We are

an aerial theatre company combining the silly and the serious to create performances for indoor, outdoor and digital spaces.
Our work has been supported by Jacksons Lane, 101 Outdoor Arts, Theatre Hullabaloo, the University of Bristol, House South East Theatre Network, Flying Fantastic, Longfield Hall, Ecosystem Coldharbour, the Brigstow Institute, Good Grief Festival and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Maisie Whitehead

Maisie originally trained in dance theatre at Trinity Laban Conservatoire and worked a lot in theatre for young audiences (where she learnt puppetry on the job), specialising in weird facial expressions, silly dances and being upside down a lot. She ran away with the circus in 2011 (not very far… Woolwich) training in mixed aerials at The Hangar and went on to study theatre clown with Angela de Castro. She has performed with The Dot Collective, Hikapee Circus Theatre, Filskit Theatre, WinterWalker, Polka Theatre and alongside children’s author Michael Rosen. She has created aerial and physical theatre shows under her own name, with comic cabaret duo Shebang and for She Said Jump, which she founded in 2019. She teaches aerial & act creation for Flying Fantastic and Italia Conti.

Malik Ibheis

Malik is an actor, creature performer, clown and aerialist. He has extensive training in dramatic corporeal mime and physical theatre, which he trained in Berlin and London.
With a penchant for creating outlandish non-human characters, he has used his unique physicality to bring to life many creatures on TV and film, performing in elaborate prosthetic makeup and animatronics.
His love for surreal costume- and prop design has seen him devise original performances for a diverse range of shows: from large scale operas and immersive circus, to aerial clown theatre and Lynchian cabaret.
Selected credits include: The School for Good and Evil (Netflix), Inside No.9 (BBC), Worzel Gummidge (BBC) and A Christmas Carol (Northern Stage)

We create

Original equipment to integrate stories with aerial circus. Focussing on playfulness and communication, our approach draws on theatre clown, circus, dance, mime and puppetry.

DIRT!

While tidying the fallen leaves from her lawn one day, Human (a human) finds herself falling headfirst down a giant wormhole, landing at the centre of an underground circus! She’s as shocked to be there as the ‘Worms of Wonder’ are to suddenly have an unrehearsed human in the ring, but the show must go on… An immersive show for audiences 5+

The guy in the
luggage Rack

Daisy’s mum died, nearly a year ago now. She’s fine. Getting on with it. She’s busy. She can’t complain. Except she’s got this slight issue with an invisible guy that won’t leave her alone...An aerial comedy about grief, memory and flying luggage racks.

When Grief
Came to Stay

What if grief had a face. What would that face look like? What if it had a body and arms and legs and a personality and a terrible sense of comic timing? What if no one could see them but you? And what if they came to stay?A series of 6 video shorts created and launched during the coronavirus pandemic 2020-21.

More than That

Music video with singer songwriter Hattie Whitehead (Glastonbury Unsigned award winner 2016). In collaboration with producer/director Emily France (BBC/Channel 4). Filmed in Richmond Park.

Dirt!

DIRT, a circus adventure underground, is an immersive, multi-sensory performance and installation for intergenerational audiences (5+). Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, DIRT invites audiences to fall down the worm-hole and journey underground into the living ecosystem of the soil, exploring our connection to the earth and each other.With aerial circus, puppetry, integrated audio description (a narrating earthworm), multi-sensory worm tunnels, and elements of participation, DIRT aims to shine a head torch on the incredible living ecosystem of the soil and the power of working together for change.DIRT is on the road in 2025 and available for bookings in 2026.The Story…
While tidying the fallen leaves from her lawn one day, Human (a human) finds herself falling headfirst down a giant wormhole, landing at the centre of an underground circus! She’s as shocked to be there as the ‘Worms of Wonder’ are to suddenly have an unrehearsed human in the ring, but the show must go on, and besides, they could do with an extra pair of hands to fix the place up, the circus really has seen better days… Join Human and the Worms as they struggle to keep the walls from crumbling, and try to discover what’s destroying the circus…

Trailer

Creative Team

Devised by the cast and creatives
Directed by Maisie Whitehead & Malik Ibheis
Design by Katy Hoste
Creative rigging by Joel le Clercq
Sound design & composition by Wayne Walker-Allen
Creative Producer Maisie WhiteheadDIRT has been supported by 101 Outdoor Arts, Theatre Hullabaloo, Jacksons Lane Arts Centre, Flying Fantastic, The University of Bristol, The Brigstow Institute, Longfield Hall arts and community space and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
The show has been created with input from young people and families in London & the North East, with consultation from an interdisciplinary team of academics from The University of Bristol, and creative input from Ockham’s Razor and Quiplash.

