Founded in 1939, Dundee Rep Theatre is a world class performing arts organisation that is rooted in making work for and with a diverse local audience. The Rep comprises Dundee Rep Ensemble, Scottish Dance Theatre, Dundee Rep Creative Learning and Visiting Companies.
Each year, the Creative Learning department works with over 20,000 people, of all ages, in Schools, Colleges, Community Centres, Universities, and Specialist Services, offering participatory, educational, and therapeutic creative opportunities.
Drama Practitioner
November 2009 - February 2010
For Primary 4 - 7 pupils
SPARK was a UK-wide education project, funded by Provident Financial, which enabled a number of arts organisations to deliver a range of participatory arts projects for children and young people. The aim of Dundee Rep's SPARK project was to creatively engage with pupils and teachers in schools situated in difficult socio-economic locations, working with them to enhance and improve levels of confidence, teamwork and communication.
The theme for SPARK 2010 was Scottish myths and legends, and over a period of six-weeks the artistic team worked with classes from three local primary schools, creating twelve mini-performances.
The four classes that I worked with used drama and scottish song to explore tales about the mysterious finfolk of Orkney. They invented characters, physicalised stories, wrote lyrics, discovered rhythms, and learned original three-part songs, with support from me, musician Sarah Harrop, and their class teachers.
Their performances involved boat rides, island battles, gold coins, mermaid beautifying, beached whales, and even a couple of sea anenomes! They were called:
A Close Tongue Keeps a Safe Head / Primary 4 & Primary 5
The Eynhallow Riddle / Primary 5/6
The Freeing of Eynhallow / Primary 7
The project culminated with a celebratory sharing event on the Rep's main stage, where all the participating schools had the chance to see each other's work. My classes also had the opportunity the day before to share their work in school with the younger classes and an invited audience of parents, giving them a brilliant confidence boost before the main event.
Over 300 P4 - P7 pupils from across Dundee took part in the Celebration event and they all had a fantastic time sharing their creativity with each other. When asked what they had been learning about, one of the quietest P4 girls I worked with bravely shouted out to the whole theatre, "We've been learning not to be shy!"
For more information:
Dundee Rep (Creative Learning)
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