DNA has an excellent reputation and history of successful workshops
and residencies. DNA has worked in partnership with many organisations
including the Tate Gallery London, Harris Museum Preston, Eureka!
Halifax, Lyric Hammersmith London, The Puppet Centre Trust London,
National Student Drama Festival, Scarborough, Central School of
Speech and Drama, London, Life Education Centres, Creative
Partnerships Salford and Horse
and Bamboo Theatre Lancashire.
Puppetry combines craft, design, movement, drama, visual and
verbal arts , and its naturally collaborative nature makes it
a powerful and appropriate activity for school and community
settings. All workshops use recycled and recyclable items and
materials and DNA also often work to transform found objects.
The company is committed to recycling and sustainability in
all its work.
DNA offers a wide range of participatory activities, performances
and experiences for schools and community events including:
Culturally diverse workshops for all - Indian
puppet-making, African junk animals, creation myths and trad.
folk tales
Puppetry is widely used for special educational needs. Rachel
Riggs was the outreach special needs artist for The Little
Angel Theatre, London, and currently works as artist-in-residence
with PMLD children at Carson St School, Perth, Australia on
a sensory awareness programme.
All our education work is inclusive and equally suitable
for children and young people with special educational needs.
Me
and My Shadow- working with shadows, shadow
puppets and video imagery for young people with Autistic
Spectrum Disorder - Creative Partnerships UK
Featured in the Times Educational Supplement as a model
of innovative good practice
Early Years
DNA’s Early Years work provides stepping stones towards
early learning goals. This first experience of theatre and
family workshops enables family integration and audience development.
DNA are continuously researching the links between child
development and puppetry. As many believe, all people are
born creative and we believe that all are born puppeteers!
A young child’s imaginative play can turn everyday items
into puppets. During free play with objects and materials,
a child uses symbols (e.g.: a stick for a sword) and creates
play props to work out identity issues. The transformational
quality from everyday objects to extraordinary props is at
the heart of DNA’s work.
Imaginary
Leaps is a programme of theatre play workshops, professional
creative training and playkits for Early Years Settings, Libraries,
Museums and Art Galleries
Junior
DNA understand how puppetry can apply to curriculum attainment
targets, whether for Key stage 1,2,3 or above. Each of our
workshops can be specifically designed for a day, 2 day or
week long residency, making and performing. DNA explain how
puppetry is used in creating theatre and demonstrate traditional
puppetry techniques eg glove, rod, marionette or shadow puppets.
Puppetry in story telling can be used for a variety of themes
eg Literacy - poetry, Shakespeare,script writing.Personal
& Social Education - bullying, safety, sex & relationships.Multicultural
Celebrations - religous festivals, creation myths.Workshop
techniques also include Shadows,
masks, Play in a day puppetry sessions
in design and performance
and greek myths are all available.
Serious social and emotional issues can also be explored with
animated issues.
Youth
DNA works with youth theatres and groups in puppet making
and performance, devising original work and introducing traditional
techniques and contemporary practice. Genie
in A Bottle explored genetics and nanotechnology in partnerships
with the Green Room Manchester, Contact Theatre and Manchester
Museum. Teenage puppets The Hoodies
are used for issue based workshops developing material for
film. Masks for site-specific performances
were made with Coral Arts, Malborough. Young women in Blackpool
explored their feelings about self-image in Fusion:Esteem.
Sex'n'Chips was a flagship production
devised with Year 9s to support school SRE education in the
North West UK.
Professional Creative
Training
INSET sessions showing how puppets can be quickly made and
most effectively used in the classroom are always available
in our teacher training
section.
DNA regularly host training sessions for artists and performers
to develop specialist skills in puppetry techniques. A puppetry
encouragement subsidy from the Arts Council of England funded
a Professional Development Season for which the top UK puppetry
and visual theatre directors ran workshops. DNA facilitated
a four day professional development
workshop for the Edinburgh Puppet and Animation Festival at
the Traverse theatre and Horse and Bamboo Theatre, Rossendale,
Lancashire UK.
