Community
We proudly work alongside a variety of partner organisations across the arts, voluntary, health and wellbeing, and youth sectors, to deliver creative projects and programmes.
We’re keen to connect with our local community. There are many opportunities throughout the year for organisations, individuals, and groups to get involved with us, so if you’d like to learn more, volunteer, or have an idea for an event, please get in touch.
The People’s Palace Company is our group for intergenerational adults who are interested in exploring their creativity, meeting new people and having fun. The People’s Palace Company is led by experienced creatives on a project by project basis, but you don’t have to be an experienced actor or theatrical expert to join.
If you’d like to get involved or hear about any of the projects that we are currently running, please email us below, using the subject ‘People’s Palace Company’.
We are proud to work with the local community to co-create and produce shows on our stage and in spaces both inside and outside the Theatre as performers, designers, or technicians.
Take a look at some of our previous community productions below!
The 'Oss and the Ox (2014)
Directed by choreographer Kate Flatt and music director Adriano Adewale, The ‘Oss and The Ox was a lively, processional street performance project bringing together the Ox (the Bumba meu Boi) from Brazil and the ‘Oss (the Hobby Horse) from England. Participants from Field Junior School and Westfield Academy took part in creative dance and music workshops, culminating in a final outdoor performance with professional dancers and musicians, as part of the Imagine Watford festival in 2014.
Take a look at The ‘Oss and the Ox project here.
The Ballroom of Joys and Sorrows (2012)
A co-production by Kate Flatt Projects, Watford Palace Theatre with Greenwich Dance and the English Folk Dance and Song Society.
The Ballroom of Joys and Sorrows was an original dance theatre work with live music created by choreographer Kate Flatt and composer Adriano Adewale and performed in 2012. The work drew on traditional English and Brazilian dance and music sources, which introduced the continuing resonance of dance as ritual and social interaction. A large cast of community dancers and performers were joined onstage by five professional performers called the Players, and four musicians.
Take a look at The Ballroom of Joys and Sorrows project here.
Hello, Mister Capello (2010)
A community musical play by Nick Stimson, starring the people of Watford, created by the Palace Theatre and Watford FC.
Starring the people of Watford, directed by James Williams, Associate Director, the show premiered on Friday 3rd September 2010.
Milestones (2008)
A large-scale community play that was two years in the making. Involving over 100 participants taking part in dance, writing, drama, and music workshops to help create a play about their lives an experience.
The play, produced in 2008 to help celebrate Watford Palace Theatre’s centenary involved a cast of over 70 celebrating their stories and their community.
Watch this space for details of our next community production!
Our spacious town centre building is a haven for local community groups to meet, share, network and present their work. We’re delighted to be the home of several wonderful organisations.
Chinese Elders' Lunch Club and Language Class
Run by the Watford Chinese Association, this lively bunch meet on Tuesdays in our Green Room Bar.
Knit and Chat
Knit one, purl two and natter – if you fancy meeting like-minded individuals for cosy creations and chat, come along to our Green Room Bar on the third Wednesday of each month!
Satsang Singing Group
The wonderful Satsang Singing Ladies are an Elders Hindu devotional singing group that meet every Thursday in our Hospitality Room.
To find out more about any of the groups listed above, or if you’d like a home for your club or society at Watford Palace Theatre, please contact our Take Part team on 01923 235455, or via the button below.
Ever fancied gaining insight into what goes on behind the scenes of a working theatre? We offer tours of our beautiful Edwardian auditorium and building, giving you the opportunity to learn more about the various roles within the theatre.
Watford Big Bunting
In Spring 2021, we launched Good Will Bunting, a community arts project which asked the crafty so and sos of Watford to decorate a flag that reflected on their experiences over the past year. These flags were turned into beautiful bunting and decorated our Imagine Watford sites. So successful was this project, we devised, developed, and delivered The Fabric of Watford which sought even MORE flags, this time focusing on green spaces.
For both of these projects, we received over 550 flags which were used to decorate Imagine Watford, Stage in the Park, and our theatre building, but they are now safe and sound in our brand-new digital space, Watford Big Bunting. Here you can see every single flag that was made and find out more about our bunting endeavours.
Click to view the digital bunting!
Design Your Own Roundel
Design Your Own Roundel was a community arts project connected to our 2021/2022 pantomime, Dick Whittington and His Cat. As travel, journeys and the London underground played a key theme both in the story itself and the design of the show, the roundel (symbol of TfL Underground and Overground) was the perfect way to bring these elements together. We asked our community to design their own roundel and we were delighted with the fantastic creations we received. We would especially like to thank the following organisations for their contribution to this project:
– Age UK Herts
– Watford Mencap
– Cathartic Arts
– West Herts College
Special thanks also to TfL for granting us permission to use the roundel symbol.
Amanartis @ The Palace
This group exhibition shows the work of twelve artists who work with a variety of printmaking techniques such as Polymer etching, Linocut, Collagraph, Drypoint, Monotype and Screenprints.
The subject matter that brings them all together is the theme of John Betjemans ’Metroland’ and other selected poems that reflect travel and life along the metropolitan line. These nostalgic poems with a sense of humour and a serious undertone are good for creating a spark of inspiration.
Metroland is where most of the artists hale from. Living and working in Buckinghamshire and Hertfortshire they have been exhibiting together for over 10 years. Taking the Metropolitan Line into London is very convenient for commuting and visiting the ‘smoke’ from ‘the suburbs’. Highgate has an important connection to Betjeman as he lived and went to early school in the area.
The work has a good varied style from figurative, architectural, landscape and transportation with a unique sense of colour to depict the subject matter. Printmaking is an intriguing art form as it has so many techniques and processes. Explanations on the methods will be on shown together with some of the poems to help the viewer get a sense of what the artist was thinking about when they created the piece. All the work is uniform in size for a pleasing exhibition layout. The original prints are for sale – signed, titled and numbered. A catalogue for the exhibition has been produced.
Bodenpress is a small printmaking studio in Tring where artists create works using traditional and contemporary methods. The artists have exhibited together in galleries and art spaces, including The Bucks County Museum in Aylesbury and have had works in national print shows such as the Bankside Gallery and The Royal Academy in London.
For sales please contact Amma Gyan at hello@amanartist.co.uk or to see more Bodenpress literary work visit www.bodenpress.co.uk
The work can be seen on weekdays 10-4pm
Admission free
The Poetics of Print at The Watford Palace Theatre
20 Clarendon Road Watford, WD17 1JZ
Original prints by Bodenpress Artists.
April 2023