BLOG: Toby Mitchell Talks Tall Stories' 25th Anniversary, His Current Projects And Hopes For The Future

In 1997, following a chance meeting with Olivia Jacobs at the Soho Theatre box office, she and I co-founded Tall Stories - initially to take two devised shows to the Edinburgh Fringe. One was an adaptation of three of Oscar Wilde's heart-breaking fairy tales, and the other was a re-telling of Alice in Wonderland using the real-life characters of Lewis Carroll and his young muse.

Though inspired by child-friendly titles, neither show was specifically for children. But we found parents bringing their offspring along and saying how great it was to find shows suitable for children that weren't patronising. Tall Stories has walked that path ever since, touring the UK and the world with shows that delight and challenge at the same time - and becoming a charity in 2008 with that purpose.

All our shows use direct-address narration and physical storytelling - making it clear to the audience that we're all in the same room together and that during our performances, their imaginations are as important as our stagecraft. This is important for each show we create - whether it's based on a much-loved picture book or created from scratch from an idea like "what if you tried to go back in time to change a decision you regret?"

After a few years of creating small-scale shows for grown-ups and for family audiences, in 1999 Tall Stories bought the rights to a then little-known book called The Gruffalo. We read it and instantly thought it was a great story which would work on stage. Then it won the Smarties prize, which we considered might be quite good for ticket sales. But it was only when the show went out on tour in 2001 that we truly experienced the huge love and affection the audience already had for this book.

We've been proud to be part of the Gruffalo's journey from page to stage to screen and beyond - and to have adapted other brilliant books by the dynamic duo of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. This summer our Olivier-nominated production of Room on the Broom returns to the West End and our brand new adaptation of The Smeds and The Smoos plays the Edinburgh Fringe - where Tall Stories began.

Over the last 25 years, around a third of our shows have been based on picture books, a third on fairy tales and lesser known stories, and a third have been created from scratch. This is a pattern that we plan to continue in the future from our new home within Central Library on London's Holloway Road.

In the big front room of the library we've created a rehearsal studio with technical facilities for preview performances and tryouts (including 80 retractable seats) - alongside an office for our staff. This forms the hub for our community activities - working with deprived and under-represented children and grown-ups in Islington and beyond. With no Arts Council funding, we're lucky that our bigger shows continue to subsidise our smaller projects and our community work.

It feels exciting and daunting at the same time to be celebrating the 25th anniversary of Tall Stories. I've been fortunate to work with some brilliant and creative people - especially my co-founder Olivia - and I love going to theatres around the country and the world watching people of all ages enjoying our shows. We're all looking forward to more touring as the world opens up again - and to finding new ways to make the most of our beautiful new studio space. Here's to the next 25 years!

Room on the Broom is at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, from 21 July - 4 September

To post a comment, you must register and login.