China Plate and Fuel have announced Touring Together, a major new nationwide touring initiative created in collaboration with Brighton Dome, Leeds Playhouse, Oxford Playhouse, Royal & Derngate Northampton and Warwick Arts Centre.
Led by China Plate and Fuel, the multi‑year partnership is designed to present high‑quality new theatre across the UK, strengthening touring networks and supporting the development of new writing. The initiative is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
The first production will be Fuel’s world premiere of Inua Ellams’ Once Upon a Time in Sokoto, directed by Ola Ince, touring in autumn 2026, with a new China Plate production to follow in autumn 2027.
Once Upon a Time in Sokoto, winner of the 2024 Alfred Fagon Award, opens at Royal & Derngate, Northampton on Monday 28 September 2026, with a press night on Friday 2 October, and runs until Saturday 10 October.
The tour will then visit Oxford Playhouse, Warwick Arts Centre, Leeds Playhouse and Brighton Dome.
Additional dates include Nottingham Playhouse from 29 to 31 October 2026 and Bristol Old Vic from 2 to 13 February 2027.
Ellams’ play charts a powerful and surprising friendship between a slave and her former master, unfolding against the backdrop of events that would shape the birth of Nigeria.
The writer, known for Barber Shop Chronicles and The 14th Tale, is an internationally acclaimed poet, playwright and artist.
Director Ola Ince brings her award‑winning work across theatre, film and opera to the production.
Ed Collier, Co‑Artistic Director of China Plate, said: “We’re so excited to be launching Touring Together today bringing independent producers together with venues across the country to make and tour new theatre. This multi year programme gives us a great opportunity to make new work with national significance, build new audiences and encourage long term theatre going habits. We’re really grateful to Arts Council England for their support for the programme. Inua Ellams’ Once Upon a Time in Sokoto is a phenomenal play to open the programme and there will be more great work to follow it, we can’t wait to give you more news later in the year! See you on tour in the autumn!”
Fuel’s Artistic Director and CEO Kate McGrath said: “We know from experience that commitment to relationships with partners and communities over time yields fruit. Touring Together aims to build on existing collaborations to produce new work for a wide and diverse audiences, through long-term partnership with venues and extensive engagement programmes around the shows themselves. Touring Together will enable us all to explore new ways of working, and we are actively looking for opportunities to connect and share what we learn. We’re also thrilled that the very first Touring Together show will be the World Premiere of Inua Ellams’ new play, which Fuel has commissioned and developed with care and excitement, and we can’t wait to share with the world.”
Partner venues, including Brighton Dome, Leeds Playhouse, Oxford Playhouse, Royal & Derngate and Warwick Arts Centre, praised the initiative for strengthening UK touring and expanding access to ambitious new writing.
More information can be found here
