First published on the 18/04/2025 by Merseyside Live 

The Story Forge is one of the funniest, daftest and most unique family-friendly shows around. With the perfect mix of scripted and improvised jokes, it’s a play that’s different and fresh every time.

The show follows two mad professors (Lee Hithersay as Professor Doctor and Robert Rhys Bond as Doctor Professor) who forge three new myths using the unhinged minds of their audience and a load of inventive cardboard props. With bucketfuls of entertainment for kids and parents alike, it is non-stop silliness from start to end that will have you reeling.

The perfect comedic timing and joyous crowd work, combined with live music and absurd tales, it’s like nothing you have ever seen before.

The show at The Atkinson in Southport on April 17 started off with a short origin of the seaside town.

The professors asked a young girl in the audience where she lived, her surname, street address, and the three digits on the back of mummy’s credit card, which garnered a laugh from the adults.

With this information they came up with a mad poet who founded Southport from the melted Ice caps of the South Pole.

Act 2 really ramped things up with an improvised section created using random items in audience member’s bags.

The two professors ran up and down the auditorium steps seeking a mystical object to fit their new myth, and when they happened upon a soft leopard print tail from a young girl in the front row, the story began.

This led to a comedic battle with young boys from the audience as lions fighting a half-fish and half-goat servant of the Goddess Artemis.

The final act followed the story of a hero selected from the crowd of jumping and excited children ready to be a part of the next myth.

A young boy named Hans was chosen and he ran up onto the stage, where he was fashioned with a cardboard shield, sword, and Viking helmet.The boy conquered Surtr, God of the underworld, using a tape measure gifted from Odin, extending it and poking the fiery Titan in the eye. To which Doctor Professor said: “Do you do kitchens?”, receiving a laugh from parents.
The show ended with a rendition of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding out for a Hero”, with lines such as: “I need a hero, he’s the star of the show and we’re not going to pay him at all.”

The mad professors, played by Lee from Rubbish Shakespeare Company and Robert from the Silly History Boys, have been working together for over 15 years.

Lee and Rob have collaborated on many occasions, before making their own separate theatre companies, starting out in an adult sketch comedy called Legion of Doom (with a brand-new Best of Sketch show coming up on May 17).

Lee said: “We developed this kind of style of performing where the children in the audience become characters within the show, its fun, its interactive, you never know what they’re going to do. And audiences seemed to respond to that, so we thought why not put it on a national tour.

“Our intention was to bring new and original storytelling to families and children and foster a love for things that are new and aren’t rehashed franchises or sequels.

“The kids will enjoy the silliness, the daftness, and the falling over, where the adults get some quite unexpected jokes in there that really make them howl.”

He added: “When we get the last child up on stage for the final act, it is their story, but we always try our best to engineer it in a way that leaves a positive message for the audience to take away.”

On the mythical theme of the show, Lee said: “I’ve always liked myths and legends since I was a child…and it just seemed like an obvious choice really. “Myths are great because you can do what you want with them; they’ve always been reinterpreted for modern audiences and it’s nice to do that with these tales. And with the show you have built-in characters to work with that the audience know and understand.”

Lee has done a lot of ‘clowning’ in London and other shows with the Rubbish Shakespeare Company over the years and said that the production lends itself more to a “clown show” as it is completely dictated by the audience. As he put it: “It’s choose your own adventure storytelling.” Lee said: “We want to unleash some of the artistic potentials of the young audience members who get up on stage with us because they are the heroes in the tale.
“And we’ve had some absolutely fantastic young performers who probably didn’t think that morning that they’d be getting up on stage, but they produce a brilliant performance, and it’s a joy to see every time. “But more than anything we just want the audience to take away the fun, spontaneity, and joy of live theatre and to carry on going to these kinds of theatrical productions, so we can keep them alive.”
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The Story Forge: Make Your Own Myth will be on tour across the UK until October 2025.

First published on 15/04/2022 by Yorkshire Times 

There’s an old theatrical adage ‘never work with children or animals’ but someone doesn’t seem to have reminded the Rubbish Shakespeare Company and Silly History Boys of this as they took to the stage to perform in a theatre full of young people and grown-ups. What ensued was just over an hour of madcap fun for all ages.

Professor Doctor Lee Hithersay and Doctor Robert Rhys Bond took to the stage as their own warm up act chatting with the audience, getting to know a little about them and showing just what a pair of silly men they were. The stage was littered with numerous cardboard props ready for a bout of myth making (swords, shields, helmets, spears etc.) as the third and final member of the company made his appearance. Dan the guitar man with a dour expression came and sat ready to play the music and make up the songs required of a true myth.

After discussing the origin of myths and legends with the audience the intrepid duo of Hithersay and Bond, with the help of audience suggestions, improvised the myth of how Cross Gates came to be named with bucket loads of clowning around and a lot of inventiveness before Dan brought the whole thing together with a final song.

