Tuesday 4 August 2015

Harold Hill Poetry Week

Over the course of a week the Multi Story Theatre Company worked in seven Romford Primary schools with a variety of year groups. Hillene, Broadford, Pyrgo and Mead Primary, along with Brookside and St Ursula's Infants and St Ursula's Juniors all took part in the Poetry Week celebration.

The ambition for the week was to engage the children in the joy of speaking poetry out loud: how do the words sound and feel as they're spoken, where does the poem connect with you - head, heart or body?

One of the joys of the week was seeing how the children responded to a challenging collection of poems. W.H.Auden with 10 Year olds? Amy Lowell with 8 year olds? You bet! Several of Carol Ann Duffy's poems were featured and these bought out the best in every age group.In fact, the more complex and challenging the poem, the more mature the response.

"As theatre practitioners and workshop leaders we can honestly say that leading these Poetry and Performance workshop weeks is one of the most satisfying experiences of the year. It's really moving  to watch the quality of their understanding of the world developing through their engagement with poetic language. It is also so pleasing to see a group of schools working together to champion the performing arts and use them to inspire the children!" 
Bill Buffery - Multi Story Theatre Company

In the finale performance, all of the pupils joined together to perform AA Milne's poem 'Sneezles'.

"As a cluster we offer the pupils a wide range of opportunities to showcase their skills and talents: poetry, spelling, sports and maths. Seeing them all collaborate and enjoy the language of some great poems was a real joy. To also share that with parents from all seven schools made the event even more memorable".
Malcolm Drakes - Broadford Primary

"Our poem was 'Begged' by Carol Ann Duffy. It was great fun to read it out loud as it was packed with tricky rhymes, alliteration and twists. I did feel nervous, but I loved the performance and want to do it again."
Ruby Burchell - Broadford Primary












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