InterACT

InterACT has been a really fantastic opportunity for me and one that came up quite by chance. As mentioned briefly before when I attended the Creative Minds festival interview, one of the other interviewees was a guy who I had met when I took part in a second year drama module before Christmas.
He explained to me how he was about to embark on a pilot twelve week project in conjunction with Stafford Gatehouse Theatre running a series of drama workshops for young adults  who have extra needs, some of whom are on the autistic spectrum, and are classed as vulnerable. If the pilot project went well, then the theatre may offer him funding to do similar projects in the future, which would been he would be able to employ people on a paid basis not just as volunteers. 

He said that I was more than welcome to come and see what is was all about. Of course I jumped at the chance, it seemed like lots of opportunities were coming to my direction. I was slightly concerned about getting to Stafford, but luckily one of the other volunteers has been kind enough to drive me each week.  

A lot of the participants know each other from youth clubs they attend in Stafford, but over the weeks we have done several name games and ice-breaker/ confidence building exercises so that everyone can feel comfortable and gel together as a group. We are just about half way through now and are working towards a performance at the Stafford Gatehouse.

During session three we began mind-mapping all the themes and ideas which came to mind about being a young person in Stafford.  These consisted of things such as:

• What is there to do in Stafford? No where for young people to go
• Bad reputation attached to young people
• No Jobs, No money
• Benefits- vicious circle affecting jobs
• Marriage- cannot afford it
• Careers advice- what happens after school? No follow up advice
• 'I have a dream'- where do you see yourself? What do you want to achieve?

Frank then began grouping these ideas and seeing what underlying themes could be used in a main performance. We are at a crucial point in the process now where we need to get structure to the piece so that the participants will have enough time to rehearse what they are doing and feel 100% comfortable with it.

A theme which has been suggested is using the story of Romeo and Juliet and using it as a framework for some of the other ideas which have been suggested. There is a performance of Romeo and Juliet as part of the Shakespeare festival at Stafford Castle so it was thought this would be a nice theme to tie in with other events occurring in Stafford.

A framework of provisional scenes and characters has been put together, and in last weeks session we did a walk through of the possible scenes so that people would begin to understand what is happening, and they would know which character they were meant to be portraying. The young people were asked to create a song, monologue or short scene using some of the ideas that had been suggested in previous weeks. Two of the participants have written songs which fit very well with the suggested theme and their suggested characters. 

Unemployment was a key idea which seemed to be the focal point of many of the other ideas. The job situation seemed to be one affecting all the other issues these young people were having. So the suggested idea for performance is loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, and about how they cannot be together because her father does not approve of the Romeo character because he has no job and no prospects

I do not want to give too much away as we only starting loosely working on this last session but I think it is going to be very good. They have worked very hard. 

One participant likes to be involved in the stage management side of things and is working with one of the tech volunteers on the props, costumes, lighting and sound. She also designed the drawing for the print on our InterACT t-shirts which we wear evry week so we can feel like more of a team. 

This has been a great opportunity for me and I have been able to lead on a lot of warm up activities, and Frank has given me the option to lead on more activities if I want to. He is very flexible to others peoples input so I am really glad I found out about this project, and hope that in the future things may develop further. 


Sessions

1.    Monday 16^th April 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours

2.    Monday 23^rd April 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours

3.    Monday 30^th April 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours

4.    Monday 14^th May 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours

5.    Monday 21^st May 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours

6.    Monday 28^th May 2012, 9.30-12.30pm: 3hours

7.    The Monday sessions will run up until the 16^th of July, and there will be a performance on Tuesday 17^th July at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre.

Day Trippers

Daytrippers was the last of the Borderlines groups I started to work with but it is the one I have done the most hours with, and even though I haven't been with them a huge amount of time they have all become like family, they are again hugely welcoming and accepting of new people and I have had such a brilliant time with them.  

