Little Scratch Night

Little Scratch is back at Exeter Phoenix on Wednesday 25 November, running from 5.30pm to 7.30pm in The Workshop. It's a monthly space for local creatives to talk through their ideas and connect with other makers, and this one is led by co-producers Will Adamsdale and Katy Danbury, with Associate Artist Eliza Fraser.

If you're not familiar with the name, Little Scratch sits alongside the venue's wider Scratch Night, a format that's long served as a way for artists to share and get feedback on work in its early stages. While that's for work that's already on its feet, Little Scratch focuses specifically on the ideas stage—what the organisers call 'the itch'. It's an informal, safe, and nurturing space, built as a pressure-free environment with zero expectations and shaped by the people who take part. The whole point is to vocalise a bare-bones vision and hear scripts read out loud, so it's as much about talking things through as it is about putting them on a page.

The people running it know the process well. Will Adamsdale has co-produced Scratch Nights at Exeter Phoenix since 2022 and has built work through the scratch process for over 20 years, with shows that have played The Royal Court, Bristol Old Vic and Brits of Broadway in New York, and won a Fringe First and a Perrier Award for comedy. Katy Danbury is Performance Programmer at Exeter Phoenix and was previously Artistic Director of the Old Red Lion Theatre in London. Eliza Fraser is a South West performer, writer and comedian. Between them, they've spent years working with material at the early, unpolished end of the scale, which is exactly where this night sits.

It's free to attend, and there's no booking required—you just drop in. It runs from 5.30pm to 7.30pm on Wednesday 25 November in The Workshop at Exeter Phoenix.