How a theatre company became a community.

Space 2000 began in 1993 as a theatre company. We weren't trying to build a venue, run a community space, or rent out gardens for weddings. We were trying to make plays that mattered, in places where plays don't always get made.

For our first eight years, the company toured Northern Nigeria, doing theatre for development — performances built with local communities on issues they raised themselves. Health, education, civic engagement, the place of women, the place of young people. The plays travelled. The conversations they sparked travelled further.

Eventually, the work needed a home. We acquired the site that is now Space 2000 in 1999 and, over time, built it into what you see today — Pierre Hall for performances, four gardens for everything else, and an office and storage area that keep the company running. The original theatre work continues; it just happens in a fixed address now.

The venue side of the operation began almost by accident. People asked if they could hold their daughter's wedding in the garden where they'd seen a play. Then someone asked about a 60th. Then a corporate event. We said yes more often than no, and a hire business grew up alongside the theatre work. Today, it pays most of the bills, which is what allows the free youth programmes to keep running.

We're a small team, and Space 2000 is still recognisably the same project. The plays are still made. The community we performed for still gathers here. The hire fees from celebrations help support the youth programmes. It all holds together — sometimes only just, but it holds.