Shipley Street Arts Festival: Half Term Theatre School ... A Massive Success!

We're so fantastically happy that the Shipley Street Arts Festival: Half Term Theatre School was such a great success, and we'd like to say a special thank you to all the brilliant workshop leaders and participants who made it so special.

Every day was dedicated to a particular theatre discipline, with an exciting mix of things to try for these young beginners.

The first day was dedicated to Clowning and Circus Skills. The kids had a great time letting out their inner clowns ... the red noses helped! Workshop leader Stephen Finegold (and his son and assistant for the day, Joseph Finegold) were very popular - we had lots of requests to have them back for another Clown workshop!

In the afternoon, they tried lots of different circus skills, such as juggling, diablo and plate spinning. Dan Collins led the exciting class - he's been touring with circuses for a long time and has even been on the big screen!

Day Two was all about Theatre Arts. Jenny Birch - a past student of Calderdale Theatre School, with whom Q20 worked to create this theatre school - led the students in an introduction to puppetry. The kids got to try out some puppets made by Jenny, and also make some of their own, using every day items that can be found around the house.

The theme returned to clowning for the afternoon session - artist Morwenna Catt led a workshop in making clown costumes! Using old clothing and a few special accessories, the kids each made spectacular costumes - perfect for showcasing those clowning skills they learned yesterday!

Even the Corgi got dressed up!

Day Three was all about Stage Fighting. Ian Stapleton is an experienced director and teacher - and his assistant, Patrick Costello, is also one of his past pupils! It was an exciting day of performing armed and unarmed combat - with swords swishing, en garde!

Finally, Day Four was all about Movement. These proved to be a very popular sessions, hosted by our neighbour and friend, DM Academy and ex-Calderdale Theatre School pupil, Katie Allcott (with some assistance by Jenny Birch). In the workshops, the kids learned about how movement is used to express ideas and feelings, and how it can be used for physical theatre and dance.

We'd like to say a special thank you to everyone who was involved and thanks to all our attendees and parents for making the classes such a great success. 

With so many of our participants saying they'd like to do more workshops with us, we can't wait to start putting together the next lot!

Special thanks to: Stephen Finegold, Joseph Finegold, Jenny Birch, Adam Garrett, Morwenna Catt, Ian Stapleton, Patrick Costello, Deana Morgan and DM Academy, Katie Allcott and Gillie Kerrod.

Black Friday: Celebrate the American Way!

An increasingly popular event in the shopping calendar, the deals and savings to be found on 'Black Friday' is an American tradition, taking place the first Friday after the national holiday of Thanksgiving.

This year it's set to take place on Friday, 27th Nov - so why not join in on the American theme?

Our Stars and Stripes characters have been very successful in the past in embracing an American loving of shopping for savings before Christmas. We've also sent out American icons like Marilyn Monroe!

We also offer a different take on the American-theme with our Native American characters!

An alternative take on Black Friday might include our toy characters, as Santa starts his Christmas shopping!

There are loads of ideas and options available for Black Friday events, suitable for any theme or promotion. 

Contact Q20 now for ideas and prices!

Email: info@q20theatre.co.uk 

Tel: 01274 221 360

Presenting ... our new website!

If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you may have already noticed that we're very excited about our new website, which launched last week.

We're very proud of it, and grateful to everyone who put in so much work to bring it to life!

Be sure to stop by for brand new images, inspiring ideas, fabulous themes, slideshows showcasing our most successful events, and information about the company and the kind of work we do.

We hope you'll enjoy browsing through our new site, but most of all, we hope you'll be inspired to work with us to make your events spectacular and memorable!

www.q20events.co.uk

Halloween is almost upon us!

It promises to be our spookiest Halloween yet with so many of our ghosts and ghouls heading out across the UK this October!

We're once more taking to the East Lancashire Railway spooky trains with a few grizzly characters to frighten you half to death. See this brilliant video from last year for a taste of things to come ...

To get your tickets, just go to the East Lancashire Railways website.

We're sending our spectacular new characters - the Mexican-themed 'Day of the Dead' stilt-walkers, and last year's new creation, 'The Bouncing Bats' to Bradford's Oastler Market for the 30th & 31st October.

We're sending Dracula and a Wicked Witch to the Lowry Outlet Mall ... be sure to stock up on garlic!

Esme & Beastie are off to Darlington! He's such a cuddly monster!

There's also fabulous Halloween cut-n-colour workshops in Chester and Hatfield's Galleria and so much more!

So keep an eye out - you may just see something spooky from Q20!