Criterion's Springboard Festival 2026

There’s lots going on behind the scenes at the newly refurbished Criterion Theatre, Earlsdon, as preparations get underway for their fourth incarnation of the Springboard Festival.

Running from Saturday 9  May to Saturday 16 May the Springboard Festival will be showcasing a wide variety of local artistic talent with writers, poets, performers, musicians, both amateur and professional entertaining audiences over the week.

Amongst the great line-up of nightly entertainment will be five one-act plays which have been developed through the Criterion. They will also be joined over the week by Side-by-Side Theatre Group, the Coventry Vision Hub’s creative writing group, the CovLitFest, and a wide range of music/poetry performers.

Whilst some of the plays/performers will appear several times throughout the 8 nights, some will be on specific nights – the full line ups for each evening can be found at https://criteriontheatre.co.uk/springboard/schedule 

Tickets are available on both a single performance basis (£10/£5 under 25’s) or you can take advantage of the season ticket option, which guarantees entrance to all 8 nights for just £20. All tickets can be purchased from www.criteriontheatre.co.uk/tickets

Prior to the festival, the Criterion Theatre will also be holding their regular Criterion open evening on Friday 1 May, where you’re invited to find out about opportunities to get involved at the theatre. All are welcome! Meet at 8pm in the bar area.