The Space Project has evolved from a rich performing arts tradition within the worshipping community of St. John’s Church, Broadbridge Heath.  It was established under the direction of local drama teacher Hugo Ellis in 2003 following the refurbishment of the church.  The title of the project points to some of its principal ideas and objectives.

The Space We Share - To begin with the Space Project looks outwards into the local community seeking to make the best possible use of the church building in the heart of Broadbridge Heath.  St. John’s is a vast tent-like structure with a cavernous yet surprisingly intimate interior.  This has proved both a dynamic performance space and a lively meeting place for the village and beyond in recent years.  The local church and its surrounding community- at times estranged in an increasingly secular culture - have gathered together to enjoy numerous productions at ‘The Space’ and found themselves sharing laughter, silence, and a deeper awareness of our common humanity.

The Space Within - The Space Project also points inward to that highly creative space within each of us, individually- a space that becomes cluttered with the endless demands and vacuous ‘entertainment’ of every day life.  For artists and audience alike, in performances or workshops, The Space Project has enabled ordinary people in the local community to recover a sense of that infinite interior landscape and limitless creativity which we all possess as human beings made in the image of God.

The Space Beyond - Finally The Space Project serves to draw us upwards to God-the source of all life and creativity.  At its most sublime the theatre can become a Holy place- a space in which ‘the invisible becomes visible’ (Peter Brook).  In an age when much of our talk about faith and religion sometimes seems bland and reductive, this local church initiative seeks to use the vibrant symbolism of the arts to reflect and celebrate God’s transcendent mystery.

‘The Being called Love can never be confined in small images, in small liturgies, in small churches. We are always tempted to lock God away in windowless places with low ceilings and high security: to pinpoint the divine presence with fallible compasses and dogmatic navigation systems. The Spirit of God will always need space to blow and dance where she will.’
(Daniel O’Leary-Priest in the Diocese of Leeds)