Snow Queen was the most popular in a show of Hans!
freedom and can be current.
“Creating something new and different enables us to create it for the actors who are playing it. There’s a collaborative process of having the composer, the author, the choreographer and myself, the director, all in a room and then being able literally to bounce off the talents of the actors we’ve got.
“My driving force always begins with entertaining people. I want them to go out from the show and say they had a brilliant afternoon, they’ve laughed, they’ve cried, they’ve danced, they’ve sung – that’s the primary goal. If it encourages them to go and see more theatre, for children to nag their parents and for parents to realise they can take their children to the theatre, that’s brilliant as well. There are other underlying messages in the story and if they sink in then even better.”
The Old Rep Christmas productions are popular with schools and Alec believes they may be the first time some children have seen a live piece of theatre.
“Because we try to keep our prices as low as we can and because we’re a city centre theatre, for a lot of kids it’s their only experience of theatre. It’s one of the reasons I don’t put in traditional gags - because they don’t actually know them. They wouldn’t know to shout ‘it’s behind you’ because so many of them have never stepped into a theatre before.
“Our outreach programme, our location and the ability to get the kids there is incredibly important as it may be the first and only time they get to see theatre.”
Schools which book more than 150 tickets also have an opportunity to request a workshop from the academy’s outreach team – which means the children know a bit of the show beforehand.
BOA learning and participation officer Sam George explains: “We have this huge outreach programme that we run as part of the Christmas show. Last year I delivered introductory workshops to dancing, singing and acting to about 1,000 young people in primary schools across the West Midlands. And this year we’ve got even more than that lined up.
“It’s partly about getting the kids excited for the show so we’ll teach them a little bit of one of the songs and the routines and then when those kids come into the theatre and hear that song they sing and dance along – it’s wonderful to see.
“But more than that, it’s often about giving young people an experience in the arts that most of the year round they don’t get. At most schools it can be very hard to find room for the arts in young people’s education. To be able to go out and give young people a bit of a taste of performing is really exciting.”
The production is also a learning experience for the BOA students taking part. All the young actors undergo an audition process and then meet a demanding rehearsal and performance schedule totalling ten weeks.
BOA executive principal and CEO Gaynor Cheshire says: “This is a real-life experience of working with a professional creative team and being part of a cast with professional actors. It’s not a school show, it is real theatre with a paying audience.
“If this is what the young people want to do as a career then they are experiencing it and understanding the commitment that’s involved in doing two shows a day for weeks. They are giving up their half term holiday and being at rehearsal from 10am to 6pm so they know what commitment it needs.
“And it’s not just actors. You can be involved if you are a performer, or if you are part of the broadcast team as you can be filming it and making a documentary, you could be doing the marketing or the digital marketing side, you could be involved in the technical side or lighting. For us, it’s the whole process and the opportunities it gives to young people across the whole academy.”
The Snow Queen is at The Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham, until December 30. For tickets see www.oldreptheatre.co.uk or call 0121 359 9444.