The Regal Youth Company are offering free ten minute drama workshops for anyone to access when schools are closed due to COVID-19. Watch our first Drama Bites now!
projects
At the Root Theatre aims to work with different communities, people and places to bring high quality arts activities to local areas across West Lothian.
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Our projects work at the grassroots in communities to enable participants to express themselves, grow in confidence and have fun.
Blackburn Flyers | May to August 2023
During the Summer in 2023, we collaborated with Community Action Blackburn and M&Bees to provide a creative arts programme for women in Blackburn and the surrounding areas. The regular group usually breaks over Summer, however, we were approached by Liz and Lisa from Community Action Blackburn to provide a creative programme on a Wednesday afternoon throughout Summer.
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Delivered by Martine Browne through M&Bees, we sang, danced, crocheted, quizzed, bingo'd and much, much more. The programme aimed to tackle isolation, nurture creativity and promote positive mental wellbeing. We wanted to create a space where the women could laugh, speak to each other and make memories.
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'Every week Martine came in, we had such a good laugh. My jaws were aching from all the laughter and smiles.'
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'It has been such a great Summer - Martine is a ball of energy and we just absolutely love her.'
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The project ended with a meal for the ladies at the Cairn Hotel in Blackburn where they enjoyed delicious starters, mains and a dessert. We are looking forward to working with the ladies and Community Action Blackburn again in the future.
How to Make a Good Friend | November 2022
Our How to Make a Good Friend project in partnership with Kirknewton Primary School was a series of anti-bullying workshops. This theatre in education project aimed to create a safe space for primary school children to have a conversation about bullying, the effects of bullying and the different forms bullying can take.
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In this workshop, the pupils met TIMBL-Bot again, who they had to programme to be a good friend. The workshops were tailor made to suit different age ranges - early years workshops were about emotions and feelings while the upper primary school years explored the different forms that bullying can take and who we should tell.
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'Matthew was a pleasure to have in our school. The content of the workshops was informative, relevant and met the needs of our pupils. All of our children enjoyed and engaged in the experience. They all talked positively about what they had learned and were able to explain where how to use what they had learned with their experiences within school.'
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You can book How to Make a Good Friend workshops for your school by emailing info@attheroottheatre.com. Costs vary and are dependant on class size, workshop length and how many classes your school has participating.
Online Safety | October - December 2021
Our Online Safety project in partnership with S.M.I.L.E. Counselling and Reconnect Regal Theatre engaged over 200 children in the Bathgate area and educated them on how to be safe on the internet, and why. We ran school workshops in Balbardie Primary School and St Mary's Primary School in Bathgate alongside a free six week workshop programme at the Regal Theatre in Bathgate.
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The school and community workshops both focused on raising awareness about the dangers of the internet, the importance of keeping safe and who to tell if it goes wrong. At the Root was the creative lead on the project and worked in collaboration with theatre practitioners Kate Stephenson, Lisa McDonald and Becca Lamont. Kate Stephenson delivered our school workshops while Lisa McDonald and Becca Lamont delivered our evening programme.
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Our school workshops followed the story of a group of kids exploring the internet for the first time and coming across their new best friend, TIMBL-Bot. However, their new best friend isn't what they seem as TIMBL-Bot is seeking to destroy the internet. The workshop taught children to tell an adult if something goes wrong when searching the internet, to understand that not everyone is who they say they are online and to understand the dangers of online.
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Our evening workshops were treated to a visit by S.M.I.LE. Counselling who facilitated a workshop based on their picture book, My Monster. The book teaches children what counselling is and explore emotions and feelings.
New Territories | 2018
Funded by the Scottish Government’s CashBack for Creativity Targeted Fund, New Territory was a partnership project between Youth Theatre Arts Scotland, Toonspeak Young People’s Theatre and Ignite Theatre delivered across Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire and West Lothian.
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The project incorporated a wide range of activities, including new and existing weekly drama sessions (Toonspeak), summer projects (Ignite) and Young Arts Leaders bespoke training and mentoring (YTAS) all located in regions which are ‘new territory’ for the partners.
The project was funded by the Scottish Government’s CashBack for Communities programme, via Creative Scotland, with activity targeted in key areas of multiple deprivation across Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, West Lothian, Stirling, Clackmannanshire and South Ayrshire. All activities were provided for free in areas with a high concentration of SIMD 20% postcodes. As such 422 participants came from 0-20% SIMD postcodes (55% of the total). Only 17.7% of participants came from above 50% SIMD postcodes.
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At the Root Theatre was one of the groups partnering with YTAS in the project. Our three young people - Emilie-Jane, Nikita and Ryan - developed new skills, learned how to be a workshop leader and completed some ambitious projects including a short film, a music gig and a Christmas play.
