The festive production should be a rite of passage for most primary school children, whether it's a traditional nativity, or belting out Mariah around the piano. Too often, however, the task of providing students with these lasting memories often falls to the already over-stretched classroom teacher, who must either find precious time within their ever-busy schedules to pen new productions or raid tight budgets to pay for performance rights to existing shows.
As we're all about the festive spirit here at The Old Vic, we wanted to make this challenging annual task a bit easier. Enter stage left: our brand-new education programme, ‘Primary Play Your Part’.
The scheme
‘Primary Play Your Part’ supports primary schools to produce their own festive shows by providing new playscripts for free to state primary schools (fee-paying schools or schools outside the UK can also take part in the project at a small cost). The scripts have been written specifically for Key Stage 2 primary age students (aged 7-11 years) to perform.
Each commissioned playscript is inspired by themes from The Old Vic's annual production of A Christmas Carol, exploring the idea of ‘the choices we make’. There are 60 speaking roles in each 30-minute script and the plays have been inclusively crafted so that every student involved has a key role in the story and can ‘play their part’ in bringing the production to life.
We launched ‘Primary Play Your Part’ with a pilot programme for schools last year, which proved so successful that for 2024, we're expanding it across the UK and beyond, with two wonderful playscripts on offer. Providing a space within the school calendar for students and teachers to play and be creative is needed now more than ever.
Options for 2024
This year, schools can choose from two playscripts by award-winning writers; The Sweet Life by Sabrina Mahfouz and The Present by Laura Dockrill.
For Dockrill, writing The Present was ‘just a joy.’ She said ‘It's so exciting that The Old Vic is expanding its primary programme and that The Present will be available – for free – to every state primary school across the UK. I kept the schools in my mind the whole time, which made the writing process so much more fun and special. I am so proud to be involved and can't wait to see the characters come to life.’
‘Primary Play Your Part’ aims to teach young people new theatre skills, while also improving their mental health and wellbeing through engagement with the arts. It also strives to nurture and develop a network of creatively confident teachers by providing free access to a range of online resources, comprising a ‘How to put on a show at your school guide’ and four accompanying videos. Developed and created by industry professionals, these online resources are designed to help teachers explore methods and ideas for producing a show within a school environment.
© MANUEL HARLAN
Playing their part: students from Sunnyhill Primary School
The project also offers a free online CPD session, supporting primary teachers in creating a toolkit and skillset for putting on a production. This package is designed to empower primary school teachers with the confidence and skills they need to put on a wonderful festive production that is fun for the students and teachers alike.
What do the students think?
One student who took part in the pilot project last year said that ‘doing the play made me reach beyond the stars and made me confident’, while another called the project ‘the best thing I have ever done’. Some of the feedback we received from teachers included ‘this project has inspired my students to be their true selves and step out of their comfort zone’, and ‘this is the best project I have done with an institution connecting with a school.’
With the current focus on STEM subjects, the arts are often deprioritised within the school day. This project aims to provide high quality, accessible resources to primary schools as a way of re-engaging with the performing arts and planting the seeds of lifelong engagement with theatre and all the joys it brings. It's so exciting for the whole team here to see this project come to fruition, as we work towards The Old Vic's mission to enable anyone to experience, make and benefit from theatre.
To find out more about the project or how to apply visit http://oldvictheatre.com/primary-play-your-part or email primary@oldvictheatre.com