Partner with York Theatre Royal

partner with york theatre royal box office 01904 623568 www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

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creative engagement programme for primary schools York Theatre Royal believes in partnerships, it is at the core of our work and central to our ethos as a community and cultural organisation.

Partnerships should be mutually beneficial, a natural exchange of ideas, good practice and experience. By being a partner implies joint goals and aspirations and we hope that a love of the live experience, active approaches to learning and creativity are goals that you want to share with us. We believe partnerships can be short to long-term and we have created a wealth of opportunities to enable your school to partner with us, for as short or as long a time as you wish, either here at the theatre or us joining you in school.

Our programme of work is broken down into three types of partnership: long, medium and short. Each offer involves practical and experiential approaches to learning using drama practice and the theatre to enhance children’s learning.

We believe our theatre is an exciting, relevant and stimulating place to learn, as recently recognised by the Arts Council of England making us a centre for excellence in the housing and delivery of Arts Award. We want to make our theatre as accessible and as open to you as a museum or gallery, a place with an excellent learning environment where children feel safe, comfortable and inspired.

Should you be new to us and would like to have a taster of what we can offer, workshops from our short-term menu are available all year round as one-offs.

All these sessions will provide you and your students with an excellent insight into working through drama and will act as a productive and creative stimulus to your work. To book any of these sessions please contact our Education Administrator on 01904 658162 or email education@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk We look forward to hearing from you!

Julian Ollive Education & Young Actors Associate

Registered Charity no. 229396

become a long-term partner At York Theatre Royal we are very interested in stories, narrative and partnerships. Stories profoundly shape and influence our lives, they are fundamental to the way that we learn, and are at the heart of theatre.

Stories are interactive, experiential, memorable and often aspirational.

Learning involving a narrative experience has a much more powerful impact, and is remembered for longer.

The focus for our work is upon the way a story is told, and particularly the way drama and theatre can provide an active approach to learning and experiencing.

We are looking for schools who are interested in working alongside us as a year-long partner from Autumn 2013.

We believe our work has universal values essential to a child’s development and effective early learning; playing, exploring, active learning and creating and thinking critically. Projects are high impact creative opportunities to learn outside the classroom with a professional cultural organisation to enrich and enhance your students learning and life experience.

Below you will find our offer, details of what it will mean to be a partner school and costs of involvement.

What can you expect from us?

• A day at the theatre for each class in your school, ½ day for Reception – Year 2, full day for Years 3 – 6, working on one of the options from the one-off short-term partner menu.

• Reduced ticket price for shows: £1 off every ticket.

• Regular liaison with the theatre’s education staff, including 3 assembly visits and access to lesson plans and useful drama resources for active, creative work across the curriculum.

• Backstage tours.

• At least one opportunity for a public sharing of work in one of our performance spaces.

• Teacher’s packs on selected shows • Invites to special events, including press nights.

• One teachers INSET. • Public celebration of your commitment to us including a display featuring your school in our theatres and a formal certificate.

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What can we expect from you?

• You are ambassadors of the theatre where appropriate.

• You endeavour to ensure the partnership is as productive as possible.

• You cover some of the cost of the Partnership according to the size of your school: £1,000 for single form entry schools £1,700 for double form entry schools £2,500 for triple form entry schools If your school doesn’t easily fit into one of these pricing brackets, please talk to us and we may be able to re-price accordingly. * Some projects can take place in school if this is preferred, and bespoke projects are sometimes available on negotiation.

Want to be our partner? Please contact us either through letter or email, outlining why you would like to be long-term partner and how you think it will feed in to aims and objectives for your school, by Thursday March 28th.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, or need to discuss costs, please contact Education Associate, Julian Ollive. julian@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

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become a mediumterm partner Playhouse Playhouse is a unique performance project aimed at Key Stage 2 pupils, giving them the chance to perform a brand new large cast play for young people, written by a professional writer for a class or group of pupils. The project is an excellent professional development opportunity providing a sustained structure for a staff member to develop their drama facilitation skills and confidence in working practically through drama with their class.

What can you expect from us?

• Your class get to perform at York Theatre Royal in a special three day festival in July.

• Comprehensive training on developing performances for the stage at a weekend retreat with theatre practitioners and the writers of the plays.

