Our Story

Nealy a decade ago, four friends are sat in their school’s theatre drinking tea. If we were in a pub with a beer in our hands then we all know where the story would go from here.

“We could open a bar, couldn’t we?” 

The context may be different, but the ambition was there all the same. A little naïve maybe, but once one of us suggested starting a theatre company out loud, no one wanted to be the first to say it was a bad idea.

First step was to find a play. One that was poignant. One that would speak to us, and our audience. One that proved how serious we are.

‘Boys’ by Ella Hickson, a play about final year university students having one last party? Perfect.

We needed to cast the show too... The four male parts were sorted, but the two female ones? Well, luckily two of us had girlfriends.

Professionalism at its finest.

We did take it very seriously though. We hired a professional venue, we had a proper set built, we drove around picking up fancy lights, and at some point along the way, we realised we were having a lot of fun. Maybe this wasn’t such a crazy idea? But we were missing one thing: a name. 

What could we call ourselves? We were stuck scratching our heads for days. 

Then it hit us, one of our teacher’s catchphrases, something she’d say at the end of each lesson, or whenever she’d kick us out for rehearsing when she needed the room:

“Get Out Of My Space”

For us, it couldn’t be anything else.

Since then we’ve come a long way. Our first production was actually the only time we’ve performed in a traditional theatre. It felt almost like a rite of passage to do so, but we soon put that convention aside.

We’ve performed in a woodland, a restaurant (or two), an amphitheatre, an abandoned mansion; each of them coming with their own challenges, but challenge is what we thrive off.

We stepped off the stage and began to share the space with the audience more. We invited them into the story to watch from the inside, not from the upper circle.

When we did this, magic things started to happen.

People were engaged like we’d never seen before. We strove to break down the stuffiness of theatre, to get the audience as close as a camera would be in a film, to make them feel like they had stepped in through the screen with the control firmly in their hands.

We wanted the experience to be real, the audience standing shoulder to shoulder with the characters throughout this journey. Funnily enough, you can’t do that unless you’re physically with them.

That first show taught us, amongst many things, two very important lessons. It’s an amazing feeling to sell over 200 tickets for the opening night of your debut show, but we never want to do that again.

Since then our audience size has been purposefully limited. Each time the performance engulfs the audience into the world, with actors moving in and around them, inviting them in, not just inviting them to watch.

As we move forward, we’re taking on everything we’ve learned over the years. Not every lesson has been easy, some pills have been hard to swallow, but all have been valuable.

From this experience, we’ve come up with two very simple promises:

Small Audiences. Exceptional Experiences.

And that’s GOOMS in a nutshell.

If you’ve ever wanted something different from your normal theatre experience… 

Welcome home.

Don’t take your shoes off.