Children's Theatre Project

Anyone that really knows me I have a passion for live theatre, be it as an actor or just as an audience member, so when I saw an article in the local paper about Children’s Theatre Project for Rutland I sat up and took notice.

The idea is give children in Rutland the opportunity to go to the theatre for free. Hopefully this with give them a taste of the theatre and help develop a passion in live drama. The project is funned by the Windmill Trust whose aim is to make accessible to families in and around the county.

The project starts this year year with three free performances, and Saturday morning drama group for children called "Acting Upp" will also be launched soon, in Uppingham for children all over Rutland. However, if this isn't enough, starting next year their will be Rutland Children’s Drama Festival in which children will be encouraged to write, perform, design and direct their own pieces of theatre.

I wish the project every success. I think it is so important that we get children and young people interested in live drama if we are going to keep theatre live and current in this country. Theatre today has such competition from television, film, computer games, and the internet. We need to get children interested in theatre more than ever today.

The project has been started by Alastair McLachlan at Uppingham Theatre. To sign up or for more information e-mail upp.the.arts@uppingham.co.uk or call 01572 820820.