnership with the Ministry of Justice.
Our Space is a creative programme supporting adults facing multiple and complex challenges. It provides experiential interventions and transformative experiences that address issues surrounding mental health and well-being, community integration, resilience, and hope.
Our Space provides individuals with regular and meaningful activity, giving their week a focus and purpose, which contributes to their recovery and rehabilitation.
We use drama as a tool to play, offering people opportunities to escape their reality, to re-imagine themselves and to connect with others.
Who is Our Space for?
Adults (18+) with lived experience of homelessness, mental health issues, substance misuse, reoffending or feel socially isolated for other reasons benefit from the Our Space programme.
Our Space has been shaped over 16+ years, working in partnership with services and placing the lived experience of participants at the heart of the work.
This has been made possible thanks to National Lottery funding.
Our Outcomes 2024/2025
90% have gained self-esteem since working with us
97% have reported an increase in their confidence
84% feel more hopeful about their future
88% feel able to work well with others
92% feel part of a positive community
“It is a safe place where it doesn’t matter how I turn up – I know I’ll be supported. Staff are awesome, super supportive and go the extra mile when I’m struggling. I feel like I’ve found a community, and I’m part of a family even when I have to leave. I felt socially alone before, so I really appreciate the opportunity.”
Participant
The Our Space Production Group is open exclusively to long-standing members who have progressed through the Our Space programme. This group offers a space for deeper artistic exploration and collaboration, where participants work alongside theatre professionals to devise and present bold new work. Sessions focus on advanced creative and technical skills, teamwork, and shared ownership of the creative process.
Through this work, members continue to develop confidence, leadership, and artistic voice, culminating in high-quality performances that challenge perceptions and celebrate the power of lived experience.
Our Space 2024 Production – Pierless
“Giving everyone space to bring themselves to the project fully and the high quality of the production design gave everyone the chance to really shine”
Audience member
Our Space 2024 Production – Pierless
“I loved the whole process. The fact that we were able to develop it together, it wasn’t prewritten, our ideas were accepted and developed.”
Cast member
Armed Forces Choir
Meeting every Thursday evening, the Armed Forces Choir brings people together through the power of song. Open to all abilities, the choir offers a supportive environment to connect, have fun, and experience the positive impact of collective music-making. No prior singing experience is needed, just enthusiasm and a willingness to join in.
The choir also performs at a variety of events and venues across the city throughout the year, proudly representing the Armed Forces community and sharing their voices with wider audiences. These performances are uplifting celebrations of community, resilience, and togetherness.
Choir rehearsals will take place on Thursdays, 7–9pm at TR2, 12 Neptune Park, Plymouth PL4 0SJ.
To find out more, please contact us via email.
Armed Forces Comedy Club
Laughter is at the heart of our quarterly Comedy Workshops and Comedy Nights, which bring together Armed Forces participants to explore the art of stand-up and sketch comedy.
These workshops, led by professional comedians, culminate in relaxed comedy club nights, taking place in The Lab at Theatre Royal Plymouth, where participants can share the stage with established performers, or simply enjoy an evening of entertainment and camaraderie.
For more information and to register your place please get in touch below.
Armed Forces Production Group
Our Production Group, meeting on Monday evenings, invites members of the Armed Forces community to develop creative projects in collaboration with professional theatre artists. Together, participants devise and present original work, building skills in performance, storytelling, teamwork, and creative expression.
Our Space in HMP Channings Wood – Creativity, Rehabilitation, and Cultural Change.
We continue our creative engagement at HMP Channings Wood, delivering an arts-based programme tailored to the needs, strengths, and voices of the men who choose to participate.
This work is centred on empowerment and transformation, supporting individuals to see themselves as more than their sentence, to explore identity beyond the label of ‘offender,’ and to imagine alternative futures shaped by choice, creativity, and self-worth.
The benefits of this work extend far beyond the individuals directly involved. Staff have reported noticeable changes in participants’ behaviour, confidence, and interpersonal relationships on the wings
The impact is lasting, as participants carry these experiences forward, back into their families, into future job opportunities, and into the communities they return to.
“Emotionally, it’s been just the most amazing thing I’ve done in prison… in my life, actually.”
Participant and Cast Member
Young Company Our Space
Young people will engage in weekly theatre-based workshops delivered by industry professionals. The workshops will focus on wellbeing, confidence, communication, and lots of fun!