Education

Fran Moulds in Punchdrunk Enrichment's The Lost Lending Library.

Fran Moulds has been creating immersive theatrical experiences for young people for over 15 years.

Fran is interested in creating space where anything becomes possible. Whether devising a learning adventure for children, or running physical theatre workshops with teenagers, she is primarily concerned with the world of the imagination - guiding people into rich, unknown territories.

Her approach is playful and inclusive, with a firm belief that every person has their own unique creative voice. Fran works to inspire young people, empowering them to know and express themselves.

Some of the education projects that Fran has co-created can be found below.

When Trees Could Speak

Writer, Performer, and Producer | Brambledash

Fern the Folklorogist lives in the woods and has secrets and stories to tell.

Join Fern for an immersive and magical storytelling show about trees, friendship and the importance of nature in our lives. Funny and heart-warming with original songs and puppets.

Suitable for children over 3 years old and their families.

From Brambledash theatre in association with the Sussex Wildlife Trust.

“This wonderful story makes the big themes of trees and woodland ecology accessible to children and adults… Joyful experiences like this in natural places become lasting memories.”
Mike Murphy, Sussex Wildlife Trust

“I feel like I’ve been on an adventure!”
Luna, aged 4

Fran Moulds as Fern, holding puppet © Drew Worthley/Brambledash — © Drew Worthley/Brambledash

Fran Moulds as Fern © Drew Worthley/Brambledash — © Drew Worthley/Brambledash

Writer, Performer, and Producer: Fran Moulds
Puppet maker: Katherine Morton
Designer: Sean Turner
Clown consultant: Jools Voce
Puppetry consultant: Darren East
Stage manager: Maddy Healy

About Brambledash

Brambledash creates magical immersive theatre to inspire children and connect them with nature.

Founded by Fran Moulds, Brambledash works with children across Sussex in partnership with forest school groups, primary schools, and community organisations.

brambledash.co.uk

Storyhaven

Director of Livestreams and Immersive Theatre Consultant | Storyhaven

Deep into Earth’s next ice age, stories have become the fuel for life. In the remote outpost of Storyhaven the townsfolk gather to tell their tales while the shaman intensifies their power to stoke the fablehearths that keep the townsfolk warm and alive on the frozen wastes.

But now this precious resource is dwindling. A strange amnesia is infecting the minds of young and old. The families of Storyhaven are forgetting their tales. Eventually, they even forget themselves, stumbling out into the blizzards, never to return.

There are rumours of an ancient evil stirring in the glaciers, bent on Storyhaven’s ruin. Soon there will be none left who remember the old tales. Deprived of their fuel the fablehearths will go out. The ice will creep back in and the remaining families will perish in their beds.

In a last desperate roll of the dice, Storyhaven’s scientists develop a perilous means of time travel to allow their most intrepid explorers to journey back into the past to the week before the amnesia took hold. Their mission: to recover the town’s stories and send them back to the present to keep the townsfolk alive until the mystery of the amnesia can be solved…

About Storyhaven

Storyhaven is an immersive storytelling experience for use in virtual online classrooms with children aged 8-12 years old. It blends group roleplaying, lone reading experiences and live-stream connections with an actor to boost children’s creative writing, love of books, and mental wellbeing.

Storyhaven’s main engagement is driven by an illustrated reading game that can be played in virtual classroom breakout rooms. It allows children to design their own characters and then navigate their way through the story in teams, talking decisions over together in a way that builds social skills of negotiation and compromise, peer-group integration and mental wellbeing.

storyhaven.app/schools/

The Lost Lending Library

Co-writer and Performer | Punchdrunk Enrichment

“The Lost Lending Library has been an amazing experience for the children and a fantastic writing stimulus” Headteacher, 2014

An interest in books leads a local librarian to a primary school, where they discuss literature and favourite books and stories. The discovery of a strange mysterious locked book and a shared love of the book ‘How to Live Forever’ by Colin Thompson leads to the mysterious arrival of the Lost Lending Library.

800 floors high and containing every book and story in the world, the library jumps from place to place and arrives where it knows it can meet great storywriters.

Pupils at the school are guided through the library by the guardian ‘Peabody’ and are inspired to write their own stories.

About Punchdrunk Enrichment

In 2008, Punchdrunk began a groundbreaking experiment in reaching out to children, young people and the wider community with activities that focus on the innate creativity and imagination of the individual. Fran has been working with Punchdrunk Enrichment since 2009.

punchdrunk.org.uk/enrichment

The House Where Winter Lives

Co-writer and Performer (Mrs Winter) | Punchdrunk Enrichment

winter800 — Fran Moulds and Matthew Blake in The House Where Winter Lives © Punchdrunk

The House Where Winter Lives is an immersive storytelling adventure for children aged three to six years old.

Mr and Mrs Winter invite children to join them in their warm and welcoming cottage, as they are preparing for a winter feast. Unfortunately they’ve mislaid the key to their larder! The children join them on their journey through a secret forest to find the missing key.

From November 2012 to January 2013, Punchdrunk Enrichment transformed The Discover Children’s Story Centre in Stratford, East London, into a magical frozen forest where children and their families could explore the wonder of winter. The show had a sold out run at the Perth International Festival in February 2014.

“This stunning little show is a magical achievement” The Times

“This production…leaves you totally delighted.” ☆☆☆☆ The Guardian

“The coolest kids show in town.” ☆☆☆☆ Time Out

“Sweet and almost poignantly old-fashioned…This show is definitely recommended.” ☆☆☆☆ The Telegraph

Commissioned by Discover Children’s Story Centre, Stratford, East London. Funded by Arts Council England and Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

About Punchdrunk Enrichment

punchdrunk.org.uk/enrichment

Arabian Nights

Writer and lead facilitator | Adventures in Learning

A magical project that casts Birmingham’s children as heroes in a quest to find the genie’s lost story and bring their own tales of Arabian Nights to life. Presented by Coney, Library of Birmingham and Birmingham Rep.

Arabian Nights aims to engage Year 3 – Year 5 pupils in an interactive narrative adventure that will develop their creative writing skills, increase digital literacy and empower them as artists. Taking place over 4 weeks, it uses live performance, email, storytelling and involve pupils creating work alongside professional artists.

“I was definitely enthusiastic and I felt that I was being led on the journey too. I was just as excited as the children when we received emails! Watching the children in the Rep was great! Many of the children were whispering to their friend and saying, that’s my part, I wrote that! They were very proud of themselves!”
Katie (teacher), Nansen Primary School

On a day like any other, the class begin to watch an unusually boring video on the history of concrete when a technical fault occurs- the screen pixelates and the face of a Genie appears, asking the pupils for help: once a major character in Arabian Nights, he has disappeared from modern versions and his very existence is at risk.

Speaking to the class via emails and video messages, the genie helps them discover the stories of Arabian Nights and embark on a journey to Library of Birmingham to discover the magical secret room where the ancient book was lost… Discovering that the pages have crumbled to dust, the children must create new stories about the genie, complete the book in their classroom and return it to the Library so the stories can be shared. With a sprinkle of magic, the genie thanks the class by having their stories performed by professional actors on stage at the REP theatre.

Adventures in Learning

Adventures in Learning are interactive stories that take place in the classroom to motivate formal learning. They’re made with all the attention to detail and artistic values that characterises Coney’s work for adults, but are constructed in close collaboration with teachers to create an engaging narrative framework within which learning can be delivered.

Fran has been working with Coney since 2009. She is a regular contributor to Coney’s Adventures in Learning, having worked on projects including Arabian Nights, Inspiration Days, A Cat Escapes, and Rhyme Rocket.

coneyhq.org/learning-participation