Theatre at work

Experiential Theatre Based Learning
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Theatre is at work enhancing culture and improving performance

We create impact, providing a learning experience that will engage your people. We work with you to deliver inspiring tailored workshops in safety, leadership and a range of cultural subjects.

Our programmes feature interactive methods such as scripted plays, case-studies and live simulations. We also apply our skills to films, videos and online programmes for powerful communication and learning. Everything we do is designed with your groups in mind, from leaders and managers through to frontline and operational teams.

We have over two decades of experience in applying our creative, theatre-based techniques to real organisational challenges. Our approach engages people rationally, emotionally and behaviourally so they understand, they care, and they see their part. We then harness that momentum by empowering participants with the practical skills needed to ensure they apply the learning to their roles.

Our team have backgrounds in industry, the arts, psychology, and learning and development. Our skills range from workshop design to stage direction, from facilitation to performance. Theatre works and we can make it work for you.

“I got more from a three-hour workshop with Theatre at Work than all the ‘classroom style’ health and safety training I have received in the preceding 12 years in the business”
Operative – Manufacturing
“Very interesting way to make managers think and good interactions”
Manager - Facilities
“It’s excellent, one of the best I have been on. Really interesting and getting a lot out of it. The delivery method of having the actors is superb!”
Senior Manager - Railways
“Very enjoyable. The practical side of things made it worthwhile and very interesting.”
Operative – Pharmaceuticals
“Excellent, very professional, innovative, so engaging. Lasting experience, money well spent. Thought-provoking journey home.”
Leader - Food, Facilities and Property
“Every single evaluation provided evidence that the group ‘loved this aspect of our leadership school’ as it was so ‘thought provoking and refreshing’ and was a wonderful ‘new method of learning’.”
Director – Health Services
“Great story and crowd interaction. Very different, people will remember and talk about it. Well done.”
Manager – Pharmaceuticals
“Excellent and hard-hitting. Nice to have a different spin on safety.”
Manager - Food Services
“Several hardened foremen said it was the most powerful training event they had ever attended and that they had changed aspects of their approach as a result”
Executive Director – Civil Engineering
“Great session, better than any of the usual presentations. Stayed awake for the whole thing.”
Operative – Manufacturing
“Acting approach outstanding! Excellent method of drawing out valuable discussions and insight”
Senior Leader - Underground Transit
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New Techniques

Film and Video

We script and produce bespoke films or video inserts for training programmes or communication platforms. Our skills and experience means we create films which are fresh and memorable tools for sharing key messages or implementing cultural change. Our dramatisations are filmed in studio or on location using broadcast standard equipment. We work with you to create unique, bespoke segments which reflect the culture of your organisation or industry. Our films have been used in sectors including construction, energy, rail and finance.

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Online Programmes

Film clips and streamed performances are used as the basis of interactive online training which we facilitate. The live nature of our theatre techniques is replicated online so these programmes can offer an engaging and cost-effective alternative for remote workers. Styled in a similar way to our theatre-based plays, our online training presents scenarios and viewpoints in order to explore key attitudes, approaches or skills. Input and discussion from participants are encouraged along with application of learning to roles.
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Areas of Expertise
Safety-Workshops-Training

Safety Culture

Improve and sustain the culture of safety in your organisation.

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Leadership-Management-Workshops

Performance Management

Create a high-performing culture led by your senior teams.

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Effective Workplaces

Foster a productive and inclusive workplace for all.

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Theatre Based Techniques

Interactive Plays

Theatre is a powerful medium by which to create awareness and enable understanding. We produce and perform dramatisations which are used as a core element in training programmes or events. Developed and delivered by our team, our approach appeals to all learning styles creating maximum impact and engagement. Each play is interactive so participants can engage directly with the characters and explore events as they unfold through facilitated group discussion. You can choose from our range of existing plays or we can develop a new bespoke piece for you. Theatre at work can overcome a key challenge in changing behaviour and culture; it generates ownership by challenging thinking and shifting mindsets.

Scripted Scenarios

Case-studies are designed to illustrate or mirror your organisational culture, giving participants valuable insights into workplace behaviour, including their own. These scripted scenarios are researched and developed in consultation with you and tailored to address specific objectives or as part of an existing programme. We use an interactive process to involve each group in the scenario through active observation, reflection, strategy development and experimentation. Through practical exploration of key themes, we enable understanding and ownership by illustrating how even the smallest actions, or inaction, can have the greatest impact at work.

Skills Practice

Our workshops present the perfect opportunity to apply learning in a practical way. We employ theory and tools to ground our theatre-based methods and consolidate learning for participants. The use of actors for skills practice is a tried and tested method which can be used in a wide variety of situations, particularly where behaviours or competencies are being enhanced. Our approach to this method is that our actors play the roles so that participants need only be themselves. Individual skills development is enabled through this opportunity to practice and receive expert feedback and coaching from our facilitators.

Featured Programmes

A Way With Words

How can each person influence safety culture? This workshop highlights the importance of safety conversations as a day-to-day dynamic within your organisation. We explore the attitudes and approaches that will enable culture change, one safety conversation at a time.

Set in a busy packaging and distribution environment within a manufacturing facility, our interactive story uses a process of forum theatre to raise awareness and stimulate discussion. The qualities of an effective safety conversation are highlighted, along with the potential consequences of getting it wrong. The scenario also refers to the psychology of safety and we explore perceptions and biases from both sides of the conversation.

