25 September 2022
Newsdesk
New digital resources and recordings of plays from the National Theatre are now available for schools across the UK.
The NT’s expanded Let’s Play programme for primary schools inspires creative learning across the whole curriculum, with free and low-cost opportunities for teachers and pupils to learn about theatre, make and perform theatre and watch live performances. Resources include:
Let’s Learn - lesson plans exploring the world of theatre, downloadable creative resources and short activities for the classroom as well as online and in-person professional development opportunities for teachers throughout the school year
Let’s Perform – access to nine play scripts, CPD for teachers and toolkits to create your own pieces of theatre as well as the tools to devise shorter performances suitable for assemblies. Taking place each term, pupils can also join the Story Seekers on a mission to collect and share stories from around the world. In partnership with the Unicorn Theatre, the six-week project includes filmed theatre performances, workshops with professional storytelling and CPD and resources to support teachers to lead the project.
Let’s Watch – access to recordings of plays suitable for primary pupils to watch in the classroom with accompanying learning resources via the National Theatre Collection
Available free for state schools across the UK, the new National Theatre Collection for Primary Schools provides high-quality filmed performances of eight productions suitable for children aged 3+ with learning resources to support teachers to use the production in the classroom. The plays include Peter Pan, Treasure Island, I Want My Hat Back, Romeo & Juliet, The Winter’s Tale, Jane Eyre and wonder.land as well as Meet the Story Seekers to introduce pupils to the Story Seekers quest. Each production is accompanied by a learning pack which contains age and key stage guidance, detailed synopses and classroom activities to explore the production and its creation.
On 13th October 2022, the Tony Award®-Winning NT production of War Horse will also be available on the National Theatre Collection for two months in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Michael Morpurgo’s renowned novel first being published. Seen by over eight million people across the world, the internationally acclaimed production is adapted by Nick Stafford, directed by Marianne Elliot and Tom Morris and with breath-taking puppetry from Handspring Puppet Company.
War Horse is a remarkable story of courage, loyalty and friendship set against the backdrop of the First World War. War Horse was much loved by Queen Elizabeth II, Royal Patron of the National Theatre for over four decades, having first watched the production in 2009 and meeting Joey, the puppet horse, at special performances including The Queen’s 90th birthday and the National Theatre’s 50th anniversary celebrations. The production is suitable for age 10+.
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, Michael Morpurgo will also be in discussion about War Horse with an audience of pupils and teachers in the Dorfman Theatre at the NT on 13th October at 1.30pm. The talk will be livestreamed for schools to watch on the day. To sign up your school to watch the live talk on 13th October please click here. The talk will be recorded and will be shared with schools to watch following the event.
Alice King-Farlow, Director of Learning at National Theatre said, “We recognise the importance for pupils from an early age to have the opportunity to play and use their imaginations in the classroom. We hope these resources and productions will support teachers and pupils to explore their creativity and learn about the world of theatre, whilst developing key oracy, literacy and social skills. We are also hugely excited to share the brilliant production of War Horse with schools across the country via the NT Collection in celebration of 40 years of the renowned novel and hope to inspire the next generation of theatre-makers".
The National Theatre Collection is free for state schools in the UK, and available to the wider education sector both via Bloomsbury Publishing’s award-winning platform Drama Online and the Alexander Street platform from renowned EdTech leader ProQuest, part of Clarivate.
