WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT SCENE & HEARD
"Scene & Heard is one of those rare, simple and beautiful ideas ... If everyone sent a tenner then that part of town would forever be in better shape"
Bill Nighy - Actor & Scene & Heard Patron
"I like Scene & Heard. I like the way they work with children. Scene & Heard is very important - it is a safe place."
Scene & Heard Parent
"This is theatre of the highest quality: imaginative, inspirational and above all huge fun"
Michael Sheen - Actor & Scene & Heard Patron
"It’s about giving children a sense of pride in them selves and showing them that their greatest resource is inside their head."
Emily Watson - Actor & Scene & Heard Patron
"The work you are doing is invaluable for the local community – community engagement at its best. I was particularly impressed by the impact you are having on local families and the effect it is having on their community integration."
Paul Morris - Superintendent, Metropolitan Police, Camden
"All of the children from my class, who have attended Scene & Heard this year come from homes where English is not the first language. Scene & Heard has had a marked effect on their language skills, however by far and away the biggest gain was to their confidence – not just with their writing but in themselves generally."
Ben Judge, Year 5 Teacher
"Reed Elsevier is proud to be associated with S&H. It is one of the ways we are working to achieve our community mission of education for disadvantaged young people. We see how in writing their plays, children give free reign to their imaginations and gain confidence that translates into other parts of their lives.”
Marcia Balisciano, CSR Director, Reed Elsevier
"What a wonderful thing you have created at Scene & Heard – absolutely great. I was so impressed and send you very best wishes for your work in the future.”
Alan Rusbridger, Editor, The Guardian
“The work that they have done at Scene and Heard has had a marked effect on their language skills. It has shown them that they have ability and this confidence in themselves is seeping through in to their school work…”
Year Six Teacher, Edith Neville Primary School, Somers Town
“I guess if you wanted to put together a celebration of the imagination you'd come up with something very close to Scene and Heard. You'd want to mix adults and kids because both get the best out of themselves when working with the other. You'd create live theatre because that's where the combined imagination of writer, actor and audience member makes it soar higher than it can in any other medium. And I think you'd want to have fun, because if laughter is sometimes the best medicine, it's also the best pastime.”
Ben Moor, Writer & Comedian and Scene & Heard Volunteer
“A heady evening which leaves you wishing that this demonstration of what drama can do for children could be funded and repeated on a national scale."
Michael Billington, The Guardian March 2010
"As a side note, I might add that the single biggest influence on me during this period was an evening of short plays written by children between the ages of 10 and 12, for a project called Scene & Heard. While they were all inevitably lacking in coherence, I was absolutely elated by the unpredictability of what these children produced; by their natural understanding of dramatic imperative, their genuine surreality and the pure little truths that occasionally exploded into the open. It's a cliché, but it graphically illustrated for me just how much I had to unlearn."
Anthony Neilson 2008 - in his introduction to Anthony Neilson Plays 2", pub. Methuen
"Writing is really improving all the time here and Scene & Heard is a big part of that"
Jim O’Shea, Headteacher, St Aloysius
"It’s supposed to be about building up the esteem of the children involved but conversely does the same for the actors. The experience has integrity, great value and has formed a lasting memory…. I think it is magical and life changing for all involved."
Suzanne Cave, Actor & volunteer 2010
"The Scene and Heard project is so great and the fact it culminates in such a truly entertaining show for every audience is fantastic."
Jonny Freeman, Actor & audience regular
"Over the past eleven years, Scene & Heard has worked with the children of Somers Town producing over 250 original plays performed by professional actors for this multi-cultural community. We make a significant difference to the lives of many refugees and struggling families in this community. Recently one of the head teachers emailed to say “I can fill every single place you can offer me. And more.”"
Roz Paul, Scene & Heard Artistic Director, September 2010
