Mavis the Bravest is a new 45-minute musical adaptation of Lu Fraser’s picture book for children aged 3–9 and their grown-ups, combining puppetry, bluegrass music and LAStheatre’s quirky humour. ACE investment will enable us to co-create the production with 210 children across 5 East Kent schools, before touring to 12,345 audience members through theatres, schools, libraries and rural/community settings across England. Alongside creating an ambitious, accessible new production, Mavis the Bravest will pilot a place-based touring model, using trusted local partnerships to increase access, strengthen connections between schools, families and cultural venues, reduce travel and create more sustainable employment for artists. The model will be independently evaluated, with learning shared across the TYA sector through ASSITEJ UK.

Creative Development: Concepts and Demo

There's A Slumberin' Hush On The Hill

Lyrics by Barra Collins. Composed and performed by Amelia Gabriel. Created to secure rights and demonstrate musical world to partners.

Schools Pack

Several venues have requested a schools pack to support early conversations with schools while we await the ACE funding decision.

A first draft has been developed and shared with our place-based partners and Teacher Steering Group for feedback. You can view it by clicking the button below.

DRAFT SCHOOLS PACK

Partners

Evidence Of Demand: Selected Partner Testimony

"LAStheatre create exciting, fresh and innovative theatre for young people and I’m excited to collaborate with them while they bring another excellent picture book to life."

Bradley Travis, Half Moon

"Mavis the Bravest shares many of the qualities we value deeply: strong storytelling, live music, and the transformative combination of theatre and puppetry. We’re particularly excited by the care and craft in the work, and by the way LAStheatre place children at the centre of the experience emotionally and imaginatively. This feels like a natural next step for us following the success of The Littlest Yak, and an opportunity to build a longer-term relationship around work that is ambitious, joyful, and meaningful for young audiences."

Manya Benenson, Lakeside Arts

"This will be the 3rd production we have taken from LAStheatre. The Light Princess and The Littlest Yak being the first 2 and as soon as I knew they were working on a new production I knew that Storyhouse would love to have them back based on the quality and feedback from previous visits."

Emily Mackenzie, Storyhouse

"We have long admired LAStheatre's work and are thrilled to collaborate with them on Mavis the Bravest. Their productions are consistently high quality, thoughtfully crafted with their young audiences at the heart of every creative decision. This attention to detail and deep understanding of what resonates with children makes their work particularly special. We're excited to deepen this partnership and bring Mavis the Bravest to our community."

Charlotte Hall, The Point Eastleigh

"Having hosted LAStheatre in our venue on multiple occasions already, we fully trust the high-quality work of the company in theatre, puppetry, and music. Their adaptation of Lu Fraser’s work on The Littlest Yak was absolutely brilliant, so really looking forward to seeing Mavis come to life!"

Melora Huet, Gulbenkian

Previous ACE-Supported Work And Learning Applied To Mavis

This production builds on learning from 3 ACE-supported projects. Together, these projects have shaped our artistic, organisational and touring practice. Mavis the Bravest represents the next step, bringing this learning together in a new production and extending our practice to contributing evidence and new approaches to the TYA sector.

The Littlest Yak (NLPG-00573475) and (NLPG-00762168-V2)

The Littlest Yak established LAStheatre’s reputation for creating ambitious touring Theatre For Young Audiences. Our ACE-supported 2025 Spring tour reached 9,096 people across 36 locations, including 3,755 in schools and libraries. The Littlest Yak demonstrated strong demand for high-quality work flexible enough to tour to multiple contexts - a fundamental building block of this project. It also marked a step forward in our evaluation practice, with the introduction of creative, child-centred feedback tools such as the Yak-O-Meter. Of the 1636 audience members who completed post-show evaluation via our bespoke, show-specific feedback boards, 93% rated the show as excellent and 98% wanted to attend similar work again. This project provided a strong foundation in audience engagement, evaluation and scalable touring, which informs all our work.

Learning applied: high-quality work can tour successfully in theatres, schools and community settings; child-centred evaluation tools like the Yak-O-Meter generate strong response rates and actionable audience data.

Light Princess (NLPG-00635606) and (NLPG-00718860-V2)

The Light Princess was developed and delivered through two Arts Council England Project grants of over £30,000. The project deepened our commitment to access and inclusive practice. The production embedded three strands of integrated access - creative captions, integrated audio description and BSL interpretation - resulting in 100% of evaluation respondents rating the work as accessible. Targeted outreach and workshops supported engagement with disabled audiences, while the project's nature - a multi-year, multi-venue commission - strengthened how we collaborate with venue partners to deliver our work. This reinforced that the strength of a place-based partnership is what drives audience reach, particularly for school audiences, and has directly shaped how we develop venue partnerships for Mavis the Bravest. Challenges in delivery also highlighted the importance of realistic target-setting, leading to the introduction of dedicated marketing support for Mavis the Bravest. The Light Princess marked a significant step in developing our accessible practice, partnership working, and management of larger ACE grants.

