Lesson 01
Trust can be rehearsed
Research around the project suggests that meeting journalists in performance and Q&A can change how audiences feel about them.
Case 06 / live journalism case
News on Stage
A UK research-led initiative testing live journalism in theatres, cabarets, streets, and rivers.
Location
United Kingdom
Period
Founded 2020; News on the Street listed for 2024
Organisation
News on Stage
Format
Embodied and public-space live journalism
// IN A NUTSHELL
What this case proves
A UK research-led live journalism experiment testing whether journalists performing unpublished stories can rebuild trust through proximity, transparency, theatrical craft, and public conversation.
// BACKGROUND
Before the room filled
Context 01
News on Stage was created by Catherine Adams at Nottingham Trent University and Glenda Cooper at City, University of London.
Context 02
The project grew from research into journalism, theatre, and the public sphere, then became a sequence of practical experiments.
Context 03
Its formats test both theatre rooms and public spaces, asking whether live presence can make journalism feel knowable again.
// CASE THESIS
Why it belongs in the field
The case belongs because it breaks the assumption that live journalism needs a theatre.
News on Stage was founded in 2020 by Catherine Adams and Glenda Cooper.
It lists five formats: Unrelated Stories, Up and Coming Stories, News Cabaret, News on the Street, and News on the River.
Journalists and actors perform previously unpublished stories while maintaining journalistic rigour.
Audience interaction appears through Q&A and spontaneous public-space encounters.
// HOW IT WORKS
The format has mechanics
Mechanic 01
Unpublished stories are performed by journalists, actors, or students using monologue, verbatim reconstruction, soundscape, stand-up, audiovisual material, improvisation, Q&A, and post-show discussion.
Mechanic 02
The project keeps the editorial risk visible: dramatisation is allowed only if it supports, rather than muddies, the evidence.
Mechanic 03
News on the Street moved the experiment outside, with journalists on soapboxes speaking to passers-by at Nottingham's Speakers' Corner.
// FORMAT STRUCTURE
Format first. Productions inside.
Type tags
Community/participatory
Dialogue/forum
Nested events / productions
// PRODUCTION FILE
How it moved through time
01
Unrelated Stories took place on Zoom in July 2020, followed by Up and Coming Stories in September 2020.
02
News Cabaret became a 90-minute physical show in 2021 with nine journalists, actors, and improvisers.
03
News on the Street took place on May 18, 2024, with about 150 people stopping to watch and engage.
// LESSONS
What the case teaches
Lesson 02
Actors are not the enemy
The work asks a useful question: when can theatrical technique clarify journalism rather than fictionalize it?
Lesson 03
The street changes the contract
A ticketed theatre audience arrives prepared. A public-space audience has to be earned in the moment.
// BORROW
What travels
Street as venue
Actors plus journalists
Multiple test formats
Spontaneous audience encounter
// DO NOT COPY
What can break
No safety plan
Mistaking interruption for participation
Weak attribution in public
// SOURCE TRAIL
Where the dossier points
// ALL 12 CASES
Same form, different room
