How The Tale Of The Loneliest Whale found its voice at York Theatre Royal Studio

Gemma Curry with Whale, the central character in Hoglets Theatre’s The Tale Of The Loneliest Whale. Picture: Andy Curry

HOGLETS Theatre’s new show is a celebration of the beauty of being yourself and the magic of being different, inspired by the 52-hertz whale and the neurodivergent world.

Presented by the husband-and-wife team of writer and composer Andy Curry and performer, director and puppet-maker Gemma Curry, The Tale Of The Loneliest Whale will be staged by the York company at York Theatre Royal on Friday and Saturday, followed by further Yorkshire performances at Masham Town Hall on October 28, Guiseley Theatre on October 29 and Ripon Arts Hub on October 30.

Fresh from an award-winning, five star-garlanded run at the Underbelly at this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe, Hoglets Theatre invites audiences aged four upwards on an exciting, 40-minute adventure packed with beautiful handmade puppets, sea creatures, original songs and gentle audience interaction aplenty.

“I can hear someone out there. They’re singing to me,” vows Whale as he sings his heart out into the deep blue sea but nobody sings back. Is he the only one like him in the whole ocean?

On the cusp of giving up, a mysterious voice echoes through the waves. Determined to find the singer, Whale embarks on an unforgettable adventure, diving through glowing coral caves, dodging wibbly jellyfish and facing wild-eyed sea monsters. Yet will he ever find a friend who hears his song in this story of the power of friendship, empathy and inclusivity?

“There was a documentary about the 52-hertz whale on Disney+ that Andy discovered  about five years ago, where he’s on his own because no-one sings like he does, on his frequency, whereas other whales bond through singing, so we saw it as quite an analogy for autism.”

“At the end, Whale realises there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with him and nothing wrong with being different,” says Gemma Curry

Andy and Gemma’s younger son has been diagnosed as autistic. “That was one of the things that led to us doing the play because we realised it was a world that’s not geared to make his life easy because everything is geared to the neurotypical, and teaching kids about neurodivergence does doesn’t tend to happen – although his school has been awarded ADHD  Friendly School status,” says Gemma.

“They’re ‘naughty’ or ‘weird’ is what other kids say about autistic children, when actually, no, they are just different.”

Hence the parallels with the 52-hertz whale, so here is the science bit. The 52-hertz whale, known colloquially as 52 Blue, is a whale of an unidentified species that makes its calls at the frequency of 52 hertz; higher than usual for any whale with migration patterns.

“In our story, we’ve made him a Humpback whale, swimming around on his own, encountering lots of jellyfish, an ADHD turtle, and a Moray eel, who wants to meet others but thinks he looks ugly so he stays in his cave,” says Gemma.

“At the end, Whale realises there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with him and nothing wrong with being different. Our story is about belief in yourself and learning about yourself. When we’re born all we know is ourselves; we don’t know how to think. We’re completely questioning ourselves, so we have to find who we are and what we believe in a world where there’s bullying.”

Gemma Curry: Won the Derek Award for Best Children’s Show at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe with The Tale Of The Loneliest Whale

Gemma and Andy worked with Tang Hall SMART and their students when researching and writing the play. “We gave them the script, asking them ‘Does it ring true?’, and asking them how they wanted to be perceived, what questions would you ask and what would you tell your younger self?” says Gemma.

“Hearing their stories was really inspiring: how they had become assured and confident and knew who they were, though a lot of them had experienced issues of being bullied, or not understood, or overlooked, but they were such amazing people.

“I had a little cry when I took the show back there and this guy gave me a hug to say how how much he loved the show.”

Now York at large has the chance to see the Derek Award winner for Best Children’s Show at the Edinburgh Fringe. “We won out of 147 children’s shows, so that was wonderful,” says Gemma.

The last word goes to Gemma’s mum. “As a typical Yorkshire woman, she has a great saying on being different: ‘It wouldn’t do if we were all the same’.” How right she is.

