Toby Mitchell: Tall Stories theatre

Everyone has a story, but not everyone has such a close connection with the amazing Gruffalo, that wonderful creation protecting a resourceful mouse. Thanks to a theatre company based in Highbury The Gruffalo is not just a book – it’s also celebrating its 25^th anniversary on stage. Here Tall Stories artistic director Toby Mitchell explains how The Gruffalo has been enjoyed by so many Islington children and their grown-ups. Interview by Nicola Baird

Toby Mitchell grew up in Highgate and later spent many years living in Archway. He’s living in Enfield now, but is often in Islington thanks to the theatre charity he runs from Islington Central Library. Toby’s actual job is as Artistic Director of Tall Stories, which has the lovely catchphrase, “where everything is possible”.

FOLLOW ISLINGTON FACES a new interview is published regularly.

Back in 2020 the charity partnered with Islington Council to move into an unused part of Central Library. Tall Stories now has an office and a rather fab 80-seater theatre space off what was once the library’s main Holloway Road entrance. This entrance was closed in the 1970s (in fact used for storage) after an extension was built around the corner on Fieldway Crescent.

Tall Stories’ shows are known by many of Islington’s little ones, in part due to the 11 by 11 scheme which is designed to ensure all the borough’s children have proper cultural experiences – and because their studio space at Islington Central Library is easy to reach.

Celebrate

2026 is a big year of celebrations for Tall Stories as it’s 25 years since they premiered The Gruffalo. Their theatre show has now been seen by 3 million children and their parents/carer and is equally loved by the author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler.

====

5 places Toby Mitchell loves in Islington

1. Tall Stories is based in Central Library. “We work mainly for family audiences, so the children’s library here in Central Library is a place of great inspiration. I drop by and see what’s new.”
2. “I have a rescue dog, who’s lying just below my desk at the moment, so Highbury Fields for walking him is always fun.
3. For just a quick blast of green and fresh air then St Mary Magdalen Gardens is just opposite the library.”
4. “In terms of food and drink the Hope Café, 111 Holloway Road, further down towards Highbury and Islington is a great place for a good old English breakfast and has amazing Greek food.”  Here’s a review from Jay Rayner in the Observer (unexpected!) but Hope Café opened in 1937.
5. “Pretty much two doors down from Tall Stories is The Barn, 60 Holloway Road, which is almost our second office. It’s where we hold a lot of meetings and it’s great for coffees and teas and lunches. I’ll often go for a plain latte, but sometimes it might be something more complicated like an oat milk matcha latte.”

=====

Bringing the Gruffalo to the theatre

Toby is the co-founder with Olivia Jacobs. Together they set up Tall Stories in 1997 as a tiny fringe company while both had other jobs. “Mine was editing children’s books for Macmillan and as they were the publishers of The Gruffalo we got to read it before it was published.” The pair offered an option and were able to have a theatre version ready to premier just 18 months after what’s become Britain’s best loved children’s story, The Gruffalo, was published.

“Even in first performances when most people still didn’t really know what it was, we found that kids were joining in and saying the words if you left a gap – they knew it pretty much off by heart so we got the impression even that early that it was quite a special book,” says Toby.

Over 25 years the words of The Gruffalo may not have deviated much but the actors and costumes have all changed as the show has travelled to 18 countries, been translated into seven languages and been performed by 37 actors.

Before the 25^th anniversary production of The Gruffalo goes on tour to more than 30 venues from 31 March there are previews in late March at the Tall Stories Studio Theatre to be enjoyed by Islington schools and nurseries including New River Green Children’s Centre, Packington Children’s Centre, Bemerton Children’s Centre, North Islington Nursery School, St. Mary’s C of E Primary School, Archway Children’s Centre, Willow Children’s Centre, Richard Cloudesley Primary school, The Bridge Integrated Learning Space, Goodinge Early Years Centre and Hanover Primary School.

