Arts activities for primary school children at Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds

Following the hugely successful first year in 2019, Doorstep Theatre Festival is back at Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds this summer.

The festival makes arts activities accessible to primary schools by lessening the restraints of rural isolation and the financial implications that come with visiting an arts venue.

The project will provide schools with the opportunity to host a performance in their hall, by leading children’s theatre company Half Moon Theatre.

Following the performance, schools will have the option to take part in enrichment workshops led by a team of drama facilitators, or to visit Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds for a host of workshops including drama and technical, with other participating schools as part of the extended programme offer. Both offers come at a subsidised rate to schools.

Teachers from all schools taking part will also be invited to a CPD session at Theatre Royal to explore how the themes within the performances and workshops can be carried into the classroom.

There are two different shows available in the programme: for early-years/key stage one, “Paper Aeroplane”, a musical journey full of puppetry, physicality and fluttering paper aeroplanes, where sometimes the skies are not as clear as we first think; and for key stage two, “The House That Jackson Built”, celebrating books and the joy of reading a magical spoken word theatre show about the power of imagination, family, memory – and recycling.

Half Moon Theatre is one of the UK’s leading small-scale young people’s venue and touring company. They commission and create new home-grown theatre productions, often in co-production, touring them around the UK and internationally. In addition, they offer a range of productions as part of the Half Moon Presents portfolio – work for young audiences developed in partnership with associate artists and companies.

Theatre Royal’s education and youth projects producer, Hayley Murrow, said: “Last year, the festival reached over 2,300 young people in local primary schools. This year, we are already working with two brand-new schools and plan to reach more young people. Increasing schools’ access to high quality arts activities is at the heart of Theatre Royal’s thriving education programme and the children’s arts festival plays a huge part in this.”

Doorstep Theatre Festival is due to run from Monday, June 15, to Thursday, June 25. To find out more about the programme or to book one of the performances contact hayley@theatreroyal.org or call 01284 829935. The festival is supported using public funding from Arts Council England.