Week 8 of the Lockdown

So here we are in Week 8 of the Lockdown and we wanted to give you the Latest Lockdown news from FINDING THE WILL. Like all of you we have been hunkered down, venturing out only to forage for food and essentials, and have our daily exercise. It’s tough going isn’t it? One thing we have been doing is sending out free Resource Packs to teachers and parents who are teaching remotely or home-schooling. The Packs are available on the following plays: Macbeth, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet or Twelfth Night. You can access them via our website stating which pack you would like or via Lessonable where you can access and download them all immediately.

All Six Teachers’ Packs Available to Download from www.lessonable.com

Hopefully we are now beyond the peak of Coronavirus but that doesn’t mean we are out of the woods – far from it. And that means that uncertainty and fear prevails. Plus there is a new dilemma for parents now – whether or not to risk sending their children back to school on 1 June (if they are in the right age group), whether it is logistically possible to send those children back (whilst maybe keeping siblings at home), and what to do if the school is not Covid Secure (as much as every school would love to be I know).

Year 6 and Reception/Year 1 set to return on 1 June

It is a minefield for everyone involved, children, parents, carers, headteachers, staff, governors and us here at FINDING THE WILL. Obviously we have had all bookings to the end of this academic year cancelled and the few that were in the diary for the Autumn term are pending. We know that when schools return to some sense of normality, there will be an awful lot to catch up on and, even those who champion us and our work, may not have us quite at the top of their priority lists. However we are looking forward to weaving the FINDING THE WILL magic with you again just as soon as you are ready.

The FINDING THE WILL mantra

From our point of view, leading an Interactive Workshop in masks and gloves with children unable to stand within 2M of each other is both slightly scary and unproductive. For the time being the Shakespeare Project Weeks also seem to be impossible – for instance it’s difficult to imagine crowning Macbeth and Lady Macbeth if you are standing 2M away (unless you have extraordinarily long gloved arms!).

How helpful would this be!

So we have an idea. We are wondering about Zoom or Google Classroom and if it would be possible to lead an interactive workshop over one of these platforms. A remote workshop! There seems to be a lot of innovation around at the moment and it strikes us that this might be a cost effective and practical way forward. If you have experience and expertise in this area, we would love you to hear from you (jules@findingthewill.com) with your thoughts on how we can develop this exciting idea. Our current thinking is along the lines of sending you a list of characters in advance (so you could make sticky labels) and a list of any crucial props like crowns and swords (so you could source those beforehand). With some ingenuity on the part of all of us we are sure we could make it work. I’ll just leave that idea dangling and await your thoughts!

Naming The View #coercivecontrol #notmyfault
Naming The View #coercivecontrol #notmyfault

One other loss to Covid19 is our production of NAMING THE VIEW. This beautiful play (of which I am very proud) has a theme of coercive control and domestic abuse. It’s going to be a long while before we can perform this in front of an audience again but, if it wasn’t relevant enough before (and trust me it was!), it will be even more pertinent once lockdown is well and truly over. It’s a play about healing and hope after thirty years of being trapped in a coercive controlling marriage.

“Powerful” “Heartfelt” “Thought-provoking” “Illuminating” “Riveting” “Eye-opening” “Uplifting” “Innovative” “Absolutely bloody amazing!” (Audience Reaction – Everyman Studio Theatre, Cheltenham)

So your Lockdown Mission, should you choose to accept it, help us to help you. We’d love to hear from you with any tips, ideas or innovations to allow us to lead an Interactive Workshop in your primary school. If you would like more information about NAMING THE VIEW for future reference please do contact me jules@findingthewill.com

Beyond this, all I can is Stay Safe (Stay Alert goes without saying), Stay Home (especially if that is best for you and yours) and, above all, Stay Well.

Until we meet again…….

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