ABOUT US


The Thrift flower grows almost anywhere, where other plants can't & won't flourish. Similarly, Thrift seek to find ideas for Theatre in unusual & sometimes difficult places, being inspired by things that most people would never see or notices, anywhere & everywhere.

TIM
CARMEN
OTHERS

THRIFT is run by Tim & Carmen Godwin. Tim & Carmen have 15 years of experience of making Theatre as professional performers. They are both qualified teachers and have worked with young people throughout the country with companies such as Opera North,The National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT) & English Pocket Opera, as well as in many schools and colleges.They are both passionate about making Theatre happen, especially with marginalised groups of people, and have taken THRIFT's message all over the U.K, to New York and hope to be able to work soon in Europe.

WHAT WE DO

Transforming experiences into performance...
Although THRIFT root their work in Theatre, the emphasis in all of their projects is the learning experience. We try to develop theatre as a medium for developing entrepreneurial activity, teaching young people that experiment is good, certainty does not matter and ways of finding creative solutions to problems.
We seek to find ideas for Theatre in unusual & sometimes difficult places, being inspired by things that most people would never see or notice, anywhere & everywhere. In buildings & architecture; the sounds and rhythms of the street; colours, spaces, people walking past in a hurry. We work hard to transform these experiences into performance. All our projects are rooted in an experience and often, but not exclusively, in a residential setting.
Our work takes us in three distinct directions:

CAMPS & RETREATS
"In the whole eight years that I've been studying Drama, Music & Movement at school, 6th form and University, nothing has had more of an effect on me than this week."
Participant: Summer Camp 2006

We try and make all of our residential projects as safe and as inspirational as we possibly can. They are places for people to come, not be judged or to compete, but to come and collaborate with the very best artists/teachers and other young people from all over the U.K, all of whom share a commom passion: to create.

Each Camp or Retreat is bespoke, and is always rooted in an experience that the partcipants would not usually encounter in their day to day lives; Staying in a Medieval Manor house; crossing the Atlantic; living in a field; staying in 5 star luxury.

SCHOOLS
"Inspiring..everyone should have a go!"
Student - Woking 2006

All of our work in schools tries to be value orientated, seeking to deliver INSET, professional development opportunities and workshops for students as part of the same package. Most recently we have been developing a model inspired by the Periodic Table, designed to empower students to play with the elements of Theatre during a devising process. This exploration is continuing throughout 2006-2007, running gifted and talented workshops & SEN workshops with partner schools/colleges in Woking, Basingstoke and Newbury.

NEW WORK
THRIFT are comitted to spending as much time as possible exploring making new work of their own. Most recently they were asked to create a piece at Mean Fiddlers 'Latitude' festival in Southwold, and they are involved in taking 'Three Sides' to The New York Musical Theatre Festival in Sept 2006. Also in development are a series of site specific monologues, a conceptual piece in a Travel lodge and a series of ideas looking at ways of reshaping the way in which audiences experience Music Theatre.
 

CONTACT::office@thrifttheatre.co.uk