WHAT PEOPLE SAY
Here are quotes from some of the many letters and evaluations sent to us over the years.
Teachers
“The Children were held spellbound by the theatre group’s display of talent, enthusiasm and professionalism, in my 25 years of teaching I cannot remember a more worthwhile and successful presentation.”
Teacher - Lewisham
“I was most impressed by the way the actors used a range of techniques and strategies to keep approx 120 Year 9 pupils entertained, informed and thoughtful for two hours on a hall chair! "
Teacher - Buckinghamshire
“The belief in the integrity of the characterisation punched home the message in a way that a hundred lectures could not achieve.”
Teacher - Surrey
“The performance, the tasks, the listening, the involvement with the audience – all were outstanding. The children felt able to open up, to question, to ask, to challenge – they felt secure and they trusted the adults to deal with them honestly and not patronisingly.”
Teacher - Islington
“A very interesting, thought-provoking and enthusiastic performance”.
Head of Citizenship.
Teacher - Buckinghamshire
“It was a brilliant day for all. It was so good to work with a visiting group who recognised the restraints of a school day and were totally flexible in their approach and so pleasant and friendly to be with.”
Teacher - Oxfordshire
“The play is riveting – fast, not patronising and suitably hard-hitting.”
Teacher - Buckinghamshire
“The production was outstanding and the interactive sessions with students and parents excellent….. A truly excellent project.”
Headteacher - Oxfordshire
“The children were talking and discussing what happened in the play for several days afterwards.”
Teacher - Islington
“This session was excellent. Very interactive. This approach is the best way to deal with such issues.”
Teacher - Croydon
“It made the children realise that they have to take responsibility for their own actions and decisions.”
Teacher - Croydon
“Excellent address of very pertinent issues.”
Teacher - Hammersmith
“I thank you for introducing the subject so carefully and in such and interesting and informative way.”
Teacher - Hammersmith
“Superb performance. The children came back to class talking extensively about the issues raised.”
Teacher - Hampshire
“The children are still talking about it!”
Teacher - Hertfordshire
“I was particularly impressed with the philosophy of the visit. The children were encouraged to find answers and strategies of their own rather than be told what to do or what not to do.”
Teacher - Hertfordshire
“You managed to cover difficult issues that teachers couldn’t do – the children wouldn’t respond to us in the same way.”
Teacher - Portsmouth
“The day after I had feedback from a parent who thanked me for providing the opportunity for her to talk to her son about drugs.”
Headteacher - Hertfordshire
“….makes the children realise there are choices to be made and they alone are responsible for this. An incredible resource for primary schools.”
Teacher - Hertfordshire
“A great afternoon. Powerful drama which held children’s attention and stimulated some useful discussion.”
Teacher - Leeds
“Absolutely fantastic ! Very informative and engaging. This format enables us to refer to the characters when discussing other scenarios”
Teacher - Hertfordshire
“This is a most wonderful resource and gives the children an opportunity to experience this very difficult situation in a safe environment.”
Teacher - Hertfordshire
“A very ‘comfortable’ session was created where pupils felt safe to contribute. Use of humour really engaged all pupils. Fantastic!”
Teacher - Hertfordshire
“I have seen many theatre workshops in schools I have worked in and have never seen anything that came close to Wasted. It was absolutely superb. The performances were outstanding and moved many children to tears. The content was spot on and the performers really managed to get the message across! It was wonderful.”
Teacher - Hertfordshire
“You are simply the best”.
Teacher - Kent
“The thoroughly professional actors dealt with this most sensitive issue in a very interesting but extremely profound way. The children were entranced throughout the performance and the workshop was both informative and thought provoking.”
Teacher - Maidstone
“Children completely absorbed the whole time.”
Teacher - Lewisham
“An excellent programme using strong theatre skills and excellent workshop techniques to explore the issues. It really made the children think and will undoubtedly help them to make informed choices in the future.”
Teacher - Lewisham
“The quality of the theatrical production was superb and the workshop was informative and encouraged thinking and discussion. Excellent!”
