All aboard - we're collecting the stories of people who ride buses
All aboard - a unique project will hit the road with a theatre bus.
The immersive theatre project, led by artists with a learning disability and autistic artists across Newcastle and Sunderland, has been awarded £95,551 from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants and £36,905 from Community Foundation, Newcastle Culture Investment Fund.
It means The Twisting Ducks Theatre Company can bring their two-year Bus project to communities across Sunderland and Newcastle.
The theatre group is comprised of people from Spectrum (based at Northern Stage, Newcastle) and Sunderland Platform (based at Arts Centre Washington) and Bus will explore the everyday experiences and emotions of travelling by bus, from the people we meet to the stories that unfold along the way.
Throughout 2026, a series of creative workshops across Newcastle and Sunderland will bring together people from marginalised communities, including people with a learning disability and autistic people, young people, refugees, older people, and LGBTQ+ communities to share their stories and feelings about travelling by bus.
The stories and anecdotes gathered during these workshops will feed into the development of a new, immersive, multimedia performance - staged not in a traditional theatre but on a bus.
In 2027, the Twisting Ducks Bus will tour venues in Newcastle and Sunderland, visiting schools, arts venues and festivals, including Sunderland Pride, Newcastle Mela, Northern Stage and Arts Centre Washington, inviting audiences to experience live performances based on real journeys, real people, and real voices.
Alongside the live experience, an online Digital Story Bank will showcase recordings and creative contributions made by participants throughout the project.
These stories will be collected and shared via QR codes placed at bus and Metro stations across the North East region, in partnership with Nexus.
Jan Willem van den Bosch, Lead facilitator and Project Manager at The Twisting Ducks Theatre Company said: “The Twisting Ducks Bus project gives us a unique opportunity to take our work beyond traditional theatre spaces to reach new audiences, especially other marginalised communities across Newcastle and Sunderland.
“We all use the bus, and everyone has a story to tell. This project is about listening to those stories and creating something real and meaningful that people can connect with.”