On Monday 20th December we finished our Down To Earth project with A Rocha UK at Clapham Manor Primary School. We have travelled to 8 schools in all on this project: Featherstone Primary School, Hayes, North Primary School, Southall, Blair Peach Primary School, Ealing, MaCaulay Primary School, Clapham, Jubilee Primary School, Tulse Hill, Fenstanton Primary School, Tulse Hill, Dairy Meadow Primary School, Southall and Clapham Manor Primary School, Clapham. In Clapham Manor we worked with Year 5 rehearsing our scenes for the performance at the end of the day. After lunch we had time to talk about what we were doing in our own lives to help look after the planet. Jenny Greenhouse from A Rocha UK challenged the children not to throw away plastic bags. She explained that the wind can carry them into our seas. They float on the surface of the water and many sea creatures like the Sea Turtle mistake them for jelly fish and eat them. This has the affect of making the animals feel that they are full and so they stop feeding and starve to death. Seeing this connection and how we can be culpable by our actions seemed to hit home to the young people. We challenged everyone to put their passion and desire to help the planet into the performance at the end of the day so that the audience could understand the message too. We had a wonderful audience from reception to year 2 who gave us lots of encouragement and smiles. It was nice to finish our 8 school tour with the full team of Jenny Greenhouse and Pippa Tennent from A Rocha and my good self representing Scene Change Theatre. We have really enjoyed working together and have seen the power of combining drama with environmental issues. One thing that has been very noticeable throughout this tour is the level of knowledge children have on this subject. That bodes well for the future so long as our generation don't damage the earth beyond repair before they get a chance to do anything! We hope to display photo's from each of the 8 venues and will create a photo book as a record of the tour which can be viewed and ordered online. Thank you to CMS and West Hill Endowment Trust for their financial backing and support and to A Rocha UK for a being a great partner organisation in this project.
On Friday 17th December our Down To Earth project went to Dairy Meadow Primary School in Southall. It was the last day of term so we were due to perform at 1.15pm as school finished early. It meant we had 2 hours rehearsal time in the morning, lunch break and then the performance to the whole school. We started the day with a very short warm up and then straight into the workshops. In spite of the time constraint we managed to finish the morning with time to spare. Year 5 worked very well and kept on task throughout. Performing to the whole school is always slightly more daunting than just to a class or two and you always want to be better prepared than you actually feel. In every performance there is always one memorable moment and today it took place in the Museum of Extinct and Endangered Animals Scene. We visit a museum where the children recreate a Californian Condor, an Indian Cobra and Salt Water Crocodiles. The Crocs start by holding a still pose wearing crocodile masks, at which point Elton John's Crocodile Rock kicks in and the Crocodiles start dancing. When the music stops the Crocs resume their original pose. This idea was inspired by an Eddie Izzard sketch where he said that cats that purr are actually drilling. Whenever we take our eyes off them they get their drills out and put their goggles on and drill. Classic Eddie Izzard! In rehearsal the Crocs were very self conscious and didn't really want to do the dance bit, however in performance it was very different! With the whole school watching they got their confidence and stole the show with some very individual and original dance moves. It was interesting that children felt strongly about animals suffering because of climate change and human activity. During the performance one little girl in the audience from year 2 spoke out about the killing of an elephant in the Indian scene. She was shocked that a sacred animal could be shot by someone. I guess if we all lived with this value towards the earth we might not be doing this project. Our Down to Earth/ A Rocha project draws to a conclusion on Monday 20th December at Clapham manor primary school.
On Wednesday we found ourselves just about half a mile up the road from Jubilee School, last weeks project, to be at Fenstanton Primary School. We worked with 3 classes from year 2 which presented a challenge as the Down to Earth project is geared for Key stage 2 (Year 4 to 6). Interestingly the children's knowledge of the subject was impressive and after questioning them about the environment they were not slow in talking about recycling and reusing. After the warm up the classes split into two groups in a face off on the stage. They represent two tribes, one being wasteful and the other grateful. We explain that these two tribes live in all of is. Sometimes we are grateful for the planet and we take care of it, we turn off the lights or pick up litter. On the other hand we can be wasteful throwing wrappers on the floor or leaving lights on. I worked separately with a group of four children who represent the wasteful gang and they are challenged to change their ways or lose the planet. The other children create the other workshop scenes that the gang of four visit in order to make their decision. They go to China to see the pollution caused by industry, to India to see how humans and elephants can live side by side peacefully and finally to a museum of extinct and endangered species to see that humans too are threatened by poor management of the planet. The children put on a stella performance to Year 1 children who looked on in admiration. Well done Year 2! Our next project goes back to Southall to Dairy- Meadow Primary school on Friday.
Last week Down to Earth visited Jubilee Primary School in Tulse Hill. The day was made more interesting, as my twin brother Dan also works in this school, so there was the potential for a bit of misunderstanding. As we introduced ourselves to the children the murmur of "Is it Dan?" could be heard under the whispers. James, Beccy and I then led the children in a warm up to give them some basic principles of working together as a group of performers, whilst at the same time introducing our theme of caring for the environment. One of the skills we try to give to the children is the idea of focusing. The challenge is to stand somewhere in the room facing the front without moving. Some children are naturally able to do this while other find it excruciatingly difficult. The idea of looking at a specific point and focusing on that really helps the more fidgety and this is a skill we also apply to caring for the planet. Unless we are able to focus on reducing our destructive lifestyles then climate change could become irreversible. With lots of other things going on in the life of the school the children were also able to groove this skill practically during the day and eventually by putting into the performance. Thanks to Jubilee school and their teachers for their support throughout a busy day. Photos will be displayed in due cousre. Next week we will be visiting Fenstanton Primary School also in Tulse Hill and then Dairy Meadow Primary in Southall.
