New Term at RedTIE

Both RedTIE workshops start again on Saturday 9th January at Nodehill Middle School. 13-19 yrs 10am - 12 and 9-13 yrs 1-3pm. £40 for a 10 week term with performances at The Quay Arts Centre during the February 1/2 term week.
Have a fabulous Christmas all of you - and thanks for working so hard this term.

Anti-bullying Performance - STOP campaign

I can't tell you how proud I am of the students who took part. 100 awards wouldn't make me feel as good about what we do at RedTIE as this!!!

We have had really good feedback from teachers and students about the performance - both its content and the way in which it was delivered.

RedTIE theatre were recently commisioned by Steve Hoyle, Commissioning Manager for Behaviour, Attendance and SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) to put together an Anti-bullying performance for a teachers' conference at the end of October this year.

10 RedTIE theatre students took part in the production which was extremely well received. Since then, we have performed the 15 minute piece to all the students at Bishop Lovett, Lake and Osborne Middle schools as part of their Anti-bullying week (this week - 16th-20th Nov).

Lake Middle school students also took part in 2 days of follow-up workshops led by Helen Reading of RedTIEtheatre. The workshops are designed to encourage discussion about bullying and for students to create their own drama to show how they feel about the subject and how it could be tackled in schools.

The script for the performance was put together by Helen but all the stories and every word used came from real life experiences of victims, perpetrators and witnesses of bullying on the Island.

"Please pass on my thanks to your actors - I think they were brilliant and coped really well with some interesting and difficult reactions from their audience and thank you also for another set of excellent workshops. The pupils got a lot out of it." Samantha Aukhauj - Lake Middle School.

RedTIE Reap Rewards.

Some of RedTIEtheatre's achievements were recognised and celebrated at the County Press Island Theatre Awards evening on Tuesday 10th November. The late, great and hugely adored Kevin Mitchell won an award for Best Male Lead in The Filibuster. Helen Reading won the Best Female Lead for the same play.

Joe Plumb, aged 18, won Best Director for Five Kinds of Silence and Hazel Wyld won Best Play for The Filibuster.

The highlight of the evening was the award for Services to Island Theatre - presented to Helen and Steve Reading for their work, not only with RedTIE, but with the Apollo and, many years ago, local pantomimes for charity.

Anti-bullying Performance

12 RedTIEtheatre students performed a new anti-bullying piece at the SEAL conference at Sandown High School on 23rd October. The piece was designed to show teachers how bullying effects students and gave some insights into the feelings of bullies, their victims and highlighted the dangers of not dealing with this issue in schools.
The students gave a thought-provoking, focused and creative performance, bringing tears to the eyes of many in the audience. Andrew Butcher, Ellie Swan and Charlotte Bell played the victims to perfection, revealing the agony, anger and isolation felt by many of our children on a daily basis. Many teachers present asked for the piece to be taken to their schools.

Saturday Workshops

The Saturday workshops at Nodehill Middle School have been varied and exciting so far this term. A change of venue has given us more space to work in - not to mention the extra running around space for some of our more energetic drama games! We started the term with the usual "back to basics" skills - amazing how some actors forget all about posture and focus after an 8 week break! But everyone is well and truly on form, having worked on posture, gesture, physical theatre, vocal skills, accents and the devising process. Joe Ashworth and Bill Holland gave us plenty to laugh about with their "inept pilots" sketch, while Marie Hickman and friends brought us close to tears with their devised piece last Saturday. In the younger group we can really see how confident some students have become over the past few weeks, with devised pieces that showed great maturity and creativity. Now we will start to work towards 2 devised performances for around Feb/March 2010 - subject matter to be revealed at a later date.....Watch this space!

