At The Unicorn Theatre, London, SE1

Sun 22 Mar – Sun 12 Apr 2026

Book your tickets here

What do Buzz Lightyear, Barbie and that stray Lego piece from behind the fridge have in common? They’re all setting off on a wild journey together as Slot Machine Theatre bring their extraordinary puppetry skills to a show like no other – where every character is one of your very own toys!

Packed with music, belly laughs and plenty of surprises, Your Toys is a heart-warming story about new friends pulling together – an anthem to the power of play that will send you home grinning from ear to ear.

Created in workshops with children, the show brims with their brilliant, inventive – and wonderfully bonkers – ideas; making it a truly joyous, unique piece of theatre.

And the best part? Children (and their grown-ups!) are invited to bring along a toy, lend it to us for the performance, and watch it come to life on stage! (You’ll get it back at the end – don’t worry!)

Your Toys is presented by Slot Machine Theatre. Originally produced by Turtle Key Arts.

We are delighted that our original piece of theatre for children aged 5-9 and their families has been chosen as the Easter offering for the wonderful Unicorn Theatre, the dedicated home of quality children’s theatre in London.

For three weeks we will be inviting young people and adults to bring a toy – or favourite keepsake – to the Unicorn and see it take part in a live theatre show of adventure, friendship, and daring exploits!

At SMT we develop all our work for families with young people’s input.

For Your Toys we workshopped ideas with groups of children in a play setting. The children came up with many of the ideas for the story and some of the things the characters do. They also created many of the images which we use as the projected backdrop to the show.
SMT have always built accessibility into our shows. Making language simple, introducing relaxed performances, post-show touch tours for young people with special education needs, working with accessibility co-ordinators, and workshopping in schools for young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities.

It’s a show that has been delighting children and their adults for ten years – and that we genuinely love performing.

Come and see us!

Nisha Anil – OMEGA

Nisha has a long list of career credits under her belt, varying in live performance, singing, storytelling, theatre, puppetry, film, and TV. Alongside this, Nisha has delved into arts managing, short-film making and Children’s TV presenting. She has found her passion in stage productions that encourage an audience to be imaginative, creative, and most importantly, have fun. Nisha has just finished performing in NLP‘s ‘The Owl Who Came for Christmas’ at MAC, and completed a successful tour on 3x Office Award nominated, ‘When The World Turns’ with Oily Cart Theatre in 2025.

Nisha looks forward to the magic that ‘Your Toys’ at the Unicorn Theatre will share in Easter 2026.

Louis Bisson – EPSILON

Louis trained at LAMDA and his television credits include ‘Casualty’ (ITV) and ‘Screw S2’ (Channel 4). Whilst in training theatre credits included ‘HOME’, ‘Scuttlers’ and ‘Alice’.

Louis is excited to be working at the Unicorn and learning new puppetry skills. ‘Your Toys’ marks his first professional theatre debut.

Amy Tweed – ALPHA

Amy trained at the University of Winchester and Drama Studio London.

Her theatre credits include: ‘Kipper’s Snowy Day’, ‘Miki’, ‘One Snowy Night’ (Slot Machine Theatre), ‘The Song of the Bones’ (Vokxen, Lyric Theatre Belfast), ‘STYX’ (Second Body – Perth Fringe World, Australia and Edinburgh Festival), ‘The Everywhere Bear’ (Little Angel / Polka Theatre / Royal & Derngate), ‘Chester Tuffnut’ (Gomito / Polka Theatre), ‘Yardbird’ (Hackney Empire), ‘The Full Bronte’ (Scary Little Girls / Creation Theatre), ‘Our Main Story Tonight’ (Belgrade Theatre), ‘Educating Oxford’ (Flintlock Theatre), ‘Tim & Light’ (Tucked In Productions), ‘ Danny the Champion of the World’ (Birmingham Stage Company), ‘Rum Culls and Ragwater’ (Greenwich Theatre / The River People).  Amy’s short film work includes: ‘Firewood’ (Berlin Film Festival) and commercials include: ‘Cadbury & More’ (Smuggler London).

