West End in Schools - Theatre in Education - Totally Amazing

Entries tagged 'our+programme'

I want to be as famous as Persil Automatic

I want to be as famous as Persil Automatic (plus have some West End actors at my school)

By Tony Attwood, posted 24th February 2012 at 3:41PM | Comments

This phrase (“I want to be as famous as Persil Automatic”) was apparently said by Victoria Beckham (wife of David) as a teenager.

The reason that it is remembered and often quoted is that it is said to give an insight into young people today. Victoria didn’t want to be better than her friends, she didn’t want to be a famous singer, she didn’t want to marry England’s most famous footballer.

She just wanted to become famous.

This feeling in which it is the fame that is important, rather than what one does to achieve the fame, is the starting point of the musical “Ready Steady Go” which will soon go on tour in schools across the country, with a cast of actors from major West End...

Heroes, Poetry and Finding What We Are Good At

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 28th November 2011 at 5:00PM | Comments

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Our summer term musical theatre show Ready, Steady, Go will be timed to help schools look at the Olympics and some of the issues it raises.
We want to use topical classic and contemporary children’s literature to drive our story along, and would love to know if you have any favourite books which might be appropriate.
In particular we want to explore:

heroes, and people we admire
competition
finding what we are good at
striving for excellence
teamwork

We love well illustrated picture books, but we want to make sure that the three or four books we finally choose will contain something for every class teacher from Reception to Year 6.

The show is also...

World Book Day

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 28th November 2011 at 4:56PM | Comments

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Of course we say "World Book Day" as if there is just one, but it isn’t quite like that.

There are in fact two "World Book Days". In the UK and Ireland we do it on 3 March (apparently to avoid having the day during the Easter holidays). The rest of the world does it on 23 April.

However the date is not the only confusing thing. The real title is World Book and Copyright Day, although in some places it is known as International Day of the Book.

But whatever it is called and whenever it is done it is a UNESCO organised event to promote reading and publishing, and it started in 1995.
23 April was originally chosen as a day to celebrate books in 1923, by booksellers in Spain in...

Success without effort

By Tony Attwood, posted 03rd October 2011 at 2:37PM | Comments

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It has been suggested many times in recent years that the current generation of school children has a particular problem that has never been seen before.

In the past it has been argued, children have recognised that success generally comes as a result of hard work and effort. That doesn’t mean that all children then go on and work hard or put in the effort, but it does mean they don’t expect things to happen just because they want things to happen.

But with the current generation – the generation that has grown up with X Factor as part of the establishment - this has changed. There seems to be a belief that if one wants something enough, it will happen.

Children can even be heard...

Late availability - Schools on Standby

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 03rd September 2011 at 3:35PM | Comments

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Where we have gaps in our schedule at less than around four weeks notice we will now offer schools who elect to be on standby late availability visits at a massive discount off our normal prices - usually 40% off. These slots will be offered for a specific morning or afternoon in a specific part of the country.

Opportunities will be announced via our Facebook Page, and also via a subsequent email, which we intend to send out a few times a month. You can be updated by clicking the like button on our Facebook Page here, and subscribe to the emails here.

Whilst the vast majority of the hundreds of schools we visit each year will continue to book up in advance, we sometimes find that we...

Pantomime: Where did it come from, and what’s the point?

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 02nd September 2011 at 7:39PM | Comments

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Initially the pantomime in England was a short entertainment which was performed between the acts of an opera. It was seen as a rather low grade form of opera, equivalent to the French vaudeville, but it was popular and eventually evolved into a show of its own.
Modern pantomime could be seen to date from the early 18th century in England when John Rich started to stage shows which became very popular indeed, especially as they added popular topical references and used a wide range of theatrical special effects.
Such shows continued to develop into the 19th century and by the 1870s were clearly recognisable as what we know as modern English pantomime today.
What made panto so...

How much time do primary school pupils spend playing with computer games?

Does it matter, and what can we do about it?

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 12th August 2011 at 1:48PM | Comments

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Earlier this year a story appeared on BBC News about some research undertaken in a school in Devon in which children were asked how much time they had spent playing games on computers.

Over three-quarters of the children questioned said that they used a games console every night, with some pupils claiming they did not go to sleep until 4am.

A follow-up report in the Guardian highlighted the fact that since 2008 sales of video games in the UK have outstripped sales of films and music, while in 2009 Modern Warfare 2 was the biggest-selling item on Amazon, beating even the latest Harry Potter movie.

But does any of this matter?

Obviously children need sleep, and children deprived of...

Our plans for next school year

Three musicals and dance workshops

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 03rd July 2011 at 8:31PM | Comments

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As this blog entry will be incorporated in our last newsletter of this school year I thought it would be helpful to set out our published plans for next year.

