Hundreds of primary school children are taking part in a project as part of Leicester Comedy Festival 2019 and The UK Kids’ Comedy Festival. The team behind the festivals, registered charity Big Difference Company, is producing “Loving Laughing”, a series of creative word play and joke writing sessions which will enable pupils to enhance their language and communication skills, and help them to increase their confidence and self-esteem. The project will culminate with an event at The Y, East Street, Leicester when the organisers present a trophy to the “funniest school in Leicestershire”. Leicester Comedy Festival 2019 & The UK Kids’ Comedy Festival are both taking place from 6-24 February and full programme details are available by visiting www.comedy-festival.co.uk www.ukkidscomedyfestival.co.uk/
“What a wonderful opportunity it is for us at Red Monkey to support the Leicester Comedy Festival and The UK’s first ever Kids Comedy Festival – a festival which provides laughter, fun and creativity, just like us!” Red Monkey Play
The schools taking part in Loving Laughing 2019 are Croft Church of England Primary School, Waltham on the Wolds CE Primary School, St John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy, Mayflower Primary School & Holy Cross Catholic Primary School. Professional comedians have been visiting the schools mentoring and training the young people in joke telling. The young people will write their own jokes on subjects they select and take part in the finale, telling their jokes to a selected audience of children, school staff and family members.
Leicester Comedy Festival has a long tradition of working with partner organisations to encourage wide participation in the annual event. Previous projects include workshops using improvised comedy and cartooning to develop young people’s confidence and language skills. In 2019 Loving Laughing is taking place as part of The UK Kids’ Comedy Festival, alongside the Laugh Term Comedy School which is a project designed to teach teenagers how to become stand up comedians.
Festival founder and Director, Geoff Rowe, said “we’re delighted to be working with so many great schools on the Loving Laughing project. We know from experience that when young people are having fun they tend to learn more and we’ve been really encouraged by the response we have had from schools to take part.”
Big Difference Company’s General Manager, Helen Tomblin, said “comedy is great way to help young people grow in confidence, break down barriers, build friendships and find their voice. We are really proud of our work with children and young people and want to see it develop it beyond the festival to have a positive impact on even more people across the region.”
The Loving Laughing project, and The UK Kids’ Comedy Festival, are supported by East Midlands Airport, Tui, Red Monkey and Leicester City Council. The festival is produced by Big Difference Company in partnership with Curve, Spark for Arts and The Mighty Creatives.
Update:
It was the big Loving Laughing finale at the end of the week when one school was crowned the “funniest school in Leicestershire.” Our own Richard Tate was one of the judges at the competition and here he is presenting the award to the winners: Wasim, Umar and Dylan from Mayflower Primary School for their “Posh Restaurant” sketch.