Teacher - Lewisham
“The attitude of the actors to the children was to be highly praised, they were able to deal with comments from shy and also outgoing children alike – showing all their thoughts were of value. Questioning was both challenging and sympathetic. Children felt able to express their true thoughts and feelings and were encouraged to do so in a supportive atmosphere, created by the team. This group is highly skilled in dealing with these young people. Follow up work shows the amount of information the children have retained and understood.”
Teacher - Maidstone
“Informative, interesting and innovative are just some of the adjectives that come to mind…….. it created a fantastic, non-judgemental platform for our newly developing PHSE Citizenship curriculum to launch from.”
Teacher - Surrey
“The theatre ADAD staff are very good at getting people talking, they don’t get phased by anything.”
Teacher - Oxfordshire
“The programme started a very honest and stimulating debate, in which the whole group spoke freely and intimately about the issues……. A very powerful production.”
Teacher - Berkshire
“The group are very professional in their dealing with schools – I would recommend them to all schools.”
Teacher - Hertfordshire
“Excellent in all respects. Totally professional and willing to adapt if necessary. Students were all complimentary.”
Teacher - Wolverhampton
“Beside enjoying the performances, the students learnt a great deal and were buzzing during the follow-up session.”
Teacher - Kent
“An excellent way for students to learn.”
Teacher - Surrey
“Every school in the country needs to see this”
Headteacher - Woolwich
“I was also impressed by the non-judgmental atmosphere. It felt ‘safe’ to express an opinion, to look honestly at the issues raised.”
Teacher - Catford
Young people
“I sneaked a look around the hall and not one person was chatting or their attention starting to drift, they all had their eyes riveted to these people.”
Year 7 pupil - Kent
“My favourite part was all of it really.”
Pupil - Buckinghamshire
“When you did the play it was like it was really happening.”
Pupil - Croydon
“The last and best thing you taught me is that everyone has choices.”
Pupil - Croydon
“Brilliant because it was fun and educational at the same time!!”
Pupil Year 7 - Surrey
“I thought it was the best thing on school grounds! It was fun, entertaining and educational!!”
Year 7 pupil - Surrey
“ADAD really knew how to talk to us so that we would listen, everyone was listening and joining in.”
Pupil - Hertfordshire
“We all got so involved. Even in the role play. They made it serious yet very entertaining and enjoyable.”.
Pupil - Hertfordshire
“I think that letting someone go up on stage and try out being a character was really good because we could see how hard it would be in real life.”
Pupil - Hertfordshire
“It was also amazing the way you made it like a book you didn’t want to put down or a film you couldn’t stop watching til the end.”
Pupil - Hertfordshire
“It was so funny, you had the whole hall in stitches. I really enjoyed the whole play. It also had lots of twists and turns in the play. Basically it kept you on the edge of your seat and there was never a boring bit in it.”
Pupil - Hertfordshire
“I really enjoyed the play, the acting was excellent and the story was really interesting. It was exciting and gripping and the characters were great ! I found myself really caring about the characters and wanting things to turn out well in the end. “
Pupil - Hertfordshire
“In the question and answer session after the play, they took time to listen to what we had to say and weren’t afraid of getting us involved.”
Pupil - Hertfordshire
Pupil referral unit teachers
"The performance was extremely powerful, of excellent quality and perfect for our students. The effect on the group was profound, with honest, genuine reactions from all. Please send ADAD back to us again soon - they were brilliant."
PRU - Watford
“I have seen ADAD in the past in mainstream schools and it was brilliant, but I wasn’t convinced it would work in this environment, and it does, it is better in fact. So I have been extremely impressed. A very professional group of people.”
PRU - Milton Keynes
“The performance was extremely powerful, of excellent quality and perfect for our students. The effect on the group was profound, with honest, genuine reactions from all.”
