In June the Arts Council of Wales announced the withdrawal of its funding for Gwent Theatre at the end of the financial year (March 2011).   Without this funding it will be impossible for the company to provide its theatre in education service to schools in the greater Gwent area. 

We have mounted a campaign to try and persuade ACW to reverse its decision.  You can help by doing one or both of the following:

 For YouTube campaign film ‘Save Gwent Theatre’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9PkcVWJTVc

For Welsh Assembly e-petition

http://www.assemblywales.org/gethome/e-petitions/epetition-list-of-signatories.htm?pet_id=544&prncl_ptnr=George%20Davis-Stewart&clsd_dt=17/11/2010

On the 29^th June the Board of Gwent Theatre reacted with incredulity to the announcement from ACW chairman Dai Smith that Gwent Theatre was one of the casualties in the list of revenue funded arts organisations in . Nearly a week has past and the utter disbelief is still with us.

It is not simply a reduction in ACW funding – it is a complete withdrawal of funding. It will almost certainly spell the end for Gwent Theatre after more than 30 years providing much needed Theatre in Education to the Greater Gwent area. We have served Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Newport and Torfaen, some of these areas with high levels of deprivation. It has taken years to build up good working relations in all these regions.

Large organisations which have suffered cuts may survive but, for a small company like ours, the loss of £250,000 a year probably means winding up. Particularly galling is the fact that in terms of the overall budget the ACW funding for Gwent Theatre is peanuts.

It will mean that our small core company of 6 people: actors, stage manager, educational and administrative staff will all lose their jobs. Some of them have been with the company for twenty or more years and have delivered work of the highest quality throughout our region.

There will also be a significant reduction in employment opportunities for actors, script writers, musicians, poets and story-tellers who will also lose out when the cuts take effect. Gwent Theatre employs up to 40 people in any one year.

But worst of all will be the loss of Theatre in Education fore the pupils and young people in our schools. In 2009 – 2010 Gwent Theatre delivered 220 performances to 14,213 young people in 219 schools. In addition, it held 81 theatre workshops with 2559 participants. And the highly acclaimed Gwent Young People’s Theatre put on seven productions, with 5183 youth theatre attendances and audience figures of 1,794. That is an outstanding delivery of work in a single year.

We believe that our Theatre has established itself as a successful company which takes its excellent work into the schools and communities of Gwent – more than fulfilling ACW’s strategy which puts ‘transformation of experience, individual and communal at its heart.’

The Board of Directors at this stage is at a loss to understand how ACW can have arrived at its decision. We have arranged a meeting with the Council in the middle of this month and we have tabled a number of serious questions for them to consider. We are hoping that the answers to those questions will help us to understand the reasoning behind their decision and what, if any, future there is for Gwent Theatre.

GREGG TAYLOR     (Chairman of the Board)

Contact telephone numbers                          E mail addresses                                

Gwent Theatre       01873 851334                 gwenttie@uwclub.net

Gregg Taylor         01495 764448                  gtaylorqc@btinternet.com

 Gwent Theatre is proud to present Slings and Arrows – a new play by Charles Way. Aimed at 9 to 13 year olds, this dark comedy introduces the major themes of Hamlet, Shakespeare’s greatest play.

 Hamlet for pupils in years 5 - 8 …you must be joking!  No, we're deadly serious.  Shakespeare based his play on a folktale which was well known by children of his time, Ashboy, with its similarities to the Cinderella story.  Gwent Theatre has commissioned the highly successful award-winning playwright Charles Way to re-work the themes of Shakespeare's drama for young audiences.  This is not just a re-telling of the story but a close look at the ideas of deceit, truth and reality.  The company has been working in schools with children exploring their ideas to include within the performance.