Our Down to Earth environmental drama project went to Clapham this week. It was nice to work with a smaller group of just 30 (Year 6) and get to know the children better than if there were 60 to 100. Macaulay School has had every production we have done since 2007 and often we use them as a place to trial our new material. It was nice that this time Down to Earth came having been well and truly run in. At every school we go to there is always something that is memorable. For Macaulay it was the way they worked on creating a rap to find "solutions to stop the pollution" and their delivery of it in the performance. I think it helped that they had already produced raps last year on the subject so they had material to work with. The final group performed their rap and on their last word we all put out our hand to the audience and said "Stop!" In a word we challenged the audience to rethink how they are living on the planet. Our A Rocha team also challenged the children and school to engage with their local environment and encourage wildlife to grow and prosper. They shared with us about an A Rocha project being run in Camberwell where they are creating wildlife friendly gardens in and around an urban estate.
We arrived at the school in good time and was grateful that we didn't need to set up our own projector and screen. More time in the morning is always a bonus! Today we worked with year 2 and 3 and then presented our play to the whole school at the end of the day. The children threw themselves into the Down to Earth play and enjoyed creating the physical images of a polluting factory in China and an Indian village terrorised by a herd of Indian elephants. While normally with years 5 and 6 we encourage and engage in discussion, with year 2 and 3 their learning seemed to be more engaged by entering the actual story. Children couldn't wait to do their part and the challenge for us was trying to focus their energy and enthusiasm when they weren't performing. It was a thoroughly rewarding day for us all and the children were not daunted one bit by performing in front of 400 of their peers. Our next project is on Wednesday in Macaulay School, Clapham.
Today we worked in North Road School, Southall where the children have already been involved in the local Minet Park project. In spite of this the school was still very keen to recruit new members from the year 3 audience to enlist in their after school environmental club. This sense of purpose gave us a focus to make the final performance as good as possible and I don’t think the audience was disappointed. The finale of the play gives the children in the play a chance to explore practical steps they can take to care for the planet. This is presented to the audience in rap form and it always manages to bring out some Stella individual performances. North Primary school did not disappoint! The chorus of the rap is chanted out: “We have a solution to stop the pollution” and then the children share their various solutions. Our next performance goes to Blair Peach Primary school in Southall on Monday 22nd November.
The SCTC/A Rocha team opened the Down to Earth project in Featherstone primary school, Hayes, West London. The format of the day is working with the children on the scenes of the play through workshops and times of discussion. One group shows the contrast in China between, on the one hand its natural beauty and on the other pollution, caused by industrial development. The second group explores the challenge faced by a south Indian village living with the constant threat of elephant raids. This land is actually part of an A Rocha project in India, whose workers discovered that Indian elephants (an endangered species) do not like chili. Soaked chili ropes have helped to keep humans and elephants at a safe distance lessening the risk of elephants destroying crops and people having to kill elephants. Finally the third group creates a museum of extinct and endangered animals with the final exhibit, to the surprise of everyone, being human beings. The Featherstone pupils put on a really good performance, which was made especially memorable, by the gang of four who, in Dickensian fashion, are taken on a journey to visit these 3 scenes in order to decide if they will be grateful in their actions to the planet or wasteful. These children were probably the best we have had all year and made the lines their own. In the end they decide to care for the planet and everyone finishes rapping out ways to care for the planet. Photos will be added in due course. The next project is on Nov 17th in North School, Southall.
Over the last year Scene Change theatre has worked in cathedrals countrywide to explore environmental issues through drama and to find simple and creative ways to care for the planet. This project has given us the opportunity to profile the work of A Rocha UK, based in Southall, who have championed an environmental park called the Minet Park, by regenerating an area of derelict land.
This term we have teamed up with A Rocha workshop leaders to take Down to Earth to schools in two areas where A Rocha are running regeneration projects, One in Southall and the other in Camberwell. While, in the play the schools learn about environmental issues from around the world, this term they will also be challenged to connect locally to A Rocha regeneration projects on their doorstep.
This project will go to 8 schools, four in Southall and four in Lambeth over the next few months. It has been funded by Westhill Endowment, with the support of CMS and will give A Rocha the opportunity to follow up and give young people the tools to be agents of regeneration in their community. To see photos and follow this project click on our Down to Earth blog.
On Thursday scene change theatre visited Worcester Cathedral to work with two schools, St Mary's Kingswinford and Small Heath School from Birmingham. Due to traffic problems we started the day a little late and it meant we had to work faster than normal with the children to catch up. They really rose to the challenge! The play begins with two tribes facing eachother in a stand off. One represents the wasteful parts of our nature towards the earth and the other gang represents the grateful. The Wasteful gang are challenged by a mysterious arbitrator to change their ways or lose the planet. He takes them on a journey to see how China is being polluted by industry that we drive and benefit from. He then shows them a Museum of extinct and endangered animals where they meet a Californian Condor, salt water crocodiles and an India Cobra. The final exhibit, to their surprise, are humans. Will they now change their ways or remain wasteful in their attitudes..... They chose to be grateful and the play finishes with the children performing a rap they have created making pledges to live a more responsible life on the planet. This was possible our last Down to Earth in a Cathedral in 2010. More photos fro the day will follow in the next few days.