Theatre by the Lake presents

CumbriaFest Festival Pass – Friday

Friday 31 October | See individual event times

The Friday Festival Pass includes:

  • Inciting Incidents: Workshop with Ola Animashawun – 2-5pm – Rehearsal Room
  • Making Text Your Own: Workshop with Jude Christian – 5-6:30pm – Rehearsal Room
  • Friday Scran – 5-7pm – Spotlight Bar
  • Gather: Writers – 6-7pm – The Mezzanine Gallery
  • Patience & U EXIT NOW (rehearsed reading of selected scenes) – 7-8:30pm – The Studio
  • Panel: The Making of a Play – 8:30-9:30pm – The Studio
  • Live music with the Swingin’ Turtles – 9:30-11pm – Spotlight Bar

Inciting Incidents: Workshop with Ola Animashawun
Led by acclaimed dramaturg and playwrighting facilitator Ola Animashawun, this practical and exploratory workshop is open to writers at any stage of their journey. Whether you’re picking up a pen for the first time or returning to your craft with new questions, this session will help you focus on the all-important inciting incident—the moment that sets everything in motion. You don’t need a polished idea to take part—just curiosity, creativity, and a desire to stretch your storytelling muscles. And who knows—this might just be the inciting incident that sets your next play in motion.

Making Text Your Own: Workshop with Jude Christian
This is a practical workshop for actors and directors who want to develop their skills in working with text. We’ll use a series of exercises to explore questions such as:

What do you learn about a character from their words?
How do we pinpoint the difference between what someone means and what they say?
Should we start rehearsals with the words on the page, or by getting on our feet?
How can an actor make choices that feel original but also truthful?
There’s no need to prepare anything in advance. Please wear comfortable clothes and bring a notepad, pen, and bottle of water.
Friday Scran
Soup, bread, and a side of conversation. Friday Scran is a laid-back tea-time gathering where you can take a break, grab a bite, and chat with fellow festival-goers.

Come on your own or with pals – no pressure, no performances, just good food and good company before the evening picks up.

Food will be cooked fresh from Waste Knot seasonal veg, with homemade bread using Carr’s flour from Cumbria. Expect stew or soup—exact flavours may vary daily, so check in on the day for details.

Gather: Writers
A relaxed space to meet, chat, and connect with others working in and around your part of the creative world.
Whether you’re just starting out or have years of experience, Gather is a chance to share a bit of your journey, hear from others, and maybe spark a future collaboration – or at least a good conversation.

Patience & U EXIT NOW (rehearsed reading of selected scenes)

Patience by Nina Berry

In 1842 a bill is passed by Parliament, prohibiting all female labour underground. In 1984 thousands of miners are locked in a bitter dispute with Thatcher’s government. In 2022 a site is set to become the country’s first new deep coal mine in over 30 years. Patience is a portrait of life across a stretch of Cumbrian coastline, mapping the ebbs and flows and the loves and losses of a mining community’s motherline, spanning three centuries as past, present and future worlds collide in a heart-wrenching tale of untold stories about the power of community and a symphony of echoes through time.

U EXIT NOW by Daneka Etchells

A car breaks down. Wires unravel. Libra is waiting for the AA. Jae is preparing to blow up the Caldbeck transmitter. Past and present flicker: the looming influx of second homes, fracturing communities, rotting roots; as Jae’s uncle Milo prepares for war and Jae falls in love with the enemy.
Performed in English and Cumbrian dialect, U EXIT NOW explores skint Cumbria and asks who does our own landscape belong to?

Panel: The Making of a Play: Process, Practice & Possibility
How does a play evolve from idea to performance? In this post-show discussion, the writers of P & UEN, developed through Tour the Writer, and TBTL Artistic Director, Julia Samuels, share insights into their creative journeys—from early drafts to final staging.
Guest panelist Ola Animashawun brings decades of experience nurturing new voices, from the Royal Court to the National Theatre. Together, we’ll unpack the joys and challenges of shaping new work, and reflect on what it means to support emerging playwrights with care, rigour, and vision.

After the performances in the Studio, join us in the Spotlight Bar for a relaxed evening of live music from talented local musicians. It’s a chance to unwind, share a drink, and connect with fellow artists and audiences.