Stone Soup
Carrie Rooney
Project Co-ordinator
In our continuing series of blogs from our Community Theatre Fellows we join Theatre by the Lake.
“I offered my opinion on peas / Everyone is different no matter how similar they may seem”.
Theatre by the Lake: Stone Soup
Two of the many wonderful quotes to come from the contributors of Theatre by the Lake’s Youth Theatre Group.
Their new project “Stone Soup” inspired by Folk Taleswill see them travelling the Lake District visiting schools and community centres performing from September until the end of October.
The history of the project goes back to February 2013 when Theatre by the Lake brought together the many youth theatre groups they have connected with throughout the Lakes from Cockermouth to Workington.
Jeff Wallcook (Writer & Director Stone Soup) about the Festival
“The feedback from the audience and participants was extremely positive with many of the older youth theatre members expressing a passion for spreading the word of youth engagement in the arts and putting young people in a positive perspective in their communities. They had a desire to take their work out to other young people and to become positive role models and advocates for community involvement was highlighted”
Taking on this mantle Theatre by the Lake successfully applied to the BBC Performing Arts Fund to support their Autumn Tour through our community theatre fund. BBC PAF Board supported their application and the first workshop went ahead on May 05th where the group explored the concept of the piece and its connection to the old folktale “Stone Soup”.
Jeff Wallcook the writer is currently writing the draft script and the group will start rehearsing 11th -21st August. There are many challenges ahead with the sheer scale of the Lake District and the complexities of working with young people in a county with high levels of rural isolation and patchy public transport. We wish the team the best of luck with the rehearsals and look forward to hearing back from them later on in the run.
Quote:What did I learn? That 10:30 is too early to get up.(Teddy)
