History

A lot of significant events took place in 1993. Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park took the box-office by storm, Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting baffled readers everywhere, the stunning Audrey Hepburn and the brilliant Bobby Moore sadly departed us and Sheffield Wednesday reached and, in classic Wednesday style, lost both domestic cup finals.

Meanwhile, a young man called Ashley Barnes decided he wanted to share his love for theatre with others. He founded Dead Earnest, a company that aimed to make the theatre more accessible to the general public by performing in pubs, parks and other public locations. By the time the Millennium came around, Dead Earnest had become a well-respected touring theatre company, performing up and down the country. It was around this time that they started to experiment with the idea of Forum Theatre and other ways of using theatre to make positive impacts and changes to people’s lives.

At the modern day Dead Earnest we are no longer a touring theatre company. We still love writing and performing, it’s just that now we have found there is more than the personal gratification of the artist. We feel that we can help change people’s lives for the better. We love to interact with everyone, to listen, to learn and to understand them. We feel that this is where the rewards really lie for us.