This group is completely different again to Strathcross. The group is made up of adults and young adults all of whom have learning disabilities, autism, or more physical disabilities. I was most anxious about this group as I knew the pyhsical disabilities may mean it was going to be more of a challenge than Strathcross. This group is much smaller and seem to all know each other really well and enjoy seeing each other. 

Over all of the sessions they have been working towards a show back which is in two weeks time. With groups like these it is almost different every time you perform something to when you rehearsed it because no matter how many times you practice something it is harder for them to take it in, and they respond much better to visual cues than verbal communication.  

Over all the sessions I have attending these have been the most challenging yet the most rewarding. I have seen this group go through many great times, like giving some of its members a birthday party. But there have also been incidents with certain members which have affected the atmosphere amongst the rest of the group.  And for a few weeks the group had to be spilt into two and work separately spending an hour with Filiz and an hour with Julianna so this change the energy in the group, and them seem much happier when they are all together.

This group is overseen by ELITE which is Enabling Living Independently Today & Everyday, a user-led communicant interest company who hope to break down the barriers which prevent disabled people from leading a full and independent lives. They teamed up with the Borderlines group to make the ELITE theatre company and enable these people to gain new experiences build relationships and express themselves as independent people through theatre. 

We have been focusing on preparing them for their show back. It is a long process because they need to repeat things many times than perhaps others would so they understand what they are doing and feel happy with what they have produced. The show back is going to be called 'Seeing Me' and is about people seeing them from a different point of view. They have been practising some original songs for the last few sessions which sound beautiful, and even those with restricted speech make noise in the melody sound which is really nice. They have been spilt into four small groups and working on the seasons, so we have been building up a close relationship within our small groups over the past few weeks. The group I am working with is representing Autumn and we are exploring what happens in that season. We have also been using objects and materials to create 'monsters' for each season. 

In other sessions we have been exploring the idea of thinking about something that is precious to you, such as family or friendship and using an item to represent that and they creating short scenes about the item being put in a safe hiding box and then someone steals it.

Because the show is about seeing them through their shoes, they have been working on short movement pieces about positive and negative things about their personalities. It has been really interesting to see how they think about themselves and how they tackle new challenges, and how if you are patient with them they come up with some fantastic ideas.

After the show back in two weeks, I really hope that they will have a summer project, or something which starts up next term because this is a group which I have become very attached with and hope I can develop further with them.  

 Sessions:

1.     Thursday 15^th March 2012, 10am-12.30pm: 2hours 30mins

2.     Thursday 29^th March 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours

3.     Thursday 19^th April 2012. 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours

4.     Thursday 26^th April 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours

5.     Thursday 3^rd May 2012, 9.30am-1pm: 3hours 30mins

6.     Thursday 10^th May 2012, 9.30am -12.30pm: 3hours

7.     Thursday 17^th May 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours

8.     Thursday 24^th May 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours

9.     Thursday 31^st May 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3 hours

StrathCross

Strathcross was one of the Borderlines groups which I was most worried about. As it was completely different to any group I had worked with in the past. It is a group for adults with learning disabilities, some have more severe needs than others. I think it society there is a certain judgement and prejudice which people with these needs have attached to them, and it is not acceptable, but until you work with a group like this I doubt people would change their minds. Which is why groups like these are so important so the adults can go and express themselves, and feel like they belong and like they are accepted. 

 I was only able to work with this group for two sessions as unfortunately it clashed with my 'day job', luckily I had these two weeks off, but then I had to return to work and wasn't able to see this group. I am glad that I had the opportunity to work with this group. It is an extremely large groups with lots of people and personalities, but somehow they all gel together. 

1.     Tuesday 13^Th March 2012, 1.30pm-3.30pm: 2hours

2.     Tuesday 20^Th March 2012, 1.30pm-3.30pm: 2hours

In the first session which Sue led, we played a few games, mainly some ice-breakers and name games, and one that I am particularly familiar with called 'Liar Liar'. I know it as 'What are you doing?', everyone stands in a circle and one person goes into the middle and mimes doing an action such as brushes their teeth, the next person goes into the circle and asked them what they are doing, to which the person must reply with something different to what they are acting out, such as walking to dog, they then leave the circle and a the new person mimes the action. It can be fun for giving everyone a turn and encouraging people who are a little shy.

