 Welcome back to the summer term, it’s all go go go here and we are really looking forward to this term being a great one as much as we are looking forward to the sun coming out!
We thought you might like to see some of the feedback we received last term from various workshops and projects happening up and down the country.
Bring Your Story to Life – Hansel and Gretel Literacy workshop
“The children loved it and the follow up writing (retelling of the story) was enhanced by the oral work in the workshop”
KS1 leader and assistant Headteacher, Longley Primary School, Sheffield.
Play in a Day – Romeo and Juliet
“Every child regardless of SEN and all idiosyncrasies accessed the play. AMAZING! I loved the approach that every child could make a contribution (and) was encouraged to focus for the whole group. It was one of those memorable days that the children will always remember.”
Year 5 teacher, Pipworth Community School, Sheffield.
Play in a Day – Ancient Egypt
“The children loved it. They have talked about it all day today and have taken a lot from the experience, both in terms of their topic learning but also in terms of their self-confidence. They enjoyed the opportunity to perform to their parents.”
KS2 Leader, Parkhead Community Primary, Tyne and Weir.
Play in a Day – Macbeth
“John (the drama practitioner) was fantastic. He was open to suggestions but had a firm understanding of the dramatic process. He brought all children out of their shells and produced a wonderful end performance which has been commented on by fellow teachers and parents.”
Yr 6 teacher, St Margaret’s Lee C of E School, Lewisham
Myth and Legends Drama Day
“This is a superb method for the children to learn about the topic. They are learning through doing. The facilitator was a legend. He praised (the children) throughout and was constructive in informing them of how to improve their learning/performing. From observing the children at the end of the day, it was clear that they had learned the myth. They had also used some drama techniques and had had fun in the process. I would happily book this again. Superb.”
Yr 5 teacher, Parlaunt Primary School, Slough.
We’d like to say thanks to all the pupils and teachers who make our job so enjoyable and an especially big thank you to all our talented drama practitioners who work tirelessly to deliver our drama workshops and play in a day with such care.
This term we will be looking at lots of Olympics drama workshops and Olympics Play in a Day and travelling round with our Road Safety Workshops amongst other things. Look out for us coming to a town near you soon! Beep beep!
 - Avast!
Ahoy me hearties! This half term we have been delivering lots of our usual Shakespeare and Anti-Bullying drama workshops and Play in a Day aye, but shiver me timbers it seems that the bulk of the work this half term has been very nautical! Specifically we have been asked to do a lot of drama workshops around pirates – aaarrrrrrrrr!
With this is mind, shipmates, we are now offering schools our new pirate drama workshop. Our Pirate Captain’s last crew was eaten by a large sea monster – arrrr! So we be recruiting a new crew for our ship, mateys. Is your class bold enough to become our new crew and seek the pirate treasure? This drama workshop is suitable for sea dogs in Years 1, 2 and 3 – for more details click here.
But we haven’t left Years 4, 5 and 6 cast adrift – for these classes we have our great Treasure Island Play in a Day (Pieces of eight, pieces of eight!), a tale of pirates, adventure and treasure on the high seas.
If you would like to work with your class developing their pirate characters, here are some great pirate things for you land lubbers to enjoy.
Pirate Name Generator
Each sailor has to think of a 2 numbers between 1 – 10, so say 2 and 7. The third word of their pirate name is always there first or second name. For example 3 and 5 from a scurvy dog called Jack would result in the name Long Beard Jack. Add in your own words to make it fun!
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1st Word |
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2nd Word
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| 1 |
Blue
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1
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Neck
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| 2 |
Knock
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2
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Hook
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| 3 |
Long
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3
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Knees
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| 4 |
Scurvy
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4
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Leg
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| 5 |
Anchor
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5
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Beard
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| 6 |
Black
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6
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Sword
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| 7 |
Shark
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7
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Eyed
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| 8 |
Silver
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8
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Fingered
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| 9 |
Sea Dog
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9
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Belly
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| 10 |
Fish
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10
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Stump
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 As part of International Women’s Week, our fantastic facilitator Kate has been working with the Women Care Group, a group of refugee and asylum seeker women based at the Pakistani Community Association in Longsight. Funded by the South Manchester Law Centre the drama project was a 5 week process, with a view to building towards a performance on Monday 5th March.
