What to expect

You’re about to buy tickets for Fresh Ink – now what?

Thank you so much for considering booking for Fresh Ink, our first playwriting festival in two venues at Hull’s Fruit Market, across two days. We can’t wait to welcome you.

We know that some people like to know what to expect before coming to an event, so we’ve put this guide together to share just that.

If you need any further information, please contact our audience development manager, Jamie Potter. Also available is our Fresh Ink Visitor FAQ page, which aims to answer questions regarding the festival.

You can do this by emailing jamie@middlechildtheatre.co.uk or calling him on 07784 785255 during office hours (Tue-Fri, 9am-5pm).

Venues

Stage@TheDock

All rehearsed readings will be performed inside a weatherproof marquee on Stage@TheDock, near Bert’s Pizza and the C4DI complex.

The postcode for the venue is HU1 1UU. Stage@TheDock is home to lots of excellent outdoor performances and events and you can find out more about it including pictures on their website.

Stage@TheDock has wheelchair access via a lift, to which blue-uniformed HEY Volunteers can guide you. Once on the ground floor, it has level access throughout. The floor outside of the marquee is wooden and may become slippery when wet, so do take care. The floor inside the marquee is also wooden, but under the cover of the marquee.

Toilets, including accessible toilets and baby changing facilities, are available at Nibble, next door to Stage@TheDock. Middle Child will have a key to access the toilets at all times, even when the cafe is closed. Anybody requiring the toilet during the festival can make their way to Nibble, or if the cafe is closed you will be escorted by volunteers.

A gazebo next to the marquee will house our pop-up bar, run by Taphouse of Humber Street, which will be open to festival goers as well as members of the public. The bar will be open during both days of the festival.

After workshops, talks and rehearsed readings finish at 9.30pm, we’d love to see you at Stage@TheDock for a relaxed wind-down, where you can meet new people and chat about the festival over a drink. The bar will close at 11.00pm.

Pier Street

All workshops and most of the talks throughout the festival will take place inside the pop-up venue at 1-2 Pier Street, a former warehouse converted by Wykeland and used for arts and cultural events.

The postcode for this venue is HU1 1TU. 1-2 Pier Street has level access throughout and there are toilets, including an accessible one, inside.

There are many great food and drink outlets close to both venues, on Humber Street and around the Marina, if you wish to eat locally throughout the weekend.

Seating

Stage@TheDock

Seating is unreserved. Our marquee will have an end-on theatre layout, meaning there will be a raised stage at one end, with rows of approximately 100 seats facing the staged area.

Pier Street

Seating is unreserved. For the talks and workshops, the layout will be more relaxed with seating and tables. Capacity for the festival talks is 40, whilst the workshops will be in smaller groups of 20.

Should you be joining us, at either venue, in a wheelchair that is larger than standard, please let Hull Truck Theatre box office know and we will accommodate you. 

Tickets

Although Fresh Ink is a Middle Child event, we sell tickets through Hull Truck Theatre.

This is because they have a box office system best suited to this kind of event. If you have any questions about your tickets, it’s best to contact the box office at Hull Truck Theatre directly on 01482 323638. 

If you have booked in advance, your tickets will be sent to your phone or device digitally, and these will be scanned by a member of our team upon arrival.

For those wishing to purchase tickets on the day, you’ll be able to do so at our on-site box office (cash or card accepted), located near Stage@TheDock at the top of the steps.

We’ve tried to keep our tickets as affordable as possible. Rehearsed readings and sharings are Pay What You Decide from £3-£10, workshops are priced at £5 and talks are free, but ticketed, meaning booking your place is required, so we know how many people to expect.

Audience experience

The marquee at Stage@TheDock will house the festival’s rehearsed readings and sharings of new work.

Rehearsed readings are stripped-back performances of work that are still in the early stages of development. The actors will be script-in-hand and will have had a day or two in rehearsals, with no set design, costume or props.

Such readings are a hugely valuable way for writers and theatre makers to experiment with work, seeing how an audience responds and how the work might develop. Audiences get to experience exciting new work in its early stages and reflect on the pieces.  

During the rehearsed readings and sharings, you can laugh along, applaud and cheer where it feels appropriate for you to do so.

Over at Pier Street, workshops and talks will be facilitated by award-winning theatre makers, writers and industry experts. Festival staff will be on-site, with interaction and collaboration from participants encouraged.

Content notes

We understand that some people like to know more about content before they go to a theatre event, so we’ve written a list of content warnings for each of the sharings across the festival, on a separate page.

When you arrive

When you arrive at either venue, our Middle Child team and blue-uniformed HEY Volunteers will be there to greet you and help you find your way. Attendees who have booked in advance will have their e-tickets scanned. For those who wish to purchase tickets on the day, the box office area will be clearly labelled and located above Stage@TheDock, at the top of the steps.

Generally, doors will open about 15 minutes before the start time of each event at Stage@TheDock and we will ask audience members to vacate the marquee 15 minutes after an event finishes, so we can set up for the next one.

The time between events at Pier Street is more of a squeeze, so we will ask attendees to exit after workshops and talks more promptly.

When you arrive, there may be a queue of people outside the entrance to the marquee, Pier Street or at the box office area and there will be volunteers to greet you and show you where to go. They may ask you a question about whether you’ve been to a Middle Child event before: we ask this question as we like to know how many people are seeing our work for the first time.

Who you will meet

Middle Child staff will be on hand, in and around both venues during the festival. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to approach them.

There will be a number of HEY Volunteers, in blue and pink uniforms, present across both venues throughout the festival. They are here to help you find your way and can also answer any questions you may have.

Taphouse staff will be running the bar, just outside of the marquee at Stage@TheDock.

Wheelchair users

If you let us know you require a wheelchair space when booking tickets, by adding a note to the access requirements box at the online checkout, we will know to expect you and reserve seats for you.

If you have booked regular tickets but require a wheelchair space, please let the Hull Truck Theatre box office team know.

Access to the stage level of Stage@TheDock, where the marquee will be placed, is via a lift at the south end of Stage@TheDock. This will be signposted and volunteers on hand to direct you. 1-2 Pier Street has level access throughout. 

BSL users

Our festival BSL-interpreter, Vicci Ackroyd, is available to interpret any of the six rehearsed readings at Stage@TheDock on Saturday 20 July, and the workshops and talks at the Pier Street venue on Sunday 21 July. Please let us know if you are a BSL user when booking tickets and we will coordinate with Vicci, who will interpret the event you are attending. 

Letting us know you are a BSL user when booking tickets also means we can reserve one of these seats close to where Vicci will be.

If you miss this when booking tickets, please let the Hull Truck Theatre box office team know, by emailing boxoffice@hulltruck.co.uk or calling 01482 323638. .

For BSL users wishing to see any workshops or talks at Pier Street on Saturday 20 July please do get in touch to let us know. Whilst Vicci will be unable to interpret these, as she will be at Stage@TheDock, we are able to provide you with some resources and content from the workshop or talk.