We then spent the rest of the session preparing a waltz which was going to be a centre focus for their show back. I was immediately involved and in groups of eight we learnt a simple waltz dance which they all enjoyed.

For the second session, we had two other practitioners who usually lead the sessions but who had been away touring a production around local schools, Filiz and Julianna who led this session.

We started with a re-cap of what we had done last week showing them the dance we had produced whilst working with Sue, and of course we played some games. We then produced some mime work in pairs, one person put their hand up and another followed it like a puppet and puppet master. We then worked in small groups and picked an emotion and a place from some cards Filiz had prepared and then had to make a short scene involving these things. In my group we had sad and a volcano. Seemingly random, but we created a scene where the volcano was a 'tickerly' one and the people involved were sad to have to leave it.

The group were once again really welcoming, I think all groups at the New Vic are used to new faces, as they always have new volunteers and people on work placements. But with these groups whom have more specific needs it can sometimes disrupt them, and they sometimes do not cope well with change. But they were all very inquisitive, introducing themselves and asking about me, which was really nice. It can be awkward at the beginning of sessions to know what to do and how to get involved, like with these I was rather quiet and sat down at the begging but soon got involved with the group all of whom were really lo9vely and worked really well together. This kind of work as I have said many times before is so rewarding and truly makes you realise the power which theatre can give to people increasing their confidence levels and sometimes their life skills, and I think that everyone should experience it if they are given the opportunity because it is nice to be in an environment where everyone is equal and no-one passes judgement. 

Young Parents

Young parents was the first of the Borderlines groups I worked with after my meeting with Sue Moffat. This group works with youngsters who have children, or are about to become parents, there were also a few people taking child care course who were interested in seeing what work the theatre does.

This groups gives people the opportunity to have some freedom, and somewhere where they can socialise without the stigmas which come attached to being a young parent. The childcare is also organised by the theatre so they always have somewhere that their children can go.

I was only able to do one session with this group as I was already doing Home Ed every other week, and this unfortunately clashed, but on March 13th when there was no Home Ed I decided to go along to see what it was all about. 

This group were also working toward a show back about what is was like to be a young parent in today's society and how people perceive and judge young people. They started with a few games again, one interesting on which I have also done with other groups at the theatre is 'Prisoners' where everyone sits on a chair and has a person stand behind the, one chair is left empty and the person with that chair must try and get someone to sit in it by winking at the, whilst others must not let their 'prisoner' escape.

For the rest of the session  they worked on short scenes to do with things which may occur to young parents which people may judge. One participant explained how people look down upon her when her child cries in public. 

At the end they all read out some letters and poems which they had written for their children. It is easy to see why groups like these are classed as 'Hard to Reach' as they are more difficult to work with mainly because they do not have the confidence to put themselves out there which is why having something like this benefits them greatly. 

Burn

On Thursday 3rd May at a time I usually would have been with the youth theatre, David the youth director had invited me to watch a dress rehearsal for a show he had directed called 'Burn'. He thought this would be a good opportunity for me to experience something different, and get to see some work on the main stage. 

Burn is an hour length show by Deborah Gearing especially written for youngsters. David and the education team had auditioned members of the senior youth section who wanted to be involved in the production, and 12 had been selected to be a part of it. 

The play focuses on a group of friends who hang out by a river bank. It detailed the last day of a boy called 'Birdman' before he is due to move away to a new foster home. Told from different characters view points about what Birdman was doing that day before an accident occurs.


Although I only watched the dress rehearsal, I have to say it was brilliant. They performed it like it was opening night, and everyone gave it 110% even if they had slightly smaller parts. The scenery was amazing, and they all used it in many different ways for creating scenes out of one set. David is a great director,and really knows how to motivate the youngsters and I am learning a lot from him about how to tackle leading sessions and how to adapt to new situations. It was just the right length, heartfelt, strong, warm and funny, with a great cast all round! Another great experience I have had at the theatre. 

