bold & saucy theatre company is a Southwark based touring theatre company. We have received both Time Out and The Guardian critics’ choices and have been nominated for the Creative Freedom Awards for best theatre production.

Artistic Director Sarah Davey formed the company in 1992 through a desire to make bold & saucy theatre. Our artistic policy is to create a balance of classic, contemporary and company devised work. We would hope to achieve a mix of regular site-specific productions interspersed with small to middle scale tours and occasional international touring. At the core of our work is an ensemble. Where possible we work with a group who have built up a relationship over the years and we work to bring in new people and integrate them into this process. We believe that by working over a period of time our company has grown in confidence and skill and this makes our work better. We hope to explore other art forms to enhance our style and look to challenge ourselves in new ways and make better theatre.

In 1996 the company became incorporated and received charitable status. We became ITC members in I993.

Classical work - Shakespeare
Our first production was Twelfth Night in 1993 and began the company’s work of fusing classical text with a dynamic physical playing to break down traditional views of Shakespeare as dull, old fashioned and irrelevant. The relationship between the actor and the audience has become integral to our work. We perform largely open air in non-theatre spaces and use this setting to break down these barriers.

We have since performed 12 Shakespeare plays, Twelfth Night three times, As You Like It twice, TheComedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, The Taming of the Shrew twice, The Tempest, Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth.

Devised work
In 1996 the company devised Bold in Her Breeches, a play exploring cross-dressing women in history. We began with a group of actors exploring fairytales and then looked at women across history that had cross-dressed to find their liberty and do what they wanted to do. From here the play emerged. This show had a one week run at the Old Fire Station, Oxford.

We are now developing site-specific work, creating theatre as a direct response to a space.

New work
In 1994 we staged On the Verge by Eric Overmeyer at the Man in the Moon, Chelsea. Again this fused physical work with a very strong lyrical modern text. The play was a celebration of three Victorian women travellers as they journeyed from the 19 th Century to the 1950’s.

In 1998 we commissioned a new play, Juicy Bits, by Kay Adshead. This was produced and performed by the company at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in the Main House. It dealt with twentieth century women’s literature, the environment and modern relationships.

Audiences
In 1997 we had 51 performances and reached an estimated audience of 7,000.
In 1998 we had 84 performances and reached an estimated audience of 10,000.
In 1999 we had 51 performances and reached an estimated audience of 11,000.
In 2000 we had 33 performances and reached an estimated audience of 11,000
In 2001 we had 42 performances and reached an estimated audience of 12,000.
We have not produced a show since then.

Year on year we aim to increase attendance at our shows and broaden our audience too. We want to keep our supporters and hope to introduce our work to a wider and more diverse audience.