ISTA's Scene Magazine - The world of theatre - March 2023

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Global learning through theatre

Jumping in with Highly Sprung ISTA's guest theatre company initiative

The world of theatre IN THIS ISSUE

A Key Moment

The IB Arts Jam(s)

Tell Us Your Love Story

Scene Staff Editor - Helen Abbott Design - Keriann O'Rourke Assistant Design - Anna Norriss Proofreader - Janet Schorer Proofreader - Emily Jane Grant Advertising - Tom Scott

ISTA Lakeside Offices The Old Cattle Market Coronation Park Helston, Cornwall TR13 0SR United Kingdom office@ista.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTIONS Digital copies of Scene are available through the ISTA Shop.

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Global learning through theatre

Cover image - Kaleroy Zervos 2

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CONTENTS 6

EDITOR’S NOTE

FEATURES

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CASE STUDY - THE IB ARTS JAM(S)

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CALL TO ACTION - IS OUR FUTURE ALREADY DECIDED? WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DO?

Antonio Andrade reflects on an inter-arts project created to give students a practical experience of what it means to look at the world as an artist.

Drama teacher Carl Robinson considers the lasting effects of an urgent call to action.

43 ACADEMIC/THEORETICAL - REACHING OUT BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Dr Catherine Rees, Senior Lecturer at Loughborough University, discusses the benefits of reaching out beyond the classroom.

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THE ISTA GUEST THEATRE COMPANY INITIATIVE INTRODUCING THE AMAZING WORK OF HIGHLY SPRUNG

48 INTERVIEW WITH MALINA PATEL

A rich discussion touching upon evolving teaching practices and the joy of exploring your own practice outside of teaching and much more.

81 RESOURCE - A KEY MOMENT

Siobhan Buckman, Acting teacher at the American University in Cairo, shares the process of writing a play based on Malala Yousafzai’s life and experience.

LESSON PLANS AND UNITS OF WORK

76 YOUNG VOICES

TITANIC FROZEN IN TIME: A CONTEMPORARY PIECE

Students from the International School of Geneva reflect on a recent devising project.

ARTISTS AND COMPANIES

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FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL THE TIME MACHINE

FOR HIGH SCHOOL TELL US YOUR LOVE STORY

A unit of work full of great activities introducing students to physical theatre.

Exploring the process and widereaching benefits of Verbatim Theatre projects in your classroom.

Shane Anthony Jones on the impact and challenges of creating a Verbatim piece of theatre.

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PROFILES - SABOTAGE THEATRE Zoe Hinks introduces Sabotage Theatre, a company with a passion for adventure.

89 PATHWAYS - 5 MINUTES WITH JORDI CAHÍZ

Photographer Jordi Cahíz answers our 5 questions.

ISTA RELATED

Global learning through theatre

7 ISTA NEWS 9 THE ISTA APPROACH - THE WORLD OF THEATRE

Executive Director, Dinos Aristidou, breaks down the ISTA Ensemble Method and what makes it unique.

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54 SPOTLIGHT - SHANE ANTHONY JONES

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Global learning through theatre

WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE DO The International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA) specialises in global learning through theatre.

We are a UK based charity, founded in 1978, providing transformative learning experiences for educators and young people worldwide. We create communities of learning, working closely with over 240 member schools around the world and we are the International Baccalaureate’s exclusive global provider of teacher training for Diploma Theatre.

We believe in the unique power of theatre and the arts to connect, develop, transform and empower people to become active members and change makers in their own communities and the world.

Click any of the links below for more information.

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ARTIST IN RESIDENCY (AIR)

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Editor’s Note The world of theatre and its related arts is a rich and varied one, encompassing a range of skills and approaches. In this issue of Scene, we delve into the world of contemporary theatre, its development and how theatre is brought alive for young people in the classroom and beyond. From inter-arts projects to presenting real life stories on stage, we explore some of the forms and approaches that contemporary theatre embraces. Our contributors share their insights, experiences and reflections, shedding light on the unique challenges and rewards of working in this dynamic area.

Amongst others, we are thrilled to feature articles from Dr Catherine Rees who shares her experience of reaching out beyond the classroom, Zoe Hinks who introduces us to the exciting work of Sabotage theatre and Highly Sprung who create original physical theatre that empowers young people.

In this issue, we also examine the role that theatre plays in education, both as a means of artistic expression and as a tool for personal and social development. The young voice this month is not one but seven! In their article, Titanic frozen in time, four students from the International School of Geneva reflect on a recent piece of contemporary theatre they created and we have three students from the International School of Brussels discussing their experience of activism. As always, it’s so wonderful to feature young people and engage with their perspectives on their work and the world.

Helen Abbott Editor

While reading, I hope you will discover a vibrant and diverse world of theatre and creative possibilities. Thanks to our contributors, your generosity in sharing your work and time with us is very much appreciated.

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‘Tuning in’ - ISTA’s Global Challenge for 2023-2024 Why this global challenge?

ISTA NEWS

At a time when the world and individual communities face so many challenges, it has become difficult for young people to tune into what is important. In a world of constant media noise and distraction it’s easy to lose sight of ourselves, our communities and what is factual.

We hope, therefore, that ISTA’s global challenge for our next season (June 2023 – May 2024) Tuning In, will engage young people with opportunities to inquire, reflect and explore the world and themselves through theatre.

It offers host schools and artists an imaginative and meaningful inspiration that has relevance to both the host community and to the world.

