Created to secure rights and demonstrate musical world to partners.

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.

"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 LAStheare. 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 pervious 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, 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

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 & new approaches to the TYA sector.

The Littlest Yak established LAStheatre’s reputataion 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. 93% of audiences 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.

"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 locals 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 hands for off-site visits."

Melora Huet, Gulbenkian