Making of

The guy in the
luggage Rack

is an aerial comedy about grief, memory and relationship. Suitable for adults and young people alike, the show combines physical comedy with striking aerial acrobatics and an original, constantly moving aerial set, and is the debut live show from She Said Jump. Drawing on theatre clown, circus and puppetry, this accessible show tackles the themes of grief and bereavement with a light and playful touch.

The story

Daisy is doing her best to keep her chin up and her head down - but as the 1st anniversary of her mumʼs death approaches she begins to realise grief isnʼt something she can put aside indefinitely, and whether sheʼs willing to admit it or not, things arenʼt fine.From the silly to the sublime and the scary to the ridiculous, Daisy wrestles (sometimes literally) with her grief - Ian, a 6 foot invisible bald guy with a lot of luggage - eventually discovering that by letting him into her world she is able to reconnect with the memory of her mother.

Trailers

Grief & The Guy in
the Luggage Rack

Credits

Created by the company with guest directing from award winning physical comedy director Stephen Sobal and mentoring and consultancy from Ockham’s Razor. The project is supported by Jacksons Lane, Flying Fantastic, 101 Outdoor Arts, Longfield Hall, Ecosystem Coldharbour, the University of Bristol, Good Grief Festival and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

When Grief
Came to Stay

Six artists, working in different forms, considered the idea of grief as a character. We were interested in how we relate to grief, in what that relationship might look like, and how varied and changeable it can be, even within just one person's experience or lifetime.

The Project

During the early research for The Guy in the Luggage Rack, we interviewed a number of individuals on their experience of bereavement and grief. We spoke to people at different points in their grief journeys. For some the loss was still recent and raw, for others more time had passed, and some had experienced multiple losses. Each person’s story was different, and yet there were some themes that echoed through several.In the first UK lockdown in 2020, not knowing when we would be able to continue work on the show, we decided to share our ideas with a small group of other artists who were already interested in grief and related themes, in order to come up with some mini projects that we would be able to share digitally.
We drew out some of the recurring themes from the interviews that particularly interested us and gave these to each of the artists to respond to in their own unique ways, drawing also on their own understanding, experiences and existing work. The artists filmed their work, most in their own homes, with some help from members of their households and bubbles.The 6 resulting video shorts were released between the 7th and 13th of March 2021, along with a series of live online events with each of the artists involved.

Artists &
Collaborators

Hunter Allen
(video editor and consultant)Becca Tomlinson
(bereavement counsellor and project consultant)Amelia Ideh
(communications consultant)Roisin Walsh
(communications)

Supporters

Thanks to all those who generously shared their personal stories and experiences.Thanks also to Louisa Borg Costanzi Potts, Flying Fantastic, Jacksons Lane & Crowdfunder UKThis project was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, and through the generous support of the following individuals:

AFT, Agne, Alexandra Baybutt, Alexandria Vernon, Ali Bakewell, in memory of Tony Bakewell, Alison Reed, Amelia Ideh, Amy Marshak, Amy Nicholls, Ana Hazeu, In Memory of Catherine Whitehead, Anthony Stark, audrey_helen, B & C Grant, Bea Fraser, Becky Moult, Ben & Sally Morris, dedicated to our mum Mary, Bo Ekstrand, Bree Streather, Bridget McCabe, Camilla Watson, cassidy burandt, Christopher Wigan, Damien O’Doherty, Dan Chatterley, Daniel Stark, Diane Borger, Edd Casey, Elizabeth Skeaping, Elizabeth Weaver, Ellie Agnew, Eloise Tye, Emma Stroud, Emma Wade, Faunsia Tucker, Fionn Whitehead, Florian Krueger, Frances Burrell, Francesca Zampi, in memory of David Johnson, Gabriele Nicotra, gdartnell, Ginny Dougary, in memory of my wonderful Mum, Gloria Sanders, in memory of Claire Chate-Fawcett, Grace Simmonds, for Simmo, Hanna Varszegi, Hannah Almond, Hannah Tottenham, Hannah Victory, heathercowen, Helen, Helen Williamson, Ida and Jamie, Iyata Golding, Jane Saunders, Janette Harper, Jason Miles, Jdine, Jenna Edwards, Jennie Cashman Wilson, in memory of Abram, Jennifer Dine, Jessica Allen, Jessica Bodgener, Jessica Reed, Jessie Sheffield, Jo Sampson, Julia Schulz, Julie Yeung, Kaidi Kikas, Katie Hardwick, Kerry Coke-Smyth, Kinga Jonczyk, Laura Stark, Laura-Jayne Hunter, Laurence, Laurie Clémence, LaVonna Phillips, in memory of Wilmer and Bruce Ray, Lisa Castle, dedicated to Philippa Tatham, Elsa & Liv, Louise Béguine, in memory of Léa, Loz Garratt, Lucy Coles, Lucy Warren, Lucy White, Maria Corcoran, Maria Paz Velarde, Marta Linkmeyer Gabino, Marwa Meshref, In memory of Ras I, Michelle Klein, Mikayla Bryant, Mimi & Damien, Molly Watson, Nadia Afroza Zaman, dedicated to my friend Erin Randall, Naomi, Natasha Kenny, Nick Donaldson, Pamela Chapman Burrell, Poppy Rowley, dedicated to my dad John Rowley, Rachel Entwistle, Rachel Jane, Rebecca Nash, Richard Jones, Sally Dellar, Sami Ibrahim, Simon and Nora Donaldson, Sohn & Rich Minett, Sophie Easton, Stephen Adams, Stuart Pampellone, dedicated to Louise Millais, Sue Garlick, Sue Smallwood, Tamsin Woodsmith, Tarryn Graham, Tim Whitehead, Tom Millar, Victoria Firth, Zaniah Carigiet

