caroline barth
(education and outreach manager 1996 - 2002)

Caroline was born in the south but spent her formative years in Cheshire, where she developed her love of the arts through her time with the exceptional Helsby High School choir, the Chester Little Theatre and Cheshire Youth Theatre. After gaining a BA Hons Degree in English and Drama at Sheffield University, Caroline formed and ran her own Sheffield-based Theatre in Education Company, Pageant Theatre for three years. Pageant toured curriculum and issue-based shows to primary and secondary schools. Caroline, alongside her two partners, wrote, directed and performed in this repertoire.

Caroline became the Education and Outreach Manager at the Queen’s in January 1996; a post she held for six and a half years. In addition to running various drama and show-linked workshops for schools and many a brownie pack backstage tour, the department received further funding in 1998 to produce two touring schools’ shows a year. Under Caroline’s tenure, productions included The Tempest for Infant Schools, A Midsummer Night’s Dream for primaries and Macbeth, Of Mice and Men, Stone Cold for Secondary Schools and To Kill A Mockingbird. Caroline performed in four of these tours. She made her main-stage debut in the first season of Bob Carlton’s cut to the chase… company in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, in which she played a dancing, flute-playing, chest-bearing, poodle-headed concubine – her biggest challenge to date!

In 1997 Caroline raised funding to re-establish a much-needed youth theatre in the building for 14 – 19 year olds. This was followed shortly by Jump Start, the youth dance group, run in conjunction with East London Dance. This relationship with East London Dance led to the establishment of an annual dance season, which included the youth dance platform, First Feat, professional performances and education workshops.

One of Caroline’s favourite and most challenging projects whilst at the Queen’s, was the management of Our Town Story, a performance project with 100 young people at the Millennium Dome. With animateur Dinos Aristidou at the helm, the Queen’s worked with Marshall’s Park, Emerson Park and Corbets Tey Schools to create a moving and memorable piece of theatre, that Caroline will never forget!

Very early on in her career at the Queen’s, Caroline met with the energy, enthusiasm and sometimes, sheer madness of those people that initiated the idea of an annual Community Play! Caroline assisted Marina Caldarone to direct the very first community play – A Tale of Two Cities in the summer of 1996. It took her a year to recover from directing a cast of 80 local actors, at which point she co-directed The Good Intent in 1997. She then directed Champion of the Horned Church and Check It Out! In 2000, she made herself double-eyed busy and not only directed Down the River and Up the Road but was a co-writer and script consultant too. The last community play she directed at the Queen’s was Bubbles in the Air in the summer of 2002.

Later on in the summer of 2002, Caroline went on to become Head of Education at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. She loves this role too, particularly enjoying the fresh talent and energy of the young people in such an exciting, multi-cultural borough. Her work at the Theatre Royal has included Dare 2 Dream, a music, dance and drama project, the Da Boyz schools residencies and the initiation of new youth groups, such as Apka, Asian Drama Project and Voices!, Young Writers’ Group.

In June 2004 Caroline leaves the Theatre Royal to become the Creative Director of Creative Partnerships in Derby. She will be very sad to leave, but is looking forward to this new challenge.