South Street Kids Take Over Sir John Mills Theatre
17 August 2018This week we've been working with Ipswich Community Media to bring a group of local kids to our home at the Sir John Mills Theatre in Ipswich to learn about all things theatre! Jon Tavener led the workshops and has written a blog about what they got up to...
What a week!
On Monday morning Eastern Angles met the South Street Kids and invited them in to the Sir John Mills Theatre for a few days for them to get to know us and for us to get to know them! Ably assisted by Cad Taylor of Ipswich Community Media, along with Soph and Alice, we played games, taught theatre techniques and, over just 3 days, created a brand-new piece of theatre!
It made perfect sense for us to team up. After all, most of the South Street Kids group live within 5 minutes of the theatre, and many of them attend Handford Hall School at the end of the road. It was the neighbourly thing to do!
And we’re so glad we did! They brought their energy, their commitment, and their sheer excitement at being on a stage with lights and sound. All of these things were a joy to behold.
Ensuring we get our young people to attend these groups and workshops that we run, requires real dedication and leg work on our part. We have to go house-by-house, collecting kids and even waking them up sometimes, but we always know this effort is richly rewarded as the kids bring huge energy and enthusiasm to whatever we do, many of the kids have their own personal barriers and financial constraints regarding attendance or committing to projects, which is why we choose these kids in the first place.
Cad Taylor, Ipswich Community Media
It was wonderful to see such energetic young people, not just devising and performing their own work, but jumping in and filling many other roles within the theatre – designing their own tickets for the show, showing people to their seats and giving front of house and box office assistance. The South Street Kids quite literally took over the building for 3 days!
It’s rather quiet in the theatre as I type this. In fact, the silence is deafening…
Here’s to the next time!
Jon Tavener
Theatre & Volunteer Manager
