Oily Cart’s 40th Birthday

Thursday 2nd February saw the celebration of Oily Cart’s 40th Birthday with a sensory party that participants could smell, touch, taste and hear.

Oily Cart was founded in 1981 (42 years ago, in fact, but celebrations were postponed because of the pandemic), by designer Claire de Loon, musician Max Reinhardt and director Tim Webb MBE. Their mission was to make shows for “impossible audiences” and Oily Cart was one of the first theatre companies to make shows for babies and toddlers and later for deaf, disabled and neurodivergent children.

The event was inspirational, with speakers from throughout the organisation’s 40-year history as well as an update from Ellie Griffiths and Zoë Lally, the current Directors of Oily Cart about the organisation’s plans for the future.

Oily Cart was one of the very first organisations to receive funding from True Colours, back in 2002. We remain thrilled at all that the charity has achieved over its long history.