Recycled Rubbish

Inspired by our successful production Rubbish, Recycled Rubbish toured in 2015, 2016 and 2022

Recycled Rubbish was first created in 2015 and has since been touring the UK and internationally. It was inspired by our hugely successful show Rubbish, and invited audiences to join our two excavators as they scuttle through the muck finding treasures hidden amongst a world of rubbish. A magical world where, at the touch of a puppeteer’s hand, the contents of a bin bag transformed before their eyes.

As well as touring to theatres, libraries and schools throughout the UK, Recycled Rubbish has also visited the Festival of Curiosity Dublin, Great Ormond Street Hospital London and Beverley Puppet Festival. It has also travelled to Thailand to be part of BICT, Bangkok’s first ever children’s theatre festival.

In 2022, the show toured for 5 weeks to East Midlands libraries for Spark Arts as part of their touring performance project Among Ideal Friends.

Cast

Creative Team

Sue Buckmaster

Co-Director & Puppetry Co-Designer

The children were very enthusiastic and thoroughly enjoyed the show. We already know a lot about recycling at school…However, the show really reminded children of the importance of it and many are now wanting to make new items out of rubbish.
Horniman's Primary School

The Puppet Whisperer

Live masterclass, originally a Theatre-Rites co-production with Little Angel Theatre in 2014.

Sue Buckmaster, one of the UK’s leading puppetry practitioners and Artistic Director of Theatre-Rites, has created an evening of live un-rehearsed, improvised puppetry.

An acutely sensitive process that usually takes place behind closed doors, this is a unique and fun opportunity to watch how Sue listens to a puppet, engages a puppeteer and whispers a new character into life.

WARNING: Due to their nature, some puppets may become fragile or offensive and Sue might have to KILL them. All necessary precautions will be taken to avoid causing upset to the audience.

The Puppet Whisperer has performed at Little Angel Theatre (2014 & 2015) and Battersea Arts Centre (2016).

Cast

Sue Buckmaster

The Puppet Whisperer

Creative Team

Sue Buckmaster

Director

Something in the Air

A co-production with Schauspielhaus Bochum, performing throughout 2024

After the success of The Incredible Tale of Robot Boy we are delighted to return to Schauspielhaus Bochum with this new collaboration.

Something In The Air  (Es Liegt Was In Der Luft) is performed at the Schauspielhaus’ new theatre space Theaterrevier, which is dedicated to presenting work for children and young people.

We are all made of air. The whole world is made of air. We are not so separate.

So, take a deep breath and enjoy this new production. You will see air with different eyes. Can we see it at all? Can we capture air? How can we protect it?

Breathe out and find out.

Premiered 12th  November 2023 at Theaterrevier 

 

Cast

Creative Team

Sue Buckmaster

Director

Journey of a Refugee

Part of This is Croydon, London Borough of Culture 2024

A powerful and moving theatre production that explores the journey and arrival of a refugee and the universal theme of people searching for a place they can call home.

Journey of a Refugee will be a beautiful blend of puppetry and performance for both school and family audiences and will be supported by a comprehensive workshop programme.

“Unmissable! Vibrant, Sensory, Emotional

★★★★★ Everything Theatre

Theatre-Rites with Agudo Dance Company are creating an exciting new production as part of London Borough of Culture in Croydon. This production is inspired by Theatre-Rites’ acclaimed site-specific show The Welcoming Party (originally co-produced with Manchester International Festival, Z-arts and the Ruhrtriennale Festival).

Performances at Stanley Arts Centre 3 – 18 February 2024.

Cast

Creative Team

Sue Buckmaster

Director

Four performers are in a cage lit with a beautiful orange vibrant light. One performer is facing the audience looking at one of the performers on either side of her. We cannot see the faces of the other performers.One performer is crouching down in the middle.
Powerful and stunning. A must see piece of theatre.
Star rating: 5 stars
Adventures in Theatreland
Gorgeous, politcally engaged and beautifully crafted show
Star rating: 4.5 stars
The Reviews Hub
Unmissable! Vibrant, Sensory, Emotional
Star rating: 5 stars
Everything Theatre
Previous Slide
Next Slide

Siyanda

Commissioned by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2018 for the reopening of The Temperate House.

