Recruitment Information

Geese Theatre Company is a group of professional actors, workshop leaders and groupworkers.  We present performances and conduct drama-based workshops in prisons, young offender institutions, secure mental health hospitals, probation centres, and related venues throughout the UK and Ireland.  We are an independent registered charity using theatre as a tool for education, rehabilitation and change. Our theatre looks directly at issues that are important to offenders and their futures.  The company has an international reputation for innovative and pioneering work and since 1987 company members have worked in over 150 custodial institutions and with 42 probation services in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, involving work with more than 130,000 offenders.

We have a wide portfolio of work, all of which is issue-based.  This includes:

• performances that explore issues such as: dealing with the first year after release from prison; maintaining relationships; domestic violence; sexually abusive behaviour; trafficking of women.  Some of these performances are interactive improvisations, several are performed in half-masks and some utilise full-masks.
• workshops for prisoners, probation clients, young offenders and young people at risk. 
• groupwork with probation services on a variety of offender programmes.  This involves using drama exercises and techniques with groups of offenders encouraging them to examine their behaviour and to look at the possible changes that they could make.
• our own prison and secure mental health hospital based groupwork programmes. These programmes are delivered in a variety of forms (ranging from one day to nine day inputs) and cover a number of core themes, including: violent offending; resettlement; parenting; sexual offending; employability and substance misuse.
• working with young people who are involved with Youth Offending Teams or who are at risk of offending
• training for other professionals in the use of theatre and drama with offenders. 

Geese is regularly commissioned to create new performances and training programmes for a wide range of agencies, including the Association of Chief Officers of Police, the Judicial Studies Board, National Women’s Aid, the British Council, the Magistrates Association, the Prison Service, national and local probation services, social services and other child protection agencies.

The company currently consists of nine members of staff and is managed by the Artistic Director.  Geese employs a full-time Administrator and part-time Fundraising Co-ordinator.  The other members of staff are all performers/groupworkers with their own areas of expertise and particular responsibilities.  One current member of staff has been with Geese for 16 years and the average is 6 ½ years.

If you would like more detail about our work see The Geese Theatre Handbook (Baim, Brookes, Mountford – Published by Waterside Press)

The Post

The post for which we hope that you will apply is that of male performer/groupworker: a full company member working within the above environments. Due to casting requirements for our performances we are looking to employ only a male performer / groupworker in this round of recruitment*.  You will be expected to employ a variety of skills and manage your own diary, and over time the full range of the company's activities will be open to you.  Start date for the successful applicant is mid August 2008.

Person Specification

The following list indicates the skills and experience that a new member of the company will need.

Required Skills/Attributes

• Theatre training / experience
• Excellent performance and improvisational skills
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Enthusiasm for the area of work
• Self-motivated - able to work alone as well as part of a team
• Able to reflect and evaluate own practice

Desirable Skills/Attributes

• Experience of training or facilitating others
• Experience of working with offenders, young people at risk and/or other vulnerable and volatile groups
• Experience of devising work
• Able to conduct research around a specific brief and a willingness to learn
• Good organisational skills
• Full driving licence

Working in Geese Theatre

As you will realise when reading through this information, the position of a company member within Geese Theatre Company is an all-encompassing one.  It requires a multi-skilled person – to be both a performer and groupwork facilitator; to be able to work alone and also as part of a team.  You will need to be confident, resourceful and self-organised.

The focus of each day will be different and the varying combinations of Geese staff add further variety.  You could be performing; rehearsing; facilitating a group on your own; facilitating a group with a co-worker; travelling; working in the office; delivering staff training; preparing and planning future work; researching; spending time involved in staff development or at company meetings.  Clients can be professionals from a range of criminal justice agencies or can be male or female offenders. Our work with offenders involves delivering projects with people who have committed a wide range of offences, including violence, domestic abuse and sexual offences against both children and adults.

This means that the environment is both challenging and stimulating, but long hours and a constant stream of work can also make it stressful and tiring!  The company works internationally and travel away from home is a normal part of the working pattern.  This is why the company is looking only for individuals who want to make a commitment to this area of work and those who are creative, inquisitive and able to cope with the long hours and constant stream of work.

In return the company offers stimulating and exciting work, in places that many people will never experience and with an extremely diverse range of people.  There is also the prestige of working for a company that is at the forefront of its field.  The company offers permanent contracts, with six months probation period as a trainee.  At the beginning this will involve observing work and rehearsing into some of our productions, graduating onto co-working and leading work.  There will be some theory sessions and basic computer training (if needed). 

The company offers seven weeks holiday, plus Bank Holidays (one of these weeks is in recognition of the long hours that are sometimes worked).  The starting salary in 2008 will be £19,700. Assuming successful completion of the probation period the salary will rise, initially to £20,900 with this increase being followed by additional increments as the company member gains experience. Senior Company members (four years experience and above) are currently earning approximately £26,000. Successful applicants will be expected to live in the Birmingham area.

In addition to the six months on-the-job training, the company offers other training opportunities.  Currently, a number of training days are set during the year when external practitioners visit the company and six half days are available for skills sharing work.  Company members can also request support for other training.

What happens next?

If you are interested in applying for the position of performer/groupworker with Geese Theatre Company then please download the:

Application Pack

or click here to send an email request for hard copies of the documents.

Completed application forms should be returned to the addresse at the foot of the website or as an email attachment. We would greatly appreciate it if you could take the time to also complete and return an Equal Opprtunities Monitoring Form (although if you choose not to, this will not affect your application.)

Completed application must arrive at our offices by 5pm on 2nd June 2008.

The people who the company would like to find out more about will be asked to attend an audition on Saturday 5th July 2008. This audition will be a whole group workshop with current members of Geese Theatre Company and other auditionees and will primarily focus on your performance ability, and more specifically your improvisational skills. You will not have to prepare an audition piece. Some people will be asked to leave on Saturday at lunch time, others may be asked to stay over onto the following Sunday 6th July 2008 (accommodation will be provided). If you are invited to stay over for the Sunday you will be asked to prepare and deliver a ½ hour workshop which will demonstrate your groupwork facilitation skills.  

As the audition process can potentially take up the whole weekend it would be useful for you to have the dates marked in your diary. Please note that we cannot offer alternative audition dates for people unable to attend or any travel expenses for those invited to audition.

If you make a full application, we will reply to you. However, we will not be contacting anyone before the deadline for applications, so please wait to hear from us!

Deadline for applications: 2nd June 2008

Audition Weekend: 5th and 6th July 2008

Start date: mid-August 2008                      

We look forward to hearing from you.

Geese Theatre Company aims to promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talents, skills and potential.  Geese Theatre Company welcomes applications from diverse candidates.  Criminal records will be taken into account for recruitment purposes only when the conviction is relevant. Geese Theatre is pleased to consider applications from ex-offenders and a criminal record will not necessarily be a bar to obtaining employment.  However, this position requires the successful candidate to be able to pass security checks for prisons and to work with children, therefore a criminal record which would prevent them from undertaking these requirements would be a bar to employment.

As Geese Theatre Company meets the requirements in respect of exempted questions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, all applicants who are offered employment will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure (criminal record) check before the appointment is confirmed.  This will include details of cautions, reprimands or final warnings as well as convictions. 

*For reasons of authenticity in dramatic performances, on this occasion Geese  Theatre Company is only recruiting a male performer / groupworker. This is permitted under section 7(2)(a) of Sex Discrimination Act 1975.