Looping the Loop is a charitable organisation making live theatre with and for our community in Thanet. We believe in a playful world full of magic and wonder, where access to culture lets people take part in shared experiences that bring joy, friendship and a sense of achievement.
We produce performances, events and workshops across Thanet, which break the mould of traditional theatre and performance by popping up in parks, shopping centres, high streets and doorsteps. We have also produced events at Turner Contemporary, Theatre Royal Margate, Tom Thumb Theatre, Winter Gardens and Ramsgate Music Hall, amongst many other places in Thanet.
Whilst the world locked down in 2020, Looping the Loop re-thought how to keep making theatre, and launched a series of doorstep performances across Thanet - they were delivered free to households which were isolated or struggling financially as a result of the pandemic. We performed a Doorstep Panto version of Jack & The Beanstalk to 32 Ramsgate households in April 2021.
In March 2020, we worked together with Theatre Royal Margate to rescue its youth theatre from closure, creating the ‘School of Acting’ and keeping classes alive during the most difficult year for young people (albeit via Zoom at first!). Looping the Loop was a resident company at Theatre Royal Margate and losing this beautiful historic theatre was a huge blow to all of us. It also resulted in forcing The School of Acting to close, as the cost of hring a venue each week, alongside a hugely reduced attendance post-covid, eventually made it impossible to continue without new funds and the time to rebuild a new cohort of young people - hence creating this project.
Looping the Loop began in 2013, set up to join a project led by Battersea Arts Centre, London – the Collaborative Touring Network. The mission – to partner with other smaller towns around England and re-think how to make touring theatre work and attract new audiences who had never been to see theatre. Eleven years later we remain a member of CTN and are proud to have created 12 festivals with nationally-acclaimed shows and artists, set up a 1970s caravan as a mobile theatre, performed street theatre in spaces and town centres across Thanet, and supported thousands of children and adults to have the chance to encounter live performance, often for the first time.
