Students from Drama Studio London pose while dressed in their pantomime outfits
Students from Drama Studio London pose while dressed in their pantomime outfits

Drama Studio London festive tour reaches over 1,000 local children

Intro

In December, as they do every year, final year students from Drama Studio London, which is part of the University of West London, gave live performances for schools and local people of touring festive productions.

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It’s a huge undertaking and this year, students visited nine primary schools and gave five performances in care and community settings including The Alzheimer’s Society Southwark, Nunhead Green Community Centre, Time & Talent in Rotherhithe and Bluegrove House Care Home.

Eight shows were put on, with a total of 62 performances in schools alone, and an audience of over 1,000 children.

These shows are often the children’s first experience of theatre, and the Drama Studio London team takes great pride in how its performances foster a sense of community. Being face to face with performers enables a direct and genuine communication and has been shown to build speech and language as well as social skills in children. The actors feel encouraged and valued in the process, so there’s certainly a lot going on behind the storytelling.

After the performance, Gifford Primary in Northolt said:

Thank you to Drama Studio London for putting on a great show, the children got to experience a wonderful example of the magic of theatre.”

Students from Drama Studio London pose while dressed in their pantomime outfits

Drama Studio London has been delivering seasonal shows to the local and wider community for many years, and graduates look back fondly on their part in it. It is also excellent preparation for future work as some DSL graduates can attest.

This season, two alumni, Jon Cobb and Charlotte Gascoyne, were in the cast of Stick Man in London’s West End. And 2005 DSL graduates, husband and wife team Rachel McPhee and Robert K Benson, brought Panto to New York in December with Sleeping Beauty on the Lower East Side.

Pantomimes and seasonal performances are a fun and inclusive way to access the arts. If you want to know more about outreach activities at DSL or if you are a teacher or group facilitator with a group that might be interested, please get in touch to talk about what we can offer.

 

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