What'll be on the Bitesize menu this time round?
Sustenance for mind and body
Somewhere out there, like diners studying a menu, a group of discerning folk are deciding which bite-sized fare should be served up to entertain people in the places they know.
They are members of the community panel tasked with sifting through the latest proposals put forward for Bitesize.
This is a scheme devised by The Cultural Spring which, since 2014, has been working to provide opportunities for people in Sunderland and South Tyneside to get involved in arts and culture.
Emma Scarr, producer at The Cultural Spring, remembers the discussions that brought Bitesize into being back in 2017.
“It was about how we could bring theatre-focused performance out into community venues, so not traditional arts venues.
“We felt it was great to have food as part of a show, so the way this works is that we invite people to stay for food and it becomes an integral part of the event.”
A large part of the success of The Cultural Spring has been in recognising that not everyone is served by the established arts infrastructure.
If people won’t or can’t go to traditional venues, thereby missing out on the benefits the arts can bring, then those dishing out arts and culture must go to them.
So from a half-baked idea, Bitesize became one of The Cultural Spring’s specials, offering locally touring shows co-created with communities that bring people’s stories to life.
It has been a phenomenal undertaking for Emma and the small team at The Cultural Spring.
“The idea was always that these Bitesize performances would reach as many people as possible in places where they were comfortable to go,” she says.
“There they would see that high quality professional theatre could be brought to their community space and they could have a really good experience.”
A lesson learned over the years is that all this can’t be done in a blink, the matching of Bitesize propositions with community groups that might respond to them and the hiring of venues and the marketing of shows.
Then, on top of that, there’s the catering.
“We’ve focused,” says Emma, “on shows that require minimal staging so they can be adapted to different spaces, indoors or outdoors.
“We’ve had shows on bowling greens, in churches, sports clubs, stables and Scout huts.
“It does take time to co-create and it can be hard. We’ve experienced being at a venue and no-one’s turned up but we’ve taken that on board and usually the next night is full. It takes time for ideas and relationships to evolve.”
When it all comes together, as many testimonials from participants and audience members affirm, it can be magic.
“Some of the earliest shows still resonate with me,” says Emma.
“One we did was Wee Red by (writer and director) Laura Lindow who worked with Scout groups and other young people to reimagine the story of Red Riding Hood.
“It was about her making tomato soup to take to her grandmother and while the show was going on, there was soup being cooked in the kitchen so you got the smell wafting through.
“The young people did voiceovers and worked with a composer and it toured to Scout huts and other community venues.
“I can still smell that tomato soup. It brought the show alive. That’s what Bitesize is about, getting people engaged and showing how a story can be told in so many different ways.”
Another early Bitesize offering was Best in World by Newcastle-based Unfolding Theatre, a one-man show about a darts champ but making the point that many people have a “golden moment” without getting a trophy.
“Because it’s about darts we had it in the Red Hackle pub in Jarrow. The owner, Lee (Hughes), said, ‘Well, we’re a darts pub so you’d better know your stuff’,” recalls Emma.
“Annie (Rigby, founder of Unfolding Theatre) reeled off facts about darts and he went, ‘Right, I’ll sell the tickets. I’ll get the darts team along’.
“It was a lovely night and everyone had curry and chips.
“One thing we’ve learned is that if venues see us as just a hire it tends to not work as well.
“It’s so much better if the venue buys into it, believing it’ll resonate with the community. Lee got everyone in and we’ve done other things with the pub since then.”
There have been three rounds of Bitesize commissions so far, with shows touring in 2017-18, 2022-23 and 2024-25.
One of those in the second wave was Milk, Two Sugars, created by theatre director Liv Hunt, which toured care homes.
“I cannot express how brilliant this was,” commented the manager of one, adding: “Our residents, staff and families all joined in... our day was filled with laughter, song, conversation and so many smiles.”
The show revolved around a tea trolley which transformed into a theatre with puppets.
Another memorable show, Redcoat, saw theatre company The Six Twenty working with a group of young LGBTQIA+ people.
“We’d been to the group and asked if they’d like to try art or craft but they weren’t interested,” recalls Emma.
“Then The Six Twenty came in with this funny, engaging show about someone coming out as gay. They’d wanted to work with young people and they ran workshops with this group, showing how theatre works.
“They were quiet and unsure at first but then completely flipped into loving it. By the end they were dressed up like waiters, welcoming visitors and making mocktails.
“Some of those young people are still involved with The Six Twenty.”
The Bitesize call-out for 2026-27 invited expressions of interest from “individual creatives, organisations, musicians, theatre makers, dancers, digital artists and multi-disciplinary performers”.
By the July 13 deadline, 19 proposals had been received and are being sifted by the community panel which Emma describes as “our ears on the ground”.
Shortlisted proposals will be given a little money to explore their ideas and then three will be commissioned.
Each will receive £8,000 and undertake to deliver three public performances – or ‘sharings’ or ‘pop-up events’ – in “community venues, libraries, outdoor/public spaces, shopping centres or unexpected locations”.
The process has been opened up a little this time, as suggested by that call-out invitation. It means the trio of chosen Bitesize offerings might have less of a theatrical flavour this time around.
Whatever they might be, they’ll start to appear later in the year, running into 2027 and getting to places professional artists and performers don’t usually reach.
And out of Bitesize has come Nibbles, a more recent venture for The Cultural Spring which makes smaller amounts of money (£3,000) available for developing ideas that might not necessarily result in a full-blown show.
In 2025-26, six of these commissions resulted in workshops, performances, screenings and other events.
Feedback from participants was positive with one saying: “I felt listened to and valued”; and another: “I discovered a confidence I didn’t know I had”.
Not surprisingly, Nibbles is also to be repeated later in the year.
Now that an appetite has been sharpened for what the arts can bring, The Cultural Spring’s Bitesize and Nibbles programmes are going some way towards satisfying it.
Could the next step be a slap-up feast?