The First Session

My First session that had been agreed upon was to be the Home Ed Group on February 21st at 10am until 1pm. Walking into a situation like this which is mostly unknown is for me like starting on my first day of school it seems. I had worked out which bus route I needed to get on, after coming in the taxi on the initial meeting I decided I would get the bus half way and had worked out a way to walk to rest. 

Transport was one of my worries along the starting journey as because I am not yet driving (close to it but not yet) I am limited to where I can get to. And although I got a taxi first time round, cost is another thing which affects me so it is not always suitable or practical for me to get a taxi. I have become quite organised with getting to know the local bus routes as I use them for work, and exercises classes and they are my main way of getting around, and though I don't mind walking I don't always fancy it if its really early on raining for example. 

So I managed to get there for about 9.40am which was quite early but I do like to be prepared. The box office and main front door at the theatre does not actually open until 10am so I rang the bell and hoped someone would be around to let me in. Luckily one of the staff came down, and I was able to go up to the office where the education team are based.

Now as I have said before the stage is 'in the round' which means the theatre itself is this rather fascinating hexagon shape building with the main stage in the middle of the building with the box office, a small workspace, a shop, and a large backstage area with studios and costume workshops being on the ground floor and the upstairs area contains a cafe, the main offices of the theatre as well as the education office, and the Borderlines office, and a nice space called the 'youth room', which is where we were to be based for the sessions. 

David explained a bit more in depth about the group which would be in this session. The youngest was 5, and the oldest was around 11 or 12. This was a group for children who were home educated and would like to have some drama in their lives. The reason for the home education in some cases is because of special behavioural and educational needs, but in some it is simply because that is the way the parents prefer it though some do attend non-mainstream schools once a week.  


There is various numbers and different youngsters who attend each time but on this occasion there were eleven of them.  At the beginning I was unsure whether or not to join in, whether to sit out and observe or what to do. We began by sitting in a circle which I joined. The circle is something which happens in all drama situations, it allows everyone to see everyone else, and is welcoming and everyone appears to be on the same level. David then did some introductions because obviously there was a new face in the group and not all the children are the same ones every week. We began by doing a few warm up games, I was asked if I was happy to join in and I gladly accepted and exercises to get everyone feeling comfortable:

• Cat and Mouse- everyone stands in pairs, the mouse is chased by the cat at any point the mouse can join with a pair and the person on the other side then becomes the mouse. 
• Animal Kingdom- a game which was new to me. Everyone works in pairs- within the circle a 'food chain' is created with lions at the top, then other jungle type animals all the way down to amoebas. Each pair of 'animals' has a noise, which they do, then they make one of the other animal noises to pass it in to someone else. If you pass to the person next to you, do not do the same action or noise as your partner, or hesitate then you move to the bottom of the food chain and so on
• Jailer/Prisoner- one person sits on a chair, another stands behind it, one chair is left empty and the person behind that one must try and get a new person to sit in the chair in front of them, the people sitting must try to leave their chairs without being caught.

After a short break we did a main exercise where the children were split into groups and made up short stories with the theme of 'wishes'. First they were asked to make three frozen images about their stories, and then told to develop it to a short improvisation with some narration. I was trusted to help one of the groups on creating their scene, which made me feel really positive as it was only my first session but I was being well trusted and very welcomed. I immediately started to establish a good relationship with the group.


When leaving the session David thanked me for coming along and helping out, and I of course passed all the thanks onto them, I was so grateful for being given the opportunity as I know the work they do at the theatre has a really good reputation. I then spoke to David about more dates for the Home Ed group, he told me they meet every two weeks and I was more than welcome to come along to any sessions I could.


I felt really relieved and happy that it had gone well, I have spent many times in groups like this before but being a member is something quite different to being someone that comes in half way through, but everyone was really helpful and welcoming. And I had not been in this kind of environment since leaving university so I felt a bit out of practice but really glad to be getting back into groups like these who I love working with.