• Once in rehearsal teachers receive advice and support from our practitioners throughout the rehearsal process.

• Class get a tour of the theatre.

• Opportunity to bring the class to see work at York Theatre Royal for a reduced rate.

Previous playhouse writers include Julia Donaldson, Mike Kenny and David Wood.

The cost of involvement in the project is £350, which includes the Playhouse retreat weekend.

To register your interest in the project, or for more information, please call Jessica Fisher on 01904 658162 or email education@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk Comments from past Playhouse participants: "Many parents thanked us for providing the children with the opportunity to do a project like this and said how much the children had enjoyed the experience."

"A great opportunity for professional development."

"A unique opportunity to meet the playwright and find out what their motivation and references for writing the piece were. What they see in their mind's eye for the production. You put your own spin on it but it provides a starting point" "Valuable chance to work alongside theatre practitioners and pick up new games, innovative ways of approaching the text for the first time with the class, hints for effective rehearsal times and practical issues like ideal time scales for rehearsal process."

Staff mentorship York Theatre Royal practitioners are highly skilled in using drama as a tool for education. Our work specialises in using drama across the curriculum, allowing non-traditional subjects to be taught and learnt through drama techniques. We are keen to utilise our skills to increase the amount of drama practice used in schools everyday by class teachers. We are offering an opportunity for a teacher to be mentored individually by us across a specific project or school term to develop their skills as a drama facilitator and confidence in using drama practice.

What you can expect from us: • One-to-one mentoring by a YTR practitioner over a whole project or term.

• Mentoring for a total of 10 hours • Structured around teacher. observation of YTR practitioner, co-planning, co-delivery, observed delivery and evaluation.

• Opportunity to observe YTR practitioners work in other setting.s • Free tickets for the teacher to see YTR productions over the period.

Cost: £400 Contact Julian Ollive on 01904 658162 or email education@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk to discuss further.

become a mediumterm partner The ‘Big Idea’ What’s the ‘Big Idea?’ is an opportunity to utilise York Theatre Royal to launch your terms’ topic or ‘Big Idea’. The project will provide stimulus and inspiration through a series of practical sessions with our creative engagement staff to introduce and inspire your pupils about your chosen subject, by utilising the theatre’s resources.

What you can expect from us?

• Initial consultation session with the class teacher to discuss your topic and potential ideas.

• A day spent at York Theatre Royal with a member of our creative engagement team that utilises the theatres resources in order to inspire your pupils. For example the costume department, the theatre building, the catering department.

• A mid-term drop-in from one of our creative engagement team. This is a half day workshop that builds upon the children’s experience during the theatre day, as well as their class work. It will aim towards an artistic collation that can be shared at the end of term.

• A final half day spent at York Theatre Royal or at school, where a member of the creative engagement team helps to collate the pupil’s work into a sharing. This may include, short performances, craft or art demonstrations, readings of poetry or short stories.

• Teacher support on implementing the ideas covered in workshop and theatre day, into the work the children have already been doing at school.

• Resources – For example worksheets, session plans, and suggestions on how the work covered in theatre day and midpoint session may be built towards a showing at the end of the term.

Cost: £400 per class.

Contact Julian Ollive on 01904 658162 or email education@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk to discuss further.

become a short-term partner By choosing from the one-off workshops menu below we hope this will be the first stepping stone to becoming a longer term partner with us. Each workshop is self-contained and offers an insight into working through drama and learning through, in, about, and with theatre.

Central to all our workshops is a focus on story and narrative, how a story is told is as important as what it is about, this narrative choice of ‘how’, how a story is told through theatre, we use to develop a child’s critical and creative ability. We hope trying one of our workshops will stimulate an understanding and appreciation of how drama and theatre can enhance a child’s learning through practical and kinaesthetic approaches. This encourages the child to make active choices and problem solve in a creative, collaborative and inclusive way.

To book any of these sessions please contact our Education Administrator on 01904 658162 or email education@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk STORYTELLING AND STORY WRITING – KS2 Ghost stories – The Grey Lady • Begin by having a tour of the theatre, being told the story of the grey lady, which will be theatricalised.

• Working from a stimulus of a character that might ‘haunt’ the theatre e.g. The Woman with the Diamond Tiara, The Man with the Bowler Hat…subsequent workshop will look at the WHO, WHAT, WHY of this character and develop a scenario.

