Down To Earth

Southwark Cathedral

It was great to return to Southwark Cathedral having brought FREE FOR ALL and WORLD TO RIGHTS in previous years.  Today, we had 80 pupils from Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School in Brixton come to the cathedral to work on DOWN TO EARTH.

Amie and Mike led the children through the workshops and prepared them for the performance in the afternoon.  They seemed to really grasp the importance of the theme and had many creative ideas about how to address the issues of climate change.

The children re-created the Chinese factory mass-producing so much 'stuff' for the west, and also brought to life the animals in the museum of extinct and endangered species with physical theatre.

"We would definitely like to do this workshop again and would recommend it to all schools" - Mrs Jean Connery, Corpus Christi School.

Many thanks to Alex O'Connor, Education Officer for the cathedral who looked after us so well and got stuck in to the action.  We look forward to a return visit in March!  Pictures of the day here.

St Joseph and St Teresa's Catholic Primary School

Our second stop on our tour was Woodlands, near Doncaster.  The school that Mike's children currently attend!  The new Head, Mr Greenwood, welcomed the project into his school and brought over 90 year 5 and 6s for us to work with.  The children came from two sites - St Joseph and St Teresa's in Woodlands and Our Lady's in Bentley.

It was a squeeze to get everyone in the main hall altogether, but with help from teachers and Anita Matthews from CMS who popped in to see us, we got the children in and out quickly with a costume change too!

As a team, we introduced some improvements to the programme and enjoyed the new opening scene coming to life as the children impressed the urgency of climate change to the audience... tick tock, tick tock...

Two Chinese dragons ran onto the stage showing us the culture, colour and life of China - quickly followed by the resources of the earth.  However, the life is quickly gobbled up by the 'Black Dragon' - a polluting factory representing thousands across China.  We are shown the millions of people who work hard producing the products that we consume so mindlessly of the process before purchasing.

Then, the museum of endangered and extinct species shows us how our abuse of the planet is killing animals, and inevitably, ourselves.  A choice is needed now to make a change.  The children finished their performance with their own song of challenges about the way we live and choices we make.

"We've got a solution, to stop the pollution!"

So a massive thank you to all involved - DOWN TO EARTH is shaping up well.  The children of Woodlands and Bentley worked well together, and produced some excellent drama and take away some vivid experiences that will shape the way they make their decisions that affect the environment.

Pictures of the day available here (more following approval)

Day one - Macaulay C of E Primary School

Down To Earth enjoyed its first day in action yesterday at Macaulay C of E Primary School, Clapham.  We had 22 year 6 pupils who tried out the new material and really showed us what they could do.

Together, we explored what climate change is all about, and created three big scenes to show different aspects of the issue.  At the end of the day, the children put on a performance for the rest of the school to enjoy, showing them life in China and the factories that produce all our 'stuff' - then they showed a futuristic museum of endangered and extinct animals which included humans!

The performance finished with a song/rap that the children created, inspiring others to do something positive for the planet.    A big thank you to Matt Parker who helped us throughout the day and encouraged the children to do their best.  Pictures can be found here.