We have identified 7 areas of learning that can be the focus of a festival: Tuning into ourselves Tuning into our community and what our community needs Tuning into what is true and what is false Tuning into our environments, our world and beyond Tuning into the challenges of others and thinking about how we can make a difference Tuning into the past to learn from it or into the future to prepare for it Celebrating our ability to tune in and connect through the arts ISTA’s next season starts in June 2023 and we can’t wait to see what it brings!

ISTA™ Young Creative Leadership Programme The ISTA™ Young Creative Leadership Programme is an opportunity for high school students to develop their creative leadership skills. Students develop their skills through a series of reflective tasks, mentoring and attendance at a middle school festival in a leadership role. The student then plans how this leadership experience will be implemented in their own community. This is a powerful service learning opportunity and can be used as part of other leadership initiatives.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FULL OVERVIEW OF THE PROGRAMME SCENE

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ISTA’s 2023-2024 Calendar overview is now available

ISTA NEWS

Don't miss a thing at ISTA! We’ve recently launched this handy overview of all of our events, webpage launches, and booking dates in one helpful place.

Click here to view calendar

“New Approaches” Summer PD&L series We are currently putting together a fantastic lineup of Professional Development & Learning workshops for June/July 2023 focusing on best practices and approaches to teaching different curricular components and skills.

There will also be a special series of workshops related to IB Diploma Theatre to coincide with the publication of our new handbook for DP Theatre students.

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THE ISTA APPROACH

THE WORLD OF THEATRE Dinos Aristidou, Executive Director www.ista.co.uk

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THE ISTA APPROACH

The practice of WE 'The WE story defines a human being in a specific way; it says we are our central selves seeking to contribute, naturally engaged, forever in a dance with each other. It points to relationships rather than to individuals, to communication patterns, gestures and movement rather than to discrete objects and identities. It attests to the in-between' (Zander and Zander 2000)

The ISTA ensemble was one of the primary founding principles of ISTA, and it is still the theatrical methodology that underpins all activity organised by the organisation. Ensemble describes the group itself (‘the ensemble’) as well as describing the process used to form and keep these groups together (‘ensemble building’). It begins with a basic belief in the ‘alchemy of synergy’ (Robinson 2008) that results in a connected, cohesive group, comprised of diverse individual entities, which has greater capabilities and capacity than the sum of its component parts. In this respect, it is a model for increased artistic productivity. In the context of the ISTA Festival, there is a strong belief in the artistic and pedagogic value that comes from the collaboration of multiple people, perspectives and voices. Pedagogically, ensemble offers young people the opportunity to develop as global learners by valuing diversity, practising inclusion and learning collaboratively. The broader view of this methodology is also socio-political, aspiring to create community cohesion, effective communication between diverse groups and international mindedness.

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THE ISTA APPROACH

The ISTA™ Ensemble Method The ISTA™ Ensemble Method is fundamentally a theatre-making process. What separates it from other theatre-making processes, however, is that at its centre are global learning and community empowerment. It is a unique non-competitive theatrical approach to empowerment, learning and co-created theatre making and the heart of the ISTA festival experience. In March 2022 we approached Mike Pasternak, one of the founders of ISTA, to work with us on re-examining the ensemble method in line with our mission and the times we find ourselves in. Working also

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alongside Jonothan Neelands, our ISTA patron, a dynamic process was captured which is now the basis of our festivals and the way global learning through theatre is delivered by ISTA. Driven by story-based inquiry, it is a method that responds directly to the participants, their experiences, perspectives and understanding of the world. It also now requires educational settings and learners to consider the impact of the learning and how it will inform their future actions.

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THE ISTA APPROACH

I IDENTITY

Every festival begins with a recognition and affirmation of each individual, their story and their perspectives. This is often through simple activities and name games. It is empowering for young people to share who they are, have their individual voice heard and feel that they are seen and affirmed. Through this initial stage, they recognise that they don't need to feel 'other' or conform to a particular profile to fit in. They are with others who share their passion and who accept who they are at face value, without judgement. They can be themselves or a particular aspect of themselves and be accepted and part of the 'we' that makes up the ensemble. In this way the ‘practice of the WE gives us a method for reclaiming ‘the Other’ as one of us’ (Zander and Zander 2000) ‘The dissolution of the demarcation lines between ‘us’ and ‘them’ by allowing each individual to feel accepted and seen becomes a key stage in this ensemble model of collaborative theatre practice and fulfils ISTA’s global learning objectives.

WE ISTA ENSEMBLE METHOD Through ensemble-building strategies, participants begin to collaborate and come together as an ensemble to learn together and from each other. Activities, exercises and approaches that establish complicité on an affective, cognitive and physical basis, are employed by the artistic staff to develop this connection between participants, in order to form a cohesive ensemble that creates individual sections of a coherent final piece. Young people work in pairs, small groups and as a whole group.

Full group work is important for the creation of a sense of community, which gives each young person a sense of belonging while simultaneously allowing them to retain their individual identity.

The practice of WE is important in making sure that young people do not see others as 'them' but perceive the world as being made up of different people who have different ideas and approaches. This is true collaboration - the celebration of diversity and the recognition that difference brings richness.

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THE ISTA APPROACH

STORY ENGAGING WITH STORIES & SITES An inspirational story and cultural experience, chosen by the festival host, become the lenses through which participants creatively explore the ISTA Global Challenge using theatre and the related arts. Story is the meeting point between the real world and the world of theatre. Story takes us from one world to the other. It also provides us with lenses and a vantage point which provide us with some distance from which to observe our experiences, discoveries and learning. ISTA’s story-based inquiry approach uses story and the site of the festival as the heart of the inquiry because