Jade Frost - Bamboozle Theatre Company

Martin [00:00:08]:

Hello. I'm your podcast host, Martin Robson. Harborough Hustle proudly sponsors local charities. Check us out on marketharboroughbiznetwork.co.uk/podcast, where you can find a transcript of today's podcast, All the links that are mentioned, posts you can share on social media to spread the word, and everything you need to know if you'd like to help our local charities and find out more about our lovely sponsors. Today, I'm gonna be speaking to Jade from Bamboozle Theatre Company. But, Just before we get into that, let's hear from our lovely sponsor. Welcome to this episode of Harborough Hustle, where I'm delighted to be chatting with Jade From Bamboozle Theatre Company. Hi, Jade.

Jade [00:01:02]:

Hi, Martin.

Martin [00:01:04]:

How are you doing today?

Jade [00:01:05]:

I'm very well. Thank you. And, yeah, Thank you for having me on.

Martin [00:01:10]:

I'm delighted that that you're on, and this is a bit of a special episode of, Harborough Hustle. Obviously, you are a a local business, and we're still gonna find out about you and the story, but You're also the nominated charity for 2023 for Market Harbor Business Network. So we're talking particularly about, what Bamboozle Theatre does and and why we decided, you know, that we wanted to support you. Before we do that, let's find out about Jade, though. Just tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into where you are, and and what do you like doing outside of, your business work?

Jade [00:01:52]:

Yeah. So, actually, I work with Bamboozle Theatre Company. I've been with them for 9 years is now. I live in Market Harborough. I grew up in Market Harborough, moved away, and then came back. And I've been back for about 7 years now and absolutely love it. I live with my husband and our two and a half year old daughter, April, And just really enjoying everything that Harborough has to offer us, really. It's a it's a lovely town.

Jade [00:02:23]:

And outside of work, we really enjoy going on walks, taking little drives to the local villages. And, when I get time, which isn't often these days, I do enjoy watching a classic film. So, bit of a film enthusiast.

Martin [00:02:43]:

Okay. I've just got to ask you then for a classic film recommendation or your favorite.

Jade [00:02:48]:

Well, my, my favorite filmmakers are Powell and Pressburger, who were, in their heyday in the 19 forties and fifties. And one of their most well known films is The Red Shoes, the ballet film, The Red Shoes. It's a pretty spectacular film, so highly recommend that.

Martin [00:03:11]:

Okay. Alright. It's not one that I'm aware of. It's not a genre that, you know, I follow closely, but I'm gonna write down that recommendation, the red shoes, and, see if I can find it somewhere, and I'll let you know what I think.

Jade [00:03:23]:

Thank you. I hope you enjoy it.

Martin [00:03:27]:

So how did you get started with, Bamboozle Theatre Company then?

Jade [00:03:31]:

Well, yeah, I mean, I I found them online, and, There was this beautiful film on their website, and I've always loved theater. It's always been a passion for mine. But, Bamboozle is a is a very specialized theater company. So we specialize in immersive, multisensory Theatre that's, designed for disabled children and young people, particularly children who might be described as having profound learning disabilities and autistic children and young people. So the theater that Bamboozle creates is Fully immersive. It it incorporates all the different senses in, in how we communicate and how we take, Our audience is on a journey. And, this beautiful film just showed this immersive world With all these different sensory environments that the children and their families got involved with, there was live music, and it was just so personal and tailored towards each individual child, putting Them and their family right at the heart of it. And and I'd never seen theater like that before, and it blew me away.

Jade [00:04:59]:

And, And, yes, I I got in touch with Bamboozle Theatre to to work with them, and got involved Initially as kind of project coordinator, admin support. So over the years, I've I've been involved with lots different areas of the company. Fundraising, which is really important for us, and, our events. And, yes, thank you so much for the Market Harper Business Network support with with your donation. It means a huge deal, for us. And, yes, from there, things have just grown really organically. I kind of specialized early on in organizing our touring shows, which go to special schools up and down the country. And we show, we tour 2 different shows a year.

