Anything Could Happen @The Engine Shed

What an afternoon at The Engine Shed in Wetherby!
We were so looking forward to performing at this fantastic new venue — and wow, the young storytellers who joined us absolutely blew us away! 🌟

The creativity was off the charts, the laughter was non-stop, and we had just as much fun performing as the audience did watching. Judging by the grins, giggles, and glowing reviews, we think it’s safe to say… it was a hit!

❤️ “We had the best afternoon! And Lars loved that microphone 🎤 😂”
👏 “Absolutely fabulous. You were all amazing! Hope it’s the first of many shows at The Engine Shed!”
🐸 “So funny once again – kids all loved it. Keeping our eyes open for your summer dates!! From the 🐸🐸🐸 crew 😂”

Thanks to everyone who came along and made it so special — we’re already cooking up plans for a return visit during the Summer Holidays, so… watch this space!

And until next time:
🧀 Keep that cheese-flavoured floor shiny,
🐯 and beware that crafty Spaghetti Tiger!

Anything Could Happen at your Birthday Party!

If you’ve been to a few of our shows you know one of the things we love to do is help children celebrate their birthdays. If it’s your birthday and you’ve chosen to spend it with us then you can bet your bottom that we’re going to find a way to make a story just for you!

Sometimes that has meant I’ve been slipped a piece of paper before the show with a few key words on it to build a story around. The “Pig that thinks it’s a Cow” story springs to mind. Sometimes that means you’ve written or drawn a whole story in advance and we get to bring the whole thing to life for you!

These stories always make our shows extra special so when we’re invited to perform shows at people’s birthday parties the specialness is off the charts!!

“You lot are incredible. Everyone had a brilliant time, it's not often adults enjoy a 6 yr olds party as much as the kids! I will never forget the clam ghost and the hippo riding, beautifully and hilariously directed by Carla. I think we were lucky to book you before you get too big! Thank you from us all x”

I love to meet with families where possible, get to know them, find out what they love about the show and how we can structure it to make sure it’s tailored just for them. All of our shows are completely unique of course but there’s something so special about orchestrating our party shows around how unique the birthday girl or boy is. And during the shows themselves there’s an energy in an audience of family and friends that is completely different in a delightful way from a theatre show. The children are braver, sillier and the story ideas are often wild and wonderful!

“We booked the Anything Could Happen crew for a joint birthday party for our 6 year old daughter and her friend. They were absolutely brilliant, enjoyed equally by the kids and parents. Carla was very accommodating in coming to our house and planning in advance and Matthew and Natalie were superb in bringing the kids' weird and wonderful suggestions to life. Thanks so much to you all for making such a memorable party”

So if you’re planning a kids birthday party and fancy something a little bit different to entertain both children and adults get in touch and let’s see what stories we can bring to life for you and your little ones.

What will your birthday stories be about?

Edinburgh Fringe 2018

Having spent my university years in Edinburgh going back always feels like coming home. Except during the Fringe and then it still feels like coming home but coming home at Christmas when the house is jam packed with extended family, rammed with other people's presents and you're so far down the pecking order that you're lucky if you get a couch to sleep on. For our Fringe debut we borrowed this caravan. 

So our living quarters were small but our plans were big. We were doing our show everyday for 9 days come rain, or rain or more rain (It was Scotland we were under no illusions) and our show would be in support of the Edinburgh Children's hospital Charity. A charity we were very much inspired by with their ethos of making sure the kids they work with feel like a child first and a patient second. 

Unfortunately we didn't know that Edinburgh schools start their summer holidays at the beginning of July and go back in the middle of August so on our third day in the city all the children seemed to disappear from the streets making it very difficult to drum up an audience! Luckily we found English, Polish and Australian families excited to tell us their stories and we had some absolutely belting shows in our extravagant pirate themed venue, The Hispaniola

It was an amazing 10 days, we worked with some fantastically creative children, were inspired by some great shows, I met Una Stubbs (and made a bit of a fool of myself telling her how wonderful she is) but our last day was the day that really stands out. 

That was the day we got to perform on the wards of the Edinburgh Children's Hospital and take them the money we'd raised. 

There we met the wonderful Fiona, an absolute gem of creative energy, kindness and determination. The kind of person that charities can't run without. She took us round the wards to perform one on one sessions with some of the children and every story was as different as the child we were performing for. It was a humbling, inspiring experience and one I hope that we can recreate again for local children's hospitals and care centres around Yorkshire. 

Fiona told me afterwards that she'd been approached by lots of theatre groups who wanted to perform in the hospital during the Fringe but that we were the only ones she'd said yes to. What an honour! But I think I understand why that might be. With a lot of shows, even kids shows, they're about the performers first and the audience second. But how we work, building a show around our audience and ensuring everything we do is in service of their ideas, their creativity, their wants and their needs makes for a show that can be taken into any environment, work with any children and nurture them rather than a performers ego!

So all in all I'm calling our first Edinburgh fringe a huge success! We may not have had the big audiences I'd hoped for but I can't wait to go back next year because what we did take away and the friendships we made at this years Edinburgh festival were far more valuable than any big crowd. 

Fringe Chat

Anything Could Happen is going to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Had we not mentioned that? We could have sworn that we mentioned that. Well, we are.

But what's the point of going to perform at the worlds largest arts festival without telling literally EVERYONE we know? None, right?

So we've been telling anyone who will stand still long enough to hear about it.

For example the other day, we were guests on Tempo FM, Wetherby's very own radio station.

Anyway, we'd tell you all about the chat we had about ACH, Edinburgh and our local Leeds shows, only we don't have to.

Our whole conversation is available to listen to right here, right now!

Big thanks to all at Tempo Fm and especially Alan Everard and DJ Paul Richards. 

They organised a what in a brewery?

Hello. What a day. The sun was singing the birds were shining (they did a wonderful job on Matt's espadrilles) and we were to perform at the Comedy Club 4 Kids show at The Brewery Arts Centre in the glorious Lake District town of Kendal. Ahh, Kendal... home of beautiful views, wonderful people and, misleadingly named, mint ''cake".

We were joining Martin Mor and Paul Duncan McGarrity on a lovely bill.

The loveliest part was easily the audience. Not only because we had 2 Billies... Billys... Billy's... Billums? Well, we had a Billy and another one. I hope that makes it clear.

Anyway, Billy did a great job of helping Matt steal my sweets and Billy delved very deeply into the socioeconomic and political implications the lack of clay will have for the bee population, under the Total Sloth Domination of a few years previously.

I mean, we all know this but for a young lad to know this and be so articulate about it was hugely impressive.

Hats off to The Brewery Arts for running a terrific venue with such a diverse and creative program. You're our kind of people and so are Comedy Club 4 Kids so if they're organising something near you then go to it! Wonderful.

Keep coming back for more of our adventures!

You must be wondering why I've gathered you all here...

Hello.

This is the first blog on our site. I'm excited about this; having our own dedicated website. It feels like we're not just mucking about in an art centre anymore. It's a real thing. The natural combination of my improv and comedy background and Carla's background in creative education and theatre is finally something more than chatting twaddle about nothing.

 So keep your eye on this blog. Any ideas we have or important updates will be discussed and presented here.

As we start flaunting our wares around the place we'll have more adventures to share and more ways we can help each other. 

 Our first great adventure will be a week at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

 We'll be talking a lot about this so be prepared.

Thanks for coming this far. Feel free to stick around. It'd be no fun without you. 

Eddie X