Previous Work

Take a look at some of our major past projects and highlights over the years. Our portfolio illustrates the breadth and span of our work and demonstrates how our practice has been developed and adapted.

Teenage actors on stage look triumphant at the end of a performance - a silhouetted audience is clapping.

Threads of Tooting (2022-23)

Threads of Tooting weaved together the story of the tailors, makers, and textile businesses housed in Tooting since the 1920s. Using interviews, research, and site visits, local people and schools created and curated a series of events to celebrate Tooting’s relationship with tailoring and textiles.

Made possible with funding from:
- The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Speech Bubbles (2022-present)

In 2022, Bounce became a theatre partner in Speech Bubbles, a national programme supporting children who find communication challenging. We continue to deliver Speech Bubbles for primary schools in Wandsworth.

Weekly drama programmes take place in school time. It offers children an opportunity to have fun telling stories and acting them out. In doing so, they are supported to gain confidence and develop their physical and verbal communication skills.

Made possible with funding from:
- Wandsworth Arts Council

- Speech Bubbles

A woman is bending down to listen intently to a thoughtful-looking primary school child. Other children are in the background busy with drama activities.

Sugar & Spice (2021-22)

Sugar & Spice was an intergenerational project celebrating the people, the places, and the spaces which helped shape the High Street as we know it today. Using oral histories and research, community groups joined together to celebrate the stories of their local community.

Children animated heritage stories using shadow puppetry, drama, creative writing, collage and even tried a “trashion” show! The project culminated with a performance, touring exhibition, and a poetry night co-created with local people between 7-70 in age.

Made possible with funding from:
- The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Turn Up Join In (2021-present)

Turn Up Join In is a collaging and lunch club, open to anyone in the community. We recognise that loneliness is a feeling that can affect anyone, no matter your background or circumstances. The club is a positive opportunity for people to socialise and make collage artwork together. Some of our members have said that the project helps them with their mental health, and others feel the value of an accessible space and company after living alone during lockdown.

Initially launched as a social prescribing pilot for Wandsworth Arts Service & Enable Leisure and Culture, Turn Up Join In flourished during the Autumn of 2021. So successful was the project that Bounce continues to source additional funding for it to continue today.

Made possible with funding from:
- Wandsworth Arts Service & Enable Leisure & Culture

- Higgins Community Partnerships

- Wimbledon Foundation Community Fund
- The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Men and women are doing arts and crafts at two long tables in a cafe in a church. Participants look happy and many have cups of tea.

Dear Children (2020 and 2022)

Between the 5th and 23rd December 2020, our very own Santa and his Elf performed a door-to-door touring show across Earlsfield in aid of Earlsfield Foodbank. They knocked on over 300 doors and delivered over 300 slightly different stories for over 400 children. Together, we raised £5,000 for the foodbank!

We were thrilled to receive so many lovely comments about the magic of the visit, to lift spirits and feel a little bit of joy at the end of a very surreal year. By popular demand, the festive tour returned for another fundraising run in 2022.

Made possible with funding from:
- Bounce Theatre

Things to Do in a Blackout (2019-20)

Despite common misconceptions today, during the Second World War crime rose by a startling 57%. The blackouts provided a cloak for all sorts of wrongdoings, from looting to more serious crimes of passion.

Things to Do in a Blackout was originally intended to be a live performance - with the challenges of Covid-19, the project was revised and reimagined as a digital art project.

Made possible with funding from:
- The National Lottery Heritage Fund

A man wearing a World War II Warden Helmet is looking down. Behind him is a large makeshift clock made out of poster-sized paper. The image is black and white.

Magazine cover of "The Female Voice" showing positive headlines. The cover image is a teen girl with bright red hair. She looks confident with a slight smile and is wearing a black choker necklace.

The Female Voice (2020)

A podcast series made in lockdown.

Young women interviewed guests about a range of topics from politics to female leadership to being ok with your hormones.

The work culminated in a magazine reimagining what women’s magazines should offer girls.

Made possible with funding from:
- The #iwill Fund

Grace Dear Trust Projects (2020-22)

A digital lockdown offer for young people. Mixing youth theatre with podcasts and e-magazine making.

Made possible with funding from:
- The Grace Dear Trust

Seven smiling teenagers pose in front of The National Theatre. A few of them are balancing on one leg.

A young boy grins at the camera. He is holding a small piece of art that reads: "Black is good, black is happy, it's strong like diamonds and soft like cuddles."

StoryClub (2020)

StoryClub was formed in the absence of being able to run our projects in person throughout the lockdowns of the pandemic. StoryClub brought a weekly mini magazine full of creative tasks to make stories, art, and play at home. We started with the intention to provide a platform for children to do the things they do in our clubs and projects, from home, without having to be online. They could play and make stories, which could be sent to us for an online story time.

