We are proud to work with industry partners on development and touring opportunities.
We continue to build relationships with world-class visiting companies like Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Welsh National Opera, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Dance Consortium, as well as partnering on development projects with excellent venues and organisations.
These companies bring their own artistic development projects to the city – head over to our Get Involved page to sign up and receive updates on when we have new opportunities available.
Take a look at some of our current CO-LABs
New Adventures The Red Shoes Placements
New Adventures are delighted to be able to provide placements in the following departments whilst they are with us for their touring production of Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes.
Stage/Automation Department – w/c 17th November 2025
Lighting Department – w/c 17th November 2025
Wardrobe Department – w/c 17th November 2025
About New Adventures
The company is led by celebrated choreographer and director, Sir Matthew Bourne. New Adventures has become the most successful and busiest dance company in the UK and is a major exporter of British dance across the world.
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes is a timeless fairytale and Academy Award-winning movie, The Red Shoes has captivated audiences and inspired generations of dancers with its powerful tale of obsession, possession and one girl’s dream to be the greatest dancer in the world.
Download the placement pack to view the placement offerings and register your interest.
Tour the Writer with Paines Plough
We asked writers, directors and producers what they might need to support their development and many of you said ‘fellow collaborators’.
In response, Paines Plough and Theatre Royal Plymouth joined forces to offer a ‘speed networking’ event as part of our joint Tour The Writer programme, bringing together writers with producers and directors from across Plymouth and the wider region.
Edinburgh National Partnerships Programme with Pleasance Theatre
We have regularly partnered with Pleasance Theatre as part of their Edinburgh National Partnerships programme to support one southwest artist or company looking to take work to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The Pleasance works with partner theatres across the UK to identify and support exceptional local artists and companies wishing to present work at the Fringe.
Before, I had a box of Lego that I didn’t know how to put together. Through mentorship I finally see the bigger picture and what piece was missing. The Artist Development programme, especially PROJEKT ELEVATE, gave me the foundations I needed to grow
Jung Borthwick, Theatre Maker and Local Artist on the CO-LAB programme
Previous CO-LABs include
PROJEKT ELEVATE with PROJEKT EUROPA
We have partnered with PROJEKT EUROPA to offer a new opportunity for migrant artists based in the southwest to develop co-created work.
PROJEKT ELEVATE awarded three migrant theatre makers a paid development opportunity to produce an original idea for a co-created project in collaboration with their local communities. The programme culminated with the artists presenting ideas to Theatre Royal Plmouth’s artistic leadership team, who will consider the proposed project for further development.
Take Flight with New Adventures
In 2024 New Adventures visited with the pioneering production of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake.
To coincide with this 30th anniversary UK tour, we partnered on the Swan Lake Take Flight project, led by Plymouth’s Regional Dance Ambassador, Sapphire Sumpter. Sapphire supported relationships between venues and local community groups and bring new audiences into the theatre.
The activities that made up this project were inspired by Swan Lake and engaged young people in dance, focussing on how connecting, creating, and moving together can improve wellbeing.
New Adventures Placements
In 2024, New Adventures and TRP partnered to create 3 placements opportunities to provide training and paid experience in Stage, Crew and Wardrobe during their visit with Swan Lake.
The Wardrobe placement, Clare Duckett, then took to the road, touring with the production to three other venues.
Mudlarks Residency with Complicité
Mudlarks is Complicité’s ideas development programme, dedicated to providing space and resources for exceptional early-mid career artists to interrogate their ideas. It encourages creativity without the constraints of rigid methodologies and target-driven pressures.
A core part of this programme, the Mudlarks International Residency is a week-long residency for both UK and International artists who are supported by Complicité and its nominating partners to spend the time journeying to the hinterland of an idea.
In March, Malaika Kegode was invited to attend the 2025 residency on behalf of Theatre Royal Plymouth.
Explore all the strands of our Artist Development programme
