Repertory Theatre

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 28th November 2011 at 4:58PM | Comments

British greats such as Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton and Michael Gambon all began their illustrious careers in rep.

Having spent the winter galloping up and down the country with last year's West End in Schools show Rev it Up, it was with a little reluctance that I boarded a train to Pitlochry in the Scottish Highlands to begin a seven-month stint at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre as a member of their acting company.

You will often hear famous actors talk about how they learned everything they know "doing Rep". This is when actors are part of a repertory company, which puts on a number of often diverse productions using the same actors. The rep system can mean anything from weekly rep -...

• Tags:
• professional theatre
• actors
• process

Late availability - Schools on Standby

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

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...

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• our programme
• booking us
• process
• ticket offer

Getting Boys to Dance

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 03rd August 2011 at 10:51AM | Comments

A new choreographer working with us was delighted by feedback from teachers just before the end of term. The teachers had expected some of the older boys participating in the dance workshop would be unwilling to engage with the process.

However on this occasion Gary used football to engage with the boys and encourage them to use movements developed from the motion of kicking a football as part of their choreography.

In his own words “The key to getting children who would not usually dance to take part is all in the approach. By allowing them to create and devise movement from their own hobbies and interests and then combining that with a little set choreography, I was able to create...

• Tags:
• dance
• process

A Little Bit of Magic

By Craig Christie (writer and composer), posted 01st August 2011 at 6:43PM | Comments

Last week I had the great good fortune to be in the audience of the new musical Ghost in London’s West End.  What a great evening’s entertainment with all the elements that make musical theatre great in place – great performances, engaging storyline, terrific music and wonderful design.

While a lot will no doubt be said about the special effects in the show – and they are amazing!- what I most enjoyed about them was that they were used to augment the storyline and used with a lightness of touch that didn’t distract from the emotional journey that audience was being taken on.  Too often in recent years we have seen spectacle on stage make a poor effort at compensating for a storyline...

• Tags:
• process
• professional theatre

Stage design for our musicals

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 02nd July 2011 at 7:51PM | Comments

When I am not working on West End in Schools, I spend around a day a week working as agent for some talented theatre designers, who between them design sets, lights, costumes and sound for large scale productions in London and up and down the country.  The contrast between the scale and sophistication of their work, and the simplicity and clarity of our West End in Schools productions excites me, as both are right for their audiences.

In case you have not yet received one of our musicals in to your school we use very little set at all and just a small number of clear costumes to help the children understand the characters and tell them apart.  We seat the children in two groups on the...

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• process

The Director’s View

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

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...

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• our programme
• process

Pantomime plans

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

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...

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• our programme
• process