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Season's Greetings e Buone Feste from us all at Shakespeare in Italy

Please read about what we've done in 2022 and what we hope the year ahead will bring

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Season's Greetings! Buone Feste a tutti!

It’s been a while since we were last in touch so as we approach the end of 2022 we wanted to tell you about the work we’ve done this year, what we need to continue to run the company successfully and what we would like to do in the year ahead.
To achieve our goals we need your help and support, both in terms of the events, ideas and through donations. For instance, our basic running costs before we do anything including accountants’ fees, insurance, website and support, email hosting and ITC membership are £2.5K.

But more later as to how you can help.

Below is a round up of the year's activities.

In the spring, Collette Parker concluded a programme in W10 funded by Clifford Chance with service users from St Charles’ Mental Health Unit who took part in a Well Written project centred on writing for performance, inspired by our first production A Merchant of Venice at the Playground Theatre in late 2021.

The eight-day summer school in the beautiful Cagli theatre in July was the best attended ever. Director Chris Luscombe led a module on The Comedy of Errors and Vic Sivalingam on Much Ado About Nothing. We plan to hold the next course in early September 2023. The summer school is very important in giving everyone taking part the chance to work with practitioners who are top theatre professionals. We award student bursaries and give The Woodland Trust a generous donation to offset the carbon footprint the school incurs.

The Arts Council awarded us a grant to run our second open air creative arts course for young people in Brighton, Apples and Eyes, plus this year, Wildfest, a free, inclusive open air event for the community to celebrate the arts and the natural world with live performances and workshops.

The young people had a great time acting, making music, filming and making costumes and props focussing on resilience and the principal characters we meet at the start of The Tempest. A short drama / doc is being edited that reflects the time spent together.
Over 3K people came to Wildfest on Saturday October 29th in One Garden, Stanmer Park. It was a wonderfully up beat day with people of all ages enjoying the live music and workshops in perfect autumn weather.

An eight-week programme, O Brave New World, with women who attend the Venus Centre in Bootle, Liverpool ended on December 13th with a show for friends and family. The Eleanor Rathbone Foundation gave us a grant for the work which was led by Ida Casilli, Mary Chater, Rachael Pirie and Emily Thompson.

Times are incredibly hard worldwide financially but if you could help us with a donation towards running costs, however small, we'd be most grateful. Please contact us at info@shakespeareinitaly.org.uk

We are in the process of appointing new Trustees and have exciting plans which will expand the scope of the company considerably. Let's see if we can get an Arts Council grant for another Apples and Eyes and Wildfest in 2023.

With many thanks - have fun and plenty of festive cheer from Mary Chater ( co founder) Collette Parker and the Trustees

Over 3084 people came to WILDFEST in One Garden #stanmerpark #Brighton on October 29th

A terrific number of people came to our first festival celebrating the Arts and Nature last Saturday and what a GREAT time we all had.

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The weather was perfect, late autumn sunshine so the weather Gods looked favourably on us.

The performers were on sparkling form, people danced to the live music, children had their faces painted and followed the One Garden Halloween Trail, others attended our free workshops ( children and adults) and many sat on the grass enjoying the ambience of all being together in a beautiful setting, eating and drinking.

There was a true community feel to the free festival which many commented on in their feedback.

We hope to run Wildfest again next August in One Garden so please watch for publicity.

3084 passed through the main gate at One Garden where they have a sensor but Kelly thinks more were there because the side wall entrance was open which doesn't have a sensor atop.

There are some photos below and a promo video is on the way.

A massive thanks to Kelly Jolly, Richard Smith, Josephine Cobb, Abi Baker and all those behind the scenes running the cafe and restaurant, Plumpton College classrooms and amazing flower beds and surroundings at One Garden.

Apples and Eyes - #free young peoples' autumn school photos from One Garden #stanmerpark #Brighton

The 4 day autumn school, funded by Arts Council England, ended yesterday - we worked with 10 young people and Caroline Vitta from Trust for Developing Communities

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Everyone had a great time playing games, acting and rehearsing, doing crafts, making props and costumes, making music and filming excerpts from Act 1 scene 2 of The Tempest with #Miranda, #Prospero, #Caliban, #Ariel - generally hanging out, enjoying one another's company, fooling about and making new friends in a beautiful setting - One Garden, Stanmer Park BN1 9SE

One Garden could not have been more generous - they gave us two classroom spaces AND free lunches. Nothing was too much trouble so MANY THANKS to Kelly Jolly, Richard Smith, Josephine Cobb, Abi Baker and the catering staff too.

