Jefny Ashcroft: Drama Specialist
On July 14th I learnt that my Stories in Stone project with Wolverhampton Art Gallery and CABE (see below) had won first prize nationally. More details soon.
Come and see some of the models and the short film the Madeley Academy students made at Wolverhampton Art Gallery from now until August 14th.
We started it! is a new play for primary children (and families) about the origins of Wolverhampton Wanderers, at St Luke's school, in 1877.
Schools in the ABCD area of Wolverhampton will be able to see the play for free.
I am also helping to organise a month-long exhibition, based on 1877, in Wolverhampton Art Gallery. On Saturday September 11th ball control arrives in an Art Gallery as We started it! is given three (free) performances.
Stories in Stone has been a partnership in which I have worked with both Wolverhampton Museums and Art Galleries and Telford Culture Zone. Students from two secondary schools in Telford, Ercall Wood Technology College and Madeley Academy, have been looking at the buildings in the neighbourhood of their schools and responding to them.
The project has resulted in a short film which will be shown along with an exhibition of art work created by the schools. Stories in Stone is also part of a larger project, Engaging Places, which is organised nationally by CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment). The work I have done is part of the national exhibition running at Wolverhampton Art Gallery during July 2010 in tandem with a London exhibition in Greenwich.
In July 2009 I finished a six-month stint as Writer in Residence in the Wolverhampton City Archives, at the Molineux Hotel. In this role I researched, wrote and organised two highly successful children's plays (see below for details). Future plays for both children and adults are a possibility. Watch this space!
I also had a short piece for adults performed at Wolverhampton Art Gallery as part of their celebrations around the redesign of their Victorian galleries (see below).
Recent performances:
Theatre in Education
A is for Archives and George John Scipio Africanus were performed at Wolverhampton City Archives from 29th June to 10th July 2009. These are both Theatre in Education Plays. The first is for seven to nine year olds and the second for nine to elevens.
Other recent projects
My play, A Question of Interpretation is one of six short plays written by members of New City Playwrights. These professionally directed and acted plays were performed as part of the family day to mark the opening of the refurbished Victorian Gallery in Wolverhampton Art Gallery on Saturday 27th June 2009.
The plays celebrate some of the paintings and Asian art objects on display. Further shows ran from Tuesday, 30th June to Friday, 10th July 2009.
The plays were funded by the Arts Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Follow this link to see pictures of A Question of Interpretation
A Question of Interpretation features Frederick and Millicent, a couple with very different views about art!
Click here for a listing of my previous plays which have been performed.