Project: Workshops and a new free immersive show and installation: ‘The Fairy Tale Forest’, at Thorngrove Garden Centre Gillingham in Dec 2022. Will involve disabled participants, students and volunteers.
Grant: £4,500
Area of benefit: Gillingham
We carried out five weekly workshops with students and staff from Employ My Ability (EMA). The workshops involved creating props and costumes for the production, writing a song, rehearsing choreography, and producing characters for the performances.
We also carried out four evening workshops with community volunteers to upskill them in performance, create costumes, singing, and costume design.
We engaged the services of a professional musician and theatre maker, Mark Stevenson, to come to work with EMA to create an original song which was then mixed and recorded as well as sung live in the performances.
Professional designer, Tish Mantripp, carried out making workshops at EMA guiding the students and staff to create their own:
There were 15 public performances of The Fairy Tale Forest, each lasting between 60 to 90 minutes long. At every performance we had participants including members of staff from Thorngrove, students and day service users from EMA and community volunteers from Gillingham and the surrounding areas.
Five inclusive creative workshops were delivered with 25 students and day service users at EMA with learning disabilities and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
We employed 11 freelancers and ten community volunteers, aged between 14 and 76, performing in the forest whom we carried out four evening drama workshops with.
Five people from the community volunteered to make decorative craft items for the forest.
Over 1800 people of all ages visited the Fairy Tale Forest.
Half of the Christmas trees used were given to local people who came to collect them in time for Christmas once the de-rig of the forest commenced on 22 December.
Much of the material used for the forest such as toadstool logs, woodchip and willow was repurposed / reused.
We worked closely with staff and students and day service users at EMA to ensure that the project was accessible for both participants and audiences.
Song sheets were produced with large text and “InPrint” pictorial symbols to aid learning for participants.
Participants from EMA represent disabilities including:
and all were able to participate.
BSL and Makaton signs were incorporated into the dance choreography. All the pathways in the forest were tested for wheelchair accessibility.
Further information on the project can be found at The Fairy Tale Forest – Angel Exit Theatre webpage.
"So much time and effort was put into this wonderful event. Every detail was appreciated, and I take my hat off to everyone that made it possible. It looked stunning. Brilliant entertainment and magical memories my boys and I will always have." Audience member, The Spring.
