Since forming in 2006, we have been developing our work with students and young people – our three most recent shows, The Boy, the Piano and the Beach, Your Toys and Kipper’s Snowy Day, used extensive workshops and R&D with 5-9 year olds as either starting points or as a way to generate ideas for the final shows.

Increasingly we are using workshops as a way of engaging with new audiences and including their ideas in our work, from music and text to design and sound.

We run schools workshops – many of which are free or subsidised – in a wide variety of subjects. These can be tailored to specific schools or topics.

We work with all age groups, from 4 and upwards right up to GCSE, AS, A2 and degree level.

We also work regularly in a mentoring role with emerging artists and practitioners.

Our experience covers everything from being company in residence for a short period at a school in London, to workshops for year-groups, open rehearsals for invited students in order for them to give us their views of our work, and providing feedback on AS and A-level devised pieces.

Workshops can be tied in to a performance, or standalone.

Some of the subjects we’ve given workshops on in the past include: devising, comedy, physical theatre, working with text, starting points, developing material, narrative structure, creating soundscapes, music in theatre, movement and choreography.

We have a great deal to share as a company, but we also value very highly the opinions and input of the students we meet.

We regard our educational work as a conversation with students rather than simply a process of passing on information.

We recognise that some of the young people we work with will go on to be creators of work in the future, and we often find ourselves inspired by the ideas they come up with.

We look forward to meeting you all, and beginning the conversation.

Over the last 20 years, we have taught hundreds of workshops in a wide variety of theatre-related subjects all over the world.

We have created theatre-based and site-specific work for The Kosh, LIFT, the RSC, The National Theatre, The Young Vic, the Globe, and the People Show, among others.

If you would like to know more about our educational work, email our producer emma dolman – emma@slotmachinetheatre.com