Amy is delighted to be working with Slot Machine Theatre again and is very excited to meet and play with Your Toys!

Lucy Clarke – ALPHA

Lucy’s theatre credits include: ‘I Want My Hat Back’ (Little Angel Theatre/Arts Depot), ‘Kipper’s Snowy Day’ (Slot Machine Theatre, The Berry/MAC), ‘Laika the Space Dog’ (UK tour), ‘Your Toys’ (Slot Machine Theatre, UK tour), ‘Dinosaur World Live’ (Wembley Park Theatre/UK tour), ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (Underbelly/Leicester Square Theatre), ‘Romeo & Juliet’ (Young Shakespeare Company), ‘Twelfth Night’ & ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ (Oddsocks).

Lucy is an Associate Artist with Slot Machine Theatre, most recently working on ‘Miki’ as Assistant Director at Norden Farm 2024. She is also training in Person-centred therapy and hopes to blend puppetry and movement with therapeutic practice, in their work with children and young people.

Lucy cannot wait to meet all of the different toys, for daily adventures at The Unicorn.

Nicola Blackwell – DELTA

Nicky trained at Central School of Speech and Drama, and a selection of their performing credits include ‘Market Boy’ (National Theatre), ‘ Herge’s Adventures of Tintin’ (Barbican / West End), ‘Perilous Stuff’ and ‘Strike Gently Away From Body’ (Young Vic), ‘The Sound Collector’ (Sheffield Crucible), ‘ You Hang Up First’ (Contact, Manchester), On The Outskirts Of A Large Event(Manchester Home), Kite (Soho Theatre) plus a number of projects with the People Show including Play Dead, The Birthday Show and the fringe first award-wining Baby Jane (Traverse,Edinburgh).

For Slot Machine Theatre Nicky co-created all their shows. Design Credits include: Opera –  ‘Etoile’ (New Sussex Opera), ‘Down By The Greenwood Side’ (Brighton Festival); Theatre: ‘I Was A German’(Vaults), ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (European Arts Company) and for Slot Machine Theatre: ‘Your Toys’, ‘Kipper’s Snowy Day’ and ‘The Boy, The Piano and The Beach’.

Nicky’s really looking forward to meeting everyone’s toys, and hopes you’ll all leave the Unicorn full of ideas for your own adventures

Nick Tigg – MUSICIAN/MONSTER (and CO-DIRECTOR)

Nick studied English at University College London. He is a talented writer, director, performer and musician. Nick has worked with the experimental theatre company The People Show since 1992, including on ‘The Ballroom Show’, ‘The Boat Show’ (Lift Festival 2002), ‘Baby Jane’ (Fringe First Award winner, Edinburgh 2003), ‘Play Dead’ and ‘Ghost Sonata’ (commissioned by Liverpool City of Culture 2008). Other theatre credits include ‘Volpone’ and ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ (Royal Shakespeare Company), ‘Frogs’ and ‘Oh! What a Lovely War’ (National Theatre), ‘The Warp’ (Ken Campbell), ‘TinTin in Tibet’ (Barbican Theatre/Young Vic), Slasher in ‘Down By The Greenwood Side’ (Brighton Festival).  Sound credits include ‘The Golem’ for Richard Waring and ‘The Tribunal’ for Inroads Productions. Nick composes the music, directs and acts for Slot Machine Theatre and will be playing live on ‘Your Toys’.

Of this production Nick says ‘Your Toys has always been a favourite show of mine – every performance has a unique cast, and seeing what toys become what characters is just the best fun – where else can you get to watch a giant unicorn dance a samba?’

Burhan Kathawala – MUSICAN/MONSTER

Burhan Kathawala is an international actor-musician of South-Asian heritage. He grew up in Dubai, training in acting, singing, devising theatre and playing musical instruments. Burhan then qualified in BA (Hons) Actor-Musicianship in 2023 from Rose Bruford College. Burhan is a highly skilled multi-instrumentalist, specialising in drums, guitar, ukulele and singing. He also regularly works with Make/Sense Theatre as a freelance actor-musician, facilitator and composer.

