Currently on tour, and having recently performed at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Moonbeam Theatre features former Music Society Secretary and clarinettist in Orchestra and Concert Band, Madeleine Rigby (pictured below). Maddie studied Drama and Theatre Studies at Kent, graduating in 2021 having been Music Society Secretary (as well as Social Secretary in her second year). Moonbeam Theatre is part of the Graduate Artist programme in the School of Arts’ Drama department; here, Maddie reflects on the purpose of the theatre company, being part of the Edinburgh Fringe festival, and their recently launched DIVE playlist on Spotify.
Moonbeam Theatre are a non-profit company who create multi-sensory theatre for children with profound and multiple learning disabilities and special educational needs. We’ve been a graduate theatre company at the University of Kent since 2020 and have been facilitating workshops and shows ever since. We’ve had a busy year this year, taking our show DIVE on tour. DIVE is a multi-sensory under-the-sea adventure which encourages our participants to get involved in exploring the ocean setting of the performance. We’ve visited over 50 SEN schools, charities and community groups and this summer made our Edinburgh Fringe Festival debut.
Being a part of EdFringe was a real bucket list achievement, and having sold out shows was amazing! The reviews we’ve received from all our audiences have been incredible and we are already planning our next show, which is all about The Garden, to tour for 2024. As a University of Kent music department alumna, I am very pleased to say I even play my clarinet in the show! [Well done, Maddie: keep playing!]
But even more exciting is that we have just released the DIVE soundtrack on Spotify; as a company we wanted to make sure our audiences had access to the music so they could continue to experience DIVE in their own spaces or simply keep listening to the relaxing sounds of our ocean setting. To create the music we worked with our music producer, Adam Pattrick, who helped us put all our ideas together. The tracks were created to be ambient and calming, but watch out for the The Chatty Clam’s Hideout as that’s the exception!
You can find the album on Spotify here. ‘Ocean Waves’ is gently hypnotic, very relaxing, and perfect for listeners young and maybe not-so-young too…! There’s the lulling, echoing ‘The Seaweed Forest,’ or the joyous ‘Coral Cove,’ sure to get young toes wriggling. Moonbeam Theatre’s website is here, or see what they’re currently up to on Facebook here.