HandMade Theatre make unique, sustainable, engaging work with people at its heart. We create touring family theatre and bespoke projects to support communities, schools and health settings. We are a charity dedicated to promoting the well being impact of creativity, arts and culture.

We are a company dedicated to sustainable practise as part of our core values. This includes using sustainable materials as much as possible, handcrafting beautiful sets and puppets that have a long life and are used and reused for multiple tours, shows and projects.

From the beginning we worked in collaboration with master craftsman Ben Thomas to craft sets which are made using sustainable materials and methods, this includes coppicing much of the timber from his own woodland. Sets are usually built at a community workshop run by START Creative in Salford, a charity supporting adults with mental health issues. The products are beautifully crafted using a blend of traditional skills with modern techniques and equipment. Our projects provide an exciting challenge for the centre users and means we are reinvesting our own funding within the charity sector. A few other things we try to do:

Puppets are made from found objects or recycled materials, Costumes are largely purchased from charity shops Where possible we limit our team on tour and carefully consider the number journeys and vehicles used. We use recycled paper for any print produced. We work with local artists to create handcrafted merchandise using sustainable materials. We use scrap stores to resource practical workshops.