Reviews
Reviews
Schools...
What a great, sword-smacking day for the students at KD Grammar school for Boys in Chorlton-cum Hardy in Manchester this February 2022. Initiate Theatre was professional, accommodating and hands-on with excellent workshops practising stage-crafting from key scenes in Shakespeare's Macbeth and A Christmas Carol. We had an entire day of excellence. The students absolutely loved the Macbeth sessions: the acting in the first instance of key scenes and the small workshops which anchored important prosodic features helped students to think about Shakespeare's word choices. Pivotal moments included the stage fighting with broad swords and the brilliant characterisations of Ignorance and Want in A Christmas Carol. Andrew Sumner's direction and input was insightful and inspirational. We loved Initiate Theatre and will be calling them back for sure!
Head of English (Feb 2022)
Thank you for visiting The Tower School. The pupils were mesmerised from start to finish by the thoroughly engaging version of Macbeth. The workshop was excellent for building confidence, facial expressions, and self-esteem- the students loved being taught by professional actors.
Thank you from all staff and students at The Tower School.
The Tower School (April 2022)
By having the Theatre company come to the school, this gave our Year 10 pupils the opportunity to see their GCSE play, ‘Macbeth’ in action. Y7 pupils had a fantastic time watching ‘A Christmas Carol’ – this reinforced their understanding from the novella and how it was adapted into a play. Both year groups experienced a question/answer session and also had the opportunity to have a go at acting, in character, on the stage.
Thank you.
English Department St. Peters' High School (March 2022)
Initiate Theatre came into our school for 2 days for our World Book Week which was themed around Horrible Histories. They performed a fantastic dinosaur show for KS1 with workshops and a factual and fun history show for KS2 focussing on different historical events followed by workshops based on each class topic. The children and staff were fully engaged and even those children who wouldnt usually volunteer in class were full of confidence. This is the third time we have had Initiate Theatre back to our school, they are absolutely brilliant, professional, friendly and lots of fun. I cannot recommend them enough!!!
Thank you and we will be inviting you back again!
Deputy Head West End Primary School (March 2022)
This was the second visit from Initiate Theatre to our school, last time performing Macbeth for GCSE students and this time performing an adaptation of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for Year 9. The creatives in the company are both talented and hardworking and their adaptations are engaging and innovative. They bring everything with them, including props, costumes, lighting and sound to create an immersive experience. The actors often play multiple characters and their characters are portrayed with passion and conviction, extending learners' understanding of plot, setting and characters. Our Year 11 and Year 9 learners thoroughly enjoyed the Initiate Theatre experience and were able to participate in some drama and a Q and A session at the end. We would not hesitate to recommend them and I am sure we will book them again. Thank you!
English Department Matthew Moss High School (March 2022)
From their students...
Macbeth:
Lady Macbeth whole performance because it showed clearly LM passion and her control and power.
Unsex me here scene because it’s iconic and where they explained the play and answered our question and when they took volunteers to act it out and asked us how the characters will feel at certain parts of the play.
The witch acting out a creepy scene.
The witches and the three faces because it really makes you question why did they use three faces and not 3 people playing them individually.
Overall it was very great show and the actors did very well
Very good overall. Thank you for this opportunity!
A Christmas Carol:
It was memorable to see this before my eyes because then I could have a real understanding of it if it's being acted out.
The most memorable part of the play to me was when ignorance and want were introduced to Scrooge as it was very eye-catching .
The ending was most memorable because “scrooge” interacted with the children and making them laugh.
When Scrooge kept being annoyed by the Christmas songs played in the town this was memorable because he hates Christmas.
Probably all the lights and the mood it brings :)
Them changing clothes and characters because they change very quickly and entertained us whilst changing.
Initiate Theatre brought Romeo & Juliet and An Inspector Calls to life for our current year 11 students. Initiate Theatre's performance allowed our students to realise that these plays are to be best understood and enjoyed through performance and not as things simply to be read or studied in a classroom for a GCSE exam.
Head of English UTC Leeds (Jan 2022)
Thanks so much for this performance – it has really helped our students gain an understanding of the novella.
CHS South (Jan 2022)
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Interesting and engaging workshop!
The children thoroughly enjoyed their afternoon. The workshop was interesting and informative and pitched right for Year 1 children so early on in the school year. The children learned new facts but also had fun expressing themselves and using their imagination. Staff were friendly and engaged the children from the start of the session.
Thank you - it was exactly what we wanted!
The Froebelian School, Leeds
Thank you so much for delivering an unforgettable experience for our pupils. They absolutely loved it! It was interactive, engaging and extremely informative.
