Manipulate Arts Announces International Visual Theatre Residency Artists and Manipulate Festival 2028 Commission
Manipulate Arts announces a bold new suite of artistically ambitious work which will invest in the quality of Scottish visual theatre, raise ambition across the sector and contribute to a more resilient performance ecology in Scotland. Find out more about the artists and projects supported below.
The first major initiative in this new phase of activity is our International Visual Theatre Residency, delivered in partnership with Argyll-based rural residency centre Cove Park and international festival partners Arrivano dal Mare! (Ravenna, Italy), TIP-Fest (Turku, Finland) and Go Figure! (Oslo, Norway). The programme supports mid-stage development for ambitious visual theatre projects, creating space for artistic exchange, experimentation and the development of high-quality new work.
We are thrilled to be supporting six projects from artists across Scotland, Finland, Italy and Norway. Audiences will be able to check out early performance sharings of these projects as part of Undercurrents, our new event championing bold, untested new visual theatre, puppetry and animated film in February 2027.
Chu-Chi Face – Alys Williams & Duncan MacLeod (Scotland)
A wild romp of cogs, chaos and cabaret, Chu-Chi Face is an inarticulate cry for dress-up, defiance and hope. It asks what we might do if choice wasn’t just an illusion, and time truly was our own.
Hindsight – Jenna Watt (Scotland)
Hindsight is a visceral new work of visual theatre combining puppetry, sound and storytelling. Following the relationship between a deer stalker and a hind, the work explores Scotland’s climate crisis mitigation and rural land politics while raising urgent questions around conservation, eco-feminism and our relationship with the natural world.
Tube Man – Jim Manganello and Valtteri Alanen (Scotland / Finland)
Tube Man is an epic history of man told through and among hundreds of inflatable tubes. A playful and visually inventive exploration of contemporary masculinity, the work is by turns absurd, satirical and unexpectedly tender.
Antenne – Anna Marie Simonsen and Marie Kallevik Straume (Norway)
Antenne explores existentialism, addiction and communication through a unique blend of performance, film and installation. Created by the acclaimed clowning duo exploring inventive slapstick, physical comedy and richly drawn characters.
Efestiade – Mariasole Brusa and Eva Luna Betelli (Italy)
Blending object theatre, engineering, science and dance to transform metal into a living landscape. Magnets, sheets and wire sculptures come alive as shifting creatures and powerful metaphors in this visually striking collision of myth, movement and matter.
PETER – Dolphin, who lived in the house – Pia Kalenius and Antti-Juhani Manninen (Finland)
This puppet theatre work tells the story of Peter, a dolphin captured from the ocean and brought to live in a house. Blending fact and imagination, the piece explores questions of captivity, human intervention and our relationship with other species.
New Commission for Manipulate Festival 2028
Manipulate Arts are also thrilled to announce our inaugural full Manipulate Festival commission, offered in association with Capital Theatres. Tube Man by Jim Manganello of Scotland-based dance company Shotput and Finnish artist Valtteri Alanen, will be supported beyond Cove Park through to full production, premiering at our 20th Anniversary Manipulate Festival in 2028. This ambitious new work reflects our commitment to supporting bold artistic vision, rigorous visual dramaturgy and world-class visual theatre made in Scotland.
Developed through the Cove Park residency programme and additional supported research periods, Tube Man is an epic history of man told through hundreds of inflatable tubes. Two men (what are they doing here? are they lost?) manipulate these tubes – ridiculous and vaguely phallic – with leaf blowers, hoovers, foot pumps and wind machines. The manipulation of the objects becomes subtle terrain for moments of differentiation, competition, collaboration, and violence. This is a show about contemporary masculinity that is by turns satirical and tender.
With this commission, Manipulate Arts aims to support a Scotland production for the first time from initial creative development through to its premiere, with bespoke support anchored in artform-specific sector expertise. The commission selection panel were looking for projects which have the potential to engage audiences both within and beyond Scotland, demonstrating compelling artistic vision, exceptional craft, innovative technique and rigorous visual dramaturgy. The commission is underpinned by a strong partnership between Manipulate Arts and Capital Theatres, and will meet audiences as part of our 20th anniversary Manipulate Festival programme.
“We are delighted to be announcing the results of these important new initiatives, and to be working with such a varied and talented group of artists. The long development timelines and artform expertise which are necessary for the creation of extraordinary visual theatre can be challenging for artists to access, particularly in a context of funding precarity. These invaluable opportunities for development, presentation and exchange with international peers will lend support to not only these wonderful projects, but to the development of the visual theatre sector in Scotland and its position on the global stage.”
Dawn Taylor, Artistic Director & CEO Manipulate Arts
Together, the residency and commission represent a significant investment in the future of visual theatre in Scotland, supporting artists to develop ambitious new work while strengthening international connections and creating pathways for long-term artistic growth.
Both the residency and the commission are supported by Creative Scotland’s Expanded Festivals Fund.