At the same time, we reached out to food banks and charities to see if we could support their work. Within a couple of weeks StoryClub was supplied to Reach Academy, Learn English at Home, Hounslow Foodbox, Salvation Army Feltham, Homestart, Kingston Foodbank, Refugee Action, Learn to Love to Read, Dons Local Action group, St Georges Hospital, SmallWood Primary School, and Roehampton Community Foodbox. At its peak, 11,000 copies were being distributed weekly.

We also offered live online workshops for active participation. Using the power of our imaginations, we took ourselves on wild adventures around the world.

Made possible with funding from:

- Kingston Council

- Wandsworth Council

- The Arts Council

- Bounce Theatre

Our Health Your Hands (2019)

A celebration of 70 years of the NHS with a mixed media exhibition.

Touring to schools across Kingston, the Stanley Picker Gallery, the National Archives and Kingston Hospital.

Made with Anstee Bridge.

Made possible with funding from:
- The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Two hands make a heart shape. The backdrop is a white doctor's coat and stethoscope. A title along the bottom reads: "Our Health Your Hands".

Two actors rehearse. A blond man looks tense facing the camera in the background, whilst a dark-haired man has his back to us with his head in his hands.

Scar (2018)

Four young people’s worlds collide as they wait for news of their friends. SCAR explores our relationship with our physical and mental health.

First performed in July 2019 at the National Archives, SCAR is part of a collection of plays made with Anstee Bridge. Students were invited to be part of the creative process. They collaborated with the writer, auditioned and rehearsed the actions, and undertook producing roles.

SCAR has since been performed at the Rose Theatre, Turing House, Heatham House, Kent Council Safeguarding Conference, and Kingston Hospital Nursing and Midwifery Conference.

Made possible with funding from:
- Kingston Boys Club

Loneliness in the City (2017-18)

Loneliness in the City featured the work of Year 10 drama students at Chessington Community College. The students collaborated with us to conceive a city through the eyes of the lonely.

The piece blended dialogue, visual art, and photography to highlight the hidden stories of loneliness that seep into the walls of a city. The work was exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, The Rose Theatre, and The International Youth Arts Festival.

The work originated from a commission from The Royal Borough of Kingston, looking at young people’s views on urban living. They focused on themes of mental health and wellbeing. Through the project, 165 children and young people achieved an Arts Award.

Made possible with funding from:
- Kingston upon Thames Council – Arts Commission

High school students surround a piece of box sculpture on a table depicting a miniature city. Some of the students are pointing at the artwork and are talking. An adult man in glasses and a blue suit stands amongst them, also engaged in conversation. A poster for "Loneliness in the City" lies on the table in front of the artwork.

Two young female adults in prom dresses. One has red/ginger hair that is long and tousled and wears a tiara. The other has brown hair in the same style. They look serious, possibly in conflict, and have been photographed whilst spinning around to look at something or turn away. One girl has her hand to her head whilst the other appears to be trying to hang on to her.

Emoji (2017)

It’s Prom Night.

For three young people, life will never be the same again as masks fall and their true feelings are revealed. Emoji is a tender tale of transformation and learning to love yourself.

Inspired by the mental health imagery in Hans Christian Anderson, Emoji was made with Anstee Bridge. Students were invited to be part of the creative process. They collaborated with the writer, auditioned and rehearsed the actions, and undertook producing roles.

Made possible with funding from:
- Grants for the Arts and Kingston Boys Club

Fried Chicken (2016)

A fight breaks out. Four strangers find themselves locked in a chicken shop – fears rise and tensions bubble to the surface. A story about gangs and grief.

Written by: Louise Pendry with Anstee Bridge

Made possible with funding from:
- The Arts Council

A man in a red fast food uniform sits at a fast food counter. He wears a red cap and is looking to the right-hand side. The counter is emblazoned with chicken and chips advertising. Behind him is a drinks machine and fast food chicken boxes. The surrounding area is black - as if on stage.

A woman with sunglasses on her head grins for a photo being taken on a smartphone in front of a graffiti wall. The woman is holding a black marker pen where she has just written "The walls of the city belong to the people."

Urban Art Stories (2015)

Urban Art Stories was an interdisciplinary project exploring the heritage of the urban art movement.

Young people from Hounslow collaborated with Bounce to undertake research across London about how urban art has evolved in both form and content. Their research was interpreted into an exhibition at the Saatchi gallery. Along with this they ran workshops, devised immersive performance and hosted a gig in the basement with urban artists.

Made possible with funding from:
- The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Hounslow Youth Theatre (2014)

Hounslow Youth Theatre was an evolution of work with young people across Hounslow.

Working together to make numerous shows and productions for their community including Angels, Tiny Tales, Project X, Peter Pan, Alice 2013, Beauty, Carol, Cinderella, and DNA.

Made possible with funding from:
- Various generous funders

A teenage girl stands on stage dressed as Ebeneezer Scrooge. She is dramatically lit and looks startled.

Have a look at our current projects...

Current Projects