Jade [00:06:02]:

We used to do 3, and now we're doing 2. And I also organize The bamboozle gala, which is a big fundraising event that we put on each year. So that's kind of what I what I do with bamboozle in a nutshell. And, yeah, just want to keep on going as much as we can.

Martin [00:06:24]:

Lovely. Alright. So you saw this this, this film on, was that on their website or in a theater? Where did you see that?

Jade [00:06:31]:

Yeah. It was on Bamboozle's website. And, Yes. Seeing Bamboozle in person for the first time was absolutely incredible. We work with really small groups, so our our kind of maximum capacity In one of our shows is 6 children in any one show, and we have, depending on the show, either 3 artists or 4 artists who are delivering that show. So there's a very high level of 1 to 1 focus, engagement and interaction. And what I found was that the pace of everything was Just slowed down. And in this fast paced society that we live in, It's so rare to get the opportunity to really slow down, and the focus and energy that you that you can feel in The space for 40 minute show is is huge.

Jade [00:07:38]:

And and when the show finished, it would it would often take about half an hour or so just Just for my head to catch up to the normal pace of life, it it just felt so serene and relaxed after having experienced that. And, of course, that's that's what we want to create for for our audiences.

Martin [00:08:00]:

That that sounds amazing. This is slightly different, but just because you reminded me, I just thought I'd mention it. I went to, Market Harbor Theater where they sometimes show films, And they showed this film called Yak in the Classroom, which is a a guy who was teaching English in the most remote classroom. It's not really a classroom. It's a shed, basically. And and as a good look symbol, they put a yak, in his classroom. But, anyway, that film was, again, all about the serenity of the the surroundings, And it was very slow paced, and we all came out of that just kind of zen like. And and what you've just described there is is kind of It reminded me of that that just total relax because like you say, I mean, we we're forever doing 100 things at the same time and all the rest of it.

Martin [00:08:50]:

It's it's Very therapeutic to to step away from that sometimes, isn't it?

Jade [00:08:56]:

Definitely. I think, yeah, time and space is Irreplaceable, really, when you're when you're looking to really connect with people. It's giving people Time and focus and attention. And, yeah, sometimes it's just really interesting to think when we're having that Conversation with somebody. You know, how truly focused are we and listening and just It can feel quite rare sometimes to give, you know, a 100% of your focus onto 1 individual. It's it can be quite intense, but that's something that we kind of talk about that bamboozle In terms of giving value to someone and valuing somebody for for who they are, it you know, it's it's just truly Listening and giving time and creating that kind of two way communication.

Martin [00:10:01]:

Sounds amazing. So you've got up to 6 children involved.

Jade [00:10:07]:

Yeah. That's right.

Martin [00:10:08]:

And then actors involved?

Jade [00:10:10]:

Yep. So we, you know, we work with a very talented pool of artists, and, You know, we have live music and singing, the beautiful vocal harmonies that we have in our shows that that just So stunning to listen to. And we use a lot of puppetry in our shows as well. One of our cofounders, Sue Pycroft, is a puppet maker and puppeteer. So from the very 1st days of Bamboozle, Bamboozle started 30 years ago at Leicester Haymarket Theatre, with our artistic director, Christopher Davies, and Sue Pycroft. And, Yeah. Puppetry was always at the center of what we do, and it's such an amazing way for unlocking communication for The children and young people. So some of Sue's puppets, well, all of them are are astounding.

Jade [00:11:14]:

We've got Large scale puppets and tiny little puppets as well, whether it's our latest show, The River, is all inspired by and set along a river. And we've got this beautiful heron puppet, a playful otter who comes up and swims around, a kingfisher, which is just so beautiful with these iridescent blue feathers, swoops around each individual child. And, You know, time is given with each of those puppets to have that close-up interaction, with nature, really. They're so Realistic, these puppets as well. So, yes, lots of gorgeous sensory elements.

