ETT are a UK based international touring company. We create theatre of outstanding quality, imagination and ambition; work which interrogates and celebrates contemporary England and reflects the diversity of our nation.
We stage a balance of new and classic work, to make theatre that is imaginative, responsive and alive: sparking dialogue and fostering connectivity. We are proud to tour shows that reach the widest possible range of audiences across the UK and beyond, engaging in a national and global conversation.
We believe in the power of creative collaboration, and work in partnership with visionary artists and venues to create work on a variety of scales. We believe that touring is a democratic and imaginative way to meet audiences in their home communities and engage in storytelling on a national canvas. At the heart of our practice is a drive to entertain, engage, challenge and inspire. We are proud to deliver community-based participation work across the length & breadth of the country alongside our touring.
Each year we work with around 15 venue partners, tour to 25 towns and cities and reach an average audience of 75,000 people.
In the last five years ETT has produced over fifty live productions and digital content, enjoyed by audiences of over 340,000 and won the UK Theatre Awards Best Touring Production in 2014, 2015, 2016; Best Play Revival in 2019; Best Play and Excellence in Inclusivity in 2022; and Excellence in Touring 2023.
In response to the pandemic delivered work directly into communities including its outdoor festival, Trailer Story; a travelling outdoor performance programme that celebrated local creativity. It was at the forefront of commissioning and developing work across a range of innovative digital platforms including its podcast series F**ked Up Bedtime Stories and its immersive virtual reality experience Adult Children and XR experience Museum of Austerity; combining verbal testimony, original music and ground-breaking volumetric capture, inviting audiences to contemplate close-up the human impact of austerity, in partnership with National Theatre Storytelling Studio and Trail and Error.
In 2021, ETT returned to full mid-scale touring, with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a co-production with Curve & Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse. Directed by Anthony Almeida, the winner of the 2019 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award. ETT also produced a national tour of Tonderai Munyevu’s Mugabe, My Dad & Me. In 2019, ETT produced a major revival of Equus by Peter Shaffer in a co-production with Theatre Royal Stratford East, directed by award winning director Ned Bennett, which transferred to Trafalgar Studios in July.; and toured its acclaimed production of Othello internationally to the Far & Middle East.
ETT is a limited company and a registered charity, founded in 1993. We are based in London Waterloo; our premises comprise of offices, audition rooms and a large rehearsal studio.
Winner of the UK Theatre Awards Best Touring Production in 2014, 2015 & 2019; Excellence in Inclusivity & Best Play in 2022; and Excellence in Touring 2023.
‘The BEST play I have ever seen. Absolutely mesmerizing. Every single part of the play was phenomenal. All I want to do is go and see it again!’
Equus Audience Member on Twitter‘It was electrifying. I had forgotten the sheer joy of a live performance. As the performance began you could have heard a pin drop. The stark stage design and the way the actors used the stage just made it feel a very intense and intimate experience.’
Othello Audience Member at Lighthouse Theatre in Poole.‘Wow. This production updates the staging, is brilliantly produced and acted, and engaged me from beginning to end..’
A Streetcar Named Desire Audience Member at New Wolsey Theatre in Suffolk.
