Stiltskin need your help!
After the destruction of our new Big Top during Storm Darragh, we are facing an uncertain future...
This year Stiltskin celebrate 25 years of creating theatre and arts projects for children and young people within the South West. In December 2024, Stiltskin also celebrated 10 years of founding the Soapbox Children's Theatre in Plymouth. Here, we create magical theatre shows and events for children, young people, and their families throughout the year. To celebrate our birthday and ensure we had the capacity to house our audiences at Christmas, and for other shows and events we create, we purchased our Big Top with support from the Rank Foundation.
We were so excited to have such an amazing space to offer wonderful experiences throughout the year for Christmas, Spellbound Faery and Goblin Festival, Wild Tribe and our summer show.
It was, therefore, with great sadness that in December, we watched as the wind, blowing at at least 85 - 90 mph from Storm Darragh, ripped the Big Top apart.
There was nothing we could do. We did not have time to remove the infrastructure that had taken two weeks to build and lower the canvas. The Big Top did withhold, but a small rip grew, and eventually, the roof was torn off.
We are devastated. Not only have we lost our lovely Big Top, but we also cannot fulfil our full offer for our audiences. The Christmas season brings in 55% of our annual income from ticket sales. This supports us towards creating more enchanting theatre shows and events throughout the year.
We managed to salvage The Elf Who Lost Christmas, a show for our younger audiences, which we put in the theatre...26 shows over 9 days, 4 shows a day... to ensure most families that had booked still got to see a show for Christmas. However, our income is much reduced.
As a Community Interest Company, any profit we would have made would have gone back into the work we produce, creating even more magic beyond the festive season for our audiences.
We now find ourselves approximately £30,000 down. This includes the purchase of the Big Top, ticket sales, and profit from the sales within our shop and café.
Theatre is not just for Christmas however! Although we are feeling the pinch, our spirit is still going strong! Together we can continue to create and make new, innovative and awesome theatre for children. Our spring/summer programme is out with a range of incredible experiences for children and their families.
To help us continue for years to come, please donate and spread the word. If you can support us in any way, even a £1 donation adds up, then maybe we can get the big top repaied, or even buy another Big Top. Any donations will certainly be put back into making the magic happen.
We would like to thank the team of volunteers who helped us on the 8th December to completely clear the site, and all of the well wishes we have received. Our community is so supportive, and we could not do any of this without you.
We thank you in advance,
Jacqueline, Iain, and the Stiltskin team.