January 2021

We're excited to announce a new interactive children’s theatre project “Pete Stays Home”.

The play, adapted by Renata Allen from a book by Banbury based author Karra McFarlane  explores the theme of lockdown through the story of young bear, ‘Pete’ who has to hibernate in his cave to stay safe through the winter. He misses his Grandparents, his friends and going to school.

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The book is a brilliant way of getting children to express their feelings about lockdown without actually asking them to relive their own experiences and we are working alongside teachers, children and young people to develop this project for local schools in the Spring.

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Year 1 children will receive 3 online workshops prior to the performance. The workshops will be developed and delivered with performing arts students from Banbury & Bicester College, featuring a section of the story each week and fun tasks for children to complete including creative writing, art and music activities, which they can share with the actors when the show pops up in playgrounds, once restrictions lift.

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We're planning to provide a number of free outdoor public performances too, with details TBC in line with government guidance.

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Supported by

St Michaels Charities, The Split Infinite Trust, Project Spark

December 2020

We've wrapped filming on our E Safety film "Do You Accept?" 

This project was previously titled "The Web" and we've worked online with groups of young people since October to re-imagine our 2017 play as a film with animated elements.​

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In December, we worked with performing arts and media students at Banbury College, who took on voice over and technical roles in our two week shoot, working alongside professional actors and our creative team to bring the project to life.

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Activate Learning at Banbury College have been wonderful partners once again, providing their green screen studio, equipment and technical support.

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We'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has made this project possible at this difficult time, and we're looking forward to a socially distanced premiere event in the spring, before the film and live online workshops are disseminated to schools.

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November 2020

Our Park Rangers Sophie and Emily (or Ranger Jackson and Ranger Stevens) have been out and about this month, visiting local Banbury schools with fantastic outdoor learning workshops for year 4 students.

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This initiative, funded by Cherwell District Council's Community Nature Plan, The H D H Will Charitable Trust and The Pye Charitable Settlement encourages young people to consider the effects of climate change on biodiversity and our local areas and to take responsibility for their school's carbon footprint, creating their own environmental campaigns.

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The workshop featured drama games, forest school activities, songs and puppetry and was enjoyed outdoors by year 4 classes at Hill View school this month. We're very excited to bring our Rangers out to more local schools in 2021!

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DO THE SOLUTION, NOT THE POLLUTION!

October 2020

We have received support from Thames Valley Police, Arts Council England, Oxfordshire Community Foundation and Cherwell District Council to adapt our 2017 E Safety play 'The Web' into a film this winter.

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The film will be disseminated to Cherwell primary schools, with accompanying online workshops led by actor-facilitators in Spring 2021.

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The first phase of our project however, took place in October half term. Young people aged 11+ joined us online over half term to work with 4 actors, a playwright, director, sound designer and animator to reimagine our script for 2020 and we later performed rehearsed readings for 2 Cherwell Schools over Zoom.

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Though filming dates have had to be postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions, our R&D phase was a great success, the script is in re-development and we look forward to completing the production soon.

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The film will be disseminated to Cherwell schools with free live workshops in March 2021.

June 2020

Having undertaken a research and development process exploring online drama workshops with young people in May, our weekly workshops are now up and running and we're having a huge amount of fun!

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Thanks to a generous advertising grant from Oxfordshire station JACK FM, we embarked on a fun project in June, creating and recording 8 radio adverts, which will be broadcast over 100 times on JACK FM in June and July.

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The adverts were produced with support from Adrian Banks, who also composed original music. Listen out for our young people on the airwaves over the coming weeks!

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Online workshops supported by...

Coming soon...

We have received support from Cherwell District Council and the Charities Aid Foundation to present a new play for young people 'The Changing Room' by Chris Bush.

This interactive theatre experience will take place at Woodgreen Leisure Centre and is suitable for ages 8+.

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At present, this production has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please check this page for further updates and we will keep you informed:

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Set in and around a swimming pool, The Changing Room follows a group of teenagers full of excitement, impatience and uncertainty. They know change is coming, but not what it'll look like.

This hilarious yet thought provoking production explores transition and the onset of adolescence and will be presented in partnership with North Oxfordshire Music Service choirs and Vibes Fitness cheerleaders! 

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The audience will be guided around "promenade style" in small groups and scenes will take place in changing rooms, fitness studios, on the bowls green, in the outdoor play area, finishing around the outdoor pool itself.

The production will be presented as a 'play in a week' holiday project, directed by Tristan Jackson-Pate and Sophie Beckinsale, with movement direction from Diana Christie and songs and sound design by Daniel Pate.

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We received funding from Arts Council England to continue research and development of our new Dungeons and Dragons inspired play for young people 'Sam and Zoe Vs Evermore".

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The play explores communication in relationships and mental health issues with a light, comedic touch, as our heroes Sam and Zoe battle to save their relationship, with the help of a willing audience.

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We rehearsed at Banbury College between 2-16 March from 12.30pm-8pm each day, and welcomed young people with an interest in fantasy gaming and theatre to join us, dropping in and out of the process, working in collaboration with professional actors, directors, designers, movement and fight directors and an award winning game theatre expert as we explored this new play.

