An email from Kevin Dowsett, founder of Theatretrain, always means something large-scale is about to happen. Dowsett, and his nationwide chain of 86 franchised children’s part-time theatre schools, doesn’t do small.
On 26 September, at the Royal Albert Hall, Theatretrain, Dowsett tells me, will present the first performance by the World Children’s Theatre Ensemble, part of the children’s charity Arts By Children.
Powered by a succession of driving and pulsating music - from the Pussycat Dolls’ Jai Ho to I’ll be There for You by the Rembrandts, and from Coldplay’s Viva La Vida to the Killers and U2, the story follows the journey of a tribe who grow up, marry and face the challenges of the world. What happens when the ruler dies and the children have to create a new order?
The show has a cast of 1,200 young people, a 500-strong choir and a large live band. The score includes world music and well known numbers.
Theatretrain has been creating large-scale theatre for 18 years. It’s played at the Royal Albert Hall many times but this time it will be joined by 130 young people from 30 countries from all the continents of the world. The alphabetical list of participating countries on the poster which Dowsett sent me starts with Antigua and ends with the USA, taking in places such as Indonesia, Israel, Russia and Uganda on the way.
All Theatretrain work is performance-based and children from the schools in an area regularly come together to mount a large-scale show in a big venue such as the Royal Albert Hall. World Children’s Theatre Ensemble goes further by bringing 130 children to London from all over the world, funded by the proceeds of shows such as Theatretrain’s Voices for a Better World at O2 in July (pictured above).
My daughter has been involved in a couple of these large scale productions now, and if they're designed to enthuise young children about theatre I can certainly vouch for it doing that. Well done Kevin!