Peckham Settlement Stories:
Theatre Peckham
Christmas Show 2023
Theatre Peckham opened its doors to the local audiences inviting them into Barnet Magic, an amazing hair salon where Rapunzel is whipping up beautiful, inventive and unique styles. The story was a twist on the traditional fairy tale featuring a cast of 5 professional actors and 26 young people. Our Young company was selected through an open audition call for our Academy members and rehearsed twice a week from September through to opening night. 70% of the young people involved live in Southwark with the majority being from the hyper local area of Camberwell and Peckham.
Over 26 shows, 3931 people attended of which 752 received a 50% discount through our Peckham Local tickets. The support from Peckham Settlement was essential in enabling us to continue this offer for local residents who may not be able to access arts and culture. We advertised the offer on our social media platform and through our newsletters as well as contacting local TRA’ s to share about the discounted offer for those living on local estates to encourage their residents to book. This saw a 60% increase in Peckham Local residents attending Rapunzel when compared to last year’s Christmas show tickets. Of the 620 new audience members we engaged over the season, 28% were from Southwark demonstrating our reach within the local community.
We wanted audiences to leave feeling a sense of empowerment and the knowledge that ‘nothing is impossible, if you just believe’. We encouraged audiences to share their feedback and encouraging messages via ‘Mama Bea’s Medical Journal’.
(Image and text © Theatre Peckham Christmas Show 2023, Rapunzel)