The Joy Shift
The joy shift
Made in partnership with The Young Everyman Players we were commissioned to create a devised performance with the 2025 18-25 yr olds group. We gave them three options and they chose ‘love’ as their theme! As the process morphed, changed and evolved what we discovered is that it wasn’t love we were talking about it was JOY! And so JOY and holding JOY became a political act of defiance against a world that is oh, so sad. This work celebrated the importance of JOY and reminded us how it is different to happiness and why it matters :)
Joy. It’s personal, it’s universal, and let’s be honest, we’re all chasing it. A feeling, a memory, a spark. Something real in a world that’s constantly scrolling, selling, and spiralling.
Joy is what we crave, what we post about, what we’re told we’re supposed to have, yet somehow, it keeps slipping through our fingers.
But what if your job was to deliver it?
Meet the JOY GIVERS.
Frontline emotion-workers, specially selected by the Ministry of Joy. Armed with clipboards, training, and a dangerously high tolerance for positivity, these workers are on a mission: to measure and manage joy in a system that’s running low on good vibes and high on existential dread.
And believe it or not—they’re actually kind of good at it.
So clock in, tune out the noise, and join us for an hour of laughter, questioning, and—yes—joy.
No promises. No pressure. Just pure, slightly chaotic, human feeling.
“We had the pleasure of working with All Things Considered on the Young Everyman Playhouse (YEP) Actors 18-25 show, The Joy Shift, a brand new piece of theatre devised with our young people about finding the joy in an increasingly difficult world. Throughout the process, Emma and Sarah showed such care and attention, ensuring that the voices of our young people stayed front and centre. As creatives, they shaped the work and created structure through writing and direction, worked with our designer to create a beautiful vision for the show, nurtured talent and found moments for energy, beauty and stillness in what was a truly joyful production. As facilitators and caretakers, they listened to our young people, gave them autonomy, challenged them to push themselves further, created a safe space for them to stumble, and provided them with a platform they felt that they truly owned. We would like to thank Emma and Sarah for the wonderful work they did with our young people and for helping to encourage, train and springboard the next generation of creative talent.” Everyman Theatre
YEP Actors 18-25
'My confidence has increased by being completely encouraged to be as silly as possible and play around within the premise of what we’re doing and being celebrated of being my complete self'
'I feel much more secure in my skills as a creative. The environment has nurtured me as an actor and as a musician.'
'Being given a solo part and a sequence that was developed from my own experience made me feel proud and confident, it was my highlight and a wow moment for me. I felt like the part was a moment in my future, really about me.'
'being able to ask questions and express my opinions without feeling judged, thanks to the eagerness and the curiosity of the directors, made me feel welcomed into the group.'
'I have learned a lot about having a solo part in the Joy Shift. I've learned that it all comes from the actors with their thoughts and ideas to make the show good and Emma and Sarah from All Things Considered have made this devised piece with us the actors at YEP and they have used a lot of creative skills that made the whole show stand out and working with Emma and Sarah has been a creative journey.'
YEP Producers
'Just generally working on the show has helped me settle anxieties about starting something new in the theatre space'
