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Dateline: 21st October, 2003 At Last - A Grown Up Theatre for Children On 23rd October the Unicorn Theatre and its president Sir Alan Ayckbourn will celebrate the start of construction ofra world-class theatre for children. This goal has taken over 50 years to achieve, despite the fact that the Russians, the Germans, the Swedes, Danes, Belgians, Dutch, French and Irish have had specifically designed theatres for children for years. Nestling in the heart of the city, Keith Williams Architects' award-winning new design will be built on the More London development in Southwark. Due to open in 2005, the £11.5 million building is the UK's first-purpose designed theatre for children and will become a permanent legacy for our capital city. The Unicorn will reflect the rich cultural diversity of the capital city, benefiting over 100,000 children each year. Its programme will reach some of the UK's most disadvantaged communities, particularly children from inner city areas for whom there are very limited specialist facilities to support their learning through art and culture. From challenging new works to contemporary adaptations of classic tales, new writing is a feature of all Unicorn productions, for which the company's artistic director Tony Graham commissions acclaimed writers such as Adrian Mitchell and David Wood: "In the same way that writers like Philip Pullman and J.K. Rowling have galvanised a generation of parents and children, we believe our new theatre has the potential to enhance and influence the cultural life of one of the world's great cities." As our national curriculum becomes progressively more prescriptive, it is recognised that theatre as an artform can transform a child's understanding of the world around them and provide spectacular learning opportunities that are not otherwise available. Theatre as a creative outlet is more important now than ever. Unicorn patron and award-winning novelist Philip Pullman (whose short novel Clockwork is being produced by the Unicorn as an opera at the Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House) has long recognised that many teachers no longer have the time or the skills to encourage children to think creatively. Instead he believes that "something has gone wrong in the state of education ….. with everything that has to do with literature, and the making of it". He is not the only literary advocate of the theatre. Fellow patron Sir John Mortimer believes that "Unicorn's new theatre will offer writers, old and new, the chance to present their work to the audiences, and perhaps the playwrights and actors, of tomorrow". The theatre's regular ancillary activities will include story-telling festivals and regular story-telling sessions, special one-off events - talks and demonstrations by visiting international theatre directors and professional educationists, and book launches and talks by children's authors. Poetry readings, music recitals, puppetry and creative writing workshops will provide an Aladdin's cave of creative treasures for all of London's children and beyond. In Philip Pullman's words "what a gift for a city, for a country, for a world!"
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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