We are thrilled to announce the wrap-up of our heartwarming tour of If All the World Were! A huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone who was involved and to our wonderfully supportive audiences across Leeds and Bradford.
In celebration of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, and in collaboration with Bradford and Leeds Libraries, we brought you a beautifully performed reading of the award-winning children’s book, If All the World Were, by the brilliant Joseph Coelho.
Bringing the Story to Life
Over the past few weeks, we delivered 30 performances at 12 local libraries and schools, connecting with over 1,030+ children and their families. Most performances were dedicated to inviting local schoolchildren, but we were delighted to host four public weekend performances, two of which were BSL interpreted, ensuring the touching story was accessible to more of the community.
This touching picture book celebrates the special, enduring bond between a young girl and her grandad, beautifully illustrating how memories and love live on, even after loss. Through engaging storytelling and enchanting music, Tutti Frutti brought the book to life, exploring profound themes of family, remembrance, and the power of love across generations.
Following the heart-warming performance, children were invited to enjoy a craft activity, making the entire experience a perfect, engaging outing for primary school children and their families.
“The story was immersive and captured the imaginations of the children who were involved in the storytelling. The activity at the end was a lovely touch and gave the children something to take away. The story was lovely and nearly had a few staff in tears.” School Staff Member
“A lovely story told by a fantastic performance. As a parent, I think it is important for my son to hear stories of other people’s experiences. Personally, I enjoyed the story as it gave me memories of listening to my own Grandad’s stories. Many thanks to all involved in this production.” Audience Member
“In my child’s words… It was funny, I want to come again, its about my Nana Abu.” Audience Member
As part of our commitment to reducing our carbon emissions of producing and touring our shows and projects we are following the guidance set out in the Theatre Green Book to achieve this. For this tour we hired an electric van to travel to and from the performances.
A Standing Ovation for Our Team
This tour would not have been possible without the incredible talent and dedication of our team. A massive shout-out to Ravneet Sehra as our actor! Ravneet did a fantastic job as our solo performer, truly bringing the show’s emotion and spirit to life.
And thank you to our Creative Team:
- Wendy Harris, Artistic Director
- Shambik Ghose, Movement Director
- Rebecca Constable, Designer
- Christella Litras, Musical Director
- Calum Clark, Touring Stage Manager
- Kirsty Smith, Rehearsal Stage Manager
Supporting Future Talent
We must also give a big thank you to Lyndsey Gardiner, Course Leader at Leeds City College, who supported us and organised our fantastic Student Touring Stage Managers. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the talented students who supported the show on tour: Ben Copeland, Abigail Barker, Dylan Catherine, and Sunny Heald. We wish you all the very best in your future careers!
Part of the Celebration
Our event was proud to be part of the vibrant programme for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture. This reading is just one of over 1,000 performances and celebrations planned throughout the year—including artist commissions, major festivals, and exciting national and international collaborations.
If All the World Were, written by Joseph Coelho and illustrated by Allison Colpoys, is published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, an imprint of The Quarto Group, copyright © 2018. Reproduced by permission of Quarto Publishing Plc.