In February 2026 the Barn Theatre, reopens with The Bright Foundation’s specially-commissioned show, The Ballad of Red and the Wilding Wolf - a vibrant reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood (with connections to the museum’s collection of puppets and antique toys). 

The Story
Before everything there was the forest...
The animals are angry, the people aren’t listening and prowling through the woods is a Big Bad Wolf. Will the two sides clash or can a little girl called Red find a path through? With music and magic, this retelling of Little Red Riding Hood delves a little deeper and gets to know a few more characters along the way.

Running time: 30minutes

Content warning: Contains themes around reincarnation and some of the themes of the traditional folk story.
Suitable for ages 4+

This show is being created primarily for our School and Group Experience Days with accompanying workshops on puppetmaking, costume and set design, and storytelling.

The Creative Team

Poppy Rowley (Director and Producer) is a hard of hearing director skilled in project management, youth theatre work, school workshops and mentoring writers. Prior to her role as Arts and Theatre Learning Leader at The Bright Foundation, she was Head of Year Two at Fourth Monkey Actor Training, and Artistic Associate for Eastern Angles Theatre Company. She was shortlisted for th4e RTST Sir Peter Hall Award 2019. As well as working nationally in Peterborough, Stoke-on-Trent, Sheffield, London and Hastings, she has also worked in Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia. Her production of Grounded, by George Brant, received a string of five star reviews at the Adelaide Fringe 2019, and won four awards – Graham F Smith Peace Award, Adelaide Critics Circle Award, Sunday Mail Best Solo Show and The Advertiser Life Imitates Art Award.

Sophie Powell (Writer) is a writer,  puppeteer and  theatre maker. She co-wrote and performs in the official Moomin Puppet show Mischief and Mystery in MoominValley and wrote the text for Sole Rebel’s In Time.  An associate performer for Long Nose Puppets she has performed in all of their shows to date.  Other performance credits include Du iz tak? for Tiny Pickles, Flat Pack with OH! Productions, and Steven Whinnery’s Lying with the animals for the London International Mime Festival. Directing includes Yukon Ho! for Jennifer Irons and La Ultima Muñeca for Victoria Rios which was awarded first prize at Tampa Fringe. Sophie has a wide variety of teaching experience and is one half of PuppetBox . Sophie’s short stories have been published by seventy2one, Litro magazine , and MJP publishing amongst others. She was awarded the Exeter story Prize in 2017 and has been shortlisted for the Cambridge prize and the Leicester writes prize. As a theatre practitioner she is drawn to playful imaginative work and enjoys stories with a touch of magic in them. 
You can find more about her work at www.sophieellenpowell.com

Hattie Spice (Stage and Set Designer) is a set designer and art director working in a variety of different 3D disciplines for the past 30 years. Wh3 studied Theatre Design at Central/St Martins where she got her degree, with a year off in the middle to study Fine Art.
As a child Hattie loved drawing and painting, but when it got really exciting was taking 2D into a 3D piece of artwork and playing with space and form was what inspired her. Both Hattie's parents were actors and she was lucky enough to go to the theatre as a child. Hooked by the magic of it all and she knew that was what she wanted to do.
After graduating, Hattie worked her passage designing for Fringe theatre productions, scenic painting, mural painting and prop making. Then from 1995 onwards, after having worked on pop promos, short films and commercials, she started to design and art direct live events as well. It is the live element of productions that really captures her imagination.  Since then Hattie has designed a wide variety of productions from music tours, site specific theatre projects, festivals, independent films, corporate events and art installations. 

Seymour Milton (Composer) is an award-winning composer and sound designer for film, TV and games. A graduate of the National Film & Television School, his work has featured in projects for Netflix, BBC, Channel 4, Tate Britain and The National Gallery. His prolific work in contemporary dance includes James Cousins’ Within Her Eyes—winner of Matthew Bourne’s 2012 New Adventures in Choreography Award—and collaborations with Ihsan Rustem, Tony Adigun and Laura Obiols. Seymour’s current projects include the documentary feature films Some Things I Know About My Mother and The Last Puppet Show.

Lauren Douglin (Story and Character Co-creator) Born and raised on the South Coast, Lauren has worked with a variety of fantastic companies including Amazon Prime, Netflix, Sky 1, Red Productions, The Park Theatre, and ITV amongst others, both on stage and screen.
An award nominated actor, voice actor and comedian, Lauren's love of family and immersive theatre grew during her time as a performer at Chessington World of Adventures and with ZooCo Theatre's site-specific Delight In The Woods with the National Trust at Box Hill. 
Lauren is thrilled to be joining The Bright Foundation and creating a brand-new piece for kids and grownups alike in a beautiful theatre and its surroundings.

Harriet Gandy (Actor)  Harry is an actor and facilitator based in Brighton. At the heart of all her work is a deep connection to play and the absurd. She leads workshops on devising, clowning and play and is ever inspired by young people's inquisitive nature.  She continues to grow her practice and was recently selected to be part of the Early Years Development Programme at The Unicorn Theatre.  Credits Include: Pebble Road and the Pond People (Spun Glass Theatre) Curious Investigators (One Tenth Human) A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Guildford Shakespeare Company). 

Susannah Austin (Actor) Susannah is an actor, theatre maker, singer-songwriter and facilitator from Hastings. Susannah trained in European Theatre Arts at Rose Bruford College. After graduating she toured nationally and internationally with pop-folk band The Musical Differences before moving into electronic music with Tythe, collaborating on his debut album And Also With You (Sunday Best Records). Her song 'Autotune' written for Ogilvy and Mather's radio advertising campaign for Dove won a Campaign Big Gold Award and a Gold Cannes Lion in 2013. Her theatre highlights include children's tours with Oily Cart, panto with Splendid Theatre, Shakespeare with Action To The Word and satire with News Revue at the Edinburgh Fringe. Locally she has performed with Spun Glass Theatre on their shows The Christmas Spirits and Pebble Road and The Pond People. Last December her theatre company Accidental Anarchy debuted their first show A Very Merry Mousemas to packed houses at Stade Hall in Hastings. She is delighted to be back at The Bright Foundation, and can't wait to bring this exciting new show to the next generation of story makers.

Chris Williams (Lighting Designer) Chris trained at RADA as a Stage Manager and Lighting designer at the end of the 1980’s and then crashed headlong into rave culture and rock and roll touring - followed by many years working with high profile stand-up comedians across the U.K. and Europe.  After far too many late nights on the road he swapped to many late nights as a parent and moved into helping develop many small scale venues across the south east of England - providing technical management and creative consultancy.  Now based in Bexhill he has loved connecting with The Bright Foundation and says he’s thankful for being able to collaborate in the creation of this new Children’s performance -  in a bespoke and very special theatre - The Barn.

Lara Lippin (Assistant Producer)

Hilary Mills (Volunteer Costume Designer)

James Stonehewer (Technician)