HandMade Theatre was established in 2011 by performer Suzy Gunn and Theatre Designer Amy Nicholson. It began with a large-scale residency project based at Rosehill Special School, entitled ‘Creative Environments’.  This project led to the creation of our first touring production The Flying Machine and established the beginning of our company ethos and devising practises.

Collaboration is always key to our work, collaboration with a diverse team of creative professionals and with all those who choose to engage in our work including audiences and community groups. We never make work exclusively in a rehearsal room but instead prefer to seek out ideas, inspiration and connection through public workshops, projects and sharing’s. 

We are dedicated to sustainable practises; reusing and repurposing sets, working with environmentally friendly resources and considering our carbon footprint.

Our touring work is designed for family audiences and although it is often steered towards children, we try to make our performances a truly interactive and engaging experience for the whole family to enjoy together. 

We are deliberately small scale and self-sufficient to ensure we can easily perform anywhere, anything from a school hall, community park, nature reserve to a theatre venue, we even bring our own seating. We believe that this ability to perform anywhere encourages access to theatre for anyone.

Having worked extensively in special schools we draw from this experience to ensure our work is always accessible and interactive. For example, using basic Makaton signing in all shows and workshops. We consider how our work can benefit others through therapy approaches with a particular focus on ‘play’

We are strongly dedicated to new writing and devise all our work with original songs, stories and characters. Our sets are tactile including handcrafted objects and puppets and this is all designed to embrace the audiences as an active part of the show.

‘Absolutely fantastic. We all loved it. The little kids and the big kids ’ Parent, The Twelve Birds of Christmas 2016