Really Big Pants Theatre

08/12/2025

Behold Beanie and her blankie! It may be the end of but the care and support goes on, along with the need for grief education.

Our sensitive new show COMFORT focuses on bereavement, countered with humour and energy, to highlight the importance of talking openly and honestly with children about death.

Beanie is eight when her beloved mum dies in a hospice, leaving her with tangled memories and a carefully knitted blankie for comfort. What do you do when someone you love so much has gone forever? Beanie must navigate a new way of living, with friends, classmates, and adults unsure of how to behave with her.
But then the blanket goes missing at school. As Beanie’s world unravels, can a tight-knit community help her deal with her grief?

This 30-minute show acts as a springboard for discussion and raising awareness for support. There are optional crafting activities for afterwards including making a pom-pom to either take home or add to our travelling display. Please get in touch if you’d like to know more about COMFORT and how we can bring it to your school, bereavement support network, hospice, or other setting.
Thank you.
Love Joe and Willow xx

05/12/2025

A really big thank you to Alison, another lovely play specialist doing a great job making hospitals a much nicer experience for children and their families - we were looked after so well and had such a wonderful time today on the Starlight Children's Foundation festive tour, performing our show and getting crafty! Week one complete - feet up now for the weekend!

05/12/2025

We absolutely love getting crafty with the kids before and after our show HO HO HO and we’ve seen some magnificent artwork over the years, but this beautiful piece deserves its own post. In the hospital we visited today on the Starlight Children's Foundation festive tour, we were told this young lady had been feeling very low and had not really wanted to engage with anything so we were honoured she wanted to come to the playroom to see our show and design a strip for our paperchain and we all agreed it was so brilliant that it’s going to be kept on display. The power of theatre and all the arts - magic!

04/12/2025

‘The actors were very kind, and funny. I specifically liked the interactive element of the show. It was a great message and well pitched.’

The afternoon of today’s whirlwind on the Starlight Children's Foundation festive tour! Play specialist Natasha looked after us so well and it was a pleasure to spend time with more fab families! And delighted to hear that we are: ‘really funny, enthusiastic, inclusive’!

04/12/2025

It’s been a whirlwind on the Starlight Children's Foundation festive tour today! Here’s Willow this morning admiring the advertising for our show HO HO HO. We had a wonderful warm welcome from the lovely team at this hospital and really enjoyed performing to some fab families and getting crafty with them!

03/12/2025

“Great show and activities for the kids! Way to brighten our day at a scary place!”

We had a wonderful time on the first stop of our second Starlight Children's Foundation festive tour, including a truly magical moment when two very young brothers joined us on stage as volunteers in our show HO HO HO and led us all in a heartwarming carol.

And behold the paperchain on display! We love getting crafty with the families before and after our show, and all the children get to keep a piece of art too.

Roll on tomorrow! 🎄

02/12/2025

Today marks the start of .

Our sensitive new show COMFORT focuses on bereavement, countered with humour and energy, to highlight the importance of talking openly and honestly with children about death.

Beanie is eight when her beloved mum dies in a hospice, leaving her with tangled memories and a carefully knitted blankie for comfort. What do you do when someone you love so much has gone forever? Beanie must navigate a new way of living, with friends, classmates, and adults unsure of how to behave with her.
But then the blanket goes missing at school. As Beanie’s world unravels, can a tight-knit community help her deal with her grief?

This 30-minute show acts as a springboard for discussion and raising awareness for support. There are optional crafting activities for afterwards including making a pom-pom to either take home or add to our travelling display. Please get in touch if you’d like to know more about COMFORT and how we can bring it to your school, bereavement support network, hospice, or other setting.
Thank you.
Love Joe and Willow xx

01/12/2025

Tis the season… the tree is up at our HQ and magic is in the air! 🎄 We can’t wait to share our Christmas show HO HO HO with families in hospitals as part of the Starlight Children's Foundation festive tour this month! Look out for Mr Wolfe, Alf, and a really big fairy…

25/11/2025

We’re really thrilled to be part of the Starlight Children's Foundation Festive Tour again this Christmas! We’ll be sledging into children’s play areas in hospitals in December with our heartwarming interactive festive offering: HO HO HO (A REALLY BIG NON-PANTO SHOW), and inviting everyone to get crafty with us too, making decorated paper chains and simple picture frames. We can’t wait! Love Joe and Willow and our really big pants! xx

25/11/2025

🎄 The Starlight Festive Tour 2025 begins next week!
We’re travelling to 51 hospitals and hospices across the UK, bringing joy, laughter, and a little seasonal magic to children who need it most.

From playful twists on classic stories to brand-new festive shows, we’re creating moments that help children feel connected, comforted, and cared for.

✨ Because even in hospital, every child deserves the chance to smile this season.

Find out more: https://ow.ly/ifwP50XxyT4

24/11/2025

We were so honoured to perform the premiere of our show COMFORT at Child Bereavement UK last week for , especially as the theme this year was Sharing Stories, Strengthening Hope.

We're very grateful to the lovely families we met for their thoughtful positive feedback and it was a joy to make pom-poms with them afterwards.

Our sensitive new show focuses on bereavement, countered with humour and energy, to highlight the importance of talking openly and honestly with children about death.

Beanie is eight when her beloved mum dies in a hospice, leaving her with tangled memories and a carefully knitted blankie for comfort. What do you do when someone you love so much has gone forever? Beanie must navigate a new way of living, with friends, classmates, and adults unsure of how to behave with her.
But then the blanket goes missing at school. As Beanie’s world unravels, can a tight-knit community help her deal with her grief?
This 30-minute show acts as a springboard for discussion and raising awareness for support. Please get in touch if you’d like to know more about COMFORT and how we can bring it to your school, bereavement support network, hospice, or other setting.
Thank you.
Love Joe and Willow xx

20/11/2025