In celebration of our West End season, the Donmar Warehouse launched an exciting new initiative: DONMAR EDUCATION WEEK, placing its education work centre stage through a range of activities engaging directly with students, teachers and adults offering a stimulating and valuable insight into the work taking place both at the Donmar and at Wyndham’s Theatre.
Two hundred participants aged between the age of eight and eighty came together to work on three different projects, centring around the Donmar’s production of TWELFTH NIGHT at Wyndham’s.
TWELVE NIGHTS brought together students aged 16-plus and older members of the community from Age Concern for a series of workshops culminating in a spectacular one-off performance event on the evening of the twelfth session – a curtain raiser to the Donmar’s production of TWELFTH NIGHT on stage at Wyndham’s. The project supported the delivery of Theatre Studies A Level, BTEC Performing Arts and the National Curriculum English Syllabus at Key Stage 4 and above.
SETTING THE SCENE offered students the opportunity to develop their creative ideas for productions into tangible design concepts. The project had two strands. The first connected with local primary schools, offering students at Key Stage 2 the opportunity to create theatre designs from their own imaginative response to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The project was led by Angela Davies, designer of LIFE IS A DREAM and Education Associate Sophie Watkiss.
The second strand offered post-16 students with a keen interest in art and theatre, the opportunity to develop theatre design skills using HAMLET as their inspiration. Christopher Oram, designer of the West End Season mentored students through the design process. Students participating in both strands of the project exhibited their work at Wyndham’s, as part of DONMAR EDUCATION WEEK.
PLAY THE CRITIC, ran in association with The Mousetrap Foundation offered students a rare opportunity to work with professional theatre critics to enhance their reviewing skills. Students were given the opportunity to watch two Donmar productions: TWELFTH NIGHT at Wyndham’s and BE NEAR ME at the Donmar. Critic Lynn Gardner delivered a masterclass on how to review a play and the participants submitted their own reviews of plays they had seen, including BE NEAR ME at the Donmar.
