As half term and the Christmas holidays approach, and working parents start panicking about how to entertain their children over the break, it’s worth considering Creation’s creative holiday courses and workshops.

Mine enjoyed a week with the Oxford-based theatre company’s Put On A Play In A Week over the summer and it was an unmitigated success.

First of all there’s always a wide range of plays, venues and ages to choose from.

My children love The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by literary local CS Lewis and were already au fait with the Narnia film series, so looked forward to the idea of spending a week doing some theatre.

But where Creation differs from other set ups, is that children are not only encouraged to enjoy the process, but are integral to the finished product, crafting and rehearsing their own ideas, depictions and visions. It is certainly a group effort.

Their leaders Alex and Simon helped free up their imaginations and gave them rein to unleash their creative sides.

So on pick-up every day in Summertown (workshops run from 10am to 4.30pm, with flexible pick up and drop off from 9am-5pm), there were as many tales of the games as the rehearsals themselves, the end product slowly taking shape.

The final show was unveiled on the Friday afternoon and charmed us all, each child swapping roles, enabling them all to take a lead.

But perhaps the children paint a picture of Creation’s holiday workshops best: “We met lots of really nice people from all over Oxfordshire,” they told me afterwards. “The games were really fun but helped us with the play because we didn’t just learn how to act but to pretend to be objects like wardrobes or houses.

“You really had to think about how things looked and how to replicate that piece of furniture or whatever, and the games we played helped our performance.

“We really liked the story as well, and adapted it ourselves. It was good for your confidence because you got to be a main part whether you liked it or not. No one was singled out, so it was a group effort.

“It meant people really came out of their shells.” creationtheatre.co.uk

KATHERINE MACALISTER 5/5