Quarantine Karaoke, workshops for families, dance classes, how-to interviews, storytelling, recommended film and TV bundles and community favourites from Storyhouse’s regular programme will all be available to access online.
Alex Clifton artistic director said:
You can’t come to us, so we’re coming to you. Charge your laptops, plug in your phones and unlock your tablets. Storyhouse is not a building. Storyhouse is an active, creative community. Since 2010, our professionals, volunteers and audiences have been making work at the parks, in the churches, up the walls, along the streets of Chester; now we will simply carry on online. We work together to tackle shared challenges.
Storyhouse has an award-winning young peoples’ programme. Its Youth Theatre has over 100 members and its Young Leaders programme is designed to give young people employability skills for the creative industries. Some of the activity will continue online. A creative learning programme will present a selection of online sessions for users to access at home. Including warm-ups to start the day, dance routines and family challenges like den building.
Storyhouse is home to over 120 community groups from Chatter and Natter sessions, to guided self-help and LQBTQ+ social groups. The team is supporting some of the community groups to move their events online; where possible these vital community activities will continue, including Italian language classes, scrabble groups and community support groups.
Chester based Musical Directors Georgina West and Matt Baker (finalist BBC Choir of the Year) will lead a choir of 100 voices, connected online. This will be available real-time and recorded.
Stories, poems and speeches will be read by Storyhouse actors, staff and friends. The programme will include poems written by Storyhouse’s poets-in-residence Hollie McNish, Lemn Sissay and Imtiaz Dharker along with children’s classics read by Storyhouse’s acting alumni and staff.
As requested by Storyhouse’s Young Leader community, a series of How–To interviews with Storyhouse staff and friends, share expertise and guides on cooking, technical theatre, crafting classes and sessions led by the marketing and programming team.
Storyhouse is an independent cinema with all film programming done in-house. The team behind the screen are partnering with online platforms to offer an online film service helping people to navigate the tricky decisions of what to watch and when.
The latest updates will be shared on storyhouse.com