Education, outreach, Community

Information for schools Tickets Students £10 Teachers free
Medea
A Greek myth from the beginning of Western Theatre
Hello there,
Carabosse Theatre, based in Milton Keynes, after the fantastic success of last year’s production of Dracula, are hoping, this year, to excite the passions of a new audience with a two and half thousand-year-old classic, Medea!
We know it’s not on your syllabus, but Medea will enhance any young person’s understanding of the origins of drama. From a masked chorus to the weighty moral issues of classic tragedy, bound together with original songs, fresh interpretations and a new adaptation, the show will, with luck, stimulate new patterns of thought and inspiration in your students and be the springboard for future discussion and drama workshops.
If you think it would be of interest to your students, it would be amazing if you could put the word out and encourage them to come along!
All the best
Sally Luff
Artistic Director of Carabosse Theatre Company

For your information, below are a couple of paragraphs from our program:
Euripides, in his day, was the bad boy, avant-garde intellectual who regularly took potshots at his rivals and was famed for his portrayals of mad, bad and dangerous-to-know females. Phaedra, Hippolytus, Erotomane, Alcmene, Cassandra and, of course, Medea are variously depicted as love-mad, wild-eyed, distraught, semi-hysterical revenge artists, as liable to throw themselves on a funeral pyre, as they are to murder the men who have crossed them. Athenian women at the time, may have enjoyed Aristophanes biting back with his comic Thesmophoriazousae, where they are depicted debating whether they ought to put to death this author of crazed women, but two and half thousand years later, generations of women (and men) can recognize the patriarchal power which drove his characters to such extremes, and in turn celebrate these ancestral tragic voices.
Medea is fascinating, and as with Lady Macbeth, the male world betrays her, so she makes it pay with an emotional self-immolation whose flames take the lives of her children, husband, rival and king. Whether we judge her right or wrong, by the end of the play, we have seen and realized the fatalistic potency of revenge, borne of jealousy, and expiated through tragic action. There are a myriad of themes to debate but when, in the end, Medea is seemingly accepted back into the arms of the gods, we get a glimpse of Euripides’ underlying agnosticism, which he discussed with other thinkers of his time, Socrates and Protagoras (who said ‘man is the measure of all things’). Euripides was a bad boy but he loved his bad girls.
Alternatively, after the initial performances in October, we are planning to put the show on the road and/or run workshops on Greek theatre. If you are interested in potentially booking a workshop let us know and we are also open to tailoring workshops to your needs.

Members of Carabosse Theatre Company who took part in Willen Hospice promotional video

Education and outreach

We offer on-stage pre-show sessions with members of the acting company and creative teams which explore how the text has been brought to life in our current productions.

We intend to launch an ambitious new education and training programme providing opportunities for different sectors of the Community to access workshops and the expertise from our ensemble.

With our new production of Dracula, we intend to outreach to local schools and other community organisations to provide drama and education workshops.

Literary Department

Carabosse aims to work with local play wrights to help discover, nurture and produce new plays and to develop their skills to the highest possible standard championing new writing within Milton Keynes and the surrounding area. Writers that work with us will experience working closely on text and story with a dramaturg and the unique opportunity of workshopping closely with the Company, assisting with future developments and productions.

Writing workshops are planned for the near future for both beginners and writers with experience. We intend to create a group of Carabosse in house writers and through these workshops and classes we shall develop and produce. Dates and information to be confirmed.

We will accept unsolicited scripts and they will all be read but not all will be chosen for production but we will offer feedback from an experienced dramaturg for a fixed fee - contact us for more information.

In order to deliver on our objective of providing innovative, exciting theatre, we believe it is important to do this with a set of strong values. These values provide a framework for the decision-making and operations of Carabosse, and serve as a guide for our interactions with the community and its audiences:

Inclusivity: A commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusiveness in all aspects of the company’s operations, from casting to audience engagement.
Artistic excellence: A focus on producing high-quality, engaging, and thought-provoking theatre that challenges and inspires audiences.
Community engagement: A commitment to serving and engaging with the community, through educational programs, workshops, and other initiatives.
Collaboration: A belief in the power of working together as a team, both on stage and off, creating theatre that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Empowerment: A commitment to empowering individuals and communities through the transformative power of theatre, by providing opportunities for personal growth, self-expression, and community building.
Accessibility: A dedication to making theatre accessible to all members of the community, regardless of background, experience, or ability.
Sustainability: A focus on operating in a responsible and sustainable manner, both environmentally and financially

‘Our bird when he found the cage open would not fly ‘