Prams In The Hall are a collective of professionals working in theatre, who also have children. Our founders are Anna Ehnold-Danailov, Sarah Hunt, Roisin Rae and Ain Rashida Sykes. We would like to welcome our producer Cassie Raine on board. Prams In The Hall focuses on new writing and adaptations to bring female perspectives on stage, whilst developing new working practises inclusive to parents,
both artists and audience. One of the groups most likely to stop or change their careers in order to look after children are mothers working the arts. Prams In The Hall has mainly worked with female artists who are mothers, in order to support and enable each other. Our methods include:
* Having the young children of actors, directors and writers in the rehearsal room
* Offering flexible hours for those with school-age children.
* On-site childcare ‘sharing’ within the company. Children are a welcome, planned for, part of the company at every stage of the creative process. We agree to create a safe and fun environment for them, as well as helping each other work and find ways of allowing it to feed into the work rather than stopping it. Our working practice is constantly developing as we discover how best to work in this way. Prams In The Hall also make attending performances easier for audience members who are parents by providing watch-with-baby shows, matinees that fit in with the 'school run' and evening performances scheduled to suit those with children at home. Prams In The Hall’s aim is to create outstanding work that is inclusive to both artists and audiences that may be parents. HOW WE STARTED:
When Anna Ehnold-Danailov was invited to direct 'Medea Pastiche' she set out for an experiment. Driven by her own quest to break apart the restrictions motherhood can bring to the creative process, she invited actress-mothers to bring their offspring with them, not only to the casting but to every rehearsal. This resulted in a wild adventure, a creative chaos. Amongst mountains of toys, packets of biscuits and bits of playdough, between tantrums and soiled nappies, theatre was created and Prams In The Hall was born. Since then we have continued working in our unique way: allowing theatre practitioners to bring their children to the rehearsal room. WHY DO WE BRING OUR CHILDREN TO THE REHEARSAL ROOM? Childcare is expensive and creating theatre is seldom well paid. Many mothers who are also creatives have to pass on opportunities and ideas, as they can’t afford to pay for childcare. In many rehearsal rooms it would just not work to bring your baby or child along; It can disrupt the process, be distracting for the parent and other artists and possibly be unsafe, or at least not fun for the child. At Prams In The Hall, children are a welcome, planned for, part of the company. We agree to create a safe and fun environment for them, as well as helping each other work, despite the chaos, and find ways of allowing it to feed into our creative process rather than stopping it. IS PRAMS IN THE HALL JUST FOR 'THEATRE MUMS'’? Everyone is welcome: mothers, fathers, carers, guardians, and creatives without children who would like to work with us. However, in our experience, the group that seems most likely to stop or change their careers in order to look after children are mothers working in the arts. Prams In The Hall has therefore been mainly working with female artists who are also mothers, in order to support and enable each other. We are always keen to collaborate with different artists. We run regular workshops at the Young Vic, Jerwood Space and Thanet. GET IN TOUCH ! Send us a message if you would like to get involved: [email protected]
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