Quotes

“This is a very important project. During the pandemic many people have experienced grief... and thanks to this project, people can see that they're not alone in this. This is the power of the arts… and She Said Jump just showed us how essential art can be.” Viewer/participant“I found the videos incredibly moving. Each had just enough sweetness through their humour and beauty to make the darkness digestible - so for me they cut through my pandemic fog and really delivered an emotional impact and the sense of being seen in my own experience of grief.” Viewer“Grief has recently become a relentless companion of mine. These six creative portrayals of grief’s numerous personas have really helped me to shed light on the complexities and nuances of how I begin to live with it and welcome it into my life. When grief comes to stay, they don’t ever leave you and I’m beginning to make peace with that. Thank you from the bottom of my broken (but not broke) heart for making this important work.” Viewer

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Dirt!more adventures underground

A guide to soil and ways you can help it
accompanying the show DIRT! By She Said JumpWritten by Dr Joanna Nadin from the University of Bristol with Dr Fotis Sgouridis, Dr Rachel Hare & Maisie WhiteheadSoil is everywhere – in our parks, in our gardens, in the pots on our windowsills, but how much do you actually know about it? Perhaps you love digging around in the mud and getting your hands grubby. Perhaps you think worms are the bees knees. Or perhaps you’re a little bit like Human, and think dirt is, well, dirty, leaves should be tidied away, and worms are just UGH.Welcome to DIRT!, where we explore what’s actually going on under our feet: how soil is formed, why we need it, what happens when we don’t look after it, and how we can all help keep it in tip top shape (and look after the worms at the same time).You might already know that trees and other plants grow in soil, and that they ‘breathe’ in carbon dioxide (CO2). And you might also know that too much CO2 in the atmosphere makes the planet get warmer, which can harm plants, animals and humans too. But plants are only part of the picture. In fact there’s a vast ecosystem hidden away under our feet, working tirelessly to recycle dead plants and lock carbon away in the soil where it’s needed.

Under the ground

Some people call it ‘mud’ or ‘dirt’, but the actual term for the brown stuff that plants grow in and pigs wallow in is ‘soil’.Soil is a mixture of tiny rocks (minerals), water, air, and organic matter – dead plants and even dead animals. It might look boring, but it feeds plants, and is home to more than half of all species on earth, from microscopic bacteria to insects and mammals. They’re all important for a healthy planet, but one of the most important, and most mysterious, is something called ‘mycelium’.The mycelium is the root-like part of a fungus, which doesn’t sound that exciting on its own. But the amazing thing about mycelium is that they can form a sort of partnership with a plant by joining up with the plant’s root system in a sort of fungal net. This net can share nutrients, water, and information, including threats of danger. Even more incredible, two or more mycelia can fuse together to create vast networks through the soil – a sort of soil internet – connecting all the trees and plants and helping them ‘speak’ to each other.When animals or plants help each other and depend on each other, we call it ‘symbiotic’. The symbiotic relationship between a plant and a mycelium is called a Mycorrhiza, and it’s a really important part of the process to take damaging CO2 out of the atmosphere and transfer it into the soil.In DIRT!, our mycelium network looks like a big white net. Andworm helps stretch it across the stage so our worms can perform their act.

Wiggly worms

Healthy soil is jam-packed with minibeasts like ants and centipedes and beetles, but some of the biggest and best are earthworms. Worms are amazing. They eat dead leaves and compost (mushed up old food and plants) and then wriggle down into the soil and poo it out. That might sound icky but it helps break down the organic matter into super important nutrients that can feed plants, mycelium and other organisms and keep the soil 'alive'. They help keep that carbon in the soil too, and, when they burrow, the worms’ tunnels also let air and water in so the soil can ‘breathe’.
Why not watch this video to see just how wonderful worms are?

Why not watch this video to see just how wonderful worms are?

