Emballage is a Norwich-based theatre company led by Emma Wagstaff and Dominic Weatherby. Together, we make research-driven theatre about philosophical questions. Our mission is to make rule-breaking theatre accessible to new audiences. We seek to re-imagine theatrical form to enable deep thinking about the complex challenges faced by our world today.

Our projects emerge from an approach to theatre as a way of thinking and a path to truth. We contend that the specific characteristics of live performance grant theatre a unique capacity to deepen our attentiveness to reality and, therefore, enable insight into the thorniest human questions. 

All our performances, in one way or another, enter participants into an embodied investigation of the fundamental philosophical demand: ‘who are we?’.

Our practice strives for aesthetic and conceptual ambition, inclusivity, and environmental sustainability. We love to explore the limits of what theatre can do and be.

Our working method is a continually evolving synthesis of practices and traditions, which has been shaped by our experiences working with members of the companies Goat Island, Shunt, Complicité, and Cricot 2. Three core principles underpin our process:

1. Collaboration

Each of our performances is the effort of a unique group of collaborators. Not just theatre makers, but subject experts, responsive audiences, and specific objects and materials. Our flexible working structures aim to catalyse rigorous playfulness. They maintain a safe environment for creative risk and enable nuance in our collective inquiries.

2. Research

Each project is sustained by long periods of study, interviews, field trips, and conversations. We approach thinking as a process rooted in the body, in emotions, in our environment. We aim for destinations we could not have imagined without everyone involved.

3. Formal Experimentation

Our work borrows from a variety of disciplines, including dance, painting, architecture, literature, music, sculpture, and cinema. We seek to develop holistic performance languages that reimagine what theatre can be.

Each project is the shared dream of a new collective. A world we could not have imagined without everyone involved.

Artistic Directors

Emma Wagstaff 

Emma is a scenographer and performer. She holds a BA in History of Art from University College London, an MFA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and trained on the experimental scenography course (LEM) at the Jacques Lecoq School in Paris.

Dominic Weatherby

Dominic is a director, dramaturg, and performer. He holds a BA in History and English from Oxford University, an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and trained at the Jacques Lecoq School in Paris.

Artistic Associates

Jock Maitland, scenographer

Alice Boyd, sound designer

Luke Wintour, video designer/videographer

Juliana de Aragão, performer

John Harper, performer