Hoglets Theatre in The Tale Of The Loneliest Whale, York Theatre Royal Studio, October 3, 4.30pm; October 4, 11am and 2pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: Primary aged children and families.

Hoglets Theatre in the mood for mischief in Shakespeare’s Dream of a children’s show

Hoglets Theatre’s Gemma Curry, left, Claire Morley and Becky Lennon in A Midsummer Night’s Mischief

EVERYTHING is kicking off in the forest as the fairies start a fight, but which side will you be on in the York Theatre Royal Studio on Friday and Saturday? Team Titania or Team Oberon?

Be prepared for York company Hoglets Theatre’s interactive, fun, larger-than-life production for young children – ideally aged two to nine, but everyone is welcome – spun around Shakespeare’s daftest romantic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Expect wild characters, raucous singalong songs with lyrics by Andy Curry and Lara Pattison, puppets, stunts and some frankly ridiculous disco dancing from director/writer Gemma Curry and fellow cast members Claire Morley and Becky Lennon.

Costumes by Julia Smith, set design by Andy Curry and choreography by Charlotte Wood – who appeared in earlier performances – all add to the magic of Hoglets Theatre’s tenth show, one that requires no previous experience of Shakespeare.

“It’s the most accessible of his plays – with fairies in it – and definitely the easiest to get into,” says Gemma. “We first did it five years ago with Lara Stafford, Rachel Wilkinson and me – all of us with two-year-old children at the time! – and children would hear the name ‘Bottom’ and laugh, and we thought, ‘oh yes, we’ve got it with this one’!

“We always have so much fun when we do it: for a morning or an afternoon, I can pretend to be a fairy, not a grown-up!”

Each performance starts with the cast – in this instance Curry, Morley and Lennon – covering their fairy wings in the cloaked guise of Macbeth’s three Witches, arguing over which play they should do.

“One says ‘Macbeth’, one says ‘Hamlet’, one says ‘A Winter’s Tale’,” Gemma says. “They have this huge argument and then decide that Shakespeare should decide via a version of [The Human League’s] Don’t You Want Me Baby?, changing the lyrics to take in all of Shakespeare’s plays as they perform in coats, wigs, moustaches and bald caps.

Claire Morley, left, choreographer Charlotte Wood and Gemma Curry in an earlier Hoglets Theatre performance of A Midsummer Night’s Mischief

“The last words to the song are Midsummer Night’s Dream, so we decide to do that one. Then we ask, ‘do you want to be involved?’, and that’s gone really well, apart from in Skipton, where this older chap ended up having to do all the roles!”

Curry, Morley and Lennon take on the role of three of Shakespeare’s four fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mustardseed, Moth and Peaseblossom, who will spilt the audience down the middle to take sides as Team Titania (Queen of the Fairies in Shakespeare’s play) and Team Oberon (King of the Fairies).

“In the years we’ve done the show, Peaseblossom was done originally by Lara Pattison, then by Charlotte Wood, and now in comes Becky, and it’s lovely how everyone brings their own personality to it,” says Gemma.

“We change characters with the change of a hat, so whoever wears Titania’s hat is Titania; the same for Puck. We skim over the young lovers, but we do have a little song about who loves whom that gets quicker and quicker, sillier and sillier, and becomes more and more exhausting for us.”

Hoglets Theatre’s show revels in Puck’s final speech in Shakespeare’s play – “If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended” – in the lead-up to a variation on Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off. “We do it as Shake A Spear with a disco ball and flashing lights, and the children love it,” says Gemma.

Children have plenty of opportunities to be involved, inviting them to play the four lovers, four fairies and four ‘mechanicals’ towards the end. “So many schools don’t do music or drama now or don’t have a creative outlet, so it’s lovely to involve them,” she says.

Away from her Hoglets productions, Gemma is working on a project in tandem with York Theatre Royal on the theme of children’s mental health, developing a piece called The Girl Who Stole Smiles.

“I wrote the original story seven years ago, when I had post-natal depression after the birth of Berowne. To explain how I felt to Berowne, I wrote a story about a girl who was unhappy, who stole smiles by building a machine that sucked smiles off people’s faces,” she says.