In DIRT!, our worms Meryl, Worm Aswell, Worm Also and Andworm are taking some time off their job and having fun in their worm circus. Today, instead of feeding the mycelium network, they’re using it for their acrobatic tricks.

Danger

What’s your favourite food? Perhaps it’s cheese on toast. Or perhaps it’s a jam and chutney sandwich. Well, just like all of us, soil needs to ‘eat’. That’s why, when the leaves fall in autumn, it’s good to leave them on the ground and let them turn into ‘mulch’. Then the worms can eat them and feed the mycelium network. But when the soil gets too dry, or hasn’t ‘eaten’ enough organic matter, it can’t survive. It becomes less able to store carbon and eventually plants and trees can’t grow in it and it starts to become more like dry dirt or sand.In DIRT! the worms panic when Human falls down a hole and lands in the middle of their circus. In Worm World, this is called a ‘Crumble’, but don’t worry, Crumbles aren’t real. We made them up so that, like you, Human can learn just how fantastic worms are.

Feeding the soil

There are lots of ways you can help protect the worms and the soil. One of them is by making compost. You can make compost with vegetable scraps from your kitchen, garden waste and of course, dead leaves.

You can find out how to make your own compost by watching this video:

Or you could build your very own wormery for your balcony or garden (or even indoors if you don’t have an outside space). Watch this video to see how to do it:

Some local councils will collect your kitchen and garden waste and turn it into compost; some will provide community composting schemes and some offer subsidised compost bins and even wormeries to help you make your own at home. Have a look on your council website to find out what’s offered in your area.When you put compost on or in the soil, the worms, mycelium, bacteria and other creatures ‘eat’ it, breaking it down further into what Meryl calls ‘humus’. This isn’t the chickpea dip you get in a little pot (that’s ‘hummus’!), but the stuff left over once compost has broken down fully. It’s vital for soil health as it feeds it, helps the soil retain water and improves its structure.In DIRT!, you’ll help Meryl and the worms by feeding a leaf into the mycelium network, so it can grow again and reinforce the soil. Then maybe, like Human, you’ll help spread the word to friends about how important the soil is, and how amazing worms are.

More soil fun

There are lots of other ways you can find out more and help the soil and the worms that live there.All plants take that pesky CO2 out of the atmosphere, so whether you have a garden, a backyard, an allotment, or a pot on a balcony or window sill, growing plants is a great thing to do.Why not make a toilet roll planter? You can grow a plant from a seed or cutting inside, then put the whole thing in the ground or a bigger pot and the cardboard will break down over time and add organic matter to the soil. Watch this video to find out how, and make sure to ask an adult if you need help with the scissors:

You could collect some tree seeds in the autumn and grow your own tree! Have a look at this simple guide from the Woodland Trust:

Or perhaps you’d like to meet some actual earthworms? Check out this video to learn worm charming, and bring some worms up to the surface to say hi!

Credits

Thanks for coming to see DIRT! We hope you’ve enjoyed the show and this guide.
Tell us what you thought about the show here:

Or you can tag us on instagram @shesaidjumpDIRT! was brought to you by She Said Jump, find out more about our work here:

Human was played by Maisie Whitehead (she also wrote a lot of the words and did lots of sitting behind a laptop and organising people)
The leaves & Worm Aswell were played by Michelle Zahner
Puppet Meryl & Worm Also were played by Malik Ibheis (he also came up with the ideas with Maisie, and also sits behind a laptop)
Meryl was played by Vicky Gaskin
Andworm was played by Joel Le Clercq (they also made the mycelium net, did all the rigging and kept everyone safe)Our designer was Katy Hoste (she also made the costumes and the tunnels and all the leaves)
Our composer was Wayne Walker-Allen
Amelia Carvahlo from Quiplash provided dramaturgy focussed on integrated audio description
Dot Alma was our consultant audio describer
Charlotte Mooney from Ockham’s Razor was our creative mentor and outside eyesDr Rachel Hare was our researcher
Dr Fotis Sgouridis was our soil science consultant
Dr Joanna Nadin was our consultant children’s authorThe project has been supported by 101 Outdoor Arts, Jacksons Lane Arts Centre, Theatre Hullabaloo, Flying Fantastic, Longfield Hall arts and community space, The Brigstow Institute, University of Bristol and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.Thanks to the young people who participated in workshops during development in 2023 & 2025 in London and Darlington. Thanks also to performer worms in development - past Meryls, Lizzie Muncey & Molly-Beth Morrossa (who both helped develop Meryl’s voice & words), past Worm Aswell Edd Livesey-Casey & all the worms who joined us in R&D in 2023, and especially to Katie Hardwick, to whom this show is dedicated, a beautifully silly worm who definitely had 5 hearts.