Music and drama will bring a safety message – for free

MUSIC and drama will combine in a unique theatre performance tackling key safety – and admission will be free.
“Safer Together” is the result of a collaboration between Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service and Manchester Camerata – which has been hailed as “probably Britain’s move adventurous orchestra.”
The show will be at Runcorn’s Brindley Theatre on Tuesday, June 5 and will have considerable input from the Warrington area.
The link up has seen the fire service’s prevention department work with a composer, theatre maker and musicians from Manchester Camerata to highlight key water, home, rural and anti-social safety issues from an intergenerational perspective.
A Key Stage Two class from each of Cheshire’s four unitary areas – Warrington, Halton, Cheshire East and Cheshire West – have also taken part in the creative music and drama project, as have community groups.
A series of workshops have been held to devise and rehearse the performance, which will portray the causes and consequences of a series of scenarios based on real-life stories to highlight the need to be more vigilant and safety conscious.
Nick Evans, head of prevention at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The performance is free for all and will see water, home, rural and anti-social safety messages conveyed in a unique and thoroughly entertaining way.
“Each scenario will be explored from both a young person’s and an older person’s perspective, portraying how they might respond to different emergency situations and showing the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ ways to act.
“The audience will discover how it feels to be an older person who feels threatened by anti-social behaviour and how it might take longer to get to safety if they are physically disabled.
“They will also learn about prevention through the performance, with the messages relating to young people just starting to learn about how to act appropriately and safely in certain situations though to people living with dementia, who may forget to test their smoke alarms, for example.
“It will also raise awareness of the negative effects of abusing the area in which you live, particularly if that’s in the country or near water.”
Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service safety staff, members of Manchester Camerata, schools and community groups have been working on the project since March, first meeting at the fire service’s new interactive lifeskills education centre in Lymm.
The schools involved are Sandbach Primary Academy, Culcheth Primary
School in Warrington, Willow Wood Community Primary School in Winsford and Halton Lodge Primary School in Runcorn.
U3A – University of the Third Age in Warrington, Frodsham Players and Ellesmere Port Musical Theatre Company are the participating community groups.
Nick added: “The innovative project has brought young and older people together to learn about mutual safety issues and then work with professional musicians and prevention staff at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service to creatively express what they have learned.
“The result is an insightful, thought-provoking and enjoyable music and drama performance that I encourage everyone to see.”
The performance will be held from 6.30pm to 7.30pm, with the doors opening at 5.30pm.
To book free tickets call The Brindley Theatre’s box office on 0151 907 8360. There is a maximum of eight tickets per booking.