Previous Productions
Bloomin’ Buds has been working on shows since the founding of the company. Our shows are created by, with and for working class communities, exploring the different aspects of their lives from allotment beds to Covid-19.
Check out some of the shows we’ve done below
Down T’allotment | 2024
In the heart of Bradford lies an unexpected oasis: an allotment bursting with life and music. Down T’Allotment is a brand-new play by Bloomin’ Buds Theatre Company that takes audiences on a journey into this vibrant community space where the soil is rich and the bonds are even richer.
Through laughter, tears and the occasional sing-along, Down T’Allotment celebrates the resilience of community, the power of nature and the transformative magic of tending to something greater than oneself. Join us in this enchanting journey where the seeds of friendship are sown and the harvest is shared with love.
Check out the T&A’s article on the play here
Mantality X Bloomin’ Buds
Bloomin’ Buds have been working on an exciting new project exploring male mental health in collaboration with mental health charity Mantality.
The project sparked from conversations with the Mum’s in one of our Mum and Baby groups. They shared with us their struggles with their partners mental health problems, trying to know what best to do for them. We wanted to explore this and get people talking about it more.
At the beginning of January we started an ACE-funded two week Research and Development period with an amazing team of creatives. This was extremely successful and produced a 20 minute sharing which we presented to an audience at Kala Sangam arts centre at the end of the two weeks. Watch a recording of the sharing here.
Brenda’s Got a Baby
Brenda is 16 and pregnant. Amy, her older sister, is the first in her family to go to university.
As one sister finds it hard to fit in at university with her council estate background, the other is discovering that becoming a mum is not what she thought it might be. As friends disappear and finances tighten, the sisters confront and confide in each other about their increasingly challenging lives.
Based on interviews with working-class women in Bradford, Brenda’s Got a Baby is a new verbatim play by Bloomin’ Buds Theatre Company that explores the challenges that these two working class women face. - Red Ladder Theatre Company. The show toured with Red Ladder after a run in New York.
Read Culture Vulture’s article on the play here.
Rewrite the System
Rewrite the System was the first theatre piece we created; a verbatim play about the limitations that can come from being working class especially when involved in higher education. This piece has been performed in professional theatres and is available to continue to tour to venues. When this play is performed in schools, we also offer a workshop which explores the themes and ideas of the piece and educates the participants about higher education options such as university, how to access this opportunity with emphasis on the belief that it is for anybody no matter their background.
Watch a recording of the performance here:
Handprint - A mark of humanity
This piece is all about exploring working class access to mental health services and exploring the role of social prescription in this. Social Prescription is when health professionals recommend that people get more involved in creative or social activity to help manage their mental health and well being.
Watch a recording of the performance here:
Road
In 2020, Bloomin’ Buds put on a performance of Road. The play explores working class lives in Lancashire in the 1980’s when Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister for England. Bloomin’ Buds toured the show around Leeds and Bradford, performing the play within the immersive genre.
The Pandemic Online Gallery
Edinburgh Fringe - Two successful runs in a row
In 2022 and then in 2023, Bloomin’ Buds took several shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, performing almost everyday at TheSpaceUK. Check out more information about both show runs by clicking one of the buttons below: