Welcome to Really Big Pants Theatre!
Presenting theatre with serious messages in a playful way
Our awesome shows use the primary curriculum (and some really big pants) to inspire, educate, and entertain children aged 3-11 in your school, arts centre or community venue
"Absolutely brilliant – wonderful, original, fun and touching performance. So lovely – please come back soon!"
Family, Brentwood Theatre
"Thank you again for such a magical performance. The entire audience, from Year 1 through to Year 6, was totally gripped by the wonderful world you created. We will definitely be inviting you back"
Y4 teacher, Old Oak Primary
HELLO!
We are Joe and Willow, proud wearers of really big pants for eleven years, and we believe children's theatre is absolutely vital. Our interactive shows inspire creativity, help build empathy, offer enrichment, boost mental health and wellbeing, and bring joy. We know how tight budgets are but our children need these experiences more than ever – the play's the thing! For primary schools, our live and online shows support learning and provide sheer entertainment on occasions such as World Book Day, Science Week, World Environment Day, Anti-Bullying Week, Poetry Day, Halloween, Christmas, or as an end of term treat… and we love sharing our stories with family audiences in theatres, arts centres, libraries, museums, community centres, hospitals, bookshops, and at lit fests too! (Did we mention we have illustrated books as well?) Explore our site to find out about each show (we ran out of space for our online shows so please get in touch about them), and read on for how to book us and what our really big pants are up to…
REALLY BIG NEWS
Drum roll... we are so excited to announce we are currently writing a brand new show called GREAT AUNT HATTIE. Stay tuned for all the details - and get ready to hold on to your hat!
We're very proud of our ongoing partnership with the Mayor's Fund for London as part of the Kitchen Social entertainment programme for children's provision during the school holidays. We perform our shows in hubs around the city and know just how vital it is that kids have access to enrichment experiences alongside nourishing food.
ADVENTURERS ASSEMBLE! We are v(&a) excited to have worked with the Young V&A Museum for a story-making project! We performed our time-travelling adventure in primary schools in Tower Hamlets, encouraging children to imagine and create stories inspired by objects from the vast collection, and visit the fabulous museum. Here's what Cayley Primary had to say: "So joyful! A perfect interactive assembly – everyone really engaged and excited – very good detail on props and very good for wellbeing. Imaginative and challenging – perfect springboard for storytelling!"
We've been sharing news about our really big pants on social media for ages, but left Twitter for Instagram. We're still on Facebook but the question is – are we too old for TikTok…?
And check out our YouTube channel – as well as all the trailers for our online shows, we've recorded some readings of our stories and poems and bits and bobs!
It's really easy to book a show - simply email us at childrenstheatre@reallybigpants.co.uk and let us know which show you'd like, where you are, who it is for, and any questions. You can ring us on 020 8743 8539 or 07932 646118 but we will need an email from you to confirm the booking
PRICES
For schools for live theatre shows
One performance: £400
Two performances of the same show on the same day in the same site: £600
These prices include our resource packs. Despite costs rising everywhere, we are doing our best to be as affordable and accessible as possible
For public venues, please contact us for our best quote (we are happy to haggle)
We're based in London but contact us to see how far we'll go. We charge £50 for travel outside of the M25
We are a very low-maintenance (and fully house-trained) two-woman band but please may we have:
- A parking space for our car
- Access to a plug socket (except for CLARE & CORY, THE REALLY BIG LOVE BOOK DAY PLAY and HO HO HO – these shows are powered purely by pants energy)
- At least 3x3m (10x10ft) for the playing space. Due to the interactive, inclusive nature of our shows, we prefer not to be on a stage but on the same level as the children, but we are very flexible
- We would appreciate an hour before the show for the get in and at least 30 minutes for the get out. If you are a school, please bear in mind how long it can take to get every class into the hall sometimes! The length of each show varies, and is listed on each show page
Our story
After our very first show on a hot July morning in 2014 we
started packing up our set, occasionally stopping to grin at each other and hug
in our rather sweaty costumes, elated at how well it had gone. The children were now outside for their break time. As we
crammed the last prop into our trunk, four girls came back in. They
asked if they could show us the dance they had just made up in the playground
to the recycling song we had taught them in the show. That moment sealed
the deal. If we could've floated out the door, we would've… (instead we
staggered through the school's sports hall with our heavy trunk, bruising our
shins on the way). It worked! Really Big Pants decamped to the
nearest café to celebrate with a cup of tea.
We love theatre, bruises and all, and find it thrilling to introduce children to its power to educate and inspire. As we hit the ten year milestone in 2024 (and celebrated this achievement with a really big cake), we never imagined that we would have expanded in so many ways – and we don't just mean our waistlines. We started with three shows and thought that would be that, but now have eight shows, an audiobook, an illustrated chapter book, an illustrated poetry book, a longer form picture book, plus seven online shows… and have reached thousands and thousands of children. A Really Big Pants realm! Who knows what the future holds? Whatever it is, we can't wait to share it with you.
Love from Joe and Willow and our really big pants xx
PS Incredible to think that those four seven-year-old girls who wanted to show us their reduce-reuse-recycle dance are now teenagers…
We are DBS checked in line with the current child protection policy
Our soundtracks were provided by bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Our pants logo was drawn by Lee Wemyss in exchange for chocolate