Round Table Theatre in Education Company

Round Table Theatre in Education Company's mission is to give children and young people the opportunity to explore and understand the most relevant questions of our time through artistic work.

Round Table produces high quality participatory theatre in education programmes for young people aged 8-17. These programmes are aimed at specific age groups, with strictly one class participating at a time.

Round Table was the first theatre in education company to be established in Central Europe when in 1992 the company's founder, László Kaposi and his young group of actors started work on creating a TIE programme. The company was based at the time in a small town, Gödöllő, 25 kilometres north of Budapest. The small studio space in the local Culture Centre made it possible to build a repertory of TIE programmes that was also toured to Budapest and other parts of the country.

Round Table offered local children a series of programmes; teachers could bring their classes to a new TIE production every year. The material used varied from folk tales from different parts of the world, to Greek classics. The company primarily focused on problems relating to different age groups, while experimenting with theatre and drama forms. Round Table had to leave Gödöllő by the end of the 90's the local council's support for TIE slowly withered away - and moved to Marczibányi Cultural Centre in Budapest, where it has been based ever since.

The quality of the Company's work has helped establish TIE in Hungary as a legitimate art form. Round Table's work has been acknowledged nor only by educators but also in the field of theatre. The company has been invited to perform at all major Hungarian children theatre festivals and have won three awards in the last four years.

In 2006 László Kaposi left the company, it has been managed and directed by four core company members since then.

It has been Round Table's policy from its inception not to charge schools for the theatre in education programmes, because we believe that all young people have a right to access high quality culture and art, irrespective of their social class, cultural and ethnic background, gender or geographical circumstances.

The company supports other theatre in education companies and projects in Hungary by organising the National Festival of Theatre in Education Companies and offering workshops and also mentoring support to others working in this field.

International work

Round Table is open to engaging in meaningful international projects. The company has been in close collaboration with England's leading TIE company, Big Brum TIE Co. Adam Bethlenfalvy, one of Round Table's actor-teachers joined Big Brum as the second recipient of the Geoff Gillham Memorial International Fellowship Award. After two years, he returned to Hungary, but the collaboration of the two companies carries on. Ceri Townsend designed the set for one of Round Table's productions, Bone-cage, written by Geoff Gillham. The two companies work together to develop their artistic and educational understanding of this discrete art form.

ROUND TABLE THEATRE
(Kerekasztal Társulás)
postal address: 2111 Szada, Székely Bertalan u. 1/c. Hungary
tel: +36-70-9428198
fax.: +36-28-404702
e-mail: kerekasztal@kerekasztalszinhaz.hu
web: www.kerekasztalszinhaz.hu