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The Coronavirus Time Capsule is an online youth theatre project we are running for young people in school years 7+, who are new or existing members of MFYT’s Stage 3, Ovingham Middle School, and Ensemble Young Company groups.
The project is a way of recording teenagers’ experiences during the global Coronavirus pandemic and shutdown. Mortal Fools is running the project (alongside lots of other online opportunities and activities) because we think it is essential that as the world shuts down, we continue to offer the young people we work with our support, the opportunity to connect with each other and a space to create. The project has been created by Company Three – a fantastic youth theatre based in London who we have an existing partnership with. Youth theatre groups all over the world will be taking part in the same project at the same time as us, so it’s a really exciting opportunity for our Mortal Fools family to connect with one another, to connect with other young people across the UK, and to connect with the world. Vertical Divider
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How will it work?
1. Every week, we focus on a different ‘Topic’
Example topics could be things like Home Life, Rumours, Friends, School, Boredom.
2. MFYT participants take part in 1 x online live youth theatre session per week
Working with their practitioners and fellow group members to creatively explore that week’s topic, just like we would in a normal MFYT session. These sessions will be held on the computer and phone conference app Zoom.
3. After the live session, each participant will make a 15-sec video, called ‘a moment’.
To help with creating these, they’ll also receive extra video tutorials and resources from their practitioners and there will be a drop-in slot the day after their session to get some exrtra help or advice from their practitioners. They will then send the video to our team by uploading them to a Dropbox link which will be sent to the email address registered below.
4. All the 15-sec videos are then collated and edited together
This creates the first section of our ‘time capsule’, which will then be released online at a set time each week. You can see Company Three’s first video HERE (it already has more than 20k views!)
5. The same process happens every week
Except this time, the weekly videos are also added on to the original film, to create a cumulative record of the whole project, ready to be watched from start to finish.
I'd like to be involved, but I'm not sure about filming myself...?
You don’t need fancy filming equipment to make your video – a phone camera will do. To take part in the weekly session, participants will need access to a tablet, laptop or PC which has a webcam and ability to run the Zoom application.
If participants are uncomfortable being filmed for the time capsule, it’s totally possible for them to do it without ever appearing on camera. They could speak from behind the camera, make scenes, animations, puppet shows – or even write something for someone else to perform.
You can read more about the international project HERE, and Company Three have put together loads of helpful resources to help us along the way - like this video from Freedom Studios Youth Theatre on Top Tips for shooting video on a phone:
Key Information:
The term will last 11 weeks, starting with trial sessions the week commencing 20th April. The trial sessions will be a chance for us to experiment with the online session format, and help the participants get used to working this way.
The sessions will be facilitated via Zoom* and will last approx. 1 .5 hours.
Weekly group digital sessions on Zoom:
Stage 3: Tuesdays / 14:00
Ensemble Young Company: Thursdays / 16:00
*Zoom is a computer and phone conference app which allows multiple people to join in an online chat room where we will all be able to see and talk to each other.
This will be an invite-only private chatroom, there will be 3 adult practitioners in the chat with the young people and it will be terminated at the end of the session. Nobody will be able to enter the chatroom without the host’s permission. The conversation will not be uploaded onto the internet, and no other personal information will be needed other than their first name. Please note that by signing up to Zoom you will be agreeing to the Zoom’s terms and conditions. Please read them before agreeing.
The sessions will be facilitated via Zoom* and will last approx. 1 .5 hours.
Weekly group digital sessions on Zoom:
Stage 3: Tuesdays / 14:00
Ensemble Young Company: Thursdays / 16:00
*Zoom is a computer and phone conference app which allows multiple people to join in an online chat room where we will all be able to see and talk to each other.
This will be an invite-only private chatroom, there will be 3 adult practitioners in the chat with the young people and it will be terminated at the end of the session. Nobody will be able to enter the chatroom without the host’s permission. The conversation will not be uploaded onto the internet, and no other personal information will be needed other than their first name. Please note that by signing up to Zoom you will be agreeing to the Zoom’s terms and conditions. Please read them before agreeing.
Book your place:
Due to the new digital nature of this project we will require permission from parents/guardians for all young people under the aged of 18 to take part in the Zoom conference sessions and the Coronavirus Time Capsule.
You can find our safeguarding guidelines for this project and the code of conduct for our young people here:
You can find our safeguarding guidelines for this project and the code of conduct for our young people here:
| Code of Conduct |
When you have booked your place on the project via the form below, Zoe – our Programme Coordinator – will send you a project agreement which you will need to digitally sign and return before you are able to take part in any live sessions.
If you have any questions or want to contact us about any of this, please email or call using the details provided on the Code of Conduct document.
