PUBLISHED 14 May 2024
On Thursday 2nd May, the Performing Arts Department welcomed Paper Birds Theatre Company, who held a workshop for years 9-12. This was an incredible opportunity to have taken part in and I feel I have learnt so much and gained a multitude of helpful skills, which has prepared me for devising in GCSE next year.
“I found this such an amazing and eye-opening experience I feel so grateful to be a part of a school where I am given the opportunity to take part in such a wonderful workshop.” - Penelope D, Year 9
During the workshop, we were split into groups, all focusing on different topics, which were centred around the Year 10s devising stimuli. Within these groups, we took part in many different activities, ranging from physical theatre work to verbatim.
Within my group, we were working around the stimulus of gender-swapped fairytales. To begin, we did a written activity in pairs, where we had to write a script for an advert, write a fairytale, and write an idea based around an ‘ideal/dream world.’ We then were given the chance to bring our written work to life by combining verbatim surveys and our scripts.
“I really enjoyed the workshop and feel as though it benefited my devising group greatly. We have already incorporated some scenes into our piece and the workshop inspired us.” - Olivia D, Year 10
A favourite activity of mine was when we had to create a physical theatre movement around a chair in pairs. This not only improved a skill that I don’t focus on often, but also gave us the creative liberty to be able to share a story through our movement. In my piece, we decided to follow the story of two people who begin with not knowing one another, to later becoming best friends and helping each other over obstacles.
“In the workshop I enjoyed making different pieces/choreography and combining them together with others work to make them better and more interesting” - Finlay L, Year 9
I found it so interesting working with other year groups, and it gave me a true insight into how the GCSE devising process develops. I am so grateful for the opportunity we were given, and I can’t wait to begin GCSE Drama in September.
Later in the afternoon, the A-Level Drama students had time with the theatre company to review their piece ‘285 Sandcastles’, which is based on Paper Birds Theatre Company. This was a brilliant opportunity for them to finetune their piece to fit with the teachings of the company, ahead of their exam and public performance on Monday 13th May.
“I benefitted from this workshop tremendously. Working with someone who is part of the theatre company we are studying really gave us inspiration for our A-Level devised piece.” - Alex W, Year 12.
Overall, I can confidently say that every participant of the workshop had an interesting and enjoyable time, with huge benefits to all year groups and their stages in Drama. I’m even more excited now to begin my GCSE course and make pieces of my own, and hopefully study further into the Paper Birds Theatre Company in more detail!