Playhouse Cymru 2022-23 Project Final Report

Earlier this year, Theatr Iolo worked alongside The Riverfront to give three schools in Newport and Torfaen the chance to take part in Playhouse, a UK wide project that supports teachers to direct a play for their whole class and perform it a local theatre.

Playhouse is a unique project as the UK partners (Theatre Royal Plymouth, York Theatre Royal and Theatr Iolo) work together to commission well known playwrights to write short plays for a cast of up to 30, especially for young people between the ages of 9 and 11 years old. In addition to this, Playhouse Cymru, which is run by Theatr Iolo, also commissions new plays in the Welsh language and the translation of existing plays in the back catalogue for Welsh medium schools.

The project began in March 2023, when the participating teachers were invited to a Writers Workshop that was held over Zoom. This digital event gave teachers across the UK an opportunity to meet the playwrights and come together to discover more about the plays. It was a really fun day and there were lots of questions from all the teachers to keep the playwrights on their toes!

The following month, teachers in Wales met in person at The Riverfront for a CPD workshop aimed at helping them to develop their directing skills and how to get the best out of a large cast of young people. It’s fair to say that there was a little apprehension on this day from those schools new to the project, but any concerns melted away once they’d got to know Danielle from The Riverfront, Aled from Theatr Iolo and the wonderful project lead and facilitator Kira, who would be helping to guide the teachers and children through the project. By the end of the day there was lots of excitement about returning to the classroom to get started with rehearsals. Now the hard work was about to begin, but the teachers were ready for anything!

 The summer term was a busy one for participating schools, with lots of rehearsals, costume preparation, and phone calls with Kira to see how everything was going. Kira also popped into each of the schools for half a day to see how they were getting on and provide additional support where needed.   

In June, we invited the teachers back to The Riverfront for a backstage tour, time on the main stage and a final chat about the project before the big day. We found this really helped teachers get their bearings and feel fully prepared and confident in advance of the performances.

July 2023 and the big day had finally arrived! All that hard work and preparation was about to pay off, as the teachers and children arrived at The Riverfront to perform their play to family and friends. There was a lot of nervous excitement (from children and teachers alike!), but the day went smoothly as the schools were guided through a technical rehearsal and a dress rehearsal. At this point we must give a huge shout out to the wonderful technical team at The Riverfront who gently helped the schools to prepare and made all that special ‘theatre magic’ a reality for them. During the rehearsals we also bought in a professional photographer and videographer to capture their day and create a lasting memory of the project. For some children in year 6, the project also marked their last primary school performance so was particularly special.

Fast forward a few hours and we were ready for the final performances! Costumes were donned, lights were dimmed, and positions were taken. The audience of family and friends made their way into the auditorium and got ready to experience what the young people (and teachers of course!) had been working so hard for the last few months. Every single child involved in the project gave it their absolute best and all three performances were outstanding. Big rounds of applause and a few happy tears and suddenly it was all over for another year!

Playhouse Cymru is one of our favourite moments of the year. Why, you ask? For us, there is nothing more wonderful that seeing a group of young people and their teachers working together to overcome the challenges of putting on a play at a professional theatre. The project gives them so many opportunities to grow in confidence and develop new skills.

And on that note, it feels fitting to end with these lovely quotes from some of the young people who took part…

“I’ve grown so much throughout year 6, and I was really worried about going on stage and forgetting my lines, but when I got on stage it felt really good”

“I have become confident, and it felt good to be part of [Playhouse]. Everyone worked well as a team. I am very proud of our class.”