 To complement the performance we are offering a Teachers’ Preview Training session. Scheduled to take place at The Drama Centre in Abergavenny on Thursday 22 April from 9.30am to 1pm, this is a unique opportunity for teachers to work more closely with the company and see the production in the rehearsal stage.  It will allow you the opportunity to talk about the work, judge the suitability of the piece for age group and to gain insight into how the performance can fit into your curriculum needs. We are also developing the session into a training opportunity whereby our Education Officer will run a workshop showing how the stimulus of the play can be developed in the classroom.  Practical teaching advice will be given and the resource pack will be available and explained.

Do come along and make your voice heard; we always take account of our 'customer' requirements.  This is a superb (and free!) opportunity for useful INSET which could benefit the whole school.

Our Education Pack- free on booking - is an interactive resource for teachers and pupils. It comes filled with visual stimuli, sound recordings, background material and classroom activities which will enhance the educational experience of the children and afford opportunities for a full range of cross-curricular activities.  It is both thought provoking and great fun!

 For a minimal charge of £2.50 per pupil we can offer

 H      a place on the Teachers’ Preview Training session  at the Drama Centre in Abergavenny on 22 April facilitated by Paul Gibbins

 H      a Performance for up to 100 pupils

 H      Post Performance Discussion and

 H      the Education Pack

Performances will last for approximately 1½ hours, including the discussion session.

We will be touring this new production to schools throughout Gwent from 4 May to 9 July 2010 and are thrilled to be able to offer your pupils the opportunity to find out for themselves whether Hamlet is really mad, or just pretending…. Whether the truth will out… A performance at your school would not only cover a host of curriculum areas but would act as a wonderfully enjoyable introduction to one of the cornerstones of European literature.

Please use the enclosed booking form to let us know how many pupils you wish to see the show (up to a maximum of 100) and to confirm attendance at the Preview Training session. Chris Miller will then be in touch with you to find out about any special requirements you or your pupils may have, to provide any further information you may require and to finalise suitable performance dates and times.

For those schools who wish further to develop their pupils' understanding of Shakespeare and in particular Hamlet, we can visit your school with a Workshop based on the play, its origins and Shakespeare's theatre. A unique opportunity for children to explore a Shakespeare text interactively, this will generate many other classroom activities for the future.  Demand for such workshops is extremely high, so we will have to respond to requests on a first-come, first-served basis. If you want to secure a place please contact us as soon as possible, using the attached form.  The session will last just over an hour and is intended for no more than thirty pupils. The charge is £150

We look forward to seeing you and your pupils

Best wishes

Rachel Dominy

General Manager

 “Fantastic service: long may it continue. Thank you.”

Llandogo Primary, Monmouth 2009

Mantle of the Expert, Second National Conference

Presented by The National Association for the Teaching of Drama and Gwent Theatre

Mantell yr Arbenigwr yng Nghymru

Dysgu creadigol wedi ei ganoli ar y plentyn

Mantle of the Expert in

A child-centred approach to creative learning

Gwent Theatre, Abergavenny,

Monmouthshire,

28 June 2010

9:00 – 16:00

Following the tremendous success of the first MoE conference at Gwent Theatre, we have decided to offer a second opportunity for students, teachers and teacher trainers to benefit from this invaluable training opportunity.

As a part of the National Association for the Teaching of Drama’s network of regional events we are offering a second conference for those who missed last year’s.

The conference workshops will be led by experienced practitioners of the approach (Luke Abbott, Tim Taylor and Iona Towler-Evans) who will guide delegates through the fundamental elements of the Mantle of the Expert, including planning, drama conventions and inquiry.

Some comments from the last MoE conference at Gwent Theatre

Brilliant initiative – want more.

Enjoyed the whole day, it was completely new to me and I have learnt a lot.

It really opened up the possibilities of how to introduce a project and the stages to go through.  Absolutely fab day!

A pleasure to meet such a dedicated team, providing a wonderful method of learning.

An absolute joy to meet, listen to and benefit from the great lady herself.  Motivated? Yes!

