"What can’t you do with a cardboard box?"

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Need a toadstool? Cut it out, paint it, stick it to a chair.
Need a bookshelf? Unfold it, paint it, fix it to some stage blocks.
Need a comically large key? Yesterday’s Amazon delivery and a bit of tin foil will do nicely.

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Creating theatre on a small budget demands imagination. It means hunting through charity shops for costumes, rescuing props from car boot sales, and building entire worlds from whatever’s underneath the stairs. And despite all that, the audience never seems to mind. That’s why we created Cardboard Box Theatre Company.

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We are a collective of young creatives making high-quality theatre rooted in community. Our work bridges the space between community and commercial theatre — championing local voices while maintaining the ambition and craft of larger-scale productions. We believe great theatre shouldn’t depend on the size of your budget.

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At the heart of our work is a simple question: What stories did we need to hear when we were younger?

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The stories we create are the ones we wish we’d been told as children. Stories that are honest, imaginative, and unafraid to explore the world as it really is. Our productions draw on a range of storytelling techniques - including puppetry, music, multimedia and audience participation - selecting the tools that best serve each individual story. We explore social issues, particularly mental health and wellbeing, with care and clarity. Always in an appropriate way for our audience.

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And if we don’t know why we’re telling a story, we simply won’t tell it. But the stories we do tell? They’re for the child in the audience who is just about to fall in love with theatre, the same way we once did.

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Our mission is simple: "to create low-cost, high-quality theatre that is accessible to everyone, regardless of socio-economic status or background" As long as we’re doing that (and having fun along the way) Cardboard Box Theatre Company will always exist.

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Written by Artistic Director - Matthew Williams