Each workshop can be designed to suit your groups at management or operative levels and content includes contemporary cultural references including Covid-19.

Themes

Safety Coversations | Risk Perception | Intervention | Culture

Suitable For

Groups at all levels of management and operative

Out of Sight

According to the Samaritans construction workers are six times more likely to die from suicide than a fall from height. This workshop explores the risk factors associated with mental health and challenges stigmas which may exist. Participants have the opportunity to understand and spot early signs that someone needs help, such as prolonged depression, excessive fears, social withdrawal, substance abuse or the impact of Covid-19.

Delivered by a team of two or three, the session can be staged in any size venue. At 1-1.5 hour duration it is designed to be accessible and easy to incorporate into site meetings or existing programmes.

Themes

Psychosocial Risks | Communication | Stigma | Culture | Covid-19

Suitable For

Teams at all levels working in construction or any industrial environment

Take-Care-Main-Image-Safety-Training-Workshop2

Take Care

Inspired by an Irish incident this practical programme highlights the importance of individual engagement with a safety system, including permit-authorisation and isolations. In a busy and often highly regulated manufacturing environment what prevents a safe system of work from being effective? This case-study explores the human factors and behaviours that challenge safety culture. Through live interaction, facilitated discussion and practical group work we examine how best to cultivate a positive culture of safety and explore the features of a high reliability organisation.

Content has been adapted to include contemporary references to COVID-19 working.

Themes

Safe System of Work | Positive Safety Culture | Mindfulness of Risk | LOTO | Permit Authorisation

Suitable For

Operatives, supervisors and managers at any level

Deepwater Horizon

Deepwater

On April 20th 2010 the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, operated by Transocean, exploded and eleven men lost their lives. But four months earlier in the North Sea on another Transocean rig, there had been a near miss with eerie similarities. In this hard hitting play we see the dramatic events onboard the Deepwater Horizon on the day of the disaster, and we follow the investigations as they uncover negligence, poor regulation, inadequate maintenance, catastrophic decision making and what the US authorities described as ‘a reckless disregard for safety’.

Themes

Risk Management | Leadership | Culture

Suitable For

Managers and Senior leaders in any industry

Mousehole

Our case-study is the tragic and true story of a horrific death on-board an oil rig. A man is being hoisted in a harness toward the mouse-hole, a trapdoor in the deck of a rig, when his harness slips. A radio fails, a crane operator works blindly and a man dies. We start after the incident has happened and go back in time to uncover the behaviour and culture which contributed to a fatality.

This two hour session is delivered by a team of three and can be played in any venue. Facilitation includes common themes of personal responsibility, culture, risk taking and intervention. The workshop is suitable for operatives, supervisors and junior managers in any industry.

Themes

Working at Height | Culture | Risk Awareness | Intervention

Suitable For

Operatives, Supervisors and Managers in any industry

Overloaded

Inspired by an Irish incident our case-study explores how failings in judgement, and failure to uphold a safe system of work, can lead to a workplace fatality. We meet an operative Brendan and his manager Kevin, both of whom are hard-working and well-intentioned. Yet through their actions, and inaction, play key roles in events that lead to the incident and disastrous consequences for their colleague.

Themes

Risk Awareness | Workplace Stress | Culture | Accountability

Suitable For

Operatives, Supervisors and Managers in any industry

I personally found this webinar very interesting and thought provoking - the aim of the programme is for us all to realise that during this Covid pandemic – we are all dealing with the stresses and strains very differently
Michaela Ronan-Downey
Michaela Ronan-DowneyHead of HR
North Cork Co-operative
Ervia have recently developed an overall Safety, Health and Wellbeing strategy under the brand 'Work Safe Home Safe'. We recently ran launch sessions for all staff which incorporated an interactive workshop ('the Mousehole') run by Annette and her team. We wanted to focus on the themes of leadership, personal responsibility, culture, risk taking and intervention and the workshops were a great success with unprecedented levels of staff participation and engagement. Feedback from participants after the event was overwhelmingly positive. The approach taken by Annette and the team was professional, engaging and refreshing.
Paul Lennon
Paul LennonHead of HSQE
Gas Networks Ireland
Ervia
I have worked with Annette on delivering theatre-based training for our CIF members. It was very well received and the feedback on the learning outcomes was fantastic. Annette provides a very professional service and her team really make the audience feel they are on the scene, making the whole learning that more real. I would have no difficulty in recommending Annette and her team in delivering her professional services to the safety community.
Robert Butler
Robert ButlerHead of Training and Development
Construction Industry Federation
Annette has partnered on several occasions with GSK to provide innovative communication skills training to our customer facing employees. Her creative and unique approach ensures full engagement from all participants and the training interventions were very successful and memorable.
Brian O'Driscoll
Brian O'DriscollTalent, Leadership and Organisational Development,
GlaxoSmithKline Ireland
In the past 4 years we have developed a fantastic partnership with Theatre at Work to help drive employee safety awareness. Annette’s and her team’s creativity, professionalism, dedication and passion have played an instrumental role in guiding us towards a more caring and inclusive safety and welfare culture
Martin Dooley
Martin DooleySite Engineering Manager
Birds Eye Ireland
Annette worked with us to produce a video showing what infrastructure does in an investment bank. Her creativity contributed to make what might appear to be a rather dull subject into something which is exciting and a good reflection of the importance of the role within the bank. The finished product received plaudits from all who viewed it, whatever their background.
John Thompson
John ThompsonGlobal Business Manager
GBM Global Infrastructure HSBC
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