1. Passport to Polka: Exploring Stories from Around the World
Set off on a global adventure with Polka Theatre’s latest online summer workshop series, Passport to Polka. Curated by the leading Wimbledon-based children’s theatre, the series of six interactive workshops are to take place over the summer school holidays, and will visit India, Japan, Russia, Norway, the Czech Republic, and Indonesia. They cater for ages three to 11 and cover drama, storytelling, puppetry, music, and dance, all led by Polka’s brilliant team of drama practitioners.
No plane tickets are required for this global venture, but participants are invited to source household objects to interact with. Pack your imaginary bags and join Polka in swinging through the jungle canopy, floating over fjords, and winding along the Ganges in search of stories that have shaped our wonderful world.
Places are £6, and participants will receive an activity pack to follow along with, including Polka Passport stamps and other creative activities.
Itinerary:
Wednesday 29 July, 10.30am: India
Storytelling and Drama workshop for five to seven-year-olds
We are heading off to India with Salihah, the land of light where the great and majestic Taj Mahal meets the River Ganges and where the fragrant smell of cardamom and cumin spices linger in the air. We’ll listen to the sound of the Bangla beats as we traverse the depths of the Molai Forest!
Tuesday 4 August, 10.30am: Japan
Dance & Movement Workshops for five to seven-year-olds
Join Takeshi to travel to Japan to become Ninja spies! Ninjas were stealthy secret agents of medieval Japan, who were highly trained in the martial arts. Join us to become a Ninja and learn how to pull off a surprise attack in this dance and movement workshop with live music from your home.
Wednesday 12 August, 10.30am: Russia
Music & Singing Workshop for three to seven-year-olds
Mark will be telling some tales and songs from Russia in our music and singing workshop. Create noises, bangs, crashes, and silly tunes whilst exploring giant turnips, houses with chicken legs, and find out why drinking water from muddy puddles isn’t a great idea.
Monday 17 August, 10.30am: Norway
Storytelling and Drama workshop for three to five-year-olds
We are off to Norway with Dani for a storytelling and drama workshop! Pack those imaginations as we head off to hear a classic story, the Three Billy Goats Gruff. This is a Norwegian folk tale full of the natural beauty of this Nordic land, animal trickery, and a mean old troll. How will you get across the bridge?
Thursday 20 August, 10:30am: Czech Republic
Puppet Workshop for seven to 11-year-olds
Alex is going to Prague in the Czech Republic to explore the story of the famous Golem of Prague – the monster made of clay to defend the people of the ghetto. Discover the secret of breathing life into inanimate objects by puppeteering objects around your house! Watch out, though – sometimes they take on a life of their own.
Wednesday 26 August, 10.30am: Indonesia
Storytelling and Drama workshop for three to five-year-olds
Join Varshini on our last stop for a storytelling and drama workshop. Bali, Indonesia, is a land with rice paddies, volcanic mountains, and sandy beaches where we will transform into elephants, buffaloes, fireflies, and even rain. We will become storytellers of a folklore tale about a Gecko who just cannot go to sleep and becomes very grumpy. Let’s hope you can change his mood…
polkatheatre.com/passport-to-polka
2. Polka Theatre Online: Lions, Gorillas and Everywhere Bears
Polka Theatre, the UK’s number one children’s theatre based in Wimbledon, South West London, like other theatres has had to close their doors. Thankfully they have been able to move some of their plays online for the lockdown period. Lions, Gorillas and Everywhere Bears explores some of the much-loved children’s books that the theatre has adapted for stage, providing online story time, workshops and activities to help families stay creative.
Currently Polka has released two activity themes. The Paper Dolls is based on Julia Donaldson’s family favourite about a young girl’s paper doll creation, their adventures and resilience when facing danger. Polka presents an online story time read by actress Andrea Sadler who performed in the most recent production of the The Paper Dolls. The show was last staged in Winter 2019/20 and is a co-production with Islington-based Little Angel Theatre. There are also drama workshops to do at home led by Polka practitioners Mark Stephenson and Leyla Stirling.
The second in the series is Anthony Browne’s picture book Gorilla, a story of a birthday moonlit adventure young Hannah is taken on by her toy gorilla. The show was last staged in 2015, and its director (and Polka Associate Director) Roman Stefanski provides a story time reading. Activity packs provide a range of banana-based creativity, including recipes, games and animal facts. Polka’s Creative Learning Officer Heidi Pointet leads two online workshops around movement, character and emotions.
Over the coming weeks, Polka will share similar resources around their productions of The Everywhere Bear and How To Hide A Lion, as well as In The Winter Wood (which was devised by renowned storyteller Jan Blake) as a piece uncovering global story-telling traditions. Further activity themes will be announced in due course.
Artistic Director Peter Glanville has curated the series, stating:
“At this most challenging time, Polka Theatre are committed to helping children, parents and teachers. Using a range of brilliant stories as our starting point, we are producing online resources to support learning and creativity. No one knows how long this difficult period will last, but until we return to ‘business as usual’, Polka Online will be there.”
Education resources are available for teachers as well as parents for home-schooling. The teacher packs focus primarily on creative, practical drama activities and literacy exercises that support the development of language and communication.
Polka is encouraging families to share how they get on with the online activities and has already received submissions of home-made paper dolls and videos of children participating in online workshops. To share any pictures and videos, connect with Polka through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Polka Theatre is a registered charity and, like many theatres up and down the country, it faces difficulties in light of the Covid-19 outbreak. To support Polka and its work empowering young children through creativity, visit polkatheatre.com/donations/ to make a donation.
Polka Online – polkatheatre.com/polka-online/
