Unlimited Theatre

Unlimited is a company of UK artists and producers making and telling inspirational stories for live performance in public spaces – theatres, festivals, galleries, museums, the streets of your city, on the internet and for broadcast.

Our projects are born from the passions and obsessions of our six Core Artists who share a vision to tell stories that inspire audiences to join them in changing the world (for the better).

Our values are:

• Empathy, generosity and collaboration in partnerships
• Rigour, curiosity and optimism in processes
• Innovation, adventure and brilliance in presentations

Unlimited Theatre was founded in 1997 in Leeds by six people who inspired and continue to live by those values – Louisa Ashley, Clare Duffy, Liz Margree, Jon Spooner, Chris Thorpe and Paul Warwick. In 2021, with Clare leaving the Company and in response to a wider, pandemic inspired crisis of leadership in the arts, we decided to retire the title of ‘Artistic Director’ and for the first time welcomed five new artists to join the company and share responsibility, with Jon Spooner, for artistic leadership. Jon continues to lead the company as Chief Executive in partnership with the permanent team of staff, the other Core Artists and an ever expanding pool of associate and freelance artists. The founders all remain close friends.

“They have always been a shining example of how you set up your own theatre company” Freelance Associate on Unlimited Theatre

While much of our work is for an adult audience, we have a significant and dedicated strand for families and young people delivered through the Unlimited Space Agency (UNSA). UNSA’s patron is the British astronaut Tim Peake and partners in our mission to “inspire the next generation of poet-scientists and space explorers” have included the Royal Observatory, the Met Office, the British Science Association and the European Space Agency among others.

UNSA has won a series of prestigious prizes for its work including a National Charity Award, the Sir Arthur Clarke Award for Space Education & Outreach, the WISE Champion Award for inspiring young women and girls in STEM subjects and the global “Best Mission Concept” from NASA. In 2019 The Space Shed was awarded 2019 ‘Unique’ Shed of the Year.

“Unlimited have been pioneers in combining theatre and science, fearlessly going where few other companies have gone before in exploring the metaphysical and everyday impact of scientific advances on our lives.”  The Guardian

Unlimited operates strictly not for profit, is a registered UK charity and an Arts Council of England National Portfolio Organisation that tours extensively in the UK and has presented work at international festivals and venues in the Republic of Ireland, Germany, Zimbabwe, The Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Ukraine, Singapore, South Africa, the USA and even into space.

For more information on the company and both past and current projects, visit Unlimited’s website.