An inverted pyramid approach in its true form, where action takes place before crisis analysis and having a creative response to it. The audience is stuffed ahead of the show Stuffed by Ugly Bucket. The ensemble is around you while you chug a free drink and share a meal in the New Diorama Theatre foyer with strangers. By opening with a shared meal before diving into the performance, the show flips the traditional structure placing audience connection and collective action ahead of the crisis analysis itself. The capacity of Stuffed to enter with you and exit with you pushes the boundaries of a devised performance space with curtains, projections, plastic crates, and a live DJ.
The testimonies attack you and create an air of tension that makes 60 minutes move faster, leaving one with an urgent need to take action to do something about the food crisis. Ugly Bucket masterfully uses fast-paced clowning and high-energy physical theatre to translate these heavy, verbatim testimonies into a visceral, visually arresting experience.
The director has used multiple languages of theatre, not in a disassociated way, but working together to produce a work of “now” a work that directly relates to the current audience. These are fragmented narratives bound by a common thread, touching a hunger that goes deep down into our senses and not just our “intestines.”
There is a stark sense of urgency in the testimonies paired with sudden moments of ease like when the pigeons fight for food, which ironically translates into the act of giving even in times of crisis.
While restating the same theme repeatedly risks creating a sense of boredom, Stuffed only touches that edge before relieving itself right in time. If this is anything, it’s an emergency to go, watch, take home the good stuff with you, and act upon it.
Reviewer: Shivangi Nigam
Reviewed: 14th October 2026
North West End UK Rating: