The Goat Show is a captivating, interactive family adventure that blends puppetry, storytelling, and live music. The story revolves around goats causing chaos in a Devon town by stealing sandwiches, eating flowers, and leaving droppings everywhere. The town residents can't agree on what to do with the goats, and the show follows efforts to resolve conflicts within the town before the tourist season.

The Goat Show was developed by Devon-based company, Running Dog Theatre. People are at the heart of their practice, and communities play a crucial role in their creative process. One of Running Dog’s key questions was how to make their tours sustainable and not just parachute into communities, do a show for one night, and then disappear. They want to work with and within communities, through wraparound creative activities and engagements in the days leading up to a performance.

Villages in Action supported development of The Goat Show through a creative residency in Stockland in 2021. When the company was ready to pilot a rural tour, we were keen to be one of the host organisations, along with Into Bodmin in Cornwall and Beaford Arts in North Devon.

The Residency Approach

Running Dog Theatre worked closely with our dedicated volunteer promoter Wendy Van der Plank in Stockland. Wendy had previously hosted the company during their creative residency, establishing a solid foundation for collaboration. The company ran a workshop at the local school in Stockland in the lead up to the performance. The local community was actively engaged: with people invited to craft their paper goats; a goat-themed round at the pub quiz; and goat-related articles featured in the parish magazine. Running Dog's goat puppets also popped up throughout the village, and Wendy joined in the fun by updating some of the road signs, adding to the sense of mischief and curiosity in the run up to the show.

The Goat Show’s resounding success was evident by the large and enthusiastic audience who flocked to the village hall for a highly interactive performance. The community's involvement in the creative process was instrumental in creating a memorable final event, and even those who were unable to attend the performance were swept up in the buzz generated by wraparound activities. By actively involving the community through a creative residency process, Running Dog Theatre created a memorable event which residents still talking about many months later.

This project highlights the benefits of working with communities to deliver wraparound creative activities and community engagement – and the importance of collaboration in touring performances. Our Villages In Action creative residencies strand is supporting more organisations and artists to embrace this approach, to develop innovative and engaging projects that benefit both artists and the communities they work with.

Outcomes

• Community involvement in the creative process made a real difference in terms of audience attendance and engagement, drawing a large audience.
• Unusual interventions (‘goats’ made by appearing around the village, mischievous signage) inspired curiosity - even those who couldn’t attend the performance expressed interest and excitement about what was happening.
• The memories and impact of the project have continued well beyond the life of the project, with appetite for future work to be developed in Stockland.
• Running Dog Theatre identified key benefits to their practice, being supported to explore their key questions around sustainable touring, and this has fed into development of their ongoing work.

Learnings

• Involvement of a skilled local producer was key to success, drawing on valuable relationships and knowledge and providing consistency over the project for all.
• Sustained relationships with communities make a big difference for creative & community outcomes. The show was developed with Stockland over two separate projects (2021 and 2022), growing local ownership & value – and approach to build on with other artists and host villages.
• This approach involved many different engagements – the local school, pub, parish magazine, village hall, unexpected interventions in the local area. This bridged connections across different community members, across age and interest, maximising community interest, curiosity and engagement.

The Project In Numbers

• Artists: 2
• Youth workshop participants: 58
• Pub quiz teams: 18 (90 people)
• Audiences: 92
• Goats: 200 or more!