In terms of my relationship to the theatre and performing arts I am a keen audience member as well as a theorist. I have a strong belief that theatre can be used not only as entertainment but also as a form of education and therapy. In my third year of my BA I did a lot of work on T.I.E and formed a group which toured schools for a term, we had a great deal of success with this project which aimed to use theatre as a tool to teach the curriculum, but also I think it had the effect of making theatre more accessible to children, some of whom had never had any theatrical experience. As a theatre lover the accessibility of the theatre is a great concern to me, however through community and school based projects this is becoming less of a problem. For example, this online community can be accessed by anyone to share views and chat about the latest discourse within the theatre world. However, is there more we can do to break the conceptions of theatre as a more upper-class trend? What do you think?

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Comment by Edward Llewelyn on October 26, 2009 at 2:05
Hi Kirsty, for starters congratulations on the tour and getting theatre to the masses. I think it starts within the schools themselves. From my experience when I was in school during English classes we had to learn about Shakespeare, now I am a big fan of Shakespeare, however the way it is taught is not through action but by sitting down and reading it which is why & I think this is where the boredom & upper class thought of theatre comes from. Now having had years of experience of theatre I know that this is not the way of teaching it. It needs to be up on it's feet & fun with the students realising that it is as relevant today as it was 500 years ago. This is a small component to the theatre cannon but where a lot of students get the preconception that this is what theatre is dull & incomprehensible & thus they believe that this is true of all of it. I think that one of the disadvantages of theatre compared to say the cinema is that it doesn't have trailers. Now I am a big fan of trailers & believe that showing clips of theatre or extracts of a play can entice audiences perhaps even on this site (or perhaps film a clip on location to show a tense scene or an action hot i.e. sword fight) It is another form of entertainment to the masses just not as noticeable which must change.
Comment by Tracy Evans on October 25, 2009 at 10:30
I think school children and students really need an experience of theatre to get them passionate, as Sybil says- the classics done really well, not just the classics done because the audeince is there in the schools.

I also think that students need to meet real theatre artists. Paul Davies from Volcano theatre company went into Neath Port Talbot College in September for a week and completely blew these 16/17 year olds' minds open as to what theatre can be....
Comment by Matt the Hat on October 21, 2009 at 23:29
I think there is lots to do in breaking the conceptions of what theatre is and can be in all of its many forms to all of it's audiences. Is cost an issue? I would like to know the thoughts and ideas of our online community on what they think the preconceptions and barriers are that stop people attending theatre.
Comment by Sybil Crouch on October 20, 2009 at 23:11
Many people have been introduced to theatre via the "school trip". Sadly the need for parents to bear the costs and for schools to find the cost of cover for daytime performances, it is only a minority of schools who attend. (Less true of primary schools where there is a bit less pressure from the curriculum). Given the financial & operational difficulties faced by teachers in organising a visit to the theatre it is even more important that they are offered productions which tie in directly to the curriculum. There is a major lack of exciting & innovative productions of "set texts" in Wales. I would kill to be able to present Frantic Assembly's wonderful Othello for example. Whilst we want young people to angage with theatre (and all the arts) as individuals - the reality is that for most - attending with their mates as part of a school or college trip will be the way in to a love of theatre. Please please can we have some heart stopping productions of "the classics" to bring in the young people via this important route.
Comment by Elise Davison on October 20, 2009 at 11:05
Breaking down barriers to participation in the arts is at the heart of our company Taking Flight Theatre - I really must create a group for us on here - in the mean time check out our website www.takingflighttheatre.com.
We can break down the barriers but it's not easy, and attracting the 'holy grail' of theatre - the 16 -25 yr olds will always be hard but if we all keep plugging away and creating exciting new and challenging theatre things can only get better.
All our performances are supported with BSL, wheelchair accessible and we always offer a 'touch tour'. We are working on providing Audio description for all our shows - but as they are mainly outdoor productions this has proved a little tricky so far but we will keep trying! We also try to keep cost down to encourage families and those on a lower income.

An issue close to my heart...

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