Learning applied: Embedding access as a creative strand of the work strengthens the experience for all audiences. Place-based partnerships deepen engagement and connections between venues, schools and families.

Caspian’s Storm (NLPG-00786142-V2)

Caspian’s Storm extended this learning by exploring small-scale outdoor touring, embedding co-creation with children in our home community of East Kent at the heart of the project. The production reached audiences of 7,544 (more than double its original target) with 6,112 attending in schools and rural communities. Working with 280 children in Margate to shape elements of the production deepened our participatory practice and strengthened local relevance. The project also provided critical insight into the practicalities of small-scale touring, highlighting the balance between artistic ambition and logistical sustainability, particularly in relation to scale and sound. Recruitment of performers for this production highlighted how difficult it is for performers to take on long contracts with sporadic dates. Alongside these recruitment challenges and wider sector pressures, this has informed our development of more sustainable, place-based touring models.

Learning applied: the power of small-scale touring, and how fragmented touring schedules can limit sustainable employment for performers.

Why The Place-Based Pilot Is Needed

"The touring landscape has changed dramatically in recent years, and venues like ours are facing significant challenges - rising costs, reduced budgets, and shifting audience behaviours post-pandemic. Traditional touring models are increasingly difficult to sustain, both for venues and for the companies creating the work.

We believe it's essential to be part of the solution rather than simply accepting these limitations. This pilot represents an opportunity to explore new, sustainable ways to support touring companies, reach and inspire audiences, and maintain access to high-quality live performance - all while working within the financial realities of running a building-based organisation.

What particularly draws us to this project is LAStheatre's commitment to innovation and problem-solving. They're not just identifying the challenges; they're actively developing creative, practical approaches to overcome them. We want to be part of testing and refining these new models, contributing to a more sustainable future for touring theatre that benefits venues, artists, and audiences alike."

Charlotte Hall, Point Eastleigh

"This pilot is exciting because it offers a more sustainable and equitable way to reach children where they are. By removing or reducing barriers such as travel and staffing, this model allows high quality theatre to reach far more young people, including those who may never have visited a theatre before. It also aligns with our responsibility as a cultural organisation to adapt, respond, and find new ways of serving our local communities in a changing landscape.

We’re drawn to this pilot because it feels like a practical, imaginative solution that doesn’t compromise on artistic quality. The use of live instruments, puppetry, and skilled performance ensures that children are still experiencing the unique magic of live theatre, even outside of a conventional theatre building.

For Lakeside Arts, this project represents an important bridge. By reaching children in school settings now, we hope to build relationships that lead to future engagement with our wider programme whether that’s returning for family shows, school visits, workshops, or longer-term creative opportunities. It strengthens our role as a welcoming, accessible cultural space and helps embed us more deeply within our local education ecosystem."

Manya Benenson, Lakeside Arts

"At Gulbenkian Arts Centre we really value access and always try to better ourselves in this field to make theatre and art accessible to as many audiences as possible. Hearing about this new pilot touring model is so exciting as it really aligns with our values in not only bringing high quality productions to local schools, but also ensuring a more sustainable financial model for theatre-making workforce.

I think this project will have a huge impact on children in the community who currently don’t have access to theatre. Bringing the show directly to them will improve engagement, and enable us to connect and re-connect with local schools that can’t attend the Art Centre at present. Even though we keep our prices as low and accessible as possible to ensure as many schools can attend our shows, we notice that ticket price is not the main barrier to schools, but rather funding buses and having enough staff on hand for off-site visits."

Melora Huet, Gulbenkian

Response To The State Of Touring

We believe this pilot provides a credible response to challenges and recommendations identified in the recently published State of Touring Report (April 2026):

- Addressing financial risk and declining access by combining in-school performances with venue runs, ensuring guaranteed weekday audiences and supporting weekend attendance.
- Responds to calls for innovation through a place-based, partnership-led touring model, replacing one-night stops with clustered local residencies.
- Builds audiences by working with schools, libraries and community networks to reach underserved children and families.
- Supports workforce sustainability through longer, more stable touring weeks.
- Reduces environmental impact via geographic clustering and fewer travel days.

Inspired by our eponymous chicken, this project will test a brave, inclusive and sustainable model for touring Theatre for Young Audiences, generating evidence that LAStheatre and its partners can apply to future work.