Press Release PlayDays 2025

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Press Release - for immediate release

FREE Creative Summer Play Days in South Somerset

The Octagon Theatre and Westlands Entertainment Venue in Yeovil are working with local,
and national arts practitioners and local organisations to bring FREE creative activities and live
theatre to residents this Summer, as part of the Play Day initiative.
Play Days are a national initiative that celebrates children’s right to play, this year’s theme is:
‘Spaces for Play’ highlighting the vital importance of accessible inclusive spaces where
children and young people have opportunities to play freely, spending time, and connecting
with friends – and feel valued as part of their community. For 2025, our second year, we have
planned a series of four Play Days taking place in, and bringing creativity direct to communities
across South Somerset.
This summer we will be in Yeovil, Langport, Wincanton and Chard. The Play Day events will
be free for all to attend, taking place in local parks and recreation grounds, with the
opportunity to play and get creative with other families, children and young people during
the long summer holidays. Each of our Play Days will run from 11am – 3pm with a variety of
different creative workshops for families, children and young people to take part in.
There will be a range of activities on offer at each event from music-making to circus skills to
air-drying pottery to face painting, alongside other activities all of which will be free for
families to take part in. To each Play Day we will be joined by various local and national touring
theatre companies, with a free live outdoor theatrical production, to entertain, inspire and
educate audiences.
We have invited the Sonia Sabri Company to perform their show Mughal Miniatures: The
Awakening at our first Play Day on Wednesday 6th August (which also coincides with the
National Play Day) at Mudford Rec in Yeovil. The show is a vibrant outdoor performance for
all the family, which celebrates and takes inspiration from the exquisite traditional art of Indian
and Persian miniature painting. A funny, joyful, and empowering journey of discovery
complete with incredible dancing and a brilliant original soundtrack where performers in
sumptuous costumes create a captivating living-picture, transporting you back in time to the
richness of the Mughal Empire with a surprising contemporary twist.
Tit for Tat Circus Theatre Company will perform at the second Play Day on Tuesday 12th August
at Cale Park in Wincanton. Tit for Tat is an unusual juggling company that believes in
celebrating the ordinary, in their show BOOKS! Where four bedraggled book enthusiasts are
travelling from town to town – forced between the margins – on a mission to protect
literature. Without new members, the book club and the books it has sworn to protect, will
surely perish! An adventure where audiences can expect juggling, fire, comedic routines, and
Westlands Entertainment Venue:
Theatre & Events Box Office 01935 422884
Westbourne Close | Yeovil | Somerset | BA20 2DD
westlandsyeovil@somerset.gov.uk

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plenty of books! They wowed audiences in Yeovil last year, and this year it is Wincanton’s turn
to witness the madness.
Our next Play Day on Wednesday 20th August will be alongside the River Parrett at
Cocklemoor. Where you can come and meet the Dragon Whisperer and his magical dragons
with Jellyfish Theatre and their production of The Dragon Wagon. A joyfully interactive
family show set on a colourful retro caravan, packed with puppetry, music and laughter. All
performances are relaxed with integrated Sign Supported English.
The fourth and final Play Day will be in Chard in the grounds of Holyrood School on Thursday
28th August, where we welcome The Mushroom Show! Join the party and discover how fungi
grow, connect and help the natural world, including us humans. Packed full of interactive
games, playful music and lots of laughs for all the family, The Mushroom Show is one person's
mission to build a community… and maybe it’ll become your mission too? Scratchworks
Theatre Company will fuse their signature style of physical comedy, audience interaction and
family theatre, with the world of fungi.
To each Play Day we have invited local organisations and services to attend, offering the
opportunity to promote their service and provide additional activities, this includes Freedom
Leisure, Young Somerset, Somerset Libraries, Somerset Film, the Fire Service, the Police
Service, Somerset Rivers Authority, Somerset Skills and Learning and Children’s Autism
Outreach team.
This project has been made possible thanks to The Octagon Theatre becoming an Arts Council
England National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) and being awarded an investment of £760,000
to support arts and cultural activities in Somerset from 2023-2026. Each Play Day will be FREE
to attend thanks to support received from Yeovil Town Council, Brympton Parish Council,
Yeovil Without Parish Council, Wincanton Town Council and Langport Town Council. The Arts
Engagement and Outreach Team are striving to provide affordable, accessible arts activities
and experiences in the heart of local communities and delivering four free Play Days during
the summer holidays is just part of their work.
For further information please contact:
Katherine Beverley: Katherine.beverley@somerset.gov.uk / 01935 462415
or Andrea MacLauchlan: andrea.maclauchlan@somerset.gov.uk / 01935 462053

Westlands Entertainment Venue:
Theatre & Events Box Office 01935 422884
Westbourne Close | Yeovil | Somerset | BA20 2DD
westlandsyeovil@somerset.gov.uk