In a concrete block just off the M8 motorway in Glasgow, Angie Bual is planning the future.

As far as she is concerned, that future comes in the shape of Allotment, a bi-monthly “arts bar” in a former shopping precinct in Govan.

Here, interventionist ­theatre, art and other multi-media ­happenings will break down barriers between audience and performer, invite participation and explode in a riot of community cultural activism. Rather than ­parachuting in to the area before making a quick getaway, as so many botched ­community projects have done in the past, Allotment wants to sustain a relationship with those directly and indirectly involved, which may stir up other projects.

It’s a noble aim, but to pull off such ambitions would be a tall order for even the most experienced arts professional. For a theatre and events producer still in her twenties, such as Bual, to set her sights on something so off-kilter and all-­encompassing is even more of a challenge.

Fortunately for her, the ­concrete block in which she’s holding court is home to the National ­Theatre of Scotland (NTS), with whom Bual is on a year-long placement. She has that organisation’s full set of eyes, ears, resources and ­machinery at her disposal.

In practical terms, this means shadowing NTS executive ­producer Neil Murray and ­artistic director Vicky Featherstone. For Bual, however, the long-term effect of the placement can’t be measured. And, judging by her ­ambition and willingness to think outside the usual parameters, both assets tempered by a calm pragmatism, her future looks unstoppable.

“I’m interested in intervening with the public when they’re in a seemingly relaxed state of mind,” Bual says, citing of-the-moment companies such as Shunt and Punchdrunk, who work in site-specific environments where the audience experience is paramount. “Doing something in a club or at a music festival can create a whole different set of reactions – and can bring in new audiences by the bucketload as well as making theatre sexy.

But I wanted to push that further, which is where the importance of community experience comes in.”

The first Allotment took place in October, and was themed around shipbuilding, with a bar being built in the shape of a boat and an array of paper boats hanging down from the space. The next event will look to retro video-gaming for inspiration.

“We’ll be looking at classic bar games,” Bual explains, “but subverting them on a massive scale. One of the ideas is to make a giant game of Pong, the old tennis game, with the ball a projection of light. There’ll be various levels the audience can move up, and at the bar they’ll be given a Chance card similar to those in Monopoly, and given various challenges.

“Then, at some point in the night, people will receive a message on Bluetooth and there’ll be a flash-mob moment when everyone’s expected to do something. There’ll also be a VIP area where you can play roulette, but there’ll be a performer giving a monologue about why the house always wins.”

Allotment has also helped regenerate Govan’s economy, Bual believes. The Brechin Bar, the pub next to the venue, was involved with the first event and has reported an increase in ­custom because of it. Local shops have similarly benefited, she says. “It’s about social networking,” she says, “but in a live environment, where people are encouraged to network with people they don’t know.”

Bual acknowledges that ­forays into interactive community spectacle such as Allotment hark back to the theatre companies that grew out of 1960s counter-culture, such as The People Show and Welfare State International. Nevertheless, she represents a new wave of energy that mixes up form and content in a messier, less formal but no less rigorously produced manner. The relationship between the Arches, the Forest Fringe and Battersea Arts Centre at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe pointed the way for the current wave of quasi-DIY ­activity. Bual also cites Fuel, the Herald Angel-winning ­producing organisation who were in residence at the Lyric, Hammersmith, where she has worked as a producer.

Tellingly, Bual’s work as one of a younger generation of theatre-makers craving a more democratic artistic experience grew out of her presence on London’s spoken-word and performance-poetry scene. Here she discovered a more upfront, immediate and intimate landscape, with the speakeasy atmosphere of events more akin to small-scale music gigs than anything resembling formal theatre. “I want ­community-based work to exist on an equal footing with professional work,” Bual says, “without getting into ticking boxes.”

Her placement with the NTS as an associate producer comes under the auspices of the ­Cultural Leadership Programme, a UK Government initiative set up in 2006. Based on an initial partnership between the Arts Council England, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the body Creative and Cultural Skills, it was awarded an initial budget of £12m and has been granted a ­further £10m for the period from 2008 to 2011. Others involved with the scheme have taken up places at similarly high-profile institutions including the ­Barbican and Tate Modern.

While this all sounds a long way from the grassroots initiatives Bual and her assorted collaborators are intent on exploring, the community groups that have come on board for Allotment speak volumes about the seriousness of both the project and Bual’s intentions. She couldn’t, however, have devised Allotment by herself, and stresses the importance of the support the Cultural Leadership Programme has given her.

“It’s not been easy to get the artists to buy into it,” she admits, “because it’s not a play and it’s not an exhibition and it’s not cabaret. Once they came on board, though, and saw the possibilities of what Allotment could be, that opened up everything.

“To do something like this, though, I needed the mentoring of Neil and Vicky to give me the confidence to make it happen.”

Bual has also been mentored by Helen Marriage of the site-specific producers Artichoke. To date, Artichoke are best known for putting a 50-foot-high mechanical spider on the streets of Liverpool during the city’s year as European Capital of ­Culture in 2008.

“I’ve been working with the best,” says Bual, “and without being on the Cultural Leadership Programme that could never have happened.

“I could never have dreamed that I’d be able to do something like Allotment on such a grand scale, but the important thing is to get people involved who might not normally go to the theatre, and to really engage with the community.”

The National Theatre of ­Scotland’s second Allotment takes place at Govan Cross Shopping Centre on December 5, with a further Allotment at the same venue on February 19, 2010, in association with the Arches’ off-site series of events www.nationaltheatrescotland.com