About Knees and Toes Theatre

At Knees & Toes Theatre, we aim to create exciting, energetic and highly interactive theatre adventures for young children. After many years of running drama workshops for preschool children (Toni’s Tots Drama), we were inspired by the brilliant ideas the children came up with and knew that to turn some of these imagined adventures into a show would provide a great first theatre experience for young children.             

About Toni Midlane

I am a Birmingham-based actress with extensive experience in devising & performance. Graduating from Guildford School of Acting in 1995, I have worked: with Foursight Theatre on numerous shows including ‘Thatcher-The Musical’; with Language Alive, touring school-based productions; with The REP, performing early years shows ‘Open House’ & ‘Princess and Ginger’; & with Women & Theatre, Roaring, The Watermill & Edward Bond. TV & Radio credits include ‘Line of Duty’ & ‘The Archers Ambridge Extra’.

In 2010, I established ‘Toni’s Tots Drama’, running weekly drama workshops for pre-schoolers. Honed over the last 6 years, I use a tried & tested model for sessions involving a central story with imaginative play at its heart. The narrative is pre-planned just enough to ensure coherence but the children decide the rest; contributing & shaping the action.

Each story involves a character with a problem that the children help to solve; be it a monster who doesn’t know how to be scary, a frog who has lost its ‘ribbit’, or a pirate hunting treasure on Dragon Island.  The children are active participants in the storytelling & no session is ever the same twice.

‘Toni’s Tots Drama’ engages over 40 children each week. It has also provided a platform for attracting other work, including drama parties, appearances at Bournville Book Festival & a commission from Stirchley Baths to develop Beryl of the Baths an interactive storytelling experience for 3yrs+ children & their families.