Vice Principal (Westwood High)
From their students:
Our pupils gave raving (well deserved) reviews:
I loved this experience. I found it very entertaining and I had a lot of fun. I think we all found it extremely interesting and it was an amazing experience. I loved the way they acted and found it very funny; they definitely helped me understand Macbeth a lot better. I wish we had more scenes being performed as they were amazing at acting. Thank you, we loved it very much.
The Macbeth workshop was a great way to thoroughly understand the play and to get a deeper perspective on the characters in the play. I enjoyed the workshop and now have a much better understanding of the ‘Scottish play’.
I extremely enjoyed the Macbeth workshop. It was understandable and has helped me gain a visual insight into the characters’ minds and thoughts. I can now remember important scenes and understand their significance.
I had so much fun during the workshop and the way they acted and expressed their roles as the characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, were so amazing- I can’t even express it through words! Lady Macbeth’s character was portrayed so well, I felt like I really understood her as well as Macbeth’s character who showed and expressed his emotions really well. You could really see it in their facial expressions and through their body language. I’m also really happy with how they made it interactive with the students because it made it more fun but I also managed to learn a lot at the same time. I had lots of fun, thank you very much for coming.
I feel like because it was visual for me to see, I understood what was going on. The actors portrayed the characters as they should be so it was easy to capture the meaning. I wish they had more time so they could have acted out more scenes for us because I feel like it was easier to understand when watching.
“Initiate Theatre did a fantastic job of bringing Macbeth to life for our Year 11 students and their engaging, knowledgeable and interactive post-show workshop really helped our students to understand the key scenes. Highly recommended!”
HOD , SECONDARY EDUCATION
“Initiate were extremely flexible and willing to step in last minute when plans did not work out for us. They were enthusiastic, entertaining and delivered a passionate and lively performance. An excellent refresher for our Year 11s.”
HEAD OF ENGLISH, BIRKENHEAD SCHOOL
“We were very pleased with the correspondence prior to the session and the flexibility of the team in terms of adapting material to suit the needs of our students. We particularly enjoyed the moments of performance as these really brought the play and the characters to life. Overall, we were pleased and would certainly look at inviting the company back. ”
ASSOCIATE HEAD OF ENGLISH, ACADEMY@WORDEN
Pantomime at Accrington & Great Harwood
Brilliant show everyone loved it.Thank you so much
First time we hired a theatre company and it was perfect just what we needed.
Thank you for everything. Thanks
Birthday Parties/ Events...
Amazing .... thank you! Theodore loved having two pirates at his 5th birthday party. Arghhhh!! Would definitely recommend ☠🏴☠️🎈
Parent, Birthday Party Customer
The communication from start to finish was fantastic. My son had the most amazing 6th birthday thanks to the actors they were absolutely brilliant. I would highly recommended this theatre company can’t thank them enough for keeping 30 kids entertained was a great party we will never forget. THANKYOU!!!!
Ms S Horrocks
I found Andrew of Initiate Theatre, very helpful and friendly. We haven’t had our event yet. Andrew helped to cater for my needs. So we will be meeting A young man named Jack on the 29Th March 2019 and looking forward to it.
I made my decision to use Initiate Theatre, because they weren’t pushy, they were very helpful and friendly and answered all my questions and helped me with my decision. I would definitely recommend this Theatre company if you have got an up and coming event.
Event Customer
The two actors which were sent Spider-Man & Batman (Jack & Oliver) were amazing they were booked for my sons 4th birthday party my son said he couldn’t believe the real Spider-Man & batman came to his party. Worth every penny. I would 100% recommended this company.
Birthday Party Parent
We hired two Actors for our Halloween party to meet/scare our guests on entrance. They did a fantastic job. The experience was better than I imagined. Initiate Theatre were great, I sent lengthy emails with my ideas and they responded quickly each time. I would definitely recommend and use again. Thanks very much
Event Customer
What a fantastic company!! Thank you so much for working at our wedding last weekend! Your service was first class, friendly, helpful, nothing was too much trouble! You helped our day run smoothly and all our family and friends had such an amazing time thanks to your hard work! Cannot thank you enough!
Event Customer
Great service. Highly recommend!
Eric Chu - Event Customer
Acting Academy...
Loved it. So outgoing and easy to talk to. Was made to feel comfortable going out of my comfort zone. Definitely made a memorable impression.
Private Tuition Drama Student
This is my son's review : amazing, incredible. All the good descriptors in the world. If your child is interested in performing arts in any way...I highly highly recommend Initiate Theatre.
My son Reuben attended the Easter workshop last week and absolutely loved it! He really enjoyed himself and all of the kids put on a great performance at the end of the week. Thank you Jack & Andrew for bringing out his passion
Student Parent
Brilliant performance of Jekyll and Hyde this afternoon by 5 of the young students. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done Andrew and the team. Well done indeed 💙
Student Parent