The Gruffalo, which is directed by Olivia Jacobs, will then play at the Lyric Theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in London’s West End from 17 July to 6 September 2026. https://thelyrictheatre.co.uk/tickets/the-gruffalo-2/

Q: How does your version of The Gruffalo encourage children’s imagination?

“There’s some theatre, for family audiences or children’s audiences, which is very much either the book or the TV show basically transported to the stage. And while those shows can be very good, sometimes it can be a bit like watching a DVD or a streaming version of that if it’s from the TV or literally just copying exactly. So what weve always done in Tall Stories is a form of storytelling theatre where we talk directly to the audience. We involve them in the action and we get stuff back from them quite often as well, because as you’ll know kids don’t really understand the fourth wall (when actors just pretend the audience isn’t there).

“For The Gruffalo our costumes hint at the animals rather than being full skins and full masks or full puppets, so our mouse has got something resembling ears. She’s got a jacket and she’s got a tail but it’s costume that hints at things and says, ‘we’re telling a story and we’re just playing dress up’ and that’s where we invite the audience to come with us on that journey so the audience has got to use their imaginations. When we had no money it was the simplest and most effective way of telling the story, but now it’s policy because we found that by storytelling this way kids and their grown-ups reacted in very different way. They are more involved. They’re not just sitting back and watching  TV or a film. They’re actually being spoken to directly and they’re having to fill in the gaps a little bit by using their imagination – it’s a much more active form of theatre, they’re not just watching but joining in the experience.”

Q: How do the digital natives find the experience?

“We find parents absolutely relieved that they can spend an hour in the theatre without having recourse to any kind of technology. They can switch off and their kids can switch off. Of course we’re using lights and sound, so using some technology, but we don’t overdo it. We use it to enable the story rather than to replace bits of story. My take on using tech in the theatre is that if the tech broke down for a particular performance, if that performance can still go ahead and the audience can still experience it, they might miss a bit of tech, but they’re not actually missing the show, then that’s still true theatre. If the tech is so integrated that you can’t do the show without it, then it’s almost a hybrid of tech theatre or film theatre.”

Q: Who’s your audience?

Tall Stories is brilliant at making theatre hits for three year olds up. Their repertoire includes The Elmer Adventure, The Smeds and The Smoos, The Snail and the Whale as well as The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child.

“We’ve always aimed our shows squarely at both children and the grown-ups. We know that three and four-year-olds may not understand everything in our shows, but as you’ll know three and four-year-olds don’t understand life, they’re always grasping for meaning. We pepper our shows every 10-15 minutes with some gentle participation. You don’t have to join in, but it keeps the kids and families on side and makes sure that no one is getting bored.”

Q: How does your stage version of The Gruffalo connect children with nature?

“The performers are actually pretending that they’re in nature and that they’re looking out for animals and bugs and bees at the start of the show. And then they find an audience and kind of go, ‘oh, well, we’ll tell you a story’.”

Tall Stories is also about to premiere a nature walk The Gruffalo: Who lives in the deep dark wood? as part of Bright Start Islington (for under fives) in three outdoor play and stay areas in Islington, which begins from early April.

Summing up

How wonderful that a Highbury-based theatre company has had such an impact on little children’s first tastes of theatre and imaginative storytelling.

Whatever your age ideally do as Toby says and: “See The Gruffalo at the Lyric on its West End run. We do our absolute best to make sure those tickets are affordable. With West End tickets from £10 that really helps people be able to come and also for kids to get to see and experience a beautiful old West End theatre which is joyous in itself.”

• To find out more about Tall Stories use the website https://tallstories.org.uk/
• You can join their mailing list by clicking through to the website here
• Visit Islington Central Library any day at 2 Fieldway Crescent. Check opening times here.

Over to you

If you’d like to nominate someone to be interviewed who grew up, lives or works in Islington, or suggest yourself, please let me know, via nicolabaird dot green at gmail dot com. If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z  index, or search by interviewee’s roles or Meet Islingtonians to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola