During my London visit this week, I spent a day in the Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) where I saw 6 shows as part of their BURST Festival.

The theme this year was '51 Reasons for Living', inspired by Barack Obama's presidential acceptance speech and they managed to pack 51 performances into this 16-day festival. Some of these were plays, some were installations, some were performance poetry, some were gigs, some were journeys for one person with a headset. It was wonderful to be in a place with such energy, where great ideas are celebrated and the meaning, form and function of theatre is questioned and celebrated.

The other exciting element was that many of the shows were actually 'scratches' of a show idea, so I was participating in something at its first stages of development. This not only benefits the development of the work but was a unique opportunity and a special experience for me as an audience member. The BAC is a brave and confident venue to allow a 'scratch' to run alongside fully formed pieces of work, giving it the same value and showing how process is as important as end product in theatre.

I saw:

Mari Me Archie (Melanie Wilson), an audio-guide folk-tale for one person with headphones around the BAC. I got terrified standing by myself in the pitch black in the attic listening to a distant guitar.

Reasons for Living (Look Left Look Right), an installation looking at fluid ways of creating documentary around people and places. I watched the film featuring the Battersea British Legion's reasons for living three times & wrote down my favourite time of day (it's 10pm).

You'll Never Walk Alone (Amy Feneck), an installation, a show, an experience; an ensemble group of runners run miles through London to the BAC before arriving to sing their anthem. I got the songbook and saw their neon sweat flash past me twice in the day.

The Suitcase Royale Space Show (The Suitcase Royale), from Oz, they used to be a band and then found an exciting way to make theatre. Their 'space ghost' made me laugh til I thought I was going to be sick and then I got to throw meteors at them.

Light (Annette Mees & Daniel Winterstein), an interactive installation for one. I scared myself once again by having to stand alone in the dark with only a match for company.

Peter & Joan Brookes: A live portrait (Ant Hampton), a beautiful installation-cum-experience, presented by The Other People, where Peter and Joan become a live portrait viewed through their own living room window. This was such a moving, special and empathetic show, I cried through 10 minutes of the 18-minute audio. Definitely my pick of the day and I can't wait to see how Ant develops this wonderful piece. Ant Hampton with The Other People: also one to keep an eye on.

This whole day was organised for me by the lovely Laura McDermott, producer at the BAC, who I first met with Andy Field at the National Theatre Wales housewarming party. She told me then that she had been developing Peter and Joan and that she would take me to see them. She also promised me that she would organise a wonderfully eclectic, exciting, packed theatre-marathon. I am so grateful that she did.