• 9 free courses running from 5th – 30th July suitable for children and
young people from P1 – S6.
• Courses in stand-up comedy, drag performance, dance theatre, youth
theatre and costume design take place in the Loreburne Centre.
• Young people will be able to take part from anywhere in Dumfries &
Galloway through a subsidised travel scheme which covers the cost of
transport.
Dumfries Youth Theatre is launching a Drag School for young people alongside 10 other free courses in performing arts as part of the Amazing Summer in collaboration with Dumfries &Galloway Council.
Drag School is a new project which will give young people a working knowledge of the art of drag; learning the culture and history, making costumes, applying makeup, creating
performance art, and contextualising the role of drag in modern society, providing a safe
space to identity and gender. The 5-day course runs from 10am until 2pm each day at the
Loreburne Centre in Dumfries from 26th – 30th July.
The course is aimed at young people who are in S1-S6 and open to any young person who iscurious about drag performance.
Although the course is influenced by Ru Paul’s Drag Race, and the company’s work with Le
Haggis, the course will explore all types of queer performance and is open to everybody.
A one-day workshop is also available for younger people in P5-P7 on Friday 23rd July who
are interested in drag performance.
Young people will be able to take part in stand-up comedy workshops, which will lead
towards a short comedy sketch. Comedy is thought to be particularly helpful in helping
young people develop their confidence and deal with issues like bullying. Two options are
available ranging from P5-S6.
Justin Hyslop, Associate Director said:
“All of our courses give young people the opportunity to let young people be young people
this summer from our brand-new creative hub in the centre of Dumfries. It’s all about
giving them something positive to take part in where they can meet new pals”.Graham Main, Chief Executive of Big Burns Supper, said
“We have always been proud of the space we have created in our programmes to support
the development of new ideas. It is great to consider that the next major stand-up comic,
drag artist or dancer could be out there waiting to be discovered”.
As well as Drag performance, young people will be able to try stand-up comedy,
contemporary dance, costume making, and youth theatre delivered by a range of visiting
industry professionals who will be running the programme.
P1-P3 Youth Theatre (5 days) 12th – 16th July
P4-P7 Comedy ( 2 days) 5th – 6th July
P4-P7 Dance (5 days) 19th – 23rd July
P5-P7 Drag School (1 day) 23rd July
S1-S6 Comedy (3 days) 7th – 9th July
S1-S6 Costume Design 19th – 23rd July
S1- S6 Dance 19th – 23rd July
S1- S6 Drag School 26th – 30th July
All courses are free and there are travel bursaries available for any young person who wants to take part in the course.
To book courses, visit http://bigburnssupper.com
