Team Locals

The ever-popular New Theatre Royal Summer Schools are back this year, with three separate events for kids to get stuck into. All the Summer Schools take place on the stage of the New Theatre Royal and all involve a performance at the end of the week. They give the young people a wonderful opportunity to work with professionals in the world of dance and drama.

The first summer school runs Monday 23 July – Friday 27 and is for ages 7-11. This exciting week-long theatre school will allow the children to learn great new skills using drama through exercises, games, devising stories and physical theatre. This course will be led by Emma Patchett from Highbury College. The children will create their own story and perform it on the stage of the New Theatre Royal at the end of the week for family and friends.

The next summer school, starting 30 July for one week, is again for ages 7-11. This dance school will be taught by Jamie Roberts, co-founder of contemporary dance group Jam Jar. Jamie has recently worked with a group of young Portsmouth people in creating a dance piece to take out to Duisburg, Germany, for an international arts camp. This class will be an opportunity for children to learn lots of different dance styles and how to choreograph their own performance. The final performance is always a wonderfully enjoyable event.

The final summer school, with Highbury College’s Feleena Elkington, begins on 6 August, and is for ages 12-17. This theatre school is all about creating a new children’s show from scratch, and is open to anyone interested in acting, stage design, scriptwriting or lighting and sound. It will be hard work but great fun! This time the final performance will include an invited audience of children as well as the family and friends of the participants

Each theatre school is £60 for the week.

More information can be found on the theatre website here

-Photo credit to Mike Cooter of Make Light Work Limited