Case Study: Malvern Theatre

Class: Year 9

Number of students: 7

Gatsby benchmarks 1,2,3,4,5,6

As part of our lessons on creative careers, the year 9’s enjoyed a visit from Autumn, the Head of Engagement and Creative Learning at Malvern theatre.

She spoke to us about the different roles and careers available within the theatre and some possible career paths to get there.

We learnt about the following roles:

• The Executive and Artistic Director are the people in charge who select the plays and shows.
• Admin does all of the paperwork.
• Finance deals with all the money and pays the staff.
• Marketing creates posters, speaks to papers and lets everyone know what’s going on.
• Technical deal with the lighting and the sound.
• Fundraising raise money for the theatre, which we learnt is a charity.
• Front of House show people to their seats and check tickets (this is a voluntary role).
• Maintenance deals with the cleaning and keeping the building in working order.
• Catering runs the bar and provides food.
• The Box Office sells tickets and deals with ticket queries.
• Creative Learning holds events to engage people in the theatre.

Creative Learning at the Theatre

We learnt that there are many ways to engage with the theatre now including free workshops that include:

• Sensory rooms
• Dance work shops
• Singing
• Script writing classes
• Toddler classes

Autumn also talked about some other available activities that were coming up that those interested in acting might want to be involved in.

Routes into the arts

There are a few ways to get into the arts, as seen in the photograph.

The students also enjoyed learning about some of the jobs involved within the roles and were surprised to find that all the ones that were listed were real parts of jobs within the theatre.

Questions for Autumn

The students engaged with the session well and asked many questions including some about Autumn’s own acting career (How many shows had she been in? What was the best set she worked on? What was her favorite show she performed in?). They also asked some technical questions (What happens if an actor is ill before the show? What was the longest a show had stalled for?).

Impact on the students

Students engaged well and were able to hear firsthand about the careers available in the theatre as well as ask questions of someone with experience. Autumn was knowledgeable and enthusiastic about her role, which

Next steps: We are hoping to continue learning about working in the theatre with a tour of the theatre soon.