Theatre credits include: ‘Sleeping Beauty’ (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich), ‘Scouts! The Musical’ (The Gigglemug), ‘The Bar at the Edge of Time’ (Frozen Light Theatre Company) and ‘Navarre’ (The Cockpit Theatre, Camden Fringe Festival) in which he was also the Musical Director. Screen credits include: ‘The Bar at the Edge of Time: The Multi-Sensory Movie’ (Helms Films UK)

Burhan says ‘I am tremendously excited to be a part of this gorgeous show with Slot Machine Theatre. It is an honour to add to the magic of Unicorn Theatre, which has always been a dream venue of mine!’

Fiona Creese – CO-DIRECTOR

Fiona’s theatre work includes performance, choreography, writing and directing. Having trained at London Contemporary Dance School, she has performed for many years with ground-breaking company The Kosh. As a core member of The People Show Fiona co-created and performed in many of their shows including recently ‘The Last Straw’ and ‘The Diviners’. She devised and directed ‘We Are Here’ at The Bush and many site-specific pieces for Roehampton University, including ‘Flight’ and ‘Shop’ for Wandsworth Borough of Culture 2025. She is currently involved in making short films, co-directing ‘Bench’, and acting in ‘Sneeze’. As  co-Artistic Director of Slot Machine Theatre Fiona has been involved in writing, directing and choreographing many Slot stage shows and The Scooter Project.

Fiona is excited to be working at The Unicorn, and looking forward to working with our expert puppeteers and onstage musician to bring Your Toys, a show where the audience experiences an amazing adventure on stage through the eyes of their own toy!

Elb Hall – COMPANY STAGE MANAGER

Elb spent fifteen years in stage management with Nottingham Playhouse, New Perspectives, Compass, Stafford Gatehouse, Pilot, Colchester Mercury, York Theatre Royal and at the Crucible in Sheffield. He toured extensively with John Hegley, Mark Steel and Linda Smith. He then re-trained between 2005-08 at the renowned Newark School of Musical Instrument Technology as a piano technician and now works in both areas, most recently touring to Argentina and Norway with Forced Entertainment, all around the UK and to Germany with Gary Clarke Company’s Coal, Wasteland and Detention, and twice spending ten days in Sierra Leone, bringing the pianos up to scratch in time for the ABRSM exams at the Ballanta Academy of Music in Freetown.

He lives in Sheffield, making painfully slow progress towards his recreational ice dance certificate, but is wildly excited to be here in London at the Unicorn, back with the Your Toys company again after a six-year gap.

Emma Dolman – PRODUCER      

Emma has over twenty years’ experience in arts management, beginning leading arts development with rural and urban communities, to arranging large scale events and festivals and outdoor arts, to leading as artistic and executive director of arts venues. Latterly Emma directed the launch and first nine years operation of the highly successful new arts venue Cornerstone, Oxfordshire.

Emma has also conceived, commissioned and produced arts projects, events and new theatre, including a wide range of outdoor public events, cross-genre collaborations, devised children’s theatre, and work for and with people of varying physical abilities.

For the last nine years Emma has been a freelance theatre producer working with dynamic theatre companies on strategy, production and promotion, developing partners and projects, fundraising, associated workshops with hard to reach groups and tour producing.

Emma is very excited to be part of Your Toys again, having first seen it when her eldest child was three years old. And to be at the wonderful, welcoming Unicorn Theatre.

Visual story

This visual resource is for children and young adults visiting the Unicorn Theatre to see a performance of Your Toys. This visual story is intended to help prepare you for a new experience and help you to become familiar with the surroundings and the performance.
Download the visual story (PDF, 943KB)

Family reflection

This family reflection document includes some useful conversation starters and a colouring sheet.
Download the family reflection (PDF, 217KB)