Found it really inspirational and look forward to re-writing the planning for my class, to include a whole new opening and REAL child centred learning.  Fantastic.

I will be taking this straight back to the classroom and having a go!  Thank you for some well needed inspiration.

What is moe?

The Mantle of the Expert is a dramatic-inquiry based approach to teaching and learning invented and developed by Professor Dorothy Heathcote at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the 1980’s. The big idea is that the class do all their curriculum work as if they are an imagined group of experts.

They might be scientists in a laboratory or archaeologists excavating a tomb, or a rescue team at the scene of a disaster. They might be running a removal company, or a factory, or a shop, or a space station or a French resistance group.

Because they behave ‘as if they are experts’, the children are working from a specific point of view as they explore their learning and this brings special responsibilities, language needs and social behaviours.

Let us be clear: the children are not putting on a play or running a business. They are simply being asked to agree, for a time, to imagine themselves as a group of scientists, archaeologists or librarians with jobs and responsibilities.

Through activities and tasks, the children gradually take on the same kinds of responsibilities, problems and challenges that real archaeologists, scientists and librarians might do in the real world.

How can moe be used?

Dr Heathcote describes the Mantle of the Expert system as “an approach to the whole curriculum.” The idea is to create an imagined context, for the development of skills, and the acquisition of knowledge.

Through the Mantle of the Expert, children can encounter many aspects of the school curriculum.

For example:

A class of children studying the Tudor period are “framed” as experts in charge of running a Tudor mansion. They prepare exhibits etc. so that school visitors can learn about life in Tudor times.

A group of children are behaving and using signs to create people running a hotel. They have to consider the needs of international visitors. This leads into a number of different areas such as: languages; food; finance; advertising, etc. As their talk develops as though they are the people running the hotel-their language and knowledge need increases.

An older group of students in KS3 are imagining they are responsible French Resistance workers. They are working with the English and Humanities departments as well as the citizenship coordinator in the school. The class are driven to their work as they are to help a group of displaced Jewish refugees across Europe to ‘safety’. The English curriculum as well as the History Geography and Citizenship ones are harnessed by the context. Letters, secret files, reports of exploits from the point of view of the German command, researches into the Simon Wisenthal Trust and so on are thus made possible.

How does moe work?

In the Mantle of the Expert, there is always an “enterprise” to be run. And always a client who needs help with a job needing to be done. The emphasis is on the tasks the children need to do, to make the “enterprise” a success and to serve the needs of the clients.

The system permits the normal school context of class responsibility to change. Instead of the children relying on the teacher’s energy to drive the work and evaluate achievement, teacher and class share the responsibility for the quality of work. Running the enterprise is, like an enterprise in real-life, based in action and processes; thus it generates a range of different tasks: talking, listening, writing, speaking, making, designing, planning, measuring, weighing, etc. These tasks are channelled by the teacher towards the requirements of the school curriculum.

An Example

Trialled and tested at Tanys Dell CP Harlow

The children are running an “enterprise”: a store. They have to consider the needs of all their clients and customers particularly as the context is invented to challenge the abuse of recreational drugs. (One of the people running a section of the store-the teacher in role-is attempting to bring the plight of her son to the attention of the public by distributing leaflets in the store.) The teacher operates from two distinct standpoints-one within the fictional setting-taking various roles to challenge the class further in their learning through imagined experiences. The other standpoint is as teacher of standards and new knowledge, perhaps as a teacher who has seen a misconception occurring that needs reviewing –each standpoint brings with it different possibilities for learning giving teachers new horizons in choosing which pedagogic tools to apply.

Why use moe?

What are the advantages of working this way?

The “enterprise” provides a context for learning. Teachers can bring together different areas of the curriculum, rather than trying to teach them separately. It is ‘drama’ based, so that classes develop ways to ‘see through other eyes’ helping young people develop ownership over their enterprise. They are motivated by the challenge of making their enterprise work.

