An important part of theatre for children is that it is a shared experience – shared with their adult carers and their peers. – Jackie Tait (Nationaltheatre.org.uk, 2015)
Jackie is a Primary and Early Years Programme Manager at the National Theatre, the comment above fits alongside a wealth of knowledge that make up part of a digital exhibition available through the google cultural institute. Jackie discusses staging children’s stories at the national theatre and the benefit of theatre that is created for all ages. She uses pantomime as an example of surviving theatre, highlighting the ‘family experience’.
This Christmas (2015) I was provided with the opportunity to take a class of pupils to a local pantomime, a vast majority of children had never visited the theatre before and it was great to see so many of them experiencing theatre for the first time. More impressive was the level of engagement and questioning skills pupils showed during and after the performance, proving that theatre is still an excellent context for learning and thinking about the world.
You can discover more teaching resources at Nationaltheatre.org.uk, including a wealth of strong resource packs that include works by Shakespeare and a brilliant background pack on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The pack goes into further detail discussing the individuality and ‘pointless exercise’ of diagnosing Christopher Boone. If you’d like to find out a little more about the play I have summarised my experience of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in my inspiration blog.
Bright Circle Learning 