Download Theatre in Education Companies

What is Theatre in Education?
TASK – Read the article and write up in your own words:
 What is Theatre in Education?
 What have you previously experienced as an audience? E.g. recycling?
Was it effective? Why? What did you/others learn? How did they make
it engaging?
 Look at one specific TIE company in the UK and create a factfile on
them. Who are they? What plays do they offer? How are they funded?
Where do they tour? How long have they been running? Etc
 HOW CAN YOU LEARN FROM THEM AS AN EXAMPLE?
 What ideas would you put forward if you had to create a TIE
performance? What message would you be putting across and how
would you make it effective?
This should be hitting criteria for Work Related but also Skills Development and Planning &
Research.
Theatre in Education started as a separate art form and educational activity
in Coventry at the Belgrade Theatre in 1965. A group consisting of actors,
teachers and social workers were brought together to create a community
outreach team.
The outreach team created a project called, Pow Wow who took a group of children and first
introduced them to an actor playing a Cowboy. Later the children were introduced to an actor playing
an Indian kept in a cage as a prisoner by the Cowboy. The children were given information about
both characters and their opposing views in the situation and given the choice of whether or not to
free the Indian. The project had successfully merged theatre and education for the first time.
Theatre in Education has progressed from this point and although it differs from its original form its
primary aim is to use theatre and drama to create a wide range of learning opportunities across the
whole curriculum. TIE companies will take a particular curriculum subject or topic and build a show or
workshop around it. Theatre in education works on a fundamental level because it is interactive
Theatre in Education
In 1965, the Belgrade formed the first ever Theatre in Education (TiE) company, a company
dedicated to using theatrical performance and drama workshops to explore issues of cultural,
social, political and moral significance as part of a free service to schools and the young people
of Coventry. It was a groundbreaking project and word soon spread to other UK theatres and
beyond. To this day it is an ongoing international success story, which continues to benefit
millions of young people all over the world. A history of TiE at the Belgrade Theatre
called Theatre in Education: Building on our Heritage outlines the history of TiE at the
Belgrade from the 1960s to the present day, and is available as a free download on the left hand
side of this page.
The Belgrade’s heritage continues to inspire the theatre’s current programme of work. The TiE
programme is much smaller than it once was, but giving young people and minority groups the
opportunity to build their confidence and to develop their own voices, whether as young artists or
active citizens, remains at the heart of all the theatre’s community and education work.
The Belgrade currently runs one TiE project on an annual basis, Big School, a project about
transition from Primary to Secondary school. The theatre is open to developing new projects on
request, and was recently commissioned by the Minority Groups Support Services of the Local
Authority to create The First Time I Saw Snow to support schools in their handling of the arrival
of large numbers of pupils from new incoming communities in the north of the city.
All the shows Act On Info produce, even the ones to larger groups, involve audience participation on
some level and this encourages an emotional connection to the work, making it more memorable. As
well as learning about subjects and issues through drama by participating the pupils are also
developing other social and interactive skills such as communication, public speaking, negotiation,
awareness of themselves and others, teamwork, improved concentration, and self confidence.
“One of the most memorable workshops we ever did was an anti-bullying workshop with a Yr 5 class.
One small boy stayed silent at first but during the hot seating he joined in heartily. He even got up
and played one of the roles, brilliantly defending the ‘victim’. His teacher was amazed and afterwards
we learned the pupil had not spoken in class since his mum had passed away six weeks earlier. It
was fantastic knowing that the workshop had not only taught about the subject of bullying, but that it
had brought about such a powerful change in one individual’s life.”
Alison – Act On Info Facilitator
Because we specialise in educational work our performances have been designed with the curriculum
in mind and are always tailored to what is appropriate for a particular Key Stage. There are many
good theatre in education companies around today providing fantastic drama workshops for schools,
please make sure when you book a company that they or any individual facilitator they use has full
public liability insurance and a current CRB or police check.

Adult drama workshops, Anti Bullying, Drama workshops, Health Workshops, Literacy, Play in a day,
PSHE, Road Safety, Shakespeare, Smoking Prevention, Uncategorized
Theatre in Education Companies
UK

2Engage Performing Arts (Chester)

Actionwork TIE

Act on Info (Manchester)

Magic Carpet

Aesops Touring Theatre Company

MakeBelieve Arts (London)

Anna Purna Indian Dance (West Yorkshire)

MOPA Theatre Company (Hertfordshire)

Antic Mind Theatre Company

National Road Safety Show

Arc Theatre (Essex)

Newfound Theatre Company (Manchester &

Barking Dog Theatre Company

Beyond Image Production (Norfolk)

Oily Cart Childrens Theatre

Big Fish Theatre Company

PALS Productions (Leicestershire)

Bigfoot Theatre Company

Paradox Theatre (Somerset)

Big Wheel Theatre Company (London)

Pilot Theatre

Black Cat Theatre (Staffordshire)

The Playhouse

Bounce Theatre (Kingston)

Polka Theatre

Captain Carrot... Field Agent (Peterborough)

Primary Colours (Huddersfield)

C&T (formerly Collar and TIE)

Proper Job Theatre Company (Huddersfield)

Collingwood Learning Solutions Ltd. (West

Quicksilver Theatre
Yorkshire)

Round Midnight

CREW UK Educational workshops

Shakespeare Controversy Theatre Company

The Drum (Midlands)

Small World

Edu-Play Theatre

Solent Peoples Theatre

Entertainment MK (Milton Keynes)

Solomon Theatre

Fat Cat Theatre Company

Squire Theatre (Devon, UK)

Flying Theatre (North Yorkshire)

Freedom Theatre (Bath)

Tag Theatre

Freshwater Theatre Co (South East)

Take-Away Theatre (Scotland)

Futures Theatre Company (London)

Talegate Theatre (Nottingham)

Gibber Training (Newcastle)

Theatre And - Improvement through

Gominglish (UK and Spain)

Hobgoblin Theatre Company (South East)

Theatre Venture

Impact on Learning

Thrift Music Theatre

Jacolly Puppet Theatre (Devon)

TIE Tours

Konflux Theatre in Education (York)

Tiny Giants (Liverpool)

LADA Productions (Lincoln)

TPP Theatrical Productions (Wales)

Lantern Arts Centre (London)

Traffic of the Stage (London)

A Little Bigger Theatre (London)

Two Boards and a Passion (Manchester)

Little Ted Company (North London)

Ubiquity Theatre Company (Birmingham &

London Bus Theatre Company (Essex &
London)
Stage Combat experiences
performance
Germany)
Cornwall)

Warwick Arts Centre

Loud Mouth Educational Theatre Company

Y Touring Theatre Company (London)

Lymelights Ltd. (Lyme Bay, Dorset)

Zeroculture (London)