Hoglets Theatre’s poster for A Midsummer Night’s Mischief

“I had this story for ages and arranged to meet Juliet [creative director Juliet Forster]  at the Theatre Royal, knowing she was heavily involved with a mental health charity. Last year Becky, Charlotte and I spent three months working with Knavesmire, Dunnington and Westfield primary schools with funding from city council ward funding.

“We did three 90-minute workshops for children aged four to nine, asking them what they understood about their mental health and the mental health of people around them. Then we looked at the commonalities and recurring themes between the three schools, working with the NHS Wellbeing In Mind team that goes into a number of York primary and secondary schools.

“We now have a 50-page report on children’s mental health in primary schools, highlighting what affects them most. I thought that after the pandemic the answer would be ‘depression’, but no, it’s ‘anxiety’.”

A week of research and development followed at York Theatre Royal. “We adapted the script so that the girl now had a worry that no-one took seriously until finally her smile broke, and so shew builds the machine to steal smiles,” says Gemma.

“We’re now going back into the Theatre Royal for more research and development with Juliet co-directing it. She’s been so supportive, but the Arts Council has turned us down three times for funding, so we’re looking at different avenues.”

Hoglets Theatre in A Midsummer Night’s Mischief, York Theatre Royal Studio, Friday, 4.30pm and Saturday, 10.30am. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Did you know?

HOGLETS Theatre’s last show was a spectacular Christmas performance of The Nutcracker at York Minster, accompanied by the cathedral organ no less.

Did you know too?

HOGLETS Theatre performed A Midsummer Night’s Mischief at Bradford Literature Festival to 1,000 children. “That was the most terrifying day of my life,” says Gemma. “I had to give an opening speech about Shakespeare to all these children, and loads of academics were there too.”

Team Titania or Team Oberon? Which side will you be on in Hoglets Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Mischief?

Hoglets Theatre’s poster for A Midsummer Night’s Mischief, playing York Theatre Royal Studio on March 8 and 9

THE fairies in the forest are starting a fight, but which side are you on? Team Titania or Team Oberon? Come on down! It’s all kicking off in the forest in Hoglets Theatre’s Shakespeare-loving children’s play A Midsummer Night’s Mischief at York Theatre Royal on March 8 and 9.

Based on Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the York company’s interactive, larger-than-life, fun production is designed especially for five to 11-year-old children, but everyone is welcome.

Expect wild characters, raucous singalong songs, puppets, stunts, and some frankly ridiculous disco dancing,” says Hoglets Theatre founder, writer and performer Gemma Curry. “While we love the bard, no previous experience of Shakespeare is required!”

A Midsummer Night’s Mischief is the tenth Hoglets production, following on from their sell-out Yorkshire tours of Wood Owl And The Box Of Wonders and The Sleep Pirates and December 9’s two spectacular Christmas performances of The Nutcracker at York Minster, accompanied by the cathedral organ no less.

Writer Gemma will be joined in the cast at York Theatre Royal by Claire Morley and Becky Lennon, who replaces Charlotte Wood from earlier performances. Song lyrics are by Andy Curry and Lara Pattison; costumes by Julia Smith; set design by Andy Curry and choreography by Charlotte Wood.

Hoglets Theatre in A Midsummer Night’s Mischief, York Theatre Royal Studio, March 8, 4.30pm; March 9, 10.30am. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/midsummer-mischief/

Claire Morley, left, Charlotte Wood and Gemma Curry in an earlier performance of Hoglets Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Mischief

Hoglets Theatre CIC: the back story

Not-for-profit children’s theatre company and associate children’s theatre company of York Theatre Royal.

Stages original theatrical productions across the country, aimed at primary and preschool-aged children.

Runs interactive workshops for schools, libraries and groups.

Provides child-centric consultation and content creation for museums, organisations, apps and publications.

Mission statement: “Everything we do is centred around storytelling and the amazing impact that stories, imagination and creativity can have on young minds.”

Find out more at hoglets.org.uk.