Matt Kowalzcuk will edit the film footage he and Afra Nuarey shot - a drama / doc will be ready soon.

Photos from the four days are below.

Please see link below to a blog from Matilda from TDC about Apples and Eyes and this is from Caroline Vitta Youth Worker Manager at TDC who was with us for the autumn school -  

What a fantastic four days.  When I first met the young people on the bus on Monday morning, it was hard to imagine how the next few days would go. How amazing then to see the transformation that occurred in each young person by day 4 in confidence, participation, creativity and friendships.

Each part of the Apples and Eyes project contributes to the young peoples’ growth – from the drama games, reading scripts, making music, art workshops, acting and film making, plus just having some free space to be young people and being able to express themselves. The enthusiasm for Shakespeare and the arts comes across to the young people from the facilitators who deliver the days with warmth, fun, patience and encouragement.

One Garden worked brilliantly and gives us flexibility when we might offer A&E next year. It would be great to explore Stanmer Park with the young people and maybe a ranger or forager to see how we could link the environment with the play.

The group did amazingly well at staying engaged but maybe we need to just check if we can do anything differently with how we offer the project to them – including fidget toys/something they can do with their hands/ time out/ shorter days – finish at 3 instead of 4?

Likewise, how could we be more accessible to young people who may have English as a second language given we had several Ukranian young people?

I have no hesitation in saying that I would love for TDC Youth to be involved in Apples and Eyes 3 in 2023.

WILDFEST - performance + workshops schedules + map of site - #freekidsactivities #freeworkshops #freefestival

For all those coming to Wildfest in One Garden, #stanmerpark on Sat Oct 29th here is info for you re: times of perfs and workshops

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The performance and workshop schedules are below plus a map of One Garden, #stanmerpark #Brighton BN1 9SE

Workshop leaders are -

Elemental Shakespeare - Michael Corbidge

Jazz tap - Simeon Weedall

Landscape into Soundscape - Harry Miller

Commedia and masks - Olly Crick

The Lore - Sophie Herxheimer and Charlie Folorunsho

Schools without Walls - Caroline Fleming

Surfers against Sewage - Atlanta Cook

Beauty of Clay - Monir Amiri

Indian Classical - Swati Natekar

Circular Economy and Litter PIck - Saoirse Roche and Tidy Up Team

#ceramics #clay #pottery #commedia #Shakespeare #tap #tapdancing #jazzdance #naturaldyes #printing #surfersagainstsewage #circulareconomy #halftermactivities #Indianclassicalmusic #swatinatekar #michaelcorbidge #ollycrick #simeonweedall #sophieherxheimer #charliefolorunsho #harrymiller #moniramiri #masks #maskworkshop #commediadellarte

Apples and Eyes 2 - #free young peoples' autumn school in #halfterm #Oct24 - 27 in #OneGardenBrighton

funded by Arts Council England and Brighton and Hove City Council we are running another free, creative arts course for 13 - 18 year olds

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With our partner organisation Trust for Developing Communities we will work with up to 16 young people on the theme of resilience and explore characters from #TheTempest.

The course is free of charge to 13 - 18 year olds in the Brighton and Hove area but we can only work with up to 16 participants.

We have been given the use of One Garden Brighton and new state of the art classrooms to investigate the idea of being stuck on an island (the metaphor relating to two years of Covid and lockdowns comes to mind) and how you relate to people / strangers who are also stranded that you might meet there.

 Mary Chater will work on excerpts from the first act of The Tempest, Tonya Bridle on masks and mask making, Sarah Sayeed from Phakama on music and Matt Kowalczuk will assist them with short films that they want to make arising from the drama, music and mask making sessions.

The young people will showcase their work at #Wildfest on Saturday October 29th.

To register for the autumn school please contact Caroline Vitta - carolinevitta@trustdevcom.org.uk

#BHCC #Brighton #StanmerPark #OneGardenBrighton #Shakespeare #Miranda #Prospero #Ariel #Caliban #Ferdinand #Phakama #Freefestival #youngpeople #freefun #freecourse #free

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