County Press Review

Show brought tears to eyes
By Sue Lupton - Friday, September 18, 2009

EXTRAORDINARY Island talent was on show at Quay Arts’ Anthony Minghella Theatre last week.RedTIE Theatre’s performance of The Long Road was a powerful, harrowing piece of drama that brought tears to the eyes of more than one member of the audience.Shelagh Stephenson’s script deals with a family’s grief following the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Danny. The director was Joe Plumb, one of several brilliant youngsters involved in the performance.The RedTIE group runs workshops for young people, encouraging creativity and self-expression through drama. With its productions, it aims to raise awareness of social issues.One of the organisations backed by RedTIE is Help2Grieve, a new group to help bereaved children and families.With knife crime constantly in the news, The Long Road takes a long, hard look at how it affects those left behind.Helen Reading, RedTIE group leader, was utterly convincing as Mary, Danny’s devastated mother, who is driven to try and understand why her son was killed by a young stranger.Her real-life husband, Steve, gave an equally strong performance as Danny’s father, John, who tries to deal with the loss by running and drinking.Danny’s brother, Joe, was played by Henry Vince, a former Carisbrooke High student, now studying drama at Exeter University. He had witnessed the murder, which he recounted in an incredibly moving monologue at the opening of the play.The killer, Emma, a damaged, drug-taking teenager, had stabbed Danny late at night, when he refused to give her money.Superbly portrayed by Katy Rawlinson, a Carisbrooke High student, Emma is cocky, gobby, foul-mouthed and slightly pathetic. A prison therapist, Elizabeth (Maria Wilkinson), arranged for Mary to visit Emma in prison and, though her first visit was a disaster, a turning point came when Emma admitted she did not mean to kill Danny and she did not read Mary’s letters because she was illiterate.Although Mary and Joe cannot forgive her, they start teaching her to read.By the end, the family is on its way to recovery and Emma is starting to turn her life around.

Review of The Long Road by Sue Lupton of the County Press

"Extraordinary Island talent was on show at The Quay Arts' Minghella Theatre last week.RedTIE Theatre's performance of The Long Road was a powerful harrowing piece of drama that brought tears to the eyesof more than one member of the audience.The director was Joe Plumb, one of several brilliant youngsters involved in the performance ....."

See this weeks County Press for the full review.
Also: RedTIEtheatre has been nominated for 10 County Press awards for Five Kinds of Silence, The Filibuster, Bedroom Farce and The Dumb Waiter. We feel honoured!!

RedTIE youth Workshops

The new term starts on Saturday 19th September at Nodehill Middle School.
Work starts on the SEAL project piece for October and a performance for Lake Middle School's Anti-bullying week.

More audience feedback for The Long Road

" ......it really was brilliant. I wish more of the kids could have seen it as it had a really had a powerful effect on the ones that did. I think it was everything live theatre should be - you should be really proud of yourselves, Red Tie just keeps getting better!"

Feedback from The Long Road audience:

• It was evident right from the start just how powerful the interraction between the family members was, and was played to absolute perfection, with the rawness and jaggedness of every emotion vividly portrayed. It felt at times like I was intruding on something intensely personal, almost as though I shouldn't be there. The more I saw and heard, the more intrigued I became.
• Congratulations on another triumph.
• I just wanted to tell you I thought the long road was ******* excellent. Such a strong cast and all played out with real poignancy. I haven't seen something so good in years. I hope you're all really pleased with how it went, you should be.

RedTIEtheatre have just finished The Long Road. If you didn't see it you missed a treat. The new term for the RedTIE students is starting on 19th September at Nodehill Middle school and all the places have been taken. If you want to put your name on the waiting list then please contact Helen on 0771 205 0920.
The Press review for the last production will be in next week's County Press weekender.
Watch this space for news of our next production and adult workshops.

RedTIEtheatre

RedTIEtheatre
www.redtietheatre.co.uk

RedTIEtheatre

www.redtietheatre.co.uk

RedTIE ran 2 successful and exciting Summer Schools at the Quay Arts Centre during August. One week for 8-12 years, and one week for 13-18 years. We have just finished our run of Bedroom Farce - with the last night selling out completely.

Rehearsals are well under way for The Long Road - by Shelagh Stephenson - a moving play about a family coming to terms with the murder of their son. It challenges accepted views and prejudices about young offenders, and gives an insight into how people deal with grief and forgiveness.
Starring: Henry Vince, Katie Rawlinson, Maria Wilkinson, Steve and Helen Reading.
Tues 8th and Weds 9th September. 8pm Quay Arts Centre £6 call 01983 822490
Contains strong language 15+ only.