Free Family Fun Weekend to Return to Sheffield Theatres

Sheffield Theatres are throwing open their doors for their annual Fun Palaces weekend from Saturday 1 - Sunday 2 October.

Enjoyed by over 2,500 visitors last year, Fun Palaces returns to Sheffield Theatres packed with free activities, including workshops (with British Sign Language Interpretation available), tours, craft activities and even a Barn Dance, Sheffield Theatres' Fun Palaces promises to be an exciting, interactive insight for the whole family.

Ahead of the Crucible's Christmas production of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, the theatre will be getting in a Wild West mood. Have a go in the 'Tin Can Annie' side-show or create a hobby horse in the cowboy craft corner. Hone your hoe-down skills in a fun dance workshop or do-si-do your partner among the hay bales at the Crucible's first ever Barn Dance with Bobbing Joe's Band! Gingham and cowboy hats are encouraged!

Learn to harmonise in a singing class or, if you have a mini-diva in your midst, head for the family drama workshop or the Theatrical Photo Booth! Record a professional voice-over with the Sound Department; join the Lighting Team to take the spotlight in the Studio or set the stage and call the actors before the show with the Stage Management team.

Work alongside the talented Wardrobe Department to design a stage costume or create a floral corsage; shock your friends with a fake battle scar courtesy of the Makeup Team or take an Extreme Tour and explore the hidden depths of the Lyceum.

Fulfil a sporting dream and play (mini) snooker in this iconic venue or head out to Tudor Square to help Sheffield Theatre company Third Angel rename the streets to create a very special Sheffield Map of Dreams in Desire Paths.

Younger children can take time out in the soft play area, hunt down snowflakes in The Snow Child trail or splat their grown-ups at the Panto Custard Pie Splat stand!

There's something for everyone at Sheffield Theatres' unique, free, all-singing, all-dancing, snowflake-hunting, pie-throwing, barn-dancing, snooker-playing, cowboy-crafting Fun Palaces Weekend!

Sheffield Theatres' Fun Palaces Weekend is on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 October from 10.00am. For the full schedule of free activities and workshops, visit sheffieldtheatres.co.uk or visit the Box Office on Tudor Square. British Sign Language Interpretation support is available - please advise the Box Office when pre-booking your activities.

Sheffield Theatres' Fun Palaces Weekend is part of an annual, free, nationwide celebration of arts and culture, driven by localism, innovation and engagement, with a core passion to encourage communities to create by and for themselves. Fun Palaces shouts, sings, shimmies, stomps from the rooftops: arts and sciences, all culture, is a crucial part of human life, and they are truly glorious.

In 1961, Joan Littlewood and architect Cedric Price conceived the Fun Palace as a 'laboratory of fun', 'a university of the streets'. It was to be a temporary and movable home to the arts and sciences that would welcome children and adults alike. It was never built, so we have remade that 1960s vision for the 21st century, with a weekend of events, locally curated and attended - linked nationally and internationally, virtually and actually.

Desire Paths is supported by the Sheffield Culture Consortium through Year of Making 2016, Making Ways and Arts Council England Ambition for Excellence.

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