About Ensemble's Education work

We offer workshops and post show discussions alongside all our performance work, together with a free Education Pack.

Ongoing education work:

Collaborative painting workshops

Developed by Richard Aylwin

These whole day, text inspired, collaborative painting workshops will be offered alongside our forthcoming production, Souvenir d'Anne Frank. The workshops can be adapted to meet different ages and abilities, exploring participants' creativity through their engagement with different themes and ideas. In the Souvenir d'Anne Frank workshops, we will be using both text and music from the piece as a stimulus. At the end of the workshop, participants will create a poem inspired by their own their collaboratively painted canvas.

The Education Pack for this project will be written in partnership with the Anne Frank Trust UK, who will also be working with us to deliver heritage projects/exhibitions, in the communities where we perform the show.

Practical workshops on the Theatre of Bertolt Brecht

Developed by Elizabeth Mansfield

Originally offered to schools in Spelthorne, and funded by Spelthorne Borough Council, in association with performances of The Uninvited. These workshops continue to accompany this production, most recently at Westfield Community School, Yeovil.

Workshops about Brecht, for students aged 14+ at GCSE, AS/A2 level and National Diploma also accompanied Ay Carmela! and Portraits in Song. A CD of this show is available

Previous work:

Drumming, singing and storytelling workshops for children followed performances of The Greatest Drummer in the World. A CD of this show is available.

Creative writing workshops were offered to older students and adults in association with A Cloud in Trousers.

Writing and performance workshops were held in HMP Bronzefield (Women's prison) over a one month period, following a performance in the prison of The Uninvited. The women developed their own stories, songs and poems, together with theatre and voice skills and presented their own piece, Roll with the Journey, to other prisoners, at the workshops' end.

Feedback from previous performances and workshops:

“All of the pupils enjoyed the performance immensely. It was fantastic that they got to see a piece of theatre that is totally different to what they are used to, and the experience opened their minds to new possibilities within the theatre. The day was very beneficial. The performance was completely Brechtian giving the teacher a great foundation to work on with the pupils, after the visit.”

Cornwallis Academy, Maidstone

“The workshops were excellent! The young people were absolutely full of it, saying how amazing it was and how much they were learning. It was a wonderful experience for them and has given them a new lease of life for creating drama in their lessons. ”

Thamesmead School, Shepperton