London
Workshop Company: We are a company that delivers curriculum targets through a dramatic
approach. We employ a large team of highly trained leaders who offer the
services of the company to nurseries, schools, arts and community centres, as
well as youth clubs.
The
company is not a drama or stage school.
Active drama workshops across the curriculum. Held at the school. Bring life into a range of subjects.
v
SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Theatre workshops to increase skills. PHSE
programmes to deal with issues.
The company has worked extensively with schools in the London boroughs of Southwark, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Kensington & Chelsea and Hounslow. We have also worked with numerous other schools throughout the country including schools in Milton Keynes, Slough and Reading.
v COMMUNITY & ARTS CENTRES
Performance days – see a show and make your own play in a day. A full range of titles is available.
We have worked with a variety of Arts Centres and Theatres including Redshift, Quicksilver, Tam Tam Theatre, Tricycle, Trestle, Unicorn, Bull Arts Theatre, Southampton Nuffield Theatre and Stantonbury Campus.
Performance Days
See a performance and then produce a play of your own in a day. This seasons titles include:
‘Quack’ – Interactive stimulus - a performance for early years pupils about a duck discovering who he is and comparing himself to other farm animals. This is followed by the children creating their own performance about the further adventures of ‘Quack’.
‘Lion, Witch & Wardrobe’ – Enter the ‘yurt’ to see the snowy land of ‘Narnia’. Help decide what happens to Mr Tumnus when the White Witch catches him. Explore the movement of animal characters through dance.
‘Gulliver’s Travels – See Gulliver in Lilliput and Brobdinag and then create your own lands for him to visit. Produce your own performance.
‘Stories from Around the World’ – See the story of ‘Little Red Fish’ from Guadeloupe. Create a performance of other stories from different parts of the world.
‘Poetry in Flight’ – A short performance conveying a story in dance, poetry and music. This is followed by workshops in which children create their own ending and then perform a play.
Drama across the Curriculum
Mathematics:
Early Years Maths to introduce maths concepts through stories. Experience the use of Maths in life situations. We provide motivation for understanding and using Maths. Current topics include:
Nursery children – ‘Postman Pat’ – shape, size and number.
Reception classes – ‘Bad Tempered Ladybird’ – size, proportion and time.
Year One – ‘Dogger’ – Money.
Year Two – ‘Patchwork Quilt’ – size, proportion and ratio.
Biology:
Bees and Pollination – This can incorporate a visit to Surrey Docks Farm – see trees, beehives and bee keeping equipment. The children can learn facts about the Queen Bee, Workers and Drones through poems and stories. Experience honey tasting. Make your own pieces of art.
Mini-Beasts and Pond Life – Reveal the secrets of the frog’s development visually as the poem unfolds. Listen to the story of ‘Tiddilick the Frog’, which is told using puppets and models. Go fishing for words on water lilies to add to the poem.
Literature & History:
Dickens Goes a Wandering – Children investigate life in Victorian London. Play games introducing vocabulary of the era – make Victorian style masks – create poems reflecting aspects of Victorian life.
James Bond Science:
Children listen to tape of ‘James Bond’ asking for help. He needs certain gadgets to help him on his mission – The leader as ‘Q’ sets up experiments, with the children, as a team of scientists.
Dealing with issues
Bullying programme
Year 5 – Pinocchio used as a springboard for looking at peer pressure.
Year 6 – The Simpson’s – looking at respect for property.
Year 7 – As It Really Is – school based piece of work.
Year 8 – Soap opera – Cliff- hanger approach
Forum Theatre – Murder Mystery
A residency, starting with forum theatre pieces. Establishing motives for murder, introducing a number of issues and resulting in filming incidents.
Partnership Projects
Story-Telling Trail at Surrey Docks Farm. Children follow clues around the farm leading them to given points for different stories. They go fishing for adverbs, seek the bee’s pollen drops for adjectives and piece together a story from ‘sentence feathers’.
Early Years – Traditional Tales. Interactive poetry, story and art trail with traditional animal tales, delivering factual information about animals and culminating in ‘art’ activity at Surrey Docks Farm.
Poetry Trail at Surrey Docks Farm. Children solve clues, which take them to different poetry stations on the farm. Animal poetry is performed to make them reflect on and observe the environment. They then write their own poetry.
Docklands Heritage – Visit the Pumphouse Educational Museum. The children receive stimulus material and information through poetry and art. Subsequent workshops follow to create art and poetry installation for the school.
Creative/English Language Project
Chocolate Land – Children create models of insects and sweets, and then enter the ‘yurt’ to see chocolate land installation. Poems and stories then unfold with interactive elements.
As well as the above London Workshop Company can also provide:
Books Alive – Ideal for book weeks – bring a text to life.
Inset Training for Staff – methodology and syllabus explored. A range of themes available
Shakespeare – for all ages from 5 years and upwards.
After School Clubs – 10 week programmes of fun, games and interactive drama.
Overseas
The company has worked extensively overseas – including France, Germany, Russia, Hong Kong, Turkey, Bulgaria and Rumania. Our full programme is available to all.
As all our clients projects are tailor-made to their requirements we do not publish prices.
For further information including a quotation please contact our Workshop Director, Ruth Burgess by:
E-Mail: mailto:londonworkshop@compuserve.com
Phone: +44 (0) 208 996 9085
London Workshop Company, Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace, London W4 4JE UK.