Lee and Robert next moved onto mythological items and after listening to the young audience explain the name and origin of Thor’s hammer (I didn’t know it was called Mjolnir, but a young girl did!), a number of items were taken from the audience (hair band, shoe, pot of jam etc.) before as an audience we decided we wanted to hear the myth of the origin of the Croc sandal. Leading us to enter Hade’s lair and meet a recently deceased Geography teacher.

The final myth was to be about the special powers of mythological beings and was once again decided from ideas from the audience who wanted to know the tale of the Silent Giraffe who had a special power of shade (cue taking a sun hat from an audience member) and who had a weakness for sweets and an arch enemy of the venomous crab snake. Here the audience really got involved with five of our younger members taking the stage keeping Lee and Robert on their toes.

​After an all too brief hour the madcap fun and hilarity was over, and what had we learnt, other than the origin of Cross Gates, Crocs, and the Silent Giraffe? For one it is possible for two incredibly talented performers to not only perform with children but also to improvise at a level that entertains and engages young people. It was storytelling but also a perfect introduction to theatre for youngsters. As Artistic Director Lee Hithersay says ‘Sharing the stage with amazing children is incredible, they light up and come alive. It is one of the most fun and rewarding shows I have ever been part of, the kids steal the show every time, and we wouldn’t want it any other way’

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First published on 10/044/2025 by Theatre & Tonic

As I sat down in the Barber studio at Leeds Playhouse with my 9 year old nephew James, we had no idea what to expect, but it turns out, neither did the company.
The Rubbish Shakespeare Company’s performance of The Story Forge: Make Your Own Myth was a magical journey through time, rocketing us through real myths and legends like Thor: God of Thunder, Ares: God of War, and…Hester: Queen of Chants? 
If you’re not familiar with that last one, it’s because it was just for us and our audience. The British Museum Professors Lee Hithersay and Robert Rhys Bond are there to help us create 3 brand new myths. All generated from the minds, pockets and people of the audience. 
What followed was a quest of mythical proportions, with both cast (and of course beautiful music from Dan) using what we intrepid audience members and I have to say, it was brilliant. Hilarious throughout, not only for the kids who were entranced, but also the adults were laughing in a way that is rare for kids’ shows. It wasn’t an innuendo, it was real jokes for the adults that the kids wouldn’t get. Who knew a Las Ketchup reference would be hilarious in 2025?
Having to manage an army of real kids wanting to be involved in all of it, I think they did brilliantly in including everyone and it felt like an experience tailored just to us, which is the real magic of course. 
When we left I asked my nephew James what he thought, and he said “I want to see that again” which I can tell you is the highest compliment he could give. 
This truly is the perfect show to go to as a family, educational but also as far from boring as you can be. Go and see what myths you can be a part of, and who knows, maybe you will become the hero yourself? 
On a UK tour until 11 October 2025, find further information on The Rubbish Shakespeare Company website.
★★★★★

First published on 09/04/2025 on The Reviews Hub 

First published 05/04/2025 by North West End 

Creative, fun and delightfully unique. If you are looking for a family fun show to suit all ages and really get yourself immersed into a show then look no further, the Rubbish Shakespeare Company has you covered with their hilarious and eccentric performance ‘The Story Forge; Make your own Myth. As the title suggests, you the audience are involved in the creativity of what you see in front of you.

Every person in the theatre was engaged, laughing and left with a smile. Two very talented actors with fantastic improvisation skills, comedy and physical theatre will immerse you, and especially those children in the audience in an engrossingly lively story using information, props and input from the audience. The show could go in any direction and trust me it does, this certainly isn’t a show with a predictable outcome.

Backed beautifully by music played by Danny Bradley to set the mood but also provide an entertaining contrast to the two main characters of Professor Robert Rhys Bond and Doctor Lee Hithersay. Sound and lighting really set the scene with the actors themselves creating some sound effects, which were wonderful additions to the music played by Danny but also lifted the stories and made them more realistic.

The staging is perfectly busy and loaded with a variety of props which has you as the audience waiting to see the creative ways which all the items will be brought to life.

Within moments of leaving the theatre I had recommended this show and company to my friends, especially those with children. This is also good for children and adults with SEND as it’s a very inclusive show and due to their high energy and audience participation, means everyone can be involved and enjoy the experience.

People were also invited to take photographs and use the props on stage after the performance which again is amazing to really bring theatre and imagination to life. This is a wonderful way to get children into theatre.

A small but very talented cast, staging and overall, one of a kind theatrical experience.

Thank you for a wonderful morning.
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Check out more of their shows and upcoming projects on:
www.rubbishshakespearecompany.com/  
Reviewer: Stephanie Wiswall
Reviewed: 5th April 2025
North West End UK Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