A SAVVY Summer of Shakespeare

Aim

Support for our 2022 Summer Season that will feature reinvented Shakespeare in true SAVVY-style, with inclusive casts and huge imagination.

Our community theatre company has managed to survive the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic but we want to continue our work with our most vulnerable members. This campaign is seeking your support to fulfil this mission into 2022.

Who we are

We are a bold and innovative professional theatre company based in South East London. Our beneficiaries are a broad cross-section of the community, including young people considered at-risk, adults with a physical and/or learning disability, people with experience of homelessness and everyone in-between.  

What makes SAVVY unique, is that we don’t just work with individual groups in isolation, but actively bring different members of the community together to produce ambitious theatre experiences that raises expectations in both participants and audiences. And ...our admissions are audition free to allow those with speech or physical impairment, emotional ill health or even lack of confidence to participate in theatre.

Supporting our charity as Patron is DR. Cecily O' Neill, Associate Professor at State University of Ohio and Resident Dramaturg at New York University and an equally renowned team of trustees. The creative input is driven by Sheree Vickers, artistic director and a diverse staff team of theatre professionals.

Our project

A Summer Season of Shakespeare

Following on from the success of "Jack & The Beanstalk, A Steampunk Pantomime" that brought our members together in a joyous celebration event, that re-invigorated the local community and became the first theatre show, post Covid at Fairfield Halls, NEXT Summer our aim is to surprise audiences again with re-invented Shakespeare that play with the stories and create unique theatre experiences.

SAVVY has a history of re-inventing Shakespeare, with our last sell-out production taking over Beddington Park, with audiences following the action that included fairies in trees and lovers fighting (literally) in the River Wandle.

Next Summer we have The Taming of the Shrew Drag Show and Twelfth Night - the Acoustic Sessions, not to mention auditions for Macbeth and the return of our lovely Players from The Dream.

Why is our project special?

SAVVY is unique in its approach.  As a company we don't audition. We strongly believe EVERYONE has the right to Take Part and our highly ambitious shows feature actors from very diverse backgrounds, including homelessness and people with learning disabilities.

Our methodology and professionally-led experience create performances that surprise audiences and raise the expectations of those involved.  It is truly transforming, and SAVVY is a leading force for change when it comes to inclusive, participatory theatre.

Your support

We have a small, dedicated team at SAVVY. We don't receive any regular core funding, and our annual revenues are from fees, grants, donations, ticket sales and sponsorships. 

To ensure that we are able to continue producing high-quality theatre with marginalised communities, and include them fully in the creative process and production, we are utilising a number of multi-media options, and are looking to raise a £10,000 + to support the cost of:

• A videographer

Who will record the process and final product to ensure anyone not able to attend the live, will still be able to stream the various shows online.

• An animator

To support the production both with visual art and inclusively through creatively integrated captioning.

• Other artists fees

This will include a consultant drag artist, puppet maker, movement director, costume and props maker, project manager etc.

• Audience Accessibility

We actively work to support audiences who often feel excluded from society. Over half of our regular audiences include people with a disability. The pledged funds will go towards the creation of a “Welcome to the Theatre” Social Story, Integrated Signed Interpreted Performances (ISIP), a Sound Sensitive Synopsis and pre-show touch tours.

So... please help us to continue to provide accessible and ambitious theatre with people who are often side-lined from Taking Part in the arts. 

THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US!

This project successfully funded on 10th July 2020