Saturday Social

Theatre project for 10 – 14 year olds in partnership with The Octagon Theatre, Bolton. The current cohort comprises children and young people from 14 primary and secondary schools across Bolton. 

Aims

Saturday Social is an additional strand of the Octagon Theatre’s youth theatre offering, providing access to a different age group and set of skills represented by their long standing programming. It is for children and young people interested in acting, theatre craft, getting creative with scripts and making new friends in their free time. Participants work with theatre experts to explore their favourite books and to bring stories to life from the page to the stage, learning acting and directing techniques as they go.

Resources

Workshops take place on Saturday mornings at Bolton School. This is a fully-funded project paid for by the School with places available for young people aged 10 to 14 who meet the School and Theatre’s criteria/are able to demonstrate a particular interest in theatre. The School’s Director of Creative Partnerships works with the Theatre on project recruitment, administration, session design and delivery. The School offers a venue, technical enhancement, set and costume in addition to this.

Impact

The current cohort comprises children and young people from 14 primary and secondary schools across Bolton. The majority of the participants report they have not accessed theatre workshops before. 100% of the group report growth in confidence as a result of participation. Parents and friends of participants provide an audience for sharing sessions and the group receive certificates to celebrate both theatre and character skills gained via the project.

Pupil Involvement

Young people ages 10 to 14, of all genders, from 14 primary and secondary schools across Bolton.

Frequency

A project runs for ten sessions, with some additional dates or longer sessions agreed in advance when working towards performances.