Flabbergast Laboratory Collective is a space for artists to train, research, experiment and keep developing their craft.

Created by the artists behind Flabbergast Theatre, Flabbergast Laboratory grew from a simple idea: an artist’s training shouldn’t end when formal education does.

We bring together performers, makers and specialist practitioners to explore physical and ensemble-based approaches to theatre, drawing on practices including Lecoq, Grotowski, Butoh, mask, clown, movement, dance, music, ritual and puppetry.

Flabbergast Laboratory is deliberately a laboratory rather than an academy. There is no single methodology and no requirement to produce a finished performance. Instead, we create spaces for sustained enquiry: to train rigorously, encounter unfamiliar practices, exchange skills, take creative risks, fail productively and discover new ways of making work.

Our programme includes intensive laboratories, residential training and shorter workshops, with an emphasis on building an ongoing community of artists who can return to train and research together.

We believe high-quality artistic development should not be restricted to those who can afford expensive professional training. Subsidised and bursary places are central to our model, with priority support for artists on low incomes and neurodivergent artists.

Flabbergast Laboratory is operated by Flabbergast Laboratory Collective CIC, a not-for-profit Community Interest Company. Income generated through our activities is reinvested in training, resources and widening access to future programmes.

Come to train. Come to share. Come to investigate. Come back.