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We were hosted by local comedy club Rock the Atic, Banbury on March 2, where we performed a stand up, sketch comedy and improvisation evening!

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We've been preparing for the event since the start of January, exploring improvisation and comedy in our Monday night workshops. We even had a wonderful professional skills session with Stand Up comedian Alex Farrow, where he helped us craft our own comedy routines, sharing all the tricks of the trade.

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35 people took part in the performance, which was attended by family and friends- the Atic was full to the brim! Not only did we enjoy playing improvisation games with our audience, a whopping 10 young people performed their own stand up routines, which had us rolling in the aisles!

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Thanks indeed to Rock the Atic for making this a unique and special experience for our participants. We're sure we'll return there soon!

February 2020

Over February half term we ran two 'play in a week' style projects at Banbury College.

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In the Shakespeare Sessions, 20 young people explored six different Shakespeare plays practically including 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'Henry V', 'Macbeth' and 'Romeo and Juliet'. The process was led by Artistic Director Tristan Jackson-Pate with actor-facilitator Eloise Secker, and Diana Christie. A variety of approaches to the plays were used, from movement to improvisation, bringing the text to life with young people in the lead. We saw a Macbeth set variously in a zoo, on a rollercoaster and a world war one trench and heard a version of 'To be or not to be' performed in Arabic, sharing our work in the drama studio and at Sophie's Barn at the end of the week.

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"My daughter didn't like Shakespeare until participating in this week"- Parent of participant

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Sophie Beckinsale and Emily Butler led 'The Park Ranger' a week long environmental arts workshop in which ages 7-11 became trainee Rangers, made bird feeders, did some gardening, visited the park, made collages and devised theatre and dance pieces, sharing their wonderful work with family and friends on the Friday.

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This project, generously supported by Cherwell District Council will pop up in primary schools and at local playday events in green spaces this summer- more details to follow soon!

January 2020

We completed another short research and development period for our interactive game theatre piece for young people 'Sam and Zoe Vs Evermore'.

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Writer and CTC Artistic Director Tristan Jackson-Pate worked with actor/writers Jess Lloyd-Jones and Krage Brown on this Dungeons and Dragons inspired comedy, presented in co-production with new offshoot collective 'Butterfingers' at Sophie's Barn.

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The play explores communication in relationships and mental health issues with a light, comedic touch, as our heroes Sam and Zoe battle to save their relationship, with the help of a willing audience.

 The process culminated in the Oxfordshire Theatre Makers 'Emanate' Showcase on 29 January, where we shared our work with an industry audience at the Old Fire Station Theatre. Plans are afoot to tour the play in May 2021, so watch this space!

From Setpember to January we completed an exciting film project with our friends at Let's Play Banbury, who do wonderful work with young people with additional needs.

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Over the weeks participants are creating a short film with lots of dancing, acting and more costume changes than a Lady Gaga Concert!

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We co-hosted a red carpet event at Rock the Atic Banbury in January to premiere this wonderful piece, produced by Fresh-FX. Huge thanks to Diana, Jonny, Tracey and her team of amazing playworkers!

 ‘We had no expectations leading into this project as it’s the first of its kind that we have run at Let’s Play. The young people have responded better than we could ever have anticipated. They arrive every week with a huge smile on their face ready to get to work which is a million miles away from where we started. During the first week our amazing CTC facilitator Diana started with a warm up game as a gentle introduction. The young people seemed self-conscious, nervous, and a little unsure of what to do. Fast forward to week ten; they are in costume, following instructions, confident, focused and having a huge amount of fun.'

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Tracey Owen, Operations Manager, Let’s Play Project

Autumn 2019

Presented in partnership with...

Summer 2019

Last summer CTC undertook a community theatre project involving 35 participants, a professional creative team of 7 and a combined audience of over 1,500.

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Our members came up with the idea of creating an outdoor performance exploring Greek mythology, designed to inspire and bring together communities. Every young person who wanted to get involved in this free activity was encouraged to and participants explored acting; devising; puppetry and costume; assistant stage management and directing.

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In devising ‘Myth’, young people examined classic tales and considered their modern relevance, supported by Artistic Director Tristan Jackson-Pate and Movement Director Emma Webb in classes from April-July. In August, participants were joined by three professional actor/facilitators, stage management and designers and undertook a two week intensive rehearsal process before embarking on a six date community tour.

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“I like the way the actors work with you, it’s not just “I’m an actor, you’re a child”

MYTH Participant

“I think it’s made me a lot more confident because we had to perform to people I’ve never seen before. It’s the first time I’ve done that.”

MYTH Participant

"We particularly like that CTC is so inclusive. The professional actors were such warm friendly and enthusiastic people.  They got on so well with the young people and they were very encouraging, giving gentle nudges to try out new things in a way that empowered people."

Parent of MYTH Participant

“Some of the houses around our village green can seem imposing, and I think we claimed the space. We took it over from the construction crew and made it fun, which we’ve been waiting a long time to do!"

Chair of Residents Association, Heyford Park

This project was funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, Cherwell District Council, The Victoria Wood Foundation, Doris Field Charitable Trust, The Ormonde Foundation, The Lynn Foundation and Bartlett Taylor Trust