This Christmas, we want to support families in spending quality time together, particularly following the difficulties many local people have faced throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cast is already part of many families' festive traditions - the season isn't the same without a trip to see Cast's pantomime. We love being a part of those special moments, and we want to continue celebrating with families.
We want to create a brand new show for December 2021. We'll work with local artists to develop something truly magical, with a focus on sensory play and socialisation, and we'll also work with an accessibility consultant to ensure the show is welcoming and accessible for the whole community.
We've already been fortunate enough to receive some funding from Arts Council England to support this exciting project, but we now need your help for the final stage to make it happen - to design the set and costumes and ensure that the show is as accessible as possible.
What we'll deliver:
- Set for an interactive theatre production aimed at babies, toddlers and their carers
- Access consultant for the show, ensuring support provided as part of every performance
Why it's a great idea:
We will be hosting a local consultation with the community to get everyone's ideas/needs involved.
The show is aimed at babies, toddlers and their primary carers. It will be a magical first step into the theatre for families. A good beginning for a child's life means socialisation, sensory engagement and appropriate stimulation and this project will deliver all three. We will create an exploratory environment for babies where they can interact with each other, the set and the performers. Parents and carers will get the opportunity to bond with their babies through creative play during the show, taking an active part in encouraging their little ones to get the most out of the experience.
It's well-proven that engaging with the arts and cultural activities contributes to social and psychological wellbeing. After the impact of the past year, this project will help to reduce social isolation for new parents, especially those who have been adversely affected due to the pandemic.
Steps to get it done:
- Confirmation of all creatives and artists involved
- Announcing and selling tickets for the show
- Creation of the script
- Creation of set, props, costumes and musical score
- An industry sharing of the Research & Development phase in June
- An invited audience feedback session in the summer
- Extensive rehearsal process
- Creation of digital work to run alongside the project
- Opening night at Cast in late November/early December
We anticipate that once we've created the show and launched it at Cast in December 2021, we'll be able to take the show on the road to tour to other theatre venues across the country.
Digital content will be created that can be watched as a stand-online resource, or as part of the visit to the theatre.
Cast is an important and beloved asset of Doncaster with over 100,000 people visiting us each year. The theatre is a vital part of the cultural scene in Yorkshire, providing a home for artists to make work and explore their creativity. We make our productions as accessible as possible, as we're in a borough where levels of disability are higher than the national average.
As a charity, we keep our ticket prices low and offer bursaries and free tickets to ensure that cost is never a barrier to attendance and we support children and young people, encouraging their development and learning through the arts.
