Chichester Festival Theatre: " just lovely to see beaming, smiling faces again"

The programme runs until August 14 – and is half the length of previous years.

But the return has been welcomed by everyone involved, says Louise.

“We would usually run four weeks of holiday activities, but with the team so reduced, we were only able to run two, but we thought it was far better to run two than none.”

And the response has been great, a boost for the theatre, its staff, its practitioners and for all those taking part.

The CFT’s learning, education and participation team have put together a fun and creative programme of live, in-person holiday activities for ages four to 12. Workshops ranging from Animal Music and Animal Mask-Making and Stories are designed for children aged eight to 12; while for those aged four to seven, there’s a selection of craft sessions including Whales and Snails, Origami and Animal Head Masks. Plus there’s a Scavenger Hunt designed for families to take part in together.

“We have been mostly been working from home, and we have been surprised just how much work you can actually get done from home.”

But nothing beats actually being in the theatre: “It has been really lovely being back in the building and thinking about how we can bring people together again.

“On the first day back in the building, we had a return-to-work training session, just talking about being back and making sure that we are all on the same page. A lot of people had been on furlough. But the overwhelming emotions that we felt were really just excitement and joy to be there again. But obviously also we were wanting to make sure that it was going to be safe for people to come in and move around the building, the numbers of people we could have in, the measures that we need to put in place. We have got a one-way system in place; there is a wealth of hand-sanitisers around.

“The government has set out guidance for theatres and for holiday activities for children for out-of-school activities. We have been looking at both of those sets of guidelines and combining them. What we are doing is not live theatre, and it is clear what we can and can’t do. We have not got any singing. The advice is that non-professionals should not sing together as a group.

“I think it makes sense what they have been saying, just to make sure that everything is as safe as it possibly can be. We would always run a risk assessment before we do anything. Safety is always at the forefront of our minds whatever we do, and all the additional safety measures make sense for us to try to make everything as safe as possible.”

The first session immediately struck the right tone: “It was just lovely to see beaming, smiling faces again and young people enjoying themselves and being creative.”

The mornings have been general-access workshops; the afternoons have been devoted to invitation-only groups – young people from low-income families, young carers and young people from families that receive government meal vouchers.

“And to be able to work with some of our lovely free-lancers (practitioners) again has been an absolute joy. Buildings are run by the staff, but you can’t operate without the free-lancers, and it has been wonderful to re-engage them.”

Tickets are £1 per person for the younger craft sessions, and £5 for the older workshops.

Visit https://www.cft.org.uk/whats-on/holiday-activities for further details. Guidance for parents and carers can be found on each of the event pages.

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