Mapeza does an admirable job as the younger Emilia, her bright-eyed naiveté and fierce resolve belying the script she constantly has to refer to. Playing Emilia from childhood to becoming a writer, from being the mistress of one lord to becoming the reluctant wife of another, her performance sets the tone for Emilia’s exploration of thwarted female desire and ambition. Emilia, with its all-female cast and creative team, is an interesting twist on the all-male companies of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare (played by Charity Wakefield) was Emilia’s lover and actually named two characters in his plays after her. Emilia is a reminder that even the most talented, clever and unique women in history struggled to find their place in the world. Every line of dialogue is important, and not a single part of the show feels out of place of unneeded. It’s so cleverly constructed, and I can’t remember the last time I saw a show where I loved the writing so much that I want to buy the fulls script so I can read it and annotate it to death. Reggio Emilia-inspired activities allow children to take an active role in their learning, by choosing what they want to explore and discover. With a focus on relationship building and community, these activities can benefit children by: A lot of the Reggio Emilia Approach is focused on the importance of environment as the third teacher. By giving children access to role-playing materials, they will be able to engage in self-directed dramatic play using thoughtfully placed resources around the classroom or learning environment.

Invite learners to gather some interesting leaves and teach them how to make beautiful leaf rubbings using this handy Leaf Rubbings Worksheet. This activity allows children to explore and take initiative in their learning, as well as provides a fun creative task for them to try! This is a great activity for Autumn time. The unique thing about this show is that it’s entirely the effort of women. The cast, crew, and band are all women, which makes the massively feminist context of the show even more powerful. Every woman has a presence on the stage, and what makes it even greater is the vast diversity of the cast, including several disabled actors (who are cast purely because they’re incredible actors, and not because their disabilities have any bearing on the plot). The story explores feminism, the power than men have over women, especially in this time period, and how men’s talents often massively overshadow those of women who were only there to marry men and not to explore their passions. The Reggio Emilia Approach is a philosophy and pedagogy of education which focuses on early years children. Developed by Loris Malaguzzi alongside parents in the villages surrounding Reggio Emilia in Italy, this pedagogy was developed during the post-World War II era, when Italy saw significant economic and social development, and alongside it a widespread desire for change, in education and beyond. In October 2020, it was announced that an archive recording of the 2019 West End production would be available to watch online between 10 and 24 November 2020 to support the theatre industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. [3] This date was later extended to December 2nd. [4]Playdough is a fantastic material for children to construct, play and explore their senses with. Add some extra sensory stimulation by creating some special sensory playdoughs so children can learn through exploring new and interesting textures, scents, colours, sounds and even tastes! By giving children the opportunity to play with these engaging sensory playdoughs, they will be able to experiment with all the different qualities that they each bring to the table. Perfect for learning through exploration and investigation and social interaction. Through role-play, children can dramatise situations, use their imaginations to pretend to be someone else and explore risky situations from the safety of the classroom. The benefits of role-playing are seeing new perspectives, supporting social skills through interactions with other children, increased confidence and empathy and helping children solve problems using their imagination!

The approach centres on learners and the construction of knowledge through active experiences. Reggio Emilia activities are self-guided and aim to allow children to have rich educational experiences through hands-on learning and relationship building. Its fundamental principles are respect, responsibility and community, which are to be achieved through exploration, discovery and play. Read on for 10 Early Years Reggio Emilia Activities, inspired by the approach, that will allow children to learn actively through exploration, experimentation and play. With activities for both the indoors and outdoors, you’ll be sure to find some inspiration for fun and engaging activities in line with the philosophy of the approach. Emilia the Play transferred from The Globe to London West End’s Vaudeville Theatre, and sadly ends its run on June 1st, 2019. The play, written by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, gives us a glimpse into the life of the seventeenth-century poet Emilia Bassano Lanier, who was allegedly one of Shakespeare’s muses.Although it’s all written within the context of the time period, it’s still scarily accurate today. The powerful themes and the roof-raising monologues are enough to bring tears to people’s eyes, and the final monologue (which moves swiftly into a big dance party onstage) brings the entire house to their feet. When was the last time you saw a show where you felt entirely compelled to stand up at the end and cheer? For me, I don’t stand up very often. For me to give a show a standing ovation, it needs to be incredible. So when Emilia ended and I jumped straight to my feet to applaud the incredible final monologue, I knew that this was an incredible show. Emilia is silly, it’s fun, and it’s completely unsubtle, but the most important word I can think of to describe this show is powerful . It’s about the importance of friendship, strength in numbers, and the power of female ingenuity. Given that Emilia was for five years the mistress of the Lord Chamberlain, it is not impossible that she and Shakespeare met. But although the evidence of their association is based on an unproven claim by AL Rowse, it allows Lloyd Malcolm to turn Emilia into a living symbol of exploited women, and to show her interrupting a performance of Othello where even her name has been lifted.