ISSUE 222 May 2026
Grow Festival is a wonderful opportunity for Grassroots creatives; playwrights, actors, producers, event organisers and others.
Hull Truck Theatre’s Grow Festival 2026.
The festival includes; Grow Insight Workshops (Wednesday 1 – Tuesday 7 July) putting careers and indie creators in the spotlight. Join Hull Truck Theatre’s Executive Director Janthi Mills-Ward for a practical insight session on Running a Theatre, our Marketing department for how to reach audiences and build compelling campaigns with Theatre Marketing and a talk from Associate Director Tom Saunder on Starting Small: Producing Your Own Work for anyone taking the first steps into making and sharing their own work.
Local theatre artists are invited to apply for a two-day residency, What’s the Big Idea? (Thursday 25 – Friday 26 June,) for a collaborative development session, designed to help you generate, challenge and energise new ideas for making work.
If you’re a theatre artist based in Hull or the East Riding of Yorkshire and there’s an idea you can’t quite shake, Hull Truck Theatre wants to hear from you and be part of your idea’s development. To express your interest complete the following application form: Grow: What's The Big Idea? @ Hull Truck Theatre – Fill in form. Applications Close Thursday 21 May at 5pm.
The annual artist development season also showcases new work from local talent.
Sh*t Life Crisis (Thursday 23 – Sat 25 July) is a hilarious new karaoke theatre show by Olivia Hannah (Braids) about how no one tells you that survival turns your life inside out, especially when everyone seems to be so much better at living than you. Raw and real, join us to belt along together to the soundtrack of life. Made by award-winning theatre company and creators of challenging & camp nights out Silent Uproar.
BALLGAMES (Friday 19 June) is a work-in-progress show about masculinity, morals, faith, and having the balls to do the right thing. Written and performed by Aidan Thompson-Coates and directed by Rabbey, BALLGAMES is a laugh-out-loud, dark and deeply moving rollercoaster exploring shame, queer safety, and the messy gap between policy and compassion.
Be the first to see new performances, take part in workshops and meet industry professionals living locally. Book tickets and discover the full programme by visiting;
Grow Festival 2026 | HullTruckTheatre
The festival also includes, Katie Pritchard & Rob Kemp (Wednesday 1 July) is a multimedia mash-up with two Hull Comedy Festival legends. One part madcap comedy game show adventure and one part cult comedy film, Beetlejuice, retold through the songs of the not even remotely cult band, The Beatles.
Tickets will go on sale Thursday 7 May, 12pm. Priority booking is available now with a Drama Deal Plus membership, find out more details about becoming a member here: