Edmond Tahl was the beginning of the Company’s history back in 2000 when he was born mostly by accident – the combination of needing to find a character for another show, and the gift of a Bowler hat was his beginning. Add in a suitcase with a thrown together PA system, and that was that. After three seasons of increasingly successful touring with Edmond, Nick & old friend Bert talked about the possibilities of co-writing some new shows and forming a street theatre company. And so ‘Stuff and Things’  was born in 2003; but the name had arisen a few years previously -  from an early morning/late night moment at Glastonbury Festival after an extended tour round the stone circle, persuading the assembled brethren that life was all about  ‘Stuff and Things’ – I guess you had to be there.

Our philosophy has always been very simple – to entertain both our audiences and ourselves – if it makes us laugh then it has passed the test. Of course making a living at a job you love plays a huge part as well, but both Bert and Nick would still be doing creative performance art in some form, even if it wasn’t professionally – indeed that is how they originally met and sometimes still do.

The Company takes great pride in producing each of its shows to the very best of its abilities, with great attention to detail – from props and costume, to publicity and ultimately the performance itself. Nick, Bert and associate member Paul have a huge skill base between them (mostly from  professional careers) that they can rely on -  acting, performance art, prop/set/costume design, sculpture, mechanical & electrical engineering, blacksmithing, photography, videography, film making, directing, sound engineering, DJing, singing & playing music.  This huge set of resources means that the company has the capability to take show ideas from their very conception right through to their ultimate performance, without compromising either their quality or integrity.

We are an entirely self funding company, with a large percentage of our profits being reinvested for the development of new work. Traditionally this is done in the winter months, with new shows being finished for early spring. As of 2007 the company has six shows on its books, which are all designed to fill slightly different performance criteria in terms of booking/venue requirements. We are most interested in improvisational walkabout street theatre - as performers we feel most alive and excited when in the moment of leaving the dressing room (or car park), we don’t know what to expect. This kind of buzz is much less pronounced in the theatre or on a film set. If your audience on the street wants to let you know what they think of you they will. With all street theatre every performance is different to the last one, but when it is improvisational walkabout you are stepping off a small cliff of uncertainty every time. The exception to this rule is our static performance art show Antidote to Life. This fulfils another great passion – the tight choreography of music to surreal imagery.

The company has always had strong links with Theatre of Adventure (another Norwich based theatre company), with both the design of props and theatre rigs, and the pooling of performers. Nick designs & fabricates all of their rigs, and welcomes commissions of all types - (contact him here). Bert also welcomes commissions for photography and videography - (contact him here).

We take great pride in presenting sublime, quirky, and unique work - new shows are never far away from development, so if you have enjoyed what you have experienced so far, please come back again for something completely different.