• Group work towards writing their own ghost story, which they perform to one another somewhere in the theatre at the end of the day.

HOW TO MAKE UP AND TELL STORIES - KS1 • Open improvisation games and exercises will be used to build up a theatrical language with one another, learning how to use our bodies to create object and place.

• Basic puppetry will be explored; how to animate inanimate objects and various puppetry techniques.

• Using props from our ‘Suitcase Full of Stories’ the children will be encouraged to develop the story, building upon one another’s ideas and suggestions.

• Using found objects, children will work in small groups to develop stories around a given theme.

PLAYWRITING - KS2 • Children will be introduced to the basic components of a play, including; plot, characters, setting and dialogue. They will explore how a script is laid out on the page including stage directions, character dialogue, scene divisions and entrances and exits.

• They will then create a short performance piece, writing a script and performing a script written by someone else.

• If the session takes place at the theatre, we will use the set of the play currently in the theatre as a stimulus for their writing.

• Children will work in small groups to evaluate the scripts created. They will suggest alternatives, analyse the script looking for moments of tension and difference in pace and how these could be improved.

TRADITIONAL TALES - KS1 • Day begins with a theatrical in-role tour of the theatre, possibly led round by a character from the story, who needs help with a problem or by following a trail round the theatre, learning about the characters, story and the theatre as they go.

• Explore traditional stories such Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk, looking at the characters, problems and dilemmas they face in a fun and practical way.

• Day will culminate in small performances of alternative endings to the story.

SHAKESPEARE - KS2 • Day begins by exploring the characters, themes and settings of your chosen Shakespeare text.

• Children have the opportunity to act out the whole story in an energetic interactive storytelling exercise.

• The session culminates in the children creating their own version of a scene from the play, complete with simple props, costumes and music.

• By the end of the session children will have a strong grasp of the story and characters, have created their own imaginative response to the play and have tackled Shakespeare’s verse.

• INSET also available

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using the theatre WHAT IS THEATRE? - KS2 • Begin by exploring the historical background of theatre, how it evolved, and the reasons why it developed as an art form. This will lead on to looking at what makes theatre unique as an art form, what artistic elements theatre uses and why people come to the theatre.

• We will then look at how stories are told and used in the theatre, exploring how movement, spoken word, puppetry etc, are used to understand the different ways stories are told.

• This workshop can be done around coming to see a production or in school using film archive footage.

THEATRE DAYS (only available on selected and suitable shows) • Begin with a theatrical tour of the theatre, linked to the shows story as different parts of the theatre are visited.

• Subsequent workshop will link into the themes of the production, exploring the ideas inherent in the play.

• After lunch there will be a craft making activity linked to the production, which the children can make and take away with them.

• Finish day by watching the afternoon performance.

KS1 or 2 (show dependent) Thank you for a truly wonderful day!

The children gained so much from all the experiences; memories to treasure!

Bootham Juniors

THEATRE DAY – MARKETING AND REVIEWING - KS2 Work focused around coming to see a morning production.

• Session before the show will look at what marketing means, different forms of communication and the process of how to market a show.

The show’s marketing they are coming to see will be looked, the print, company website…and then deconstructed.

• Watch the morning show.

• Post-show session exploring all the mise-en-scene of the show, collating thoughts on what they could write their review on.

• Session moves on to look at reviews, what information they contain, how they are structured and we finish with each child writing their own review of the show.

LIGHT, SHADOW and DESIGN KS1 or 2 • Session either in the studio or in a blacked out room in the next door De Grey Rooms. Introduction to light, shadow, colour, lenses, types of stage lighting, moods, atmosphere… session may potentially end with a scenario given and the group construct using light the mood for this scenario e.g. Meeting with the witches on the heath in Macbeth.

• A set design workshop is given to the group, with examples shown to the group, from photos and paper designs. Different design styles and types of staging are discussed.

• Model boxes will then be shown to the group, and scale discussed.

Group will measure out one of our stages, then with piece of card cut out to scaled size.

• Simple story is used such as LRRH, the story is broken down into its various locations and design ideas are discussed as to how we might represent these on stage. Group then work towards designing and constructing their own model box and designs.

