In summer 2021 the Den was built for the second time outside Spinners Mill in Leigh.
Celebrating the local community across 8 days, THE DEN @ SPINNERS MILL hosted 27 socially distant performances, events and workshops. Resulting in 768 audience members, 80% of which were from the Leigh & Atherton area.
“Loving The Den! Community spirt at its best”
The Den Festival, Spinners Mill
Performances included BLOODY ELLE – THE GIG a new version of Lauryn Redding and Bryony Shanahan’s critically acclaimed show. SOME PEOPLE FEEL THE RAIN Written by Kieran Knowles, Directed by Hannah Sands. LocalTALE, the 7 wining plays from the Leigh Ambassadors playwriting competitions. FLY HALF THE PLAY a new play with original songs that tells the tale of a rugby playing steel worker from South Wales. DIGITAL GHOST HUNT, created by KIT Theatre in collaboration with the Leigh Ambassadors. Spinners Mill’s mysterious supernatural sightings were investigated in this promenade performance.
“Such an exciting place for our local talent to be nurtured and to thrive”
OUR PLACE, was the performance result of a week-long drama course with young people from around Leigh. LEIGH DRAMATICS showcased local talent with performances from A Will & A Way and St Joseph’s Players. We also had THE COMEDY DEN lunchtime comedy, THE STORY DEN, storytelling sessions for under 10s and a SPOKEN WORD NIGHT, an evening of spoken word and poetry.
The opening night event featured a screening of MAKING STEADY PROGRESS, a poem written by Kieran Knowles in collaboration with the Leigh Ambassadors filmed across Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley. There was a prize giving ceremony for LocalTALE playwriting competition and a performance from EVERYTHING HUMAN RIGHT’S Kubatana Dance Group.
As part of the Den we offer an eight week Front Of House training course to develop confidence, communication and work skills, specifically targeting unemployed people within the area. This course has been designed to upskill people in the local community.
“I’ve done shadowing before, but this was so different, everyone at the Royal Exchange was so welcoming”
It is a joy to see the trainees progress and wonderful to have local people welcoming local audiences into the Den.
“Opening night, I came a few hours early because I was so excited. I’d tell everybody and anybody, I’ve been telling shopkeepers about this”