Provisional Booking Form

Delegate name

School/organisation

Postal address

Phone number

Please advise us of any special requirements (eg access or dietary needs)

All three workshop leaders are close colleagues of Dorothy Heathcote and will offer practical insights into the methodology of Mantle of the Expert.  Each leader will deal with specific areas including classroom practice, preparation and the use of the process as a cross-curricular strategy.  The specific focus of each individual session will be made available to you closer to conference. 

Cost per delegate:      £100 (£60 for students)

(including lunch and refreshments)

Please post booking form to Christine Miller, Gwent Theatre, The Drama Centre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire NP7 5UD  to reserve a place on the conference.

An invoice will be issued to you nearer the date of the event.

Telephone Christine Miller on 01873 853 167

E-mail: gwenttie@uwclub.net

‘MILLY AND THE MINOTAUR’

by Philip Michell

Milly is a very ill girl. A very ill girl indeed. But fortunately she has a Minotaur for a friend. And the best time to have a Minotaur around is when you’re feeling sick as a dog!

Milly and the Minotaur are lost in the Labyrinth and Gran can’t find her way through the hospital corridors during visiting hours! But Milly’s lucky to have a Gran like Gran. She’s silly and she’s rude! ‘She’s the best in the world, I’m telling you now!’ And Gran’s in love with the doctors. All of them!

Milly and the Minotaur is an uplifting tale of a courageous girl and her exciting Grandmother, as Milly battles with her illness. Then, of course there’s the small matter of a Minotaur, the mythical bull-headed beast, who’s escaped from the Labyrinth and likes to eat children for his dinner!

With singing, dancing and knitting a performance of Milly and the Minotaur affords pupils the opportunity to think imaginatively and creatively and to explore the worlds of fantasy, myth and family, offering a wide range of follow-up activities for the classroom.

Although there can be barriers to the promotion of creativity, these can be overcome. First, however, teachers and school leaders have to recognize that the development of creativity in pupils is an essential part of their job, and then an appropriate climate has to be established.

Expecting the unexpected: Developing creativity in Primary and Secondary Schools. (Ofsted HMI 1612)

Gwent Theatre’s new production is designed for 6 - 9 year olds (Key Stage 1/2) and will support and enhance the Speaking and Listening component of the National Curriculum, Creative Writing, Language Development, Art and important elements of PSE.  A performance of the play is followed by discussion with the audience.

An Education Resource Pack offers follow up work with different subject focus. By using the resource pack, pupils can continue to learn from what they see. The various lesson activities encourage the pupils to explore and express their feelings and thoughts about the play and, as a result, have a better understanding of the world in which they live.

 Its subject is the Polish Jew, Janusz Korczak, whose vision in which children structure their own world and become experts in their own matters, sowed the seeds for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  The time is early August 1942 and the Jewish community is confined to the ghetto.  Within the orphanage that Korczak runs he establishes his own form of Utopia, a self-governing republic in which the children set up their own court, council and newspaper.  Greig’s play similarly enables young people to acknowledge and judge their peers.  It suggests that children are capable of dealing with difficult themes if treated with dignity, autonomy and respect.

 The good doctor opens the doors of his already packed home to sixteen year old Adzio whom he has saved from murder from a policeman for stealing a couple of carrots.  Once inside the walls of the democratic orphanage Adzio shows that – toughened and scarred though he is – his inner spirit hasn’t been crushed.  Neither has Dr. Korczak’s, though, as he muses to the young German soldier on nightly guard, he has trained his children for a perfect world.  ‘How will they survive this one?’

 Korczak’s legacy remains enshrined in international law as a basis for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, whose stipulations include the right to play, the right to an education and the right to protest.  He did not specify the right to challenging, inventive and intelligent theatre, but we trust our production of Greig’s play will provide them with that.

 The play’s themes are cross-curricular in nature and will afford much scope for other work specifically in history, RE, and PSE.