Colour The Clouds was founded by Sarah and Catherine in 2013, after their first joint writing venture,Billy, The Monster and ME!was commissioned by the 24:7 Theatre Festival.

Written whilst juggling babies, nappies, bottles and other such motherhood trials, Billywent on to win the audience voted Best Performance Award at the festival, and then on to a successful run at Edinburghs Assembly Rooms and a northern tour in 2014. The show was created along with Christabel, Alyx and Mark, who all came on board permanently, and Colour The Clouds happily expanded from two to five.

The next production was Maggie and the Song of the Sea, a sensitive and moving show, written with guidance from childrens charity Winstons Wish, which tackled childhood grief and was told through the eyes of 8-year-old Maggie. This production was programmed by the prestigious Paines Ploughs Roundabout and following this show, in 2015 we were delighted to be invited on to The Lowrys Developed With programme.  

In 2016, with support from The Lowry, Aleenas Gardenwhich is especially for 0 3 year olds, was developed and produced.  2017 has seen this show undertake a national tour, which has included venues such as Sale Waterside, Oldham Library Performance Space, Little Angel Theatre, Jacksons Lane, ARC in Stockton, CAST and DEDA. The show will tour again in 2018!

Continuing their relationship with The Lowry as Associate Artists, Colour The Cloudsfirst Christmas production, The Extraordinary Tale of Holly Christmas premiered at The Lowry Christmas 2017.

Continuing with the theme of Christmas at the Lowry, the company developed a new production of ‘Snowbabies’ for the theatre. It was a festive sensory adventure for 0-2 year olds in 2019 and after its sell-out success Colour The Clouds have been invited back to the Lowry to develop the show further for Christmas 2021 with ‘Little Penguin’s First Christmas’.

During the pandemic of 2020 Colour The Clouds wanted to ensure they were still engaging with their audience at Christmas and so ‘Mrs. Claus’s ADVENT-ure’ was born! This personalised advent activity pack was full of crafts, games and acts of kindness to guide children on a magical journey towards Christmas. The project was such a success that the company are running it again Christmas 2021.

About Us

Mission Statement

We are committed to making exciting, intelligent and inclusive shows for children and their grown-ups.  With play and imagination at the core of all we do, we combine stories and music to make magical theatrical adventures; to open doors, build bridges and inspire dreams in our young audiences.

Who We Are

Alyx Tole

Alyx Tole

Director

Alyx is resident director at Colour The Clouds and also works in a freelance capacity across the north west.  She’s generally at her happiest in a rehearsal room with actors and creatives making exciting new work, challenging the limits of imaginations and (most importantly) dissolving into helpless gales of laughter as often as possible.

Catherine Kingston

Catherine Kingston

Writer/ Composer, Producer

Catherine Kingston is a writer, producer and composer: she writes all of the music for our shows.  When she is not working she enjoys disco dancing round the kitchen and listening to her four children making up their own songs.

Christabel Fox

Christabel Fox

Creative Producer

Christabel trained at The University of Salford and is Creative Producer at Colour The Clouds. Christabel has just had a baby, so her favourite thing to do is get is get some sleep!

Mark Fox

Mark Fox

Technical Director

Mark has worked with Colour The Clouds since 2013, becoming a company director in 2016.  He looks after the company’s finances and the technical aspects of their shows, alongside this is currently employed as a Performance Coordinator at the University of Salford.  He was the technical manager for the 24:7 Theatre Festival having worked with them for 11 years.  He also works with various other Manchester based companies on shows such as Yesterday When I Was Young (HOPE Theatre), The Boy With Tape on His Face (Gag Reflex) and Hidden (Black Toffee).

Sarah Birch

Sarah Birch

Writer, Producer

Sarah is a writer and producer and loves working at Colour The Clouds.  Her favourite part of her job is working with the rest of the team and the casts to bring the stories she writes to life.

Our Partners

Arts Council England
The Lowry

We are proud to be Associate Artists at The Lowry and to be creating work for their young audiences to enjoy.

University of Salford

As 4 of our company members are Alumni of the Universitys Performance Department we are delighted to offer workshops and training opportunities to the Level 6 students at the University.

More From Us

We have lots going on at the moment, take a look at some of our upcoming shows.

Upcoming Shows