 

Youth Theatre

The youth theatre has become one of my most regular groups to work with.This group is as I have said previously one of 5 youth theatres at the New Vic, for ages 13-15 years. There is also two groups for 10-12 years, another 13-15 years and a senior youth section for 16-18 years. This Thursday group was the one which was most convenient for me to attend, and had I been available I would of liked to attend some of the others, they are every night of the week, and sometimes clashed with my 'actual' work. When I first joined the group they were 4 weeks into there term after Christmas, and were working towards a show back before the Easter break in late March. This group runs term time and at the end of each 'semester' as such performs a show back for their parents to be able to come and see the kind of work they have been doing. 

Youth Theatre

1.    Thursday 23rd February 2012, 4.30pm- 6pm: 1hour 30mins

2.    Thursday 1st March 2012, 4.30pm- 6pm: 1hour 30mins

3.    Thursday 8th March 2012, 4.30pm- 6pm: 1hour 30mins

4.    Thursday 15th March 2012, 4.30pm- 6pm: 1hour 30mins

5.    Thursday 26th April 2012, 4.30pm- 6pm: 1hour 30mins

6.    Thursday 10th May 2012, 4.30pm- 6pm: 1hour 30mins

7.    Thursday 17thMay 2012, 4.30pm- 6pm: 1hour 30mins

8.    Thursday 24th May 2012, 4.30pm- 6pm: 1hour 30mins

9.    Saturday 26th May 2012, 10am-3pm: 5hours, Sharing Day

10. Thursday 31st May 2012, 4.30-6pm: 1hour 30mins- still to come.

Each session would start with a few warm up games to get the group feeling comfortable and awake. This could be anything from wink murder, to concentration games and tag. Then each week they would have a theme for the main exercise, one week they did a miniming task similar to the one which I did with the Home Ed group. 

The theme for the show back in March was the theme of 'I thought I was wrong, but I wasn't' looking at the idea of conicidence and fate.  In one of the first sessions I joined them for they were exploring this idea and creating short scences about something appearing to be a conicidence but actually there instinct was right all along. I couldn't make it to the show back unfortunately, but I am told it was very good. The sessions seem very short to put something together, and there is always a worry if everything will be 'alright on the night' but it seems like all their ideas did work in the end and that they produced some good work.

After the Easter break they were told they would have two opportunities for show back this term, one would be the usually end of term show back in July and one would be a sharing day on May 26th. This sharing day was a chance for all the other youth sections to meet up and share some work they had been doing over the term, and for their parents to see the progress so far. After Easter there were a lot of new members in the group, some of whom had moved up from other sections, and some who were completely new. So to be in a show back four weeks later was going to be a big thing for them. 

The theme for all sections for the sharing day was 'Memory' and the section I work with were exploring  how people remember things differently and came up with a short series of scenes about remembering events at a party differently. This day was really beneficial for me as I got to see the work of the groups I do not usually have the chance to work with, so seeing all the other sections was really exciting. You can see a stark difference between the age groups, and how they develop as they get older. Age groups similar to this are the ones I have had the most experience of working with through my time in my own drama group as well as experiences of University, but it is always interesting to see how different groups gel and work together.

I will be working with this group up until the term ends in July, and then I am hoping to stay involved with the theatre on summer projects they have going on. For three days in the June half term they are running musical theatre workshops, and being a big fan of musical theatre I am hoping to be able to get involved with this.

Home Ed

As stated in a previous blog I had really enjoyed my first session with the Home Ed group. Been as this group only met every two weeks I was only able to do three sessions in total with this group, as after the Easter break this section did not run anymore because not enough of the children were available for sessions at the same time. It is a shame I didn't get to do more with this group as even after only three sessions I felt I had begun to build up a good relationship with the youngsters, and I had also been able to share my knowledge and experiences of University with one of the other volunteers who is a member of the senior youth section.


