Funded projects and commissions
Schools Project 2025
In 2025Red Sauce Theatre was a key participant in a major creative education initiative led byAspex Portsmouth (Aspex Gallery) through the Portsmouth Cultural Education Partnership (PCEP). Schools Project Details
Funding and Leadership: Aspex Portsmouth is one of three lead “Creative Partners” (alongside Fratton Together and The Guildhall Trust) for a project that secured over £55,000 in 2025 from the Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grant and Portsmouth City Council.
Target Schools: The programme is designed to deliver bespoke arts experiences to local schools including Castle View Academy, Ark Charter Academy, and The Portsmouth Academy, as well as their feeder primary schools.
Red Sauce Theatre’s Role: As part of this partnership, Red Sauce Theatre contributes to the “performance” and “heritage” strands of the curriculum. They utilize their expertise in physical theatre, masks, and puppetry to engage students in creative experimentation.
Objective: The 2025 project focuses on building relationships between schools and the creative community, listening to students’ ideas, and providing them with professional-quality artistic workshops to build confidence and spark imagination
Portsmouth Creates - In our Words 2025-26
Key Themes: Stories include The Little Matchstick Girl, The Elves and the Shoemaker, and historical narratives like the life of Florence Nightingale. The initiative began in April 2025 and will conclude with a record-breaking “Largest Reading Lesson” at Fratton Park on March 5, 2026.workshops, interactive storytelling, and author talks.
Victoria Park Project 2024
Immersive Experience: The project involved taking over the park with actors in period costumes, who portrayed the actual people who were present at the original opening ceremony in 1878.
Performance Medium: The event included a specific puppetry performance piece to recreate the opening for the public.Research-Based: The theatre company conducted its own research into the park’s history to create an authentic “back story” for the characters and events portrayed
In July 2021, members in Edwardian clothes entertained guests at a community fair with stories of the park’s history.In April 2022, they hosted a free family fun day, encouraging children to participate in pop-up performances.
The Promise 2022
- Purpose: The project was designed to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
- When: The main performance took place on June 6, 2022, at the Portsmouth Guildhall. An additional performance was scheduled for June 7, 2022, at the Drayton Centre.
- Inclusivity and Training: Red Sauce Theatre worked with Film Crew 4 U to provide training in green screen technology for the cast.
- Documentation: A film documenting the project and the rehearsal process was showcased at an open event on July 19, 2022.
- Funding: The project was supported by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 2022 Lottery Fund, Arts Council England, UK Community Foundations, and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Foundation.
- Royal Commemoration: The performance was based on the 21st birthday speech made by Princess Elizabeth to the Commonwealth (her “promise” of lifelong service).
- Inclusion & Skill Development: The initiative provided 14 local performers with learning disabilities the opportunity to work professionally. Participants learned acting, music creation, and technical skills like green screen technology.
- Collaboration: Red Sauce Theatre partnered with Film Crew 4U CIC (for film production) and Global Music Visions CIC (for sound and music) to ensure the production was accessible to all, including those with visual impairments.
- Community Impact: Funded by a £10,000 grant from the National Lottery (Arts Council’s Let’s Create Jubilee Fund), the project aimed to boost wellbeing and help performers transition into professional work in the local area
D Day on our Doorstep 75
For the 75th anniversary of D-Day in June 2019, the Portsmouth-based
was commissioned by The D-Day Story museum to create a special production titled “Chasing Germans“.
Drama and Dementia 2014
Rachel Goodall @ RST collaborated with the University of Portsmouth and the Alzheimer’s Society on a creative arts project in 2015 (funded from December 2013 to October 2014), not 2014 as the user specified. The project aimed to demonstrate the positive effects of the arts on the well-being of people living with dementia and their carers.
- Role of Red Sauce Theatre: The company’s founder, Rachel Goodall, served as the drama lead and research engine, leading a series of musical theatre workshops.
- Outcomes: The project provided evidence of the positive impacts of creative activities, culminating in a live performance for a large audience. Red Sauce Theatre subsequently received an International Nomination and £10,000 in Arts Award funding for their continued work in this area.
- Further Initiatives: Red Sauce Theatre has continued its work with the elderly and people with dementia, delivering workshops, creating films and activity booklets, and engaging with care homes and community groups. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rachel Goodall developed a “Theatrical Toolkit” of activity boxes to support engagement in care homes remotely.
Page to the Stage
- Reach: This funding supported work with 10 care homes and 20 community groups.
- Outputs: The project produced films, training programs, drama workshops, and activity booklets designed specifically for those living with dementia.
- Recognition: Their work in this area received an international nomination for its impact on dementia care through the arts
Street Theatre Company
Between 2005 and 2007, Rachel provided a number of paid street theatre performances in Gunwhalf Quays and was also in an administrative capacity to support and develop the Gunwharf Quays Street Theatre Company . A joint partnership between NTR, Gunwharf quays and by Arts and Businesss.
Rachel also delivered 3 performances at “The Big Shows” in the summer of 2006 in the Speigeltent, where she was the Artistic Director, as well as performer, devising shows, engaging performers and directing them
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