Coventry's Springboard Festival bigger and better than ever

Springboard Festival 2025 takes place at The Criterion Theatre, Earlsdon, Coventry from 10 to 17 May.

Preview

Now in its third year, the Springboard Festival 2025 promises to be bigger and better than ever. Festival organisers are excited to present eight evenings of fabulous and varied entertainment in the form of short one act plays, poetry/spoken word, music, film, literary discussion and visual art.

The festival brings together amateur and professionals in one space, with in-house Criterion company performances and community/Criterion collaborations alongside external artists, musicians and poets from Coventry and Warwickshire.

It is also more affordable than ever, with season tickets at only £20 and individual evening tickets at £10 and £5 for the under 25s.

The season ticket is the most cost-effective and flexible ticketing option as it gives you possible access to any performance across the whole week of the festival, subject to seating availability. You may want to attend all eight evenings, selected evening's programmes, individual performances on a selected evening, or you may want to see a repeated performance again on a different evening. All of these options are possible with a £20 season ticket.

Each evening’s programme runs from 7:30pm to 10pm and will involve a mixture of theatre plays, music, and spoken word, plus there will also be a film and a literary festival on selected nights. Theatre plays run in length from 15 minutes to 35 minutes maximum and will be repeated three times across the festival week.

The programme is subject to some change and new acts may be added. Full details from the Criterion website where you can also book your tickets.

Saturday 10 May 'City of Exiles'

Criterion Theatre: 'The Passing' by Wendy McNeilly, 'Aunty' by Maxi Di Poet, 'Scapegoat' by David Court and 'Through A Stained Glass Darkly' by Anne-marie Greene

Poetry/Spoken Word: Zsofia Hacsek, Alison Manning and Shaniece

Music: Lauren South

Sunday 11 May 'Transformative Action'

Criterion Theatre: 'Through A Stained Glass Darkly' by Anne-marie Greene

Literary Festival: Anne Harrison, Paul Gitsham, Ann Evans and Nirmal Puwar.

Poetry/Spoken Word: Wendy Barzetovic

Music: Rebecca Mileham

Monday 12 May 'A Broader Community'

Community: Coventry Vision Writing Group

Criterion Theatre: 'No Place Like Home' by Alexandra Taylor and 'Through A Stained Glass Darkly' by Anne-marie Greene

Poetry/Spoken Word: Amy Rugg

Music: Nowhere Club