REVIEW: STUFFED

Some shows feel necessary because of the world we live in. STUFFED feels particularly necessary right now.

Multi-award-winning company Ugly Bucket brings together physical theatre, clowning, electronica and personal testimony in a visually stunning, relentlessly sensory experience. Made up of a series of inventive and often absurd sequences, the show is constantly throwing images, sounds and information at you. Yet beneath all this chaos lies a remarkably astute understanding of what it means to work on the frontlines of food poverty.

One line in particular stayed with me: “Working in a food bank is like putting out fires.” The show captures this with striking precision. There is always another emergency, another person who needs help, another fire that needs putting out before the next one starts. But what happens to the people doing the firefighting? Throughout the show, we see these weary, soot-covered firefighters repeatedly dust themselves off and throw themselves back into the flames, making the tension between the urgency of responding to poverty and the exhaustion of those trying to keep up with it painfully clear. The result is a strikingly recognisable picture of a system in which the people holding everything together are often struggling to hold themselves together, too.

What moved me most, however, was the gentleness of its ending. For much of the show, satire, anger and urgency dominate. Information comes thick and fast, the sensory intensity rarely lets up, and the scale of the crisis feels almost overwhelming. Then night falls, and we are invited to rest. Everything else can wait until tomorrow morning.

It is such a simple gesture, but one that feels quietly radical. In a world that constantly demands more from those already giving so much, rest is not a luxury or an afterthought. It is something that needs to be actively encouraged if care is to be sustainable at all.

This felt especially poignant during the post-show panel discussion, when a representative from a food bank spoke about feeling seen by the production. They spoke about being the person responsible for locking up at the end of each day, whatever the weather. There were also elderly volunteers in the room who had been doing this work for years. Suddenly, the people behind the emergency were no longer just voices in a testimony or figures in a wider social crisis. They were here, in the room, with all the exhaustion and commitment that their work entails.

I found this deeply moving. The show does not simply ask us to recognise suffering, or leave us with the burden of feeling that we ought to do something about it. It also makes space for the people who have been doing something all along, acknowledging that they need care, too. Its ending feels hopeful not because the crisis has been resolved, but because it allows for the possibility of carrying on without pretending that anyone can keep going indefinitely.

And this care extends well beyond the performance itself. From the free community meal before the show to the post-show panel discussion and the practical ways audiences are invited to get involved, STUFFED feels like a production whose values are embedded in its entire structure. The meal is not simply a nice addition to the evening; it creates an opportunity to gather and connect before the performance even begins. The discussion offers a space to hear from people already working within local communities, while the invitation to donate food and essential items provides an immediate, tangible way to contribute.

Then there is the envelope we are given as we leave, with instructions to open it the following morning. I won't spoil what's inside, but I loved the thought behind it. It gently reminds us that tonight, we are allowed to rest, but it also suggests that rest is not the end of the story. There is still work to be done tomorrow, and the invitation to get involved remains open. We cannot simply feel moved for one evening, do one good thing, and consider our part done. The invitation to act continues into the next day, and hopefully beyond it.

This is what makes STUFFED feel like more than a powerful piece of socially engaged theatre. It raises awareness, certainly, but it also gives that awareness somewhere to go. Rather than relying on a fleeting moment of emotional impact, it offers practical ways for audiences to get involved in ongoing community action, while recognising the need for wider systemic change.

Furious in its politics, generous in its spirit, and unexpectedly tender in its conclusion, STUFFED makes a compelling case for theatre that does not stop at telling us what is wrong with the world. It asks what we might do together, and how we might keep doing it without losing sight of the people at the heart of it all.

★★★★★

For more information, please visit: https://newdiorama.com/whats-on/stuffed

Credits

Creative Team

Directors: Grace Gallagher & Rachael Smart
Composer & Sound Designer: Duncan Gallagher
Set & Costume Designer: Sascha Gilmour
Lighting Designer: Charly Dunford
Sign Supported English Director & Captioner: Rhiannon May
Audio Description Consultant: Anthony Gough
Production Manager: Pete Rickards for eStage
Community Partners: Feeding Liverpool, St Andrews Community Network, Slung Low, B30 Foodbank, Hope Nottingham & Kensington Fields Community Association

Cast

Jessica Huckerby
Grace Gallagher
Angelina Moana
Adam Nicholls
Caníce Ward

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