Martin [00:12:04]:

Sounds fantastic. I'm gonna have to get along because there's 1, as far as I know, 1 kingfisher along the Grand Union Canal, And we're always trying to see if we can see him or her, you know, with that iridescent flash and the sunlight just it. And although we regularly see the heron, we still not managed to find that kingfisher yet. So maybe the answer is just to come along to Bamboozle Theatre and and See the, the the realistic one there for me.

Jade [00:12:32]:

Absolutely.

Martin [00:12:34]:

So, We talk about, children involved in the actual production. What what's the sort of age range that you work with?

Jade [00:12:44]:

Well, we we kind of have a a vague age recommendation with our shows of, 6 to 14, But we know that children a lot younger and a lot older still get so much from the experiences that we do. So So, yes, it's it's really quite broad. And we also do, a lot of work for young people, 19 and over. So, you know, as we've been going for nearly 30 years, As you can imagine, a a lot of the young people who who started, coming along all those years ago, Kind of have have grown up with Bamboozle with with the company. So when we when we put on our our family events and community events, we, You know, we have different groups of young people coming along and we have, you know, groups of young people that have all got to know each other through coming to Bamboozle over the years. So, yeah, we do often have have groups for for performances that are, 19 and over. But, yeah, we we cater for a very wide age range.

Martin [00:14:02]:

Okay. And, I mean, you talked about the the the children being disabled. Is there, like, a typical range of disabilities? Or, you know, How could you describe that area?

Jade [00:14:14]:

Well, it's sometimes really difficult with, with kind of lots of labels that that that are used, around disability. And When we talk about, our performances and how they've been designed, We talk about our performances being suitable for disabled children with complex needs, And for autistic children and young people from across the whole of the autism spectrum, it's a It's a very wide reaching, spectrum, as you know, and we just want our Theta to be accessible for all children. So, yes, we we want to make our theater available for everybody, and We talk with families and and parents and teachers about what What the what the show brings and how we open up areas of the show for Children who might have visual impairments or hearing impairments, and our artists and performers Bring everything up close to be experienced in a tactile way, feeling vibrations from the musical instruments. So, obviously, that touch is a really key sense that, that we incorporate into everything. And we just work, you know, with children's individual needs and tailor our performances, for to every child.

Martin [00:16:04]:

Okay. That's fantastic. I mean, we're most of the people, who are listening to this will just be taking the auditory sensory course. You know, if they're later watching it, then, you know, there'll be the visual one. But, I think you're really starting to bring to life there the different, other senses as well that that we can bring. Where's the, where's the theater actually based?

Jade [00:16:26]:

Well, we we just have some offices on Burmoor Street in Leicester, which is just round the corner from the King Power football stadium. So we don't have a theater of our own, but what we do is we visit, lots of different spaces. We go to Curve in Leicester quite a lot. We go to Attenborough Arts, in Leicester, which is a really wonderful accessible space. Obviously, access is key, so we always look to see if venues have, a changing place. And, Market Harborough has recently installed its 1st change in place in Welland Park, which was a a a really good thing to hear. So, yes, accessibility is key. And, you know, we go to various community venues, and we have some of our own equipment we can bring to venues to help, make them accessible if venues don't don't have their own changing place and hoist.

Jade [00:17:28]:

So that's always a key consideration. Yes, we've got kind of families, Throughout Leicestershire who who come over to us at different venues to to take part in our shows.

Martin [00:17:43]:

Yeah. Fantastic. And, I mean, do you have a typical audience size?

Jade [00:17:49]:

Yes. I mean, It's a maximum of 6, children and young people in each show, and it can vary a little bit. But, Yeah. With our family experiences, we say the whole family is welcome. Siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents. And there's just so much joy to be had in having that shared theater experience together. So, Yeah. We'll we'll kind of have our 6 audience members, but kind of lots of family and friends around enjoying the experience as well.