Although focused towards making a performance in a very short space of time with participants from diverse cultures that have little or no knowledge of what constitutes a drama performance in this country, the result was truly heartening.
Here’s what Kate had to say about the project:
“These women are an inspiration! Despite their harrowing back stories and the issues they now face in this country the women in this group are warm and welcoming and most importantly act as an essential support for each other.
“No matter who you are, no matter where you come from you are welcome here. Here we are all women together.” -Group Member
If only all members of our communities took this view point. The group is a stabiliser for some members who have nothing- no structure, no home, NO STATUS. These women want to contribute to British society and their communities but fight a battle to do so. I discovered the women in this group are lawyers, knitters, singers, carers, multi linguists, skilled people that want to share these skills. Although I was a stranger coming into the group the at the first meeting I was hurried to a table, offered food and found myself laughing, chatting and sharing immediately. All women really are welcome here.
 The group told me that they wanted people to have some understanding of the journey that asylum seekers face and so we devised a performance around this idea. The project was relatively short, however, seeing the confidence of the group rocket makes it clear that these women simply need an opportunity and a reason to gain confidence, something that one member identified as having had before but lost. Some women shared their own personal stories, or shared stories of their friends and family; we identified the similarities and differences between us and used these conversations as a foundation to create.
The whole group contributed to the performance in different ways and the group built in strength through this communal task. Despite language or cultural barriers the women worked side by side towards the group goal of showcasing their skills to the female community for International Women’s Week. We embraced the rich cultural diversity of the group and created a diverse performance which included language, gestures, dance and music from all countries. The day was a celebration!
I will take away with me the knowledge that women who are truly together in this way are a powerful force; they are powerful through inclusion, warmth and integrity.” - Kate
The performance on Monday and the event as a whole encompassing drama, dance, singing and music and lots of laughter despite the serious message showed the journey and the true nature of these inspirational women and we here at Act On Info are very proud to have in some small way given them a voice. We are look forward to continuing our drama work with refugee and asylum seeking people.
 On your marks! Happy new half term everyone! Phew, we feel all out of breath and are trying to catch ourselves up whilst working on our excellent Olympic Play in a Day for next term. We have two plays which are being booked up a treat up and down the country:
Play 1 – The Olympics – On your marks, get set, go! Travel back in time with us to Mount Olympus, find out how and why it all began, and then sprint off the blocks to find out how this developed into the games we have today. Meet some extraordinary characters, from Greek Gods to amazing athletes. Everyone who takes part in this play is a winner!
Play 2 – Olympic Values – The Olympic values that top class athletes believe in are friendship, respect, and excellence. In this Play in a Day we explore what these values mean to the children and what they mean to the athletes competing in the Olympics.
If you would like to explore the Olympics in more detail with your KS2 class do get in touch now!
We are also having a great time in Manchester with our fantastic facilitator Kate working on a community drama project with a women’s group of refugee and asylum seekers who are producing what is shaping up to be a fantastic performance to be shown on the 5th March as part of International Women’s week. We can’t wait to see it!
From Play in a Day to Shakespeare, Respect to Rainforests, Fairytales to Fables we love the way this half term is going already and it’s only just started!
 We always love working on Shakespeare with young people and have been delivering drama workshops and Play in a Day to get children excited about his plays across the country.
With this in mind we are really looking forward to the World Shakespeare Festival (WSF) which starts on 23rd April and runs to November 2012. It will be a celebration of Shakespeare, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, in collaboration with leading UK and international arts organisations.
Artists from around the world will take part in 70 productions, as well as events and exhibitions, right across the UK. This festival forms part of London 2012 Festival, which is the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad.
We have used the Whoosh technique in schools in our Shakespeare drama workshops; it works really well and can be utilized easily by teachers. This technique was devised by Dr Joe Winston of The University of Warwick and is used regularly by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Whoosh!
