'Awe-inspiring' performances at For One Night Only 2025

Thornden Hall was packed with an appreciative audience on Sunday evening, 19 January. This included distinguished guests, Councillor Russell Gordon-Smith, the 825th Mayor of Winchester accompanied by Mrs Gordon-Smith and we also welcomed Councillor James Baillie, Sheriff of Southampton.

They were treated to performances from seven of Blue Apple’s outreach groups from Southampton and across the New Forest and also from Blue Apple’s Winchester-based Singing and Dance groups.

The acts were compèred with wit and style by a number of performers from Blue Apple’s Winchester Stage Companies.

Audience members described the show as “Awe-inspiring”, “Professional”, “Excellent”, “Joyous”, “Confident”, “Fabulous”, “Inspiring”, “Uplifting”, “Enriching”, “Brilliant”, “Enthusiastic”, “Joyous”, “Inspirational”, “Amazing”, “Excellent”, “Diverse”, “Imaginative”, “Excellent”, “Fun”, “Joyful”, “Joyful”, “Inclusive”, “Inspiring”, “Fun”.

Particular praise was given for the variety, diversity, performer commitment and confidence.

This showcase of performances by Blue Apple’s outreach groups was supported by funding from the Barchester Charitable Foundation and the Hampshire an Isle of Wight Community Foundation for which we are very grateful.

Our thanks to Mike Hall Photography for the images below.

Groups that took part in the performance are listed below

 
Running Order
 

Value of online shopping to small charities

Over a year, just one person could raise £358 for a voluntary organisation, charity, or CIC for free without doing anything other than shopping online.

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If that’s what just one person can do, what can a group of people do? 

Growth of online shopping

In the United Kingdom (UK), over 80 percent of the population makes e-commerce purchases, or to put it in other words, over four in five UK consumers are digital buyers.*

There are over 8,100 retailers who are ready to give free donations for causes across a wide range of sectors including groceries, travel, home and tech, fashion and beauty, finance, insurance, utilities, electricals, home and garden and even entertainment!

Missing out on free donations

Historically Blue Apple has raised close to £1,500 from easyfundraising but in recent times the donations have declined, probably due to technology changes. For example, more people now are using their phones or tablets to make online purchases and may not have updated the browser extension software to include the nudge that easyfundraising provides to people to remind them to ensure that each sale generates a donation for Blue Apple. They may not know that easyfundraising now has a mobile app to make things even simpler.

Anyone can join in this easy way to donate and at a time when small charities are facing hard economic times, every penny counts.

Shop at over 8,100 shops and sites

Raising free donations when you shop online couldn’t be easier! You’ll find big name retailers like John Lewis, Amazon, Tesco, Currys, Asda, Iceland, eBay and Apple, all ready to help you raise more for Blue Apple when you shop with them.

Find out more here: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/blueappletheatre/

*https://www.statista.com/forecasts/891311/digital-buyer-penetration-in-united-kingdom

James Benfield in Disability Arts Online Blog

One of Blue Apple’s founding performers, James Benfield, has explored his craft across a wide range of roles, including notably, Ariel in The Tempest, Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein. So, James was well placed to seize the opportunity to widen and deepen his experience in the national Transforming Leadership Programme and begin to learn the craft of directorship.

Transforming Leadership is a programme for emerging learning disabled and autistic leaders, the first of its kind. Alongside James is another Blue Apple veteran founding performer, Anna Brisbane, who is pursuing the governing side of the programme. The programme sees learning disabled and autistic leaders employed in positions across all aspects of theatre-making including as theatre directors, workshop facilitators, digital content creators, and trustees.

Head and shoulders image of a smiling man with open neck dark shirt against a white painted brick wall

James Benfield

A few years into the programme now, Transforming Leadership has proven to be a force for positive change with 7 disability arts companies from around the UK, where 14 trainee leaders upskilled, built a network, and learned to navigate work as learning disabled and autistic professionals.

There have historically been very few bespoke leadership development programmes for learning disabled and autistic creatives and little shared understanding of how to create accessible environments where leaders can thrive. So we aim to change that! We want to see an arts sector that expects and encourages learning disabled and autistic people to take up leadership roles.

Through the Transforming Leadership programme aims to:

  • Radically transform the leadership potential of learning disabled and autistic arts leaders

  • Develop sector-wide infrastructure that supports learning disabled and autistic leadership

  • Upskill existing executive leadership across the arts, improving organisational accessibility

Over the next 5 months, through a blog, Disability Arts Online and Access All Areas join to give a platform to the next generation of learning disabled and autistic leaders from around the UK, sharing what leadership, and this process, means to them..

In the third entry in this blog series, James Benfield, who took part in the programme as a trainee from Blue Apple, shares a memorable Christmassy experience, leading a workshop based on ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’. But most importantly, his take-away from it.

Read the interview here:

https://disabilityarts.online/blog/transforming-leadership/question-and-answer-with-james-benfield-for-blue-apple-theatre/

Below, James in various roles in Blue Apple Theatre’s productions. See more roles and photos here.

Image credits:

Photos of A Christmas Carol, The Tempest, The Wizard of Oz by Mike Hall

Photos of Frankenstein by Harvey Mills

Read more about the Transforming Leadership Programme here.

From Duckling to Swan at the QE2 Activity Centre

A collage of five photos showing performers in a play

On Saturday at QE2's festive showcase Blue Apple's QE2 performers presented their version of classic fairytale The Ugly Duckling, who is sad and rejected for being different until he discovers he is actually a magnificent swan and is accepted by the other swans. The story was narrated by Harry who played the role of the adult swan reflecting on his journey through life from discarded duckling to serene swan. Well done all! The drama was followed by a performance from the QE2 Ukelele Group who included a Makaton sign along song.

All the way from Australia!

Blue Apple Stage Company welcomed two special guests on Monday!

Dr Jo Raphael, a lecturer in drama education at the University of Deakin in Melbourne, Australia and also the Artistic Director of Fusion Theatre, an inclusive community-based theatre company, and

Dr Jill Goodwin, a Portsmouth-based artist/researcher with experience of special education settings and of working with Oily Cart who create sensory theatre shows for disabled children.

A group of about 30 people in an indoor space look towards the camera, some with their arms in the air. Overlaid text reads: Blue Apple Stage Company welcomed two special guests on Monday!

Blue Apple uses theatre to transform lives and campaign for change.

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