Children attending PACT’s domestic abuse recovery programme Bounce Back 4 Kids took part in a six-week drama workshop to help them become more confident and have a more positive image about themselves, their ideas and their work.
The programme was provided by Reading Rep theatre company and was aimed at children aged seven to 11 who had low self-esteem.
Over the six weeks the children worked hard and were able to put all the skills they had learnt together and come up with their own take on the play A Christmas Carol.
BB4K service lead Panda Phelan said: “The children had to use their imagination and team work to plan and execute this performance using props that they made and brought from home.
“They had to work together as a team to decide on their voice over lines, music and who was going to play what part and how this would look for their audience.
“The group had a surprise visit on the last week from the cast of Reading Rep’s A Christmas Carol, where they were able to ask for advice on how to deal with nerves and forgetting their lines.”
“They did extremely well and, in their final performance there was one person down, but the rest of the group quickly jumped in to learn new lines so the show could go on as planned. The group has grown in confidence over the six weeks and they should be extremely proud of themselves.”
One of the children taking part commented: “I loved playing all the games especially octopus!” Another said: “it was exciting getting to meet the cast.”
A parent said: “I was worried at first how he would cope as he never would get picked at school for speaking parts in the school play, but he was so excited to have a big part.”
All the children who took part were given complimentary tickets to see A Christmas Carol performed by Reading Rep in December 2021.
