In September 2025, Polly joined Arts at the Old Fire Station in Oxford as their Lead Performance Facilitator, responsible for co-creating, writing and directing a new performance project with members of The Hidden Spire Collective.

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The Hidden Spire Collective is a diverse group of people from Oxford and its surrounds, many of whom have experienced homelessness at some stage in their lives, and who are interested in making art. 

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Am I Free Yet? was part of a national project called Our Freedom Then & Now, which funded fifty arts centres around the country to make a piece of co-created art with their local communities, exploring the theme of freedom since 1945.

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The Hidden Spire collective were keen to make a live performance which challenged conventional images of post-war Britain and which spoke to their experiences of the welfare state.

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Polly worked alongside Hidden Spire Artistic Director, Lizzy McBain, to lead four devising sessions with the group, before going away to shape the group's ideas and material into a cohesive script. The collective then had four rehearsal sessions with Polly and Lizzy, and a day's rehearsal in the theatre, before sharing their work in two performances in November 2025.

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The process and the performances were captured by photographer Sam Irvin. A series of portraits of some members of The Hidden Spire Collective who took part in the show, will be on display at The Southbank Centre, as part of the Our Freedom Then & Now Exhibition in March 2026.

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Click the arrows above to view Sam's photos of the Am I Free Yet? rehearsals and performances.

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