Frantic Assembly

"I wanted to develop a language that felt accessible and honest. I wanted to share a process that would take people past their perceived limitations."
- Scott Graham, Artistic Director of Frantic Assembly

The company is led by Artistic Director and co-founder Scott Graham and Executive Director Kerry Whelan

Our distinct creative approach has influenced contemporary theatre-making and foregrounded the use of movement directors and choreographers in new dramatic works. It has inspired writers to embrace new creative processes and opened up actors and dancers to new techniques. This is a matter of great pride as we continue to do something different and to do it differently.

Performers are encouraged to take a moment back to its simplest truth and build from there. This places dancers, actors, students, teachers and all participants on the same starting point. Using these building blocks they are empowered to find and create complex work through a process that is safe, fun and constantly illuminating. Over the years this has helped performers understand how their bodies tell stories and how those bodies are capable of a strength and nuance they might not have recognised before.

Frantic Assembly's work is often labelled 'physical theatre' and is often highly energetic but I believe it is merely story telling through physical nuance. This physicality can be brutally explosive or minutely observed. Their plays usually utilise the term "physical theatre with intense moments of naturalism"