In 2022, we received funding from Children in Need to work with vulnerable young people in Knowle West, Bristol. Like many of our programmes, it offers young people a fun and supportive way to improve literacy, build confidence, develop creativity and strengthen their employability skills through co-production of new drama. Working closely with Knowle DGE Academy, SEN young people aged 16-18 were signposted to the project.

We began by delivering an annual 10-week course based at the Knowle West Media Centre. During this time, young people worked alongside professional writers, directors and media experts to develop audio dramas, taking their ideas from initial concept right through to editing. Participants learnt how to develop and write an audio script, design soundscapes, record and edit their plays. They have not only gained valuable knowledge and skills, but also the rewarding experience of sharing their finished work with family and friends through celebration events.

Young people worked with writers Lizzie Bourne and Claire Rammelkamp, creating some fantastic and original stories from vampires at a barbecue to a comedic murder mystery. The project was featured on BBC Points West in November 2023 as part of their coverage highlighting the impact of BBC Children in Need funding on local communities – see the feature here: https://www.facebook.com/shootingfishtheatrecompany/videos/329937736443862

The finished audio dramas can be listened to here:

Cell 13 – https://on.soundcloud.com/VYje8axg0aZK6GQXhD

The Legend of Dream Island – https://on.soundcloud.com/6mrCsza7v6wYwbmOTD

It was our dream to develop this work, building partnerships in South Bristol in order to expand to full theatrical co-productions with SEN young people. In 2025, we were thrilled to join forces with Tobacco Factory Theatres and secure the funding to achieve this. From June, we began working with young people to develop two new plays, ‘Fantastic Bites’, written and performed by young people and ‘Jack Payne and the Abnormality’, written and produced by young people, performed by a professional cast. Young people were involved with every element of the production; script creation supported by professional writer Theo Toksvig Stewart, the development of marketing, set design and build, casting, lighting and sound.

The plays were performed to a sell-out audience at Tobacco Factory’s Spielman Theatre on the 15th and 16th of February 2026.

Synopsis

The place; London. The date; sometime in the 1950’s. The crime; murder by miscellaneous slime…

American Detective Jack Payne embarks on the strangest case of his career. Under pressure from The Met to follow procedure and do things ‘by the book’, Jack must not only battle the case but the entire system. But as he’s pulled deeper into a web of surreal clues, unhinged suspects, and a reality that seems to be fraying at the edges, Jack must decide whether he’s chasing the truth… or losing his grip on it.

Jack Payne and the Abnormality is an absurdist and fast-paced detective story filled with big characters, unlikely heroes and a whirlwind of mystery and madness. Should Jack change to fit the world – or is it the world that needs to change to fit him?