Jade [00:18:26]:

So those are I guess I'm describing our family residences here. So our family residences are quite different to, kind of a 40 minute show because these experiences last for a whole day. So families will arrive with us, say at Curve Theatre at half 10 in the morning, and we'll welcome everybody. We'll welcome everybody into the space. We greet everybody by name. We have a welcome song, which everybody gets involved with. And then over the course of the morning, our kind of story and journey will unfold, and we'll introduce different multisensory environments and the characters that inhabit those environments. And there'll be a journey that our that our audience members taken on.

Jade [00:19:22]:

And then we'll have a break for lunch, and then everybody comes back in the afternoon for the 2nd part of the story to unfold. And having that full day experience is look. Can be really transformative, Really, just with the amount of time and focus that that's given to our audience members and lots of time for Families to have that social time as well, because, we're often told by our families that, You know, there isn't that school gate exchange for them, when children are kind of bust into school, and brought back home. So social isolation is quite a big thing, and having a space which is Specifically designed for you and your family and, you know, meeting other families And siblings meeting other siblings, you know, it just creates this this Space of welcoming, and we often get told that sense of belonging. And it's a real family feel. We talk about it as the bamboozle family. And we have families come back to us every year. We're vastly oversubscribed for our sessions and just Would love to do more, and need to do more for the for the families of Leicestershire.

Jade [00:20:54]:

So, That's why we bang the drum about about what we do and, and do the fundraising that we do.

Martin [00:21:03]:

Yeah. Absolutely. And, I mean, it was the fact that, you know, you'd obviously come along to to a number of our monthly meetings and and explained, you know, the the gala event that you were having and and what you were doing, that that kinda got our interest in into look into this A bit deeper. And it's fantastic to have the chance now to have a talk with you more than about sort of a 10 minute presentation and just chat about what what really goes on, and and the benefits, Not just for the children involved, but like you say, carers of care it's often the carers that don't get the amount of care that perhaps they need, you know, whether in in this sphere or any of the large largest spheres of of caring, you know, that that happens. So, It's it's good to hear you're talking about the benefits for them as well.

Jade [00:21:49]:

I could I mean, I could talk about bamboozle all day as you might tell, but, One lovely kind of project that we set up as a kind of reaction to the pandemic was is something called the bamboozled backyard, And it's based in an allotment in Rowley Fields. And, it's something that Sue, set up, and it's It's, something designed for autistic children and young people. And it's this kind of outdoor wilderness space, that we started running creative sessions in the open air. And, you know, it was, you know, it was just Wildly successful, connecting with nature and theater and the creativity that that can be found in those spaces with our artists, puppets, music. It it's just an absolutely wonderful space, and those sessions are A kind of even smaller we we we have 2 or 3 families come along for I think the sessions are for an hour and a half, for each session. And, you know, parents get a cup of tea, and, we have got kind of a a covered area there in this kind of large hut, and we've got some benches. And it's just time for parents to sit back And have a chat with the Bamboozle team, and, you know, just, you know, be able to watch their child Run around in the mud and engage with whatever is on offer. And every bamboozle session is different, and there's no agenda, for our, you know, children that come along.

Jade [00:23:39]:

It's completely centered on what what they choose to do or choose not to do. It's just that freedom and, yeah, freedom to explore.

Martin [00:23:51]:

How does it work then? I mean, if if you've got a child that you think would benefit from, you know, being in connection with with bamboozle, Do they come just for 1 performance, or or, you know, how do they get involved? Those sorts of things.

