Forest Forge Theatre Company has been delivering high quality Creative Learning projects for the past 30 years.

This is our work in communities outside of formal education and includes life-long learning. Our Creative Learning Team work with groups of any age, culture and ability from around the region to explore a cross art- form approach to theatre.

We tailor workshops, projects and residencies for each group and respond to the participants' needs and desires in creating theatre. We often collaborate with other organisations in funding or delivering the work, using artists and practitioners who are expert in their field.

Current Projects include:

Forest Forge Tots

Each week Forest Forge opens its doors to children and their parents or carers, for fun, creative theatre workshops. 

Tailored specifically for children under 5, these lively creative sessions are run by experienced Forest Forge workshop leaders. Our Tots leaders have years of experience working with a wide range of adults and children of all ages, and particularly enjoy introducing drama to a new set of young minds!

These vibrant sessions engage and stimulate your child, using music, movement and drama to encourage a sense of play and develop imagination. Sessions follow a regular routine to build confidence and a sense of security - the children love to tell the leader what comes next! Sessions last for 1 hour, with a drink and biscuits for the Tots and a cup of tea or coffee for the adults, giving a chance to catch-up and chat with fellow parents. 

Forest Forge Tots takes place on Tuesday mornings from 10am - 11am at The Theatre Centre in Ringwood.  Sessions cost just £2.50 per child, with accompanying adults free. Please contact the office for term dates.

A Local Hospice

Forest Forge has been running a weekly drama session at a local hospice since 1997.  The sessions offer patients the chance to work together and be inspired and invigorated. The sessions allow the individual to ‘play’ and ‘create’ in a way they may not have done for years, which is a real liberation for them. The work increases self-esteem and confidence at a time in many of their lives when they may be feeling worn out and of little use to society.

We have many wonderful examples of this work, including one participant describing the workshops as “a chance to remove the straitjacket”.

Hidden Identities

Forest Forge is currently running a free drama club for young people from a local traveller community in the New Forest.  The club gives children and young people the chance to learn about drama, see performances and work towards Arts Awards.

Hidden Identities is funded by the Lloyds TSB Foundation.

Breaking the Fall

This is a new project that sees Forest Forge work with elderly people living in residential accommodation and on their own in Fordingbridge and the surrounding areas.  Breaking the Fall is a fall prevention project, using drama to develop people's confidence and stimulate creativity and promote ways to prevent a fall. In workshops, participants will be asked about their own experiences of falling and share simple practical ways of minimising the risk.

Breaking the Fall is funded by the Fordingbridge Nursing Aids Trust.

Recent/Past Projects Include:  

Hampshire Welcomes The World - part of the 2012 London Olympic Games Cultural Olympiad, Foret Forge worked with partners in the New Forest to create a special event to celebrate Hampshire and the Olympics in the summer of 2012.  The event was inspired by African storytelling and New Forest legends and included music, drama and performance.

Me and How Other People See Me - a special series of workshops on identity for children with autism ages 6 – 19, held during the easter holidays 2012. The sessions focused on each child’s individual identity and included drama games and theatre skills as well as an art project to create a representation of themselves. Me and How Other People See Me was made possible by funding from Hampshire County Council’s Short Breaks fund.

When We Were Thirty - a project for older people in the New Forest. In 2011 Forest Forge ran workshops in ten local residential homes, encouraging residents to think back to the year they turned thirty. The participants experiences were then written into a play, performed by three actors that then toured back to the homes for free. When We Were Thirty was funded by the Herbert and Peter Blagrave Foundation. 

The Black Heritage Centre and Vedic Temple project - A project bringing together groups from the Black Heritage Centre and Vedic Temple in Southampton to create and present plays about their experiences of coming to the UK, funded by Age Concern UK

PUSH 3 - a project for young children and their parents or carers, encouraging them to learn about their local heritage and develop creative responses to heritage visits. 

Wooden Tony - in 2010 and 2011 Forest Forge worked with children with autism and their families in a series of drama workshops.  The sessions were led by writer Richard Conlon who developed what he heard into a new play called The Boy At The Edge of the Room that Forest Forge hopes to produce professionally soon.

Everyday Stories - a project working with ten community groups across the Forest, giving each group the opportunity to tell their story.  The project culminated with a performance at Hanger Farm Arts Centre.  It was funded by Awards for All.

Community events - Appearances by Forest Forge Youth Theatre and other groups at public events including the Ringwood Carnival, Festival and Christmas Parade.

For further information about our work in the community, or if you have a project idea you'd like to talk to us about, please get in touch.