Muscat, Oman, 2nd October 2004

A group of teachers from the private education sector in Muscat have taken part in a workshop with a difference using an innovative new style of learning to share with their pupils at the local private schools. Titch, a UK based theatre company is currently visiting Oman for two weeks, specifically to undertake a day long workshop for teachers and to spend 10 days at the British School in Muscat as part of an extended concentrated children’s workshop which will culminate in a performance by the school pupils themselves.

Familiar with Oman, the Sultanate having become a regular biannual date in the diary for Titch since 2001, this was the first ever teachers drama workshop to be undertaken by the theatre company. Organised by the Ministry of Education, Private Sectors Affairs division and sponsored by Oman Oil Marketing Company and the Holiday Inn Villas, the Ministry recognized the value the amateur dramatics company was imparting with the children each visit.

Led by Titch Artistic Director, Nick Pryor, 30 teachers from private schools in the Capital Region spent the day learning how to use drama as a tool in teaching. Despite being a rarely utilized learning medium in Oman, drama has been proven to be an effective tool as a means to teach through direct theatrical experience.

“One of the Company’s focuses is on investing in the youth in the Sultanate, and this is an indirect means of assisting them educationally,” says Hisham Al Alawi, Oman Oil Marketing Company’s Corporate Affairs Manager. “Having seen previous plays by Titch, we are very supportive of this style of teaching.”

More than just a form of entertainment, the imagined and enacted world is one of the most effective channels through which children can learn about themselves and other people on all levels, be it physically, emotionally, or mentally. Participating in such activities also allows the child to explore and understand a wide range of human emotions, action and their consequences, customs and belief systems and life in genera.

Titch provides a complete educational package as well as a highly enjoyable theatrical experience to schools and theatres. The aim of the Company is to produce challenging performances, with strong visual imagery which imprints the memory with words and pictures, and uses humour to punctuate the action and heighten the story-telling.