Jade [00:24:08]:

We encourage parents to get in touch, either on the phone or emailing us at in info at bamboozletheatre.co.uk, and have a chat with us. And, we all of our family sessions are completely free, As we do not want there to be any cost barrier for for families, getting involved. So, yes, families get in touch, we arrange a chat, And we look at what sessions we've got coming up and what what spaces and availability we've got to get them booked on. And, yeah, get booked on to to one of our bamboozle experiences. And, yeah, we then we kind we kind of have a mailing list, for families that we that we get in touch with when whenever we've got more sessions available, And parents kind of book on by getting back to us, with, you know, preferred dates and times, and, My colleagues manage all that, all kind of getting people signed up. So, yeah, I think it it depends how many sessions we've got available as to whether it might be 1 session that someone gets booked onto or whether whether it's a A couple of sessions over over the course of a few weeks, but, yeah, we always try and make sure that everybody, And who gets in touch with us gets a slot, which, yeah, can be quite challenging when, when we work with such Small audience groups. But Yeah. Yeah.

Jade [00:25:42]:

Something that we we definitely try to do.

Martin [00:25:46]:

Okay. No. That sounds great. And from sort of local business point of view, obviously, you know, local businesses can help by, you know, in in a monetary sense, you know, with, funding, etcetera. Are there any other things that, you know, you you could see ways in which local businesses could could help you achieve what you're trying to do?

Jade [00:26:07]:

I mean, sharing, sharing our kind of messaging on social media is always a great help. As, You know, we're always, you know, championing disability awareness and, looking to kind of Break down the limiting assumptions that are often, you know, placed on disabled children and young people. So sharing that message and kind of looking to remove those barriers And, yeah, just kind of you know, all children and young people are capable of of Far more than the adults in the room often realize, and, you know, sometimes more than the children themselves might yet realize. And, you know, that's a really important message that Bamboozle wants to put out there. It's about kind of Creating that awareness. And we, for next year, with our 30th anniversary, we'd love to Get members of the business community on board with, a challenge that we're looking at doing in June, which is going to be like a a pledge 30 challenge for our 30th year. We're gonna launch it in February. And For the month of June, people can sign up to to do whatever pledge they like, whether it's walking a mile a day or or baking 30 cupcakes or there's lots of ideas coming forward, and we thought that might be quite a fun summer fundraiser for Businesses to shout about, and for us to be able to, you know, get out there on social media and shout about those who are Choosing to support Bamboo is all.

Martin [00:28:02]:

Okay. Yeah. Sounds great. We should look forward to that. And, you know, as as we always say, all of the, the links And the phone numbers, all the contact details that we talk about here, they're gonna be available on the, Market Harborough Business Network website, and obviously, links across to Bamboozle Theatre website as well. So if people want to find out more, you know, they've got that to go back to. I know what it's like. You listen to podcasts, and you think, oh, yes.

Martin [00:28:29]:

And and then, you know, you get home, and, of course, it's all audio. But, we've got everything written down as well, so, you know, there's there's no excuse not to get in touch. And, yeah, 30. What we can do for for 30. Thirty press ups a day, maybe. How about that? For a whole month.

Jade [00:28:46]:

Certainly a challenge that I'd struggle with, One would be good to take on. Well, there

Martin [00:28:52]:

you go. Maybe we'll do it together.

Jade [00:28:55]:

That sounds like a challenge.

Martin [00:28:28]:

It would be. Yeah. For me too. Challenges and overcoming you get a better sense of satisfaction when you overcome a challenge that that actually is a challenge as opposed something that's easy. As I'm sure, you know, the the children that you work with will will attest to, because they have some Bigger challenges than doing press ups in their lives, obviously. Alright, Jade. It's it's been brilliant just getting to know a little bit more about, Bamboozle Theater And, you know, what you do, who you work with, and and the effect that you have. Let's just bring it full circle and and come around to Jade now, and and just ask you, what's what's been your proudest moment in in business or in what you do So far?

