Introduction

Integral to our touring productions is Sharing the Practice, a new initiative central to the ongoing success of our access and outreach programme.

Sharing the Practice has already broadened the scope of our education activity and created even more opportunities for individuals and communities to access, experience and participate in arts and cultural activity associated with our work.

Not only has this approach made the creative process of the Company more transparent, it also enriches the individuals and communities we engage with, complimenting our work and the whole of the arts.

Crucially, Sharing the Practice embodies the genuine pulse of the Company’s creative drive and instincts. It represents the Company’s greater understanding of how to share its creative impulse and ties together more closely than ever before, the artistic and education and access work of the Company.

We believe that Sharing the Practice provides the Company with an exciting springboard for further development in this area.

Sharing the Practice

One of the major initiatives under the Sharing the Practice umbrella is our audience development partnership with the Plowright Theatre, Scunthorpe, given the discreet brand, Encompass.

Funded by Stage Exchange, Encompass aims to cultivate new audiences for drama and encourage participation in the arts in the challenging areas of Scunthorpe and North Lincolnshire.

While our successful small-scale tour of The Dumb Waiter to non-theatre venues throughout Scunthorpe and North Lincolnshire was one element of Encompass, the partnership has undertaken a wide range of activities that includes:

• Working with BTEC Performing Arts students studying from North Lindsey College. They devised dramatic responses to The Price and students studying technical areas contributed ideas to the lighting and sound designs. The 35 students performed on the stage of the Plowright to an audience including their families and VIPs as a curtain raiser to The Price. They then watched The Price and afterwards enthusiastically exchanged ideas with the cast and creative team