Dundee’s Rep Theatre is transforming primary school children into stars of the stage – and their teachers into directors – as part of a creative learning project.
Inspire is now in its fifth year and sees local pupils performing short plays at the Tay Square theatre as directed by the class teacher, with help from The Rep’s creative learning team.
Education, skills and training facilitator Heather Cassidy says Inspire is about bringing creativity to the heart of the curriculum and also forming a lasting relationship between the children and The Rep.
“Quite often, the children who come here have never been before and it’s going to be the same for their families. So there’s a bit of de-mystifying a building that might seem a little bit intimidating and making them feel welcome,” explains Heather.
“One thing we are very conscious of is making sure that our projects connect to the curriculum and support teachers in their classroom practices.”
Since the start of the year, over 150 pupils from St Luke’s and St Matthew’s, Kingspark, Clepington, Glebelands and Ballumbie primary schools have been hard at work rehearsing their plays ahead of a series of private performances at The Rep this week, the first of which took place yesterday evening.
Heather’s role at The Rep sees her focusing on primary education as well as leading weekly theatre groups for local children aged three to thirteen. She also co-ordinates work experience opportunities.
“A big part of my job is about getting young people into the building, opening up the theatre to them and helping them see that the theatre is about a whole range of different things,” she says. “Inspire is quite a unique opportunity for the children and there is also great development for the teachers too.”
Suitable for pupils in primaries four to seven, Inspire also sees the teachers taking part in a Continued Personal Development training weekend at The Rep in order to help them with their directing skills. Each year, local schools are invited to apply for a place on the project.
Participating classes are provided with a range of scripts professionally-written for their age group and they can choose which they wish to perform. The teachers then direct rehearsals and Heather visits in order to offer support and advice.
Since the Easter holidays, all participating classes have visited The Rep for backstage tours as well as having the opportunity to go on stage. Some also managed to see the recent production of Little Red and the Wolf.
“Each class has a full technical rehearsal with our production team and then the performance in the evening. We always have really good feedback from the pupils,” says Heather.
“There is also a bit of an enterprise element in the project in that each class is given 125 tickets to sell, so they need to decide how much they want to charge, who is going to sell them and they take charge of it all.”
The remaining performances take place tonight and tomorrow evening and are open to invited guests only.
If the children find they enjoy their experience, they have the option of joining one of The Rep’s youth theatre projects.
Lindsey Cummings, P6/7 teacher at Ballumbie Primary says: “Both myself and my class have absolutely loved taking part in the Inspire project this year. The benefits of participating have been innumerable.
“I have seen a real increase in my pupil’s self-confidence as well as stronger relationships being formed between all children. The class look forward to rehearsals every week and particularly enjoy taking part in the warm up and team building games we have been using.”
Lindsey goes on to say there is a real sense of shared purpose and team spirit amongst the children, as they all want to support each other in order to make the show the very best it can be.
She adds: “Although the Inspire project has been a lot of work for all of us, we have enjoyed every second of it and I cannot wait to see the children performing on stage at the Rep. I think I’ll be the proudest teacher in the world!”
