Warwick's Playbox Theatre inviting families to take part in 'The Playbox Banquet'

Warwick's Playbox Theatre is inviting young people and their families to take part in ‘The Playbox Banquet’.

From Monday January 25 to Saturday February 20, the creative team and special guests will be creating a series of online events, to keep people 'curious, inventive, and challenged', in the days and weeks ahead.

According to the team, the thinking behind providing a theatre ‘banquet’ menu reflects the Playbox Theatre’s concern for the health and well-being of children and young people during this third lockdown.

With schools closed and many children experiencing a more isolated form of learning, Playbox said that 'now, perhaps more than ever, the creative arts and live participation is needed to maintain a sense of well-being and aspiration beyond the pandemic.'

At The Dream Factory in Stratford Road in Warwick, every performance and workshop space (even the Dressing Rooms) has been recommissioned as a televisual studio, for the making of both live, and recorded, programmes for The Banquet.

Creative practitioners within the company, are being supported by actors, directors, agents, writer, producers and alumni, as well as our current members, to develop the menu of work.

Some of the events on offer include:

~ Playbox Dreamtime nightly storytelling

~ Blank-Shift creative writing masterclass

~ TV career Q&A with Jo Joyner

~ Preparing for stage combat – physical training with Liam Bessell

~ The North Pole – interactive Zoom theatre performance

~ Drama School audition and career advice

~ Participatory workshops for all ages

~ Q&A with Ellie Cahill-Nicolls from Noel Gay Casting

~ The Playbox Banquet commences on Monday 25th January.

A spokesperson from Playbox said: "During the previous lockdowns Playbox developed an online range of work for all ages and this third closure of in-person participation continues to challenge both the mental, and physical, well-being of the young.

"Playbox Theatre’s plan is to maintain the online content after restrictions ease and The Dream Factory reopens, so as to provide a resource for any young people who are unable to return straight away.

"Plans are well advanced for a season of staged projects and productions, to go into rehearsal as the restrictions are lifted, with reinvented classical drama, new commissions and an outdoor season.

"We await the green light alongside the rest of the community, knowing that it is vital to maintain and extend all offerings for the young during this particularly difficult time."