In honour of St Valentine himself, an evening of poetry and song will be held by a voluntary group to raise funds for a children’s drama project in China.
Project Sunshine presents its latest fundraiser Love Is... at the Maltings Arts Theatre in St Albans on Sunday, February 11 at 8pm.
Run by St Albans resident and OVO Theatre Company board member David Berryman, Project Sunshine is a children’s drama programme teaching English to youngsters living in China through the art of drama, dance and song.
Last year David and his team of 10 volunteers spent time with 200 youngsters from rural villages north of the Great Wall of China in Hebei Province, whose parents, in the majority of cases, had gone to cities for work, leaving the children to be brought up by relatives or friends.
The aim of the project was to help the pupils with their English lessons by learning and performing a rock opera in October.
The show was conducted in English, with Mandarin translations, and a songbook was produced containing 20 songs in both languages, giving the children the tools to carry on singing and learning once the team had left.
David said: “The main aim of the trip was to help these children with their English language learning, which in turn can help them to escape poverty traps and go some way towards helping them realise their dreams and ambitions.
“It was an incredible experience, a particular highlight for all involved was learning to sing You Are My Sunshine in both Mandarin and English, quite a feat!
“The success of the project has spurred us on to return in the autumn of this year and we hope our Love Is… fundraiser, a performance of love songs and poems, inspired by Valentine’s Day, will help us to fund this, which will, of course, be bigger and better.”
Tickets, priced £12 full and £8 concessions, are available at www.ticketsource.co.uk/ovo
• For more events at the Maltings Arts Theatre, visit www.maltingsartstheatre.co.uk
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