EDUCATION - CROWDED ROOM

Our Recorded Delivery Workshops are here!

The workshops use audio recordings of personal testimony from our recorded delivery show The Listening Room.

The Listening Room was created from interviews with victims and offenders of violent crime who chose to meet each other through restorative justice.

The workshop explores themes of empathy, peer pressure, communication, violence and trauma.

Appropriate for: youth offending institutions, prisons, primary schools (Year 6), secondary schools, psychiatric hospitals, criminal justice organisations and the general public.

Empowering participants to: develop confidence, build communication skills, expand thinking and explore personal narratives.

Free Resources

A free drama lesson on verbatim theatre.

The lesson incorporates a performance technique called 'recorded delivery' and explores how it was applied to The Listening Room.

crowded_room_-_drama_resource_for_teacher_.pdf
File Size:	1476 kb
File Type:	pdf

A reflection task provided with a clip from The Listening Room.

the_listening_room__reflection_task.docx
File Size:	58 kb
File Type:	docx

An interview with the artistic directors.

interview_with_artistic_directors_-_crowded_room_theatre____1_.pdf
File Size:	137 kb
File Type:	pdf

Some action cards for a warm up

action_cards__for_warm_up__.pdf
File Size:	29 kb
File Type:	pdf

CASE STUDY
In 2019, we took our recorded delivery workshops on The Listening Room to five LEO Academies in Sutton. The workshops were conceived as part of a ‘Citizenship Programme’ for Year 6 students ahead of their transition to secondary school.

They involved the following activities: Students were asked to vote in response to a number of thorny questions like
“Is it ever too late to say sorry?” and “Is violence ever justified?”
Students were broken up into small groups, where they listened to pieces of an audio recorded interview. The interview featured a young man who had met his victim through restorative justice after serving a prison sentence for a violent crime. One person in the group listened to the recording and repeated what they heard – ‘performing’ the character to the group – the groups were then rotated until the whole interview had been performed. Students pieced together the man’s story in a discussion. Students revisited the initial questions.

The workshops were designed to give students a better understanding of the impact of their actions and the benefits of open communication ahead of their transition into secondary school. After each workshop, The Listening Room was performed to the students and they saw the character's narrative in the correct order, juxtaposed with others. Schools were provided with an educational resource pack designed to complement the PSHE curriculum for Year 6 pupils transitioning into secondary school. Feedback on the workshops included:

“A terrific day for Year 6”
“I witnessed how children were excited and engaged”
“It makes me think it’s good to talk to people about things”
“I hadn’t realised about the impact that hitting somebody could have”
“The characters were all very brave”
“The workshop was lots of fun - I want to do it again”
“With the headphones it was like performing but not scary”

Our approach is flexible and we can also develop workshops around themes of your choosing.
Get in touch and we’ll discuss how we can work together for maximum impact.