Second Session, Tuesday 6th March- 10am-1pm, 3 hours


There were a few new faces within the group, but mainly the same children. One of the new members did have more noticeable behavioural issues than other members, and always seemed to want to be the leader, and break the rules during games. 


The first exercise of this session was 'chairs' a simple focus exercise in which everyone apart from one member sits on a chair in a space in the room, and the person standing up must try and reach the chair, whilst the people sitting must swap places to make it harder for the person. 


After this we played some simple but fun name games as there were new faces everyone needed reminding of names. These are usually fast paced and snappy games to get everyone thinking. 


'Contracts' was our next exercise. In this everyone picks a person from the circle, and the aim of the game is to be sitting next to the person you picked by exchanging 'contracts' with people and asking to swap seats, this is a fun game especially if you have chosen the same person as some one else. We tried it several different ways including not being able to speak to ask people. 


The next game we played in this session was one called 'Anybody who' or what I like to call it 'The sun shines on' which is where somebody stands in the middle and says a statement like 'Anybody who likes dogs' and then everyone swaps seats if this applies to them and so on. This is a simple game in theory but many of the youngsters really wanted to be in the middle, so they were pretending to walk slowly or not see the spare seats. 


Our last exercise like this before the break and the start of the main exercise was one where imaginary items get passed from the circle person to person, for example ' Red Ball David', then David would say ' Red Ball, thank you' and pass it on. The idea of this game is to focus and  allow many items to be introduced and passed around at the same time and see how many get 'lost' or forgotten about at the end of the exercise. By the end a lot of the items which had been introduced had been lost, or had several children claiming they had been passed the item last. 


The main exercise for this session was playing with the ideas of mime, mirrors and music. In pairs the youngsters worked out a simple movement piece with on person mirroring the others movements, so closely that you could not tell who was leading and who was following. They then expanded this exercise using 16 beats of a piece of music to work out a routine about someone getting ready in the mornings, whilst still mirroring one another. They repeated this several times, some in slow motion as well, and they all did it as a group and it looked really effective. I partnered on boy as one of the others was very nervous and chose to sit out. They ended up with a short well rehearsed routine, and at the end they walked out of the routine into a frozen position and took on a character, then shared the characters with us. 


Third Session, Tuesday 20th March- 10am-1pm, 3 hours

 This session started off with a fun warm up rhyme which I have since used with another group I work with which I will explain about in a later blog. The rhyme went:

'Hi my names Joe and I work in a button factory, I've got a wife and two kids, and one day my boss came up to me, he said Joe, are you busy? I said no, he said will you press this button with your right hand'

The rhyme goes on pressing 'the button' with a different body part until you are jumping around madly. Its a fun exercise to get everyone warmed up. Our next exercise was similar to the animal kingdom game we played in the first session, but we used the idea of King and Queen being top of the 'food chain'. Before the break they were allowed to choose a few games to play, one popular one was Grandmothers Footsteps which is similar to Whats the time Mister wolf.

After this for the main exercise David set out a selection of props on the floor, props actually is a shortened term for the word property, meaning in theatre terms, and objects or items used on stage. The props for today included a steering wheel, some plates and goblets, a toy fish, a ships wheel. Each child was very eager to get their hands on their ideal prop. David explained that in pairs or on their own they would be able to pick a prop and they would then have to work on create a story for the prop, writing down all their ideas, and then turning these into frozen images to represent their story.  After a few minor squabbles about who was going to have what item they all got going. I worked closely with two of the younger boys who had some great ideas but were struggling a bit to write them all down so I did the writing and they went over it. At the end of the session they shared their ideas, and did a small show back of the stories and freeze frames they had come up with.


Overall even though I was only able to do three sessions with this group they have been one of my favourites to work with as its really fun, and great to see all their ideas, and also have a lot of involvement. This experience has taught me to be braver about getting involved in new challenges, and I would definitely do work with this group or children of this age in the future if this was possible.