SHADOW PUPPETRY - KS2 • Light and shadow are explored in the studio or blacked out room in the de grey with lighting. Introduction to light, shadow, colour, lenses, types of stage lighting, moods, atmosphere…

• Using story of The Little Red Hen, story is broken down and transposed from a story into a play format as a whole group.

• Using pre-made templates we create the characters as shadow puppets and work on puppetry skills, culminating in a performance of the story using a shadow theatre.

PERFORMANCE SKILLS IN A DAY KS2 Different sessions during the day could include: • Acting • Voice • Movement • Directing These will provide a strong skills set for the children as well as giving them a holistic sense of what skills a performer needs.

‘PLAY IN A DAY’ - KS2 • Class works together to learn choral and ensemble skills, developing their ability to work as a team.

• Using Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, the group will work on an adapted script, which will be rehearsed during the day ready to be performed to the rest of the school at the end of it.

• They will also work on developing character, movement skills and will use dance to create a wild rumpus!

THEATRE TOURS • Tours of the theatre are available; highlighting the history of the theatre from Roman to modern day, understanding the different roles of our staff as well as the practicalities of how a theatre works. A tour with secrets revealed!

• Suitable for any age • One hour long • Tour is accompanied by a resource pack for follow up work in school • Cost £2 per child SENSE AND MATERIALS - KS2 • The group will be taken on a hunt around the theatre to discover what types of materials are used in the building and why they are used for each purpose.

• They will be given a hunt sheet to note down all the different types of materials; what they think it’s made from and a description of how it feels to touch.

• The second part of the morning will be a practical workshop where the students will be led to understand their bodies as materials and how our bodies are affected by different types of materials.

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staff development history TUDORS – Life in a Tudor port - KS2 • Working from a description of life in a Tudor port we work on developing soundscapes to build up an atmosphere of the port at day and at night.

• We will explore the different status’ of characters who use the port, developing physicality and character relationships.

• The children will meet and get a chance to question a character from the era played by one of our practitioners in role.

• Using writing to get inside the head of these characters, we will write a soliloquy and build up a sense of the characters day before working in small groups to develop a story around a major event which interrupts their normal day.

WORLD WAR TWO – Evacuees KS2 • Children will learn why Britain went to war and offer opinions on the key issues.

• Using a variety of drama approaches we will engage the students in thinking about what it would have been like as a child in the blitz.

• We will build up an imaginative response to what life in the shelters would have been like and express our feelings.

• The children will meet and get a chance to question a character from the era played by one of our practitioners in role.

• Explore in-role what it would have felt like to leave home and arrive in a strange place. Finishing by creating a short drama based around a given narrative, which looks into what life would have been like in the country.

VIKINGS - KS2 • Day begins by building up Viking characters, interpreting text into monologues and working in small groups to devise and perform character dialogue and action.

• Move onto recreating a Scandinavian fjord land, using props, our bodies and soundscapes to build a strong sense of place.

• The children will meet and get a chance to question a character from the era played by one of our practitioners in role.

• Finish with an in-role exploration of a Viking village, exploring community relationships and moral dilemmas, ending with a group debate.

GREEK THEATRE - KS2 • The group will work towards performing the story of ‘Pandora’s Box’ • Learn about how Grecian theatre developed from religious celebrations whilst developing understanding of skills in mask, text and choral work.

• Students will build on skills learnt through the day and apply them through their performance.

All KS1 workshops are half-day All KS2 workshops are whole day Half a day cost: £150 Whole day cost: £225 Sessions are for a maximum of 30 students. Please note: due to the age of our building our spaces are not all accessible. Please contact us to discuss any access requirements.

Travel costs incur for schools outside of York Sessions are for a maximum of 30 students. Please note: due to the age of our building our spaces are not all accessible. Please contact us to discuss any access requirements.

USING DRAMA IN THE CLASSROOM This INSET provides practical approaches to exploring and working with any story. The session can be used as a way of introducing a story over a whole morning or split up and divided to create a scheme of work. The following techniques will be demonstrated and discussed: • Group collaboration and inclusion games • Small group image making • Soundscape • Sculpting • Physical approaches to creating character • Status • Whole group story-telling • Thought-tracking Half day cost £200 The INSET was hugely popular amongst the staff who have utilised many of the techniques taught, to promote the role of the arts within the school. Clifton with Rawcliffe Federation