STUFFED
This is about food banks. This is not about food.
This is about the bad stuff. This is an emergency. This is a clowning show.
Multi-award-winners Ugly Bucket present a blazing inferno of physicality, electronica, and uncompromising personal testimony from the frontlines of the UK’s food banks. As phones ring, guts spill, and sparks ignite faster than they can be extinguished, five clowns search for hope and community in the face of helplessness. Created in association with Liverpool’s Unity Theatre, STUFFEDis a roaring call to action amidst the wreckage of a desecrated system.
More than a show, STUFFED is an invitation to gather - an evening of food, electrifying theatre, and empowering discussion illuminating the dark corners and exploring the power of collective action.
All performances are captioned and accompanied with a wrap around project called The Good Stuff, offering a a free community meal, action based panel and local food donation drive.
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Unity Theatre Liverpool
2-3rd Oct
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New Diorama Theatre London
OCT 13- 24 2026
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The Warehouse in Holbeck, Leeds
31st Oct
WINNER OF THE STAGE FRINGE FIVE 2024
Loud, angry and uncomfortable to watch, this is not just a verbatim piece about Food Banks.
It’s unadulterated fury doesn't make this an easy watch. It is horrifically funny, not cosy or cathartic funny. It doesn’t let the audience off the hook. But it’s also a shining example of a young company genuinely finding the form to match a show about a national emergency.
The Phone rings off the hook. Sirens scream. You will too, because we are all part of a system that has normalised this.
Lyn Gardner
★★★★★
Stuffed’ is a fantastic piece of theatre, there is absolutely no doubt about that.
A concept that seems so important, and something we expect the viewing public to be aware of but told in a way that changes everything we think we know about food poverty and the use of food banks. Every bit of the piece made sense and felt meaningful.
Ugly Bucket have enlightened a sell-out audience tonight on how much work there still is to do in tackling food poverty - North West End
STUFFED’S MISSION
STUFFED aims to destigmatize poverty and educate audiences that food poverty is simply the symptom of wider, systematic issues.
The web of poverty. People can be poor for resources, their poverty of relationships so they don’t have family or friends that are able to support them or are able to nurture them and then poverty of identity. Lack of self esteem, lack of confidence, mental health - Nigel Hope Foodbank
Ugly Bucket provide a free pre-show meal, allowing audience’s time to find connection over the simplicity of shared food.
Shared food is at the heart of community. - Ramonda Andrews
The thing about food is, it gives you time - Alan Lane Slunglow
Audiences are invited a post-show panel that consists of representatives from local organisations who can provide further education on the action we can take to care for our communities.
If tonight has been the night you realise what's going on. Don't sit on it. The world changes today - Dr Naomi Maynard (Feeding Liverpool) at the STUFFED post-show panel
Not only is Stuffed completely heart-breaking, rallying and acutely thought-provoking- it is unrelentingly hilarious…
As enraging as it is brilliant. Combining the lighting, electronic beats, and comic clowning with the sheer magnitude of the topic of foodbanks, a tour de force performance emerges that deserves a bigger stage, larger audiences, and the nation’s attention.
Ugly Bucket’s Stuffed looks at you straight in the face and asks what you’re going to do about it.
Devised by Ugly Bucket Theatre
Directed by Rachael Smart and Grace Gallagher
Music & Sound Design by Duncan Gallagher
Set and Costume Design by Sascha Gilmour
Lighting Design by Charley Dunford
SSE Director / Captioner Rhiannon May
Audio Description Consultant Anthony Gough
Audio Description Writer / Voice Artist Benedict Moore
The Cast of STUFFED Angelina Cliff, Adam Nicholls, Canice Ward, Grace Gallagher, Jessica Huckerby
STUFFED was developed in association with The Unity Theatre Liverpool with support from Arts Council England.
The Good Stuff is supported by National Lottery Community Fund.
STUFFED’s current partner community organisations include Feeding Liverpool, St Andrews Community Network, Slunglow, B30 Foodbank, Hope Nottingham and Kensington Fields Community Association.
