A comical and critical performance on failure, regeneration, and civic life in Southport
It can be funny when someone fails, can’t it?
A slip. A trip. A fall from grace.
Egg on their face.
Less funny when we fail ourselves…
And what if it feels like the eyes of an entire town are on you when you mess up?
BEST PRACTICE is a new devised performance by Seamus Lavan (Lecoq-trained clown), with dramaturgy by Eleanor Lybeck, and performed with a company of local young people.
Set in Southport and inspired by both historic and recent events, the piece offers a comical and reflective look at why regeneration schemes so often falter—and what we might learn from their failures.
Through a cast of characters—the Mad Duke, the Architect, the Civil Servant, and the Professor—we follow a series of attempts to build something visionary in an ordinary town. Each effort falters, misfires, or collapses under its own assumptions.
And yet, something persists.
In the end, the performance turns outward—asking you, the audience, to consider what might be missing from a blueprint for a future that is both optimistic and realistic.
Who is this for?
This show is for anyone who has ever tried to make something work:
Civic leaders and policy makers
Educators and students
Artists and creatives
Social entrepreneurs and business owners
Anyone interested in place, failure, and starting again
About the Venue
Hosted at The Engine Room, Southport’s emerging civic house for culture, craft and music, located within the historic Wayfarers Arcade.
Part of the Arcade Project, led by Dr Eric Lybeck, Senior Lecturer in the Manchester Institute of Education.
