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Pentabus Theatre Company
Pentabus are a contemporary rural theatre company producing original plays about the rural world. Based on a farm in Shropshire, they make a commitment to the creative health of the countryside, encouraging artists to draw from it and urging communities to participate in it.

Pentabus History
In 1973 Arts Council West Midlands realised that hardly any of their arts funding was being spent in the rural areas of the West Midlands. They decided to set up an audit/feasibility study to investigate and address this disparity. The study was led by a young theatre practitioner, Sue Dunderdale. The work would not only audit and explore what was happening in the rural areas but also attempt to create new work that was aimed directly at rural audiences, not only in style and content but also in delivery. Dunderdale created a small group of practitioners who created new work aimed at rural audiences to be performed in small halls, town squares, pubs and fields.

In March 1974, Dunderdale presented her findings to West Midlands Arts Board and was awarded a revenue grant to continue her work. The endeavour was initially called The Pentabus Project. ‘Pent’ referring the five rural counties of the West Midlands and ‘bus’ because they travelled in an old bus. But this was soon shortened to just Pentabus. The first recorded show was The Magic Map in 1974. Pentabus found a base in Areley Kings near Stourport and stayed there until it moved to the old School Bromfield, Shropshire on the Earl of Plymouth’s estate in 1983 where it is still based today. Peter Cann became resident writer in 1982. From its earliest days the company established a core programme of shows that turned village halls into Proscenium arch venues and educational offers through summer play-schemes, sometimes also taking in outdoor events.

In 1988 the company reinvented itself and was re-launched with a job-share leadership of artistic director Steve Johnstone and designer Andrew Purvin. A new executive post was created and Robert Petty moved from his position at mac (Birmingham) to take it up. In 1994 John Moreton became Development Director. Joint Artistic Directors Steve Johnstone and designer Purvin produced, directed, designed and made 26 shows over 10 years. The scripts were still mostly being commissioned from a small pool of writers who had been around the company since the very beginning and Theatre in Education work was extensive.

In 1998 Steve Johnstone moved on to pastures new and Theresa Heskins became the new Artistic Director after a period of extensive head hunting, while Purvin continued to transform venues with his designs. Productions during Theresa’s leadership included at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Pentabus become a nationally known new writing company. Whereas previous programming had been conceived to operate at a local level and was fiercely committed to rural arts in its own right, Heskins was setting her sights on also working at a national level, and achieving national profile and recognition. Other productions included Precious Bane by Bryony Lavery, adapted from Shropshire’s best loved novel by Mary Webb. This was by far the most ambitious project so far attempted by the company performing at venues like Walcott Hall and involved hundreds of people across Shropshire.

Other productions from this period are Strawberry Fields by Alecky Blythe which dealt with an issue raging in Herefordshire: landowners were covering their land with acres of plastic green houses to grow strawberries out of season and bringing in thousands of workers from the Ukraine as pickers. Another ground breaking production was White Open Spaces which was born out of the race equality debate led by Trevor Phillips in statement to the BBC “ Black and Asian people feel they do not belong outside towns and cities and that rural areas were guilty of a ‘passive apartheid.” The company worked with a range of writers from ethnically diverse backgrounds to create a series of monologues in response to the report. The show challenged stereotypes and challenged perceptions and toured widely on the rural touring circuit.

Heskins had announced her departure in 2006 and by November a replacement had been appointed - Orla O’Loughlin. Orla joined the company in 2007, moving from the Royal Court Theatre where she was the International Associate. Orla’s leadership at Pentabus continued the work of raising the profile of the company on a national level and productions during her five years with the company included: Origins By Jon Nicholson and Steven Canny at Pleasance and Theatre Severn For Once by Tim Price at Hampstead Theatre Studio Tales of the Country inspired by Brian Viner's book Underland, a production 300 feet below ground at Clearwell Caves Shuffle with National Youth Theatre in a local Shopping Centre

With Orla’s departure in 2012 Elizabeth Freestone took over the reigns as Artistic Director coming to the company from a background as a freelance director for Royal Shakespeare Company. Her first season was a series of plays under the banner ‘Radical Rural’ and included six productions in her first year alongside a flow of playwriting and educational activities. Productions included Blue Sky by Clare Bayley, a reimagining of For Once by Tim Price for a rural tour and This Same England for the British Museum, an RSC commission and a show that was part of the 2012 World Shakespeare Festival and 2012 Cultural Olympiad. In 2013 John Moreton retired from Pentabus after 19 years as Executive Director and Rachael Griffin joined the joint directorship with Elizabeth Freestone to take the company forwards.

2013/14 saw the theme of Land and Landscape, which explored the company's relationship with local audiences. This began with 'In this Place', an audio theatre walking adventure in the Stiperstones supported by Shropshire Hills AONB Sustainable Development fund. Their next tour, Milked, by a new writer Simon Longman, explored unemployment in the countryside and in the Spring of 2014 the company toured jointly with Kali Theatre for The Husbands by Sharmila Chauhan, a global rural tale set in an Indian village.

Today Pentabus delivers a diverse programme of work locally, regionally and nationally with the support of Arts Council England, Shropshire County Council, generous individuals, Trusts and Foundations and business partners.