News
“We specialise in comedy – it’s about bringing the joy!” – Badapple Theatre’s 26-year laughter show
14 August 2025
We catch up with Kate Bramley from North Yorkshire’s Badapple Theatre about bringing merriment to rural communities.
Tell us about Badapple – when were you formed – where are you based?
Kate: We are one of the leading providers of touring theatre to rural spaces working in the UK at the moment. We have been touring for over 26 years (established in 1998). We specialise in unique comedy plays that mix theatre with music, puppetry, film and even live baking!
To put this into perspective, last year we toured over 100 performances nationwide. We have a real passion for theatre and think it should be accessible for everyone everywhere. We are based in Green Hammerton which is in rural North Yorkshire.
How long have you been at Badapple Kate?
Kate: I am one of the original founding directors so have been involved from the very start, back in 1998.
I did a BA Honours degree in Drama at Hull University and the company was born out of a group of graduates from the same university.
Around the same time I worked for Hull Truck Theatre in the city, working alongside John Godber (OBE). That was my apprenticeship really.
Kate Bramley
What do you love most about rural touring?
Kate: We always specialise in comedy. Because we’re all about bringing the joy! We have a team of writers who are all familiar with the Badapple physical comedy style and the shows deal with all sorts of subjects, but those that really appeal to rural audiences.
When I moved out of commercial theatre touring and into providing events for rural audiences, the most important thing was that we would try and create a complete theatre experience for the audiences.
So Badapple is perhaps unusual in some senses, that we *always* bring a full theatre experience to the hall every time: the full set, lights, sound, performers.
But what I love most about rural touring is when we add the audience into that mix.
Because of the ownership of their community venue and a willingness to support a local event, the atmosphere created by a rural touring audience is second-to-none.
It means there is a genuine conversation between the performers on stage and the audience who are present on the night. And that’s what that is all about.
Livy Potter and Pip Cook in Badapple’s Sleeping Beauty & The Beast Christmas 2024
Tell us about your youth theatre
For more than a decade, we have run a Youth Theatre in our home base. Our year-round courses are open to students aged 7 to 14 and these are open to any students who have an interest in drama, you don’t have to be particularly talented in the field already.
And it’s as much about gaining confidence and having fun with your friends as it is getting involved in a final performance.
Some of our alumni have gone on to study at the best drama schools in the country. Some credit our sessions in learning how to speak in public with enabling them to face their Oxbridge applications! For me, it’s all about happy children learning to work as a team. And enjoy the magic of theatre.
Tell us about some of the community projects you are involved in?
Every year we are involved with helping our local amateur groups to put on their performances and that’s always a blast. We are commissioned to create local performances and workshops for schools and National Trust venues etc. For me, it’s always brilliant to see people who aren’t experienced in theatre develop a new love for it!
Kate’s WW1 comedy-drama ‘The Thankful Village’ played at York Theatre Royal studio April 2025.
Could you pick a few highlights from Badapple in recent years?
Kate: There have been so many highlights over the years. We turn around events so fast that I’m always best speaking about the things that happened most recently.
Last year was an incredible year for us. We had over 100 performances in the end and our whole team worked really hard.
And in Spring 2025 we had a week of sold out studio performances of our classic show ‘The Thankful Village’ at York Theatre Royal. Some of the team even got to meet Gary Oldman who was performing there at the time.
Working with our theatre partners is nice but rural touring is our true love.
We are always looking ahead to what new innovation we can bring to small communities across the country.
Over a decade ago we had one of our most memorable and bonkers shows, ‘The Daily Bread’ with Colin Moncrieff, which mixed theatre, clowning and live-baking – yes that was a working oven on stage – and we’re finally able to bring a follow up show to that in 2025. So hopefully more highlights still to come…
Learn more about Badapple Theatre.