Jade [00:29:44]:

Oh, well, it can be a tricky one with bamboozle, to to To nail it down, one thing that comes to mind is, members of our team. So again, it's not quite me personally going out to Shanghai. But We went out as a company to Shanghai, for a few weeks over the course of 3 years with our performances and training, local artists in delivering the style of production that Bamboozle delivers. And the general manager of Shanghai Children's Art Centre, told us, you know, what a profound effect that the bamboozle methodology was having as a philosophy in in Chinese society, and that was Mind blowing, really, and a real proud moment to think of, you know, the methodology that we're introducing for for disabled children, in Shanghai. And, you know, there's so many moments in our work where, We get feedback from teachers or parents where, you know, a a child might have done something for the 1st time during a bamboozle show, whether it's, you You know, speak a word for the 1st time or dance for the 1st time. And moments like that are just, Yeah. Really humbling and makes me feel very proud to work with, a company such as Bamboozle.

Martin [00:31:32]:

Yeah. No. Well said. Well said. Okay. So anything left that you'd like to achieve, personally, either, you know, business related or personal related, whatever?

Jade [00:31:45]:

Yeah. I'd I'd really like to learn Makaton, which is a a form of signing. We use kind of Makaton symbols in a lot of the stuff that we do, and, I'd really like to learn that, as, yeah, a kind of development thing. And And, yeah, I'm not sure about something else.

Martin [00:32:10]:

I think that will probably take a bit of your time. Just I mean, again, From interest. There's Makaton. There's British Sign Language. There's American Sign Language. Is anyone more relevant to learn than than any other, do you think?

Jade [00:29:43]:

I think for us, Makaton is used a lot in schools, and, it it's a really useful resource for, communication. So I'd say Makaton is is really useful for for what bamboozle does. But, yeah, I'd love to learn British sign language as well. I think It's, yeah, something that we could all do with with learning and taking part in. So, yeah, I think All of it, really.

Martin [00:33:07]:

Yeah. It's like so many things, isn't it? There's there's a lot of opportunities, nowadays. And and like you said right at the start about, you know, kind of being, a little bit overwhelmed as to what podcast do I listen to because there's so much choice, you know. It's it's a little bit okay. Well, what am I gonna learn and, you know, develop myself with next year when there's so many different things we could do? So The the trick is just to start with 1, basically, isn't it?

Jade [00:33:33]:

Definitely.

Martin [00:33:35]:

Alright. So, let's just recap finding what are the, details that we need to know?

Jade [00:33:48]:

Yeah. Bamboozletheatre.co.uk is our website, and There's lots of information on there. You can have a look at our shows of there's some gorgeous films on there. So Definitely recommend having a clip around the website, and we're on Facebook and Instagram as Bamboozle Theatre. I think we're on Twitter as Bamboozle UK. And I I'm on LinkedIn. Bamboozle's on LinkedIn, which is a great place for the business community. So we'd love to increase our following on there to give that a shout out if we can.

Jade [00:34:28]:

Yeah. I think that's that covers off where we're located online.

Martin [00:34:33]:

Brilliant. That's fantastic. So something I always ask people is, is there anything I've forgotten to ask you?

Jade [00:34:41]:

I think you've been incredibly thorough, Martin. Yeah. I could just talk endlessly about bamboozle, so best not ask me anything else.

Martin [00:33:05]:

Alright. That's great. I'm gonna move from you, Jade, now to to our listener. Hey, dear listener. Please Show some love for Jade by checking out all the show notes and the links to their website and the socials. You can find them on marketharboroughbiznetwork.co.uk/podcast. And even better, why not join in? Leave a comment, a question, or a suggestion. Both, us at, the podcast and and Jade at Bamboozle Theater Company are really interested to hear what you've got to say.

Martin [00:35:27]:

We appreciate any learning that we can make this show better for you. And, hey, if you wanna be a guest, or take advantage of our sponsorship details. Our early sponsorship package is coming to an end very soon, so Please do get in contact quickly before the price goes up. We would love to hear from you. Just pop along to the website for more details. This episode has been sponsored by TaxAssist. Thank you very much for doing that. You can find them at taxassist.co.uk.

Martin [00:36:02]:

And, Jade, finally to say thank you once more for sharing Bamboozle Theatre Company with us, And we look forward to working with you in 2024.

Jade [00:36:12]:

Thanks so much,