School is now officially out for the summer, but Creation Theatre wants creativity to continue and is bringing last summer’s sell-out School of Creativity direct into our homes.
They are throwing open the doors to their virtual school and bringing a programme of digitally-delivered Play in a Week workshops and one-off masterclasses for young actors aged 5-19. Led by off-the-wall ‘professors’ live over Zoom and with exclusive access to extra content, they will be exploring theatre and creativity like never before.
From Hans Christian Andersen to H.G. Wells, Wonderland to Prospero’s island, Game Theatre to Artificial Intelligence, there is plenty planned to beat away any holiday boredom this summer.
Fiona Taylor, Education Manager for Creation Theatre, explained: “We’re completely online this summer with workshops running live over Zoom for two or three hours a day. We’ve created a special School of Creativity website which is designed as an interactive virtual school, which has links to lots of extra content we’ve made and introduces a few of the professors that teach at our School.
“Lots of children are missing out on going to the theatre and this is a brilliant way to experience visual shows in the safety of their homes”
All of these teachers give the workshoppers extra challenges and things to explore throughout the week, encouraging children to get outside and get creative in their own time, as well as teaching them different drama and performance skills.”
Actor Andy Owens is one of the school’s ‘Professors’, he is looking forward to encouraging as much as creativity as possible: “This feels like a very special and exciting project because we need to keep children and young people engaged. Normally we would be running physical workshops but with everything going online we have a global reach and it feels like we are really bringing people together.
“Lots of children are missing out on going to the theatre and this is a brilliant way to experience visual shows in the safety of their homes.”
Fiona added: “Our workshops are about having fun, making friends, building confidence and learning theatre and performance skills by creating our own play, and as we work with classic texts we think they’re a great supplement to school work and can help make books and literature come alive.”
READ ABOUT CREATION’S VIRTUAL ALICE HERE: http://551.326.mywebsitetransfer.com/alice-in-wonderland-creations-most-ambitious-show-yet-starts-today-and-isalready-attracting-global-interest-so-book-now/
As well as giving children the chance to learn about theatre, there are also sessions on puppetry. Andy added: “Theatre and the arts stopped have stopped for the time being but we are finding ways to get it back. We are all story tellers and we need to be able to do this especially at the moment. Creativity is so good for good for our wellbeing and we want children to discover new things and tell us about them.”
All the workshops and masterclasses are taught live over Zoom by professional actors and theatre-makers. In advance of the workshop all participants are sent a “School Prospectus” through the post that has some more information about the School and is designed to transform into their own personal creative notebook.
The School of Creativity schedule kicks of this week, with sessions for Sprites (aged five to ten), and Mechanicals (aged 11-16).
SPRITES, ages five-10
3 – 7 August | Put on Alice in Wonderland in a Week
10 – 14 August | Put on The Tempest in a Week
17 – 21 August | Hans Christian Andersen in a Week
24 – 28 August | Zoom Theatre in a Week
All Sprites workshops will be taught live via Zoom by the School’s Professors for two hours every day, and children also have daily access to exclusive content through the School of Creativity website.
MECHANICALS (Ages 11 – 16)
3 – 7 August | Put on The Time Machine in a Week
Featuring guest workshops from the Wellcome Centre of Ethics and Humanities
10 – 14 August | Put on The Tempest in a Week
17 – 21 August | Put on Frankenstein in a Week
Featuring guest workshops from the Wellcome Centre of Ethics and Humanities
24 – 28 August | Game Theatre in a Week
All Mechanicals workshops will be taught live via Zoom by the School’s Professors for three hours every day, and participants also have daily access to exclusive content through the School of Creativity website.
There is also a series of Masterclasses for ages 13-19.
12 August | Solo Performance & Audition Technique | Lead by Eloise Sheffield
17 August | Empowerment through Voice | Lead by Leda Douglas
18 August | An Introduction to Musical Theatre | Lead by Ashley Stillburn
19 August | Screen Acting: Developing Playfulness on Camera | Lead by Angus Imrie
24 August | An Introduction to Improvisation | Lead by Matthew Wellman
25 August | Playwright’s Workshop | Lead by Abie Walton
All Masterclasses are led by industry experts live over Zoom from 2pm – 6pm on the dates listed above.
Workshops are £100 for a week with sibling discounts available. Extras discount applies to one workshop per holiday. Masterclasses are £25 per day with sibling discounts available.
To book go to https://www.creationtheatre.co.uk/summer-holidays-2-2/
or give the Box Office a call on 01865 766266.
