Release Date 08 November 2013

University of Reading students have played a major part in the renowned Theatre Royal Stratford East's exciting new international project, Home Theatre, which begins tomorrow morning (Sat 9 November).

This pan-London project links boroughs from across the capital, including some of the city's more affluent areas with Newham, a vibrant and diverse borough with extremely low arts engagement, where there are major influxes of new residents as the post-Olympic regeneration continues. The intention is to capture the spirit of London and to place Theatre Royal Stratford East's own borough of Newham in this context.

Home Theatre (UK), thirty one-person shows staged in thirty homes across London on Saturday 26 October moves into its second stage tomorrow, with a broadcast of all performances taking place on the theatre's new web platform stratfordeast.tv on Saturday 9 November. From 8am, one new performance will be released every thirty minutes, totalling more than fifteen hours of theatre.

A final year Film, Theatre and TV University of Reading student worked on each of the one person shows. They observed rehearsals and contributed to the development of the project by creating an integrated strategy for filming the resulting performance.

Below, students share their experience of working on Home Theatre

Ellie Dearing

"As a film and theatre student the project was perfect because it allowed me to work collaboratively with my artist and director on the theatre side - looking at how to structure the performance and how the artist could use the space, whilst also allowing me to have my own individual piece of work to take away from the project with the film.

"My performance took place in an Indian care centre - within the lounge area of their building. The performance was a massive challenge for me and my artist - dealing with an audience from a different culture and with a different language far from my own. They told us they wanted a performance to make them laugh - something happy and nostalgic - pointing out films they used to watch and songs they used to sing. The experience was incredible and emotional - and brought to my attention the benefits of site specific performance when the aim is to create work based on the lives of real people that occupy these spaces."

Luke Bevan 

"The Home Theatre project was an eyeopening, heartwarming and also challenging experience. To learn about other cultures and communities, and to transform what we learnt into art, in such a short space of time felt so creative, and i really enjoyed and relished the opportunity."

Amber Rose

"I found the experience of Home Theatre exciting and challenging which provided a huge insight into London life, the realm of theatre and working with professionals. It was rewarding to have such a creative input into the project, and equally very educational in terms of being a film maker in the big wide world away from University! Finally, the opportunity to make contacts with people within the industry, such as actors, journalists, and directors, made the experience invaluable."