Inevitable? (Spring 2024)

You’re 17. You arrive on the threshold. Some of you are fearful, some of you are hopeful, some livid, some oblivious, and some raring to go. You stand amongst strangers, anticipating what comes next.

Mortal Fools Ensemble Young Company returned to the stage with a brand new contemporary theatre show, devised and performed by a group of local young people - showcasing an original soundtrack, bold set design, and their incredible talent, insights and lived experiences. Nearly 350 audience members joined us on a tour of venues across the north.

Sounding Board (January to June 2024)

Sounding Board gave our Youth Theatre members opportunities to explore the expressive power of music. This bold and hopeful project was inspired by the DIY music scene, and based on the belief that young people can use their voices to speak up about what matters to them through music.

Our young people worked with professional guest musician Calum Howard and our theatre practitioners to explore spoken word, digital music production, movement and lyric writing. Our groups discovered different musical genres and used music as a tool to tell joyful and authentic stories.

​Listen and explore what they created on the project page.

Mortal Fools x Youth Music (January 2024 - February 2025)

We received funding via Youth Music's Trailblazer Fund to spend a year integrating music-making into our artistic programmes and increasing the variety of creative opportunities available to the young people we work with.

Across the year, the Fund enabled Mortal Fools to:

• deliver programming for 402 children and young people
• provide 116 participatory creative music sessions for children and young people
• support 48 young people into other music making activities beyond our core programme
• reach children and young people who might otherwise not be able to access such opportunities, with 85% of participants experiencing some form of disadvantage or barrier