As part of this 30 min walkabout performance Siyanda, Protector of Plants, invited visitors to explore the Temperate House at Kew Gardens, the world’s largest surviving Victorian glasshouse, which had reopened its doors after a huge 5-year restoration project.   

Siyanda has been the guardian of plants for many years and knows all their secrets. As the young audience joined her on her walk around the Temperate House, and listened to stories and songs about the plants, they became fully-fledged plant protectors and learned how to protect our vibrant planet.  This theatrical experience used live music, puppetry and performance and was originally performed in October 2018.

Cast

Creative Team

Sue Buckmaster

Artistic Director

All the children were extremely quiet, that is rare, they were absorbed by it. It was beautiful.
Audience Member

The Welcoming Party

A Theatre-Rites, Manchester International Festival, Z-arts and Ruhrtriennale Festival co-production in 2017 & 2018.

How do we welcome new arrivals?What stories have they to tell? 

The Welcoming Party took us on a thrilling journey through a historic hidden warehouse at Manchester’s Museum of Science & Industry, walking alongside people who had travelled from towns and cities far beyond Manchester, all looking for a place where they could feel safe and sound.  

The show was recreated for the Ruhrtriennale Festival the following year and invited audiences to journey through the derelict and magnificent Zechenwerkstatt Zeche Lohberg in Dinslaken. 

A beautiful blend of puppetry, performance, dance and live music for both children and family audiences, The Welcoming Party made us think about what it means to feel different – and why we should all be proud of who we are. 

The Welcoming Party was performed in Manchester, UK (2017) and Dinslaken, Germany (2018). It received a special commendation at the first ever Manchester Cultural Awards.  

Cast

Creative Team

Sue Buckmaster

Director

Done with the rackety swagger and invention that we’ve come to expect from Theatre-Rites, a company making shows for children that is right at the forefront of contemporary British theatre practice
Star rating: 4 stars
The Guardian
a performer dressed in red sits at a table holding a puppet child close to her while she talks to another performer who takes notes. A third performer observes in the background.
This is, no two ways about it, an astonishing piece of theatre: a kids' show that handles immigration, both as lived experience and as bureaucratic system, with such nuance and sophistication that it teaches adults a thing or two as well
Star rating: 5 stars
Whats On Stage

Zoe’s Peculiar Journey Through Time – 2023 Tour

Toured Sep & Oct 2023

After its premiere and run at the Burgtheater Vienna in 2021/22, we brought Zoe home and toured the show across the UK and Norway. Venues included: Southbank Centre, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Kilden Teater (Kristiansand, Norway), Polka Theatre and Lakeside Arts Nottingham.

Zoe loves meeting up with her friends, but one day as she’s getting ready, something very peculiar happens… 

Catapulted one hundred years into the future, Zoe finds herself on a mysterious island made entirely of plastic waste. She doesn’t have time to think before her real adventures begin and she sets off to explore, solving riddles, meeting wonderful creatures, and helping new friends out of trouble. 

Will she find her way home? Join us in this magical tale exploring themes of friendship and the environment, featuring Theatre-Rites’ award-winning puppetry. 

There was a Signed performance at every UK venue. 

Zoe’s Peculiar Journey Through Time was originally a Theatre-Rites and Burgtheater Vienna co-production

For any press enquiries please contact info@chloenelkinconsulting.com

 

From 2023 to offset our carbon footprint we have committed to making contributions to Ecologi.

If you would also like to make a contribution please visit our page on the Ecologi website:

ECOLOGI

Cast

Creative Team

Sue Buckmaster

Director

An educational and visually stimulating piece of children’s theatre
The Family Stage
three performers laugh merrily with an ancient female puppet whose body is made out of plastic waste.
This co-production of the Burg Theatre with Theater-Rites from Great Britain is a small eco-miracle.
Der Standard
Previous Slide
Next Slide

Join our mailing list

Receive email updates about upcoming productions, training, auditions and other opportunities. You’ll also be able to access our members only area where we’ll share behind the scenes content about our shows, old and new.

Back to Top