We will be offering 3 musicals and dance workshops, and we have other plans in the pipeline.

Jump To It! follows in the footsteps of Rev It Up! and Jungle Bungle. It's is a literacy focused musical with a PHSE storyline. In this story schoolgirl Claire is addicted to her computer game, to the detriment of her studies and friendships. When she finds herself sucked in to the game carrying a bag of books, only the characters in those stories can save her. The show is available all year.

West End Pantomania is our...

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our programme

The Director’s View

By Craig Christie (writer and composer), posted 02nd July 2011 at 7:43PM | Comments

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Whilst most of our actors are still performing this year's show Rev It Up, I have flown to London from Australia to "workshop" and rehearse next year's show with a small subset of our West End team.

Part of the joy of introducing new books into the script of the literacy shows for West End In Schools is rediscovering the script through the talents of our West End cast. Over the past few days I have had what has been a totally enjoyable task of bringing the script of Jump To It and the four books that have been integrated into it to life through the talents of four remarkable performers whose West End credits between them include Joseph, Lion King, Avenue Q, Spamalot and Jesus...

Olympics tickets?

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 03rd June 2011 at 3:14PM | Comments

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Sadly, like Mayor Boris, my bid for Olympic tickets came to nothing - having applied for tickets to a couple of popular events and a couple of not so popular cheaper ones just in case, not a single ticket has come my way.

I think many people found the ticketing process strange at best, and not accessible to people of all abilities to pay - or to cope with the application process. At least they do have a comprehensive amount of supper available for Primary Schools, all set out on their website.

With lots of schools and families excited about the games next year we thought we should write and compose a new literacy focused musical looking at the children working hard, competing, and...

Tags:
our programme

Storytelling through Dance

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 27th April 2011 at 4:27PM | Comments

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Musical theatre uses dance and movement to tell and reinforce stories and our our West End dancers and choreographers have strong experience in this area.

Children involved in storytelling dance can gain confidence in interpreting a text, in movement skills and in performing. The nature of storytelling though dance is non competitive, so every pupil is able to contribute fully to a workshop.

We have noticed demand from schools for a more detailed exploration of texts than time allows in our musical theatre format and from this term will be offering dance workshops to schools, all of which will focus on dance as a storytelling tool.

Each visit to a school can incorporate a short...

Pantomime plans

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 21st April 2011 at 5:42PM | Comments

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Christmas pantomimes are for many children their only experience of live theatre, and can also be an inclusive way for a priomary school to celebrate the season.

Consequently for many theatre groups pantomimes are their bread and butter, and with fewer schools being able to afford multiple productions each year I felt it was important that we should offer something for Christmas.

Professional musical theatre actors are regularly asked to perform in pantomimes, and within the company we have a lot of experience and understanding of how they work. Trying to present a tradional pantomime story with just two or three actors seems fraught with compromise.

Our in-school performing model...

Government cuts need not affect the theatre experiences of children

By Tony Attwood, posted 01st April 2011 at 1:49PM | Comments

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Despite the cuts it is currently implementing, the Arts Council has been making a number of brave statements of late about building “a resilient arts sector”.

The decision to cut the “Creative Partnerships” programme in the first round of cuts last October was a significant blow to many schools. This programme brought artists into schools to work with teachers to inspire young people, and the project will be sorely missed.

There is, of course, a hint of a dramatic increase in lottery funding in the future (growing from £149m in the financial year that is just ending to £223m by 2014), and so things might not ultimately be as bad as feared.

In addition to the lottery funding the...

Choosing Books

By Craig Christie (writer and composer), posted 30th March 2011 at 11:40PM | Comments

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When adapting our West End in Schools shows from their original Australian version my most important task is to ensure that the shows achieve the intention of creating an active interest in books and reading by selecting the books that are going to feature in the British version of the show.

Firstly we have given teachers who have seen our current show Rev It Up! the opportunity to suggest titles that they believe may be appropriate for next year's equivalent show Jump To It! This gives me insights into what titles are popular and more common in schools having decided to include at least one book in each show that is familiar to a wide audience.

We also refer to experts in the...

New website, new blog…

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 12th March 2011 at 4:59PM | Comments

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It will soon be time to announce our Theatre in Education shows for 2011/12, and we also want to add new dance workshops run by West End dancers and choreographers to our programme.

It feels a good time to make a renewed effort to keep in close contact with the hundreds of schools that already book us to visit them each year, and this blog will be one way of helping with that. We hope that the blog - which will be regularly updated - will become a resource for creative teachers using the arts in primary schools, whether or not you book our work.

The blog will be available on this website, via our Facebook Page and via a monthly newsletter which will send subscibers information on...