Trestle was founded in 1981 by four students from Middlesex University, Sally Cook, Alan Riley, Toby Wilsher and Joff Chafer, with the help of their course tutor, John Wright.
The Company developed a distinctive style of theatre using masks, puppets and music, and soon became one of Britain’s leading touring theatre companies, earning an enviable reputation both at home and abroad and touring to 31 countries across the world to date. In 1994 Trestle developed its famous educational mask sets, which are still handmade at Trestle Arts Base today and available to buy.
In April 2002, after 20 years of nomadic existence, the Company developed and moved into Trestle Arts Base, a £2,000,000 refurbishment of the Old Hill End Hospital Chapel in St Albans, Hertfordshire. As well as providing the Company with its first ever permanent home, Trestle Arts Base has gained its own reputation as a successful performing arts centre.
A new era began in 2004, when Toby Wilsher, the last remaining founding Artistic Director left the Company, and Emily Gray was appointed as the new Artistic Director. The Company now collaborates with local, national and international artists to create physical storytelling theatre using a variety of physical theatre forms.
Little India (2007) was the first of a trilogy of internationally influenced storytelling theatre pieces. Working with Indian theatre company Little Jasmine Trestle recreated a telling of a classic Indian love story for a contemporary audience, using traditional Indian martial art (kalari), music and storytelling. This year Trestle is working with Barcelona-based dance company Increpación Danza to develop a theatre flamenco dance fusion to tell the story of Lola Montez; the infamous 19th century fake Spanish dancer. Later this year a collaboration with Polish vocal and physical theatre artists will develop a piece that explores how music is used as a language of identity amongst shifting cultural influences and allegiances.
Trestle's international collaborations have grown out of a desire to develop skills in physical forms other than mask, for which Trestle had become internationally renowned, and explore other physical languages with which to tell stories. While the Company is not currently touring productions featuring masks, they do remain a vital and creative tool in the training and education field.
Trestle Arts Base is our home in St Albans, a base for all the Company’s artistic, administrative and producing operations. It is also a unique performing arts centre, offering a wide variety of professional shows, classes and community events, as well as space for performance research and development.
Trestle Taking Part supports and enriches the work of the Company by offering a stimulating and inspiring programme of workshops, residencies and training in diverse theatre forms, enabling thousands of people to participate in arts activities every year, throughout the UK and beyond.
Trestle has won numerous awards for both its touring work and Trestle Arts Base. Accolades include Fringe Firsts, The Stage Acting Excellence Awards, Time Out Design Awards, Youth Theatre Awards for Excellence in the Arts, Disability & Access and Employer Awards.
