Red Rose Chain | Visit East of England

We are a dynamic independent theatre company based in Ipswich, where community is at the heart of everything we do; be it our dedicated Community Programmes or our professional productions at The Avenue Theatre/ Theatre in the Forest.

Many of our practitioners and volunteers are those whose lives have been turned around by Red Rose Chain. We believe in change and have created a finely balanced, welcoming and creative environment which nurtures our participants, builds their self-esteem and radically improves their life.

ÒRed Rose ChainÕs work is very brilliant, wonderfully unpatronising and rooted in a real vision for artistic excellence and humanitarian compassion.Ó Ð Emma Freud, OBE

Every week at Red Rose Chain we run inclusive, free at source workshops for disadvantaged young people, disabled young people and young people with mental health issues as well as adults with mental health issues, learning difficulties and struggling with addiction.

We partner with mental health charities to run creative workshops and volunteer programmes for service users and for older people with dementia. Parents and families meet here in a safe environment and support each other while celebrating the achievements and progress of their children and siblings.

We partner with pupil referral units and local schools to run projects with young people with behavioural problems and those at risk of committing crimes and we specialise in creating sensory theatre productions for disabled young people.

ÒWe work day in, day out with these guys and they are so difficult to reach. And you have reached them today and brought them out of themselves. You gave them light. Words cannot express how grateful we are.Ó Ð Chris Benson, SEN Teacher

Using outreach work and highly discounted tickets offers we have been really successful in welcoming 100Õs of people into The Avenue that were completely new to the arts. Everyone is made to feel welcome.

For us, working with the community isnÕt just an add-on thing we do to show we care. ItÕs the heart behind all of our work and fuels everything that we do, and we rely on your support to help us continue this vital work Ð which is arguably more important now more than ever. Buying a ticket, making a donation, offering to host a fundraiser for usÉIt all makes a HUGE difference!