Kneehigh x Complicité: The Conditions for Creativity

A workshop at the Kneehigh Barns led by Mike Shepherd (founder of Kneehigh) and Catherine Alexander (Complicité Associate).

Dates: Monday 14 –Thursday 17 September 2026 (with the option to remain working independently at the Barns until Saturday 19 September)
Place: Kneehigh Barns are located on Lamledra Hill, Gorran Haven, Cornwall, PL26 6JS

Arrival: 14 September
Workshop Days: 15–16 September
Departure: 17 September (with the option to remain working independently at the Barns until Saturday 19 September)
Fee: £450 

Over four days, the Kneehigh Barns and Complicité are hosting an intimate group of 12 creative practitioners who will come together to explore the conditions that allow creativity to emerge – in their own work and in the work of others. We invite artists who believe teaching, facilitating groups and holding space are creative acts; not just a small part of their artistic practice but integral to it. 

The workshop will be led by Mike Shepherd and Catherine Alexander, focusing on practical explorations of Kneehigh and Complicité processes, companies that have made bold and collaboratively devised theatre. 

Through these practical sessions, making, discussion and reflection, participants will spend time working alongside one another, testing ideas and exchanging knowledge.

Outside of the workshops, you will have time to explore the incredible surroundings. 

The Kneehigh Barns are a special place.

They are situated at the top of a hill in a spectacular seascape, with a distant horizon, a beach and endless cliff paths in an unspoilt part of the south Cornish coast. The Barns are the spiritual home of Kneehigh: the original church of the lost cause, which was what directors Emma Rice and Mike Shepherd secretly called Kneehigh. From this collection of farm buildings emerged more than seventy-five productions.

Today, the Barns remain a working creative space. Costumes, props, musical instruments and making materials live alongside traces of previous productions. Every object carries a history and offers a starting point for play, transformation and making.

Who is it for?

This workshop is for 12 artists who work in collaborative practice (from the UK and overseas) including facilitating, teaching, leading groups or creating the conditions for others to learn and make.

You might be a theatre-maker, performer, facilitator, educator, community artist, producer or interdisciplinary practitioner. More important than your discipline is your commitment to facilitation as a creative act.

This is for you if you are curious about how creativity happens – and how to create the conditions for it to happen in others. Or if you are carrying questions about your practice and are seeking time to reflect, reconnect and reinvigorate and would like to spend time with others who share a commitment to making, teaching and leading creatively.

How to Apply

If you are interested in taking part, please fill out the short form below where we ask for your CV, a short statement (max 500 words) telling us why you would like to take part and how you hope it will influence your practice, as well as your reflections on how your teaching or facilitation practice sits within your wider creative work and what questions you are contemplating about your teaching or facilitation practice. 

A limited number of half price bursary places are available for applicants who would otherwise be unable to attend this workshop due to financial circumstances. To apply for a bursary place, please note in your statement if you are receiving Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or other financial support.

Please apply here.

Please let us know if you have any access requirements. If you have any questions regarding access, please email creativeengagement@complicite.org.

The deadline for applications is: 10.00 on Monday 10 August 2026. We will reply to all applicants by end of day Monday 17 August 2026, notifying them of the outcome of their application.

Food and Accomodation

A welcome dinner on the arrival day and all lunches and dinners will be provided. Breakfast ingredients will be available at the Kneehigh Barns kitchen for self service. 

Participants will be responsible for organising their own travel to and from the Barns and accommodation in the village. Kneehigh has an accommodation partner who lets out holiday homes in the village, individual rooms but with shared communal spaces. Or alternatively there are some B&Bs nearby. We will share contact details with you once your place on the workshop is confirmed.