Shepherd’s Bush Families Project

We invited two local organisations to become Associate Companies of the Bush Theatre.

Shepherd’s Bush Families Project were with us as a community company in 2017 and worked with Tangled Feet.

Together they created an interactive installation in the auditorium, made up of larger than life set pieces handmade by the families and inspired by the children’s vision of A Perfect World. They also held two photography exhibitions and a multicultural feast accompanied by participants performing speeches, poems and songs.

Shepherds Bush Families Project is a registered charity set up in February 1988 in response to identified need in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. SBFP works with families in housing need, including those living in temporary accommodation and families who are occupying unsuitable housing. It is the only organisation in the borough specifically targeting its services to families in housing need.  They offer a range of services to support parents, children & young people. Two of their main aims are to enable mutually supportive networks to grow among families and empower parents/caregivers to gain a greater sense of control, and effect choices and change in their lives.

“Since taking part in the project, I feel it has brought my family closer together whereby we were able to learn in depth about our heritage, traditions and costume.” – SBFP Participant

Tangled Feet is a physical theatre ensemble who make performances indoors and out: in theatres but also in fields, car parks, shopping centres, in schools, festivals, up scaffolding, on rivers…  With a 13-year history of working together, their highly visual work celebrates the live moment and the relationship with the audience.

Combining innovative staging, spectacular imagery and muscular narratives, the company’s work tackles socially engaged stories on both epic and personal scales: previous work has investigated the youth unemployment crisis (One Million, 2012), the creeping privatisation of the NHS (Care, 2015), the experience of young carers (Need A Little Help, 2015) and the sometimes-difficult transition to parenthood (Kicking and Screaming, 2015).

Bush Theartre Booth 2017

The Community Associate Companies at the Bush Theatre are kindly sponsored by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.