PRU - Slough
“I think the first workshop was probably the most interesting, where the 3 LSU groups were coming together and they didn’t know each other and there was a little bit of ‘posturing’ and ‘peacocking’ going on out there amongst certain of the children….. I was sort of on tenter hooks, ready to intervene…. But ADAD just handled it beautifully. I mean, just that was just the way you'd want to handle it always, non-confrontational, diffusing situations with humour and getting the kids back on board.”
PRU - Milton Keynes
“The work that one young man did, certainly he is an incredibly challenging young man within the unit here, and I watched him be completely focused and completely concentrated for the whole of the session. That is certainly an example of the effect that that kind of work can have. He would never be focused like that for an hour and a half !”
PRU - Buckinghamshire
“It encourages students to open up to you if they need to , whereas they might keep that as a secret because it’s something that people shouldn’t talk about, but they could see that people were talking openly.”
PRU - Wokingham
“All these people with money need to come here and see the impact it has on our young people, the way it makes them think and the confidence it gives them to say things that I suspect in other circumstances they wouldn’t say, things that they would find personally embarrassing.”
PRU - Reading
“I’ve been teaching for nearly 30 years in schools throughout Milton Keynes and Hertfordshire, and 2 of us were discussing yesterday before you arrive, that we reckon that you are the best, by far, of any artistic group, of any sort that we have ever experienced in any school that we have been in….. and the way that you engage with the children is just phenomenal, and when you think about the sort of children that we have here, that you keep them enthralled for a whole afternoon and wanting to take part in what you are doing, it’s just incredible.”
PRU - Milton Keynes
Others
“Theatre ADAD, through imaginative projects like Wasted, provides valuable resources and enables children and adults alike to address drugs-related issues in an enlightened and responsible way.”
National Government Drugs Advisor
“I have been in the Drugs Education field for over 20 years and have never seen any programme which hit the nail on the head so accurately…..It is my opinion that every child in this country should have the opportunity to take part in this workshop”
Drugs Educations programme co-ordinator - Notting Hill
“It was absolutely brilliant, non didactic and explaining things in an accessible way.”
Jonathan Dimbleby - Broadcaster
“It seems to me that a key element in this success is the careful preparation work that ADAD puts in; listening to our ideas, our aims and our vision. The feedback from the participants and from the funders was excellent and we look forward to working with them again”
Director - ‘Sixty Plus’
“Inspirational is the only way to describe the experience of working with Theatre ADAD. They can, in an incredibly short space of time, engage with young people at a level that would usually take weeks. They enable and empower young people by exposing them to difficult and emotional situations and then helping them to identify the fact that we are all involved in making choices that affect the rest of our lives.”
Manager - Youth Resources Team - Berks.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and was very impressed with the way the story unfolded and held the youngster’s attention. The workshop was very well managed. I wouldn’t have kept a group that size firing ideas and participating with three times the number of workers!”.
"We were keen to find a way with pupils and their teachers on the very difficult issues of violence in relationships. The feedback from schools has been very positive and our partnership with Theatre ADAD is now a central part of our domestic violence programme."
Chief Executive - Community Safety Parnership
Prisons
“It made me look deep into my heart what affect my drug problem was having on people mostly the victims. I used to look upon the houses I broke into as just another house. But just something simple like the actors and the play opened my eyes. I started putting faces to my crimes, which had a big impact on me.”
Prisoner - Bristol
“Comments are: Fantastic – Brilliant – Valuable – Constructive – enjoyable – great – excellent ! There was also a request that you came every week ! It was amazing the way some men involved themselves in this process which they would normally shy away from.”
Officer - Drugs Rehabilitation Wing - Thames Valley
“It made me understand what the victim has gone through”.
Prisoner HMP Bullingdon
“Insight into how the victim feels – before it was just a faceless person.”
Prisoner HMP Bullingdon
“Thinking more about the victims and the pain you’re doing by crime.”
Prisoner - HMP Woodhill
“You feel how the victim feels.”
Prisoner - HMP Woodhill
"A chance for something good to come out of what has happened. To be given a chance to say things that have been in your head for a long time."
Young offender - Reading