Get the group into a circle, either standing or sitting. Tell the group that everyone will have a chance to participate in the telling of a story, Shakespeare or otherwise, by becoming a character or an object in the tale. The rule is that when you say “Whoosh!” they must immediately return to their place in the circle. Start the story and when a key character, event or object is mentioned, indicate to a pupil to step into the circle to make a shape or strike a pose. If more than one character is introduced, indicate they can all enter the circle at the same time.
As the story progresses and more characters or objects are introduced, make sure you move around the circle so that all the pupils are given a chance to take part. If it’s appropriate the whole group can take part at once. Continue telling the story with more pupils stepping in as required – in the first instance they are just striking poses to build up a tableau or frozen picture.
Once the pupils have made a still image, and are feeling more confident, then they can start to add movement to the story. You can build this up to them interacting with one another, and adding improvised dialogue or lines from the play. If you feel the group is able, you can add props for pupils to improvise with.
At any time if the activity inside the circle becomes too unfocused or too boisterous simply say “Whoosh!” and everyone returns to their original place in the circle. The story continues to be told to the end. “Whoosh!” is a very useful tool and can be used as many times as you feel is necessary.
Do get in touch if you would like us to deliver a Shakespeare drama workshop or Play in a Day in your school.
 We are winding down here as we have just done our last day in school in 2011!
This term we have had a fantastic time doing Road Safety Workshops, our KS1 show showing how toys Fairy Princess Buttercup, Captain Fearless and Sheriff Howdeedoodee find their way home safely across the road after being left behind in the park. Our KS2 Road Safety Show is based around a game show – Don’t Get Splatted, and is a fast paced, fun interactive experience for the children to learn some serious messages and has been greatly recieved in schools across the Northwest.
Our Kingdom of Respect Drama Days took place up and down the country, and we have seen some fantastically creative work from pupils. We have had drama plays, stories being acted out, raps, national anthems, and amazing Kingdoms including – Kindland, the Territory of Tolerance, Respect-alot amongst others, well done everyone for all your hard work!
We have also completed our tour of primary schools as part of the Powerdown Fortnight in Peterborough, our fantastic team of actors doing numerous whole school assemblies and class workshops about saving energy with the message to – Switch Off and Save! We had fantastic fun being futuristic in the year 2031, where everything is silver and time machines can be made by your grandad in the shed! The pupils also came up with some fantastic adverts encouraging other children to Switch Off and Save, setting their adverts on a volcano, in a light bulb and even in a toilet! Watch out for some photos of this show coming in the next few weeks.
All this as well as various Play in a Days and Drama Workshops around varied topics such as Space, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Shakespeare, Telling The Truth, Ancient Greeks and Literacy projects. Phew! We are looking forward to having a break over Christmas but we are always here to take enquiries about bookings for next year. We are already getting booked up for summer term doing various Play in a Days and drama workshops around Ancient Greeks and Olympic values, so get in touch now.
 Feedback from a Yr 3 class.
 Watch out for brussel sprouts! What an amazing week we had in schools during anti-bullying week last week and thanks to all the pupils, teachers and facilitators who worked so hard to make the days a success. Our Kingdom of Respect drama days were and still are being held in primary schools up and down the country.
We thought it would be nice to share with you some of the excellent work that has been created by the pupils.Some of the Kingdoms created by St Peters Primary School in Bolton included Yr 6′s Respecterton S.P whereby everybody had to earn respect points by behaving according to the rules. We had a national anthem played on brass instruments, a Peace in the World rap/dance and the Kingdom included all kinds of interesting places including the jail where if you didn’t respect people you were force fed brussel sprouts and broccoli and made to sit on the uncomfortable chair – the horror!
From Year 5 we had the imaginative Bullyneverland where the French professor, Professor Bulliance made three robots – Cyber, Physical
 Respect today - keep the robots at bay! andCyber, Physical and Verbal RobotsVerbal Robots -to keep the bullies in check, the robots would freeze anybody who was bullying and their slogan was - “Respect today, keep the robots at bay!”
 Only the brightest stars.... We also had from Year 3 the fabulous –Starworld “Only the brightest stars shine in Starworld.”
 The tree of flags  Yr 2's amazing Kingdom From Year 4 the fabulous Kingdom of Care and Share.
From Year 2 Rainbow Kingdom where “Niceness is Priceless”
Yr 1 told us to “Keep in mind, always be kind”.
Not to be outdone the reception class came up with Chameleon Kingdom where everyone is different and that’s ok. Reception showed us their skills on the computer by making pictures of their friends!
 Receptions friendly faces  Thanks St Peter's! Thanks, St Peters for making us have such a rianbow coloured and robot shaped week, for making us so welcome and joining in the spirit of the Drama Days so beautifully. Keep your eyes peeled for more school photos later in the week!
Half way through November already, how did that happen!? This week is anti-bullying week and we are already enjoying our time in schools, offering forum theatre workshops and Kingdom of Respect drama days. Our tour rehearsals are nearly complete for our Switch Off and Save energy efficiency tour as part of Powerdown Fortnight for Peterborough City Council.
But we are also looking forward to Christmas! If you haven’t thought about what you are doing with your classes for a Christmas treat don’t forget we can provide you with a Panto in a Day – oh yes we can!
Our director (He’s behind you!) works with your class for the whole day to create a 15 minute Panto that can be showed to the rest of the school and any audience you choose to invite at the end of the day. It a great, fun treat for the children with all the educational benefits of a Play in a Day.
 - Oh yes we can!
Pantomimes available:
Aladdin
Cinderella
Dick Whittington
Snow White
Peter Pan
Wizard of Oz
We also have our own version of A Christmas Carol available as a Play in a Day so get in touch today to make your pupils Christmas!
We can’t believe its half term already! Where has the time gone? We have spent it in schools doing drama workshops and assemblies on everything from Space Exploration to Telling the Truth, with various characters from Harry Potter to King Arthur!
Half term is a fantastic time for us to take a big deep breath and prepare for anti-bullying week in November. This year we will be delivering drama workshops in schools in many different guises. We have anti-bullying and resisting peer pressure forum theatre workshops, Kingdom of Respect Days and Play in a Day’s happening in primary and high schools across the country. Also we are really looking forward to our work in Peterborough Schools on their fantastic Powerdown fortnight project, with the slogan “Switch Off and Save”. This project is all about increasing pupils and staffs energy awareness and we will be providing a whole school assemblies and drama workshops for schools in the Peterborough area. This is a vitally important issue as schools account for a large proportion of a local council’s carbon emissions, we need to educate future generations into caring about environmental issues and making them see that by everyone doing a little it can make a big difference.
We are now taking bookings for next term – and as well as our existing drama workshops we are further developing our History Drama Days and also promoting reading and writing in schools through our Literacy Drama Workshops. Have a look at the website and do get in touch if you think we can help your school. We look forward to meeting you!
 Working hard on the website! Hi there,
Welcome back to the new school year! Hopefully you’ve had as much of a productive few weeks as we have. We have been developing many new drama workshops and assemblies in response to demand and are very happy to be back in schools to see how well they work!
Some of you may have noticed that our website has changed quite a bit and is still in the process of changing even more! We are attempting to make it much more user friendly for people and to better reflect what we can offer in terms of drama workshops.
This is a long process for us though, and we are now frantically editing the website (which is not our strongest skill!) in between dealing with the beginning of term rush of bookings and shows, but we are hoping it will be done and up and running as soon as possible!
If you are a high school please don’t think we have stopped doing high school shows as we just haven’t got round to adding that bit of the website! Get in touch if you have any queries about what shows we do offer.
We look forward to working with you this year!
Alison and Helen x
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Friday, May 18, 11:22 am
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Welcome back to the summer term, it’s all go go go here and we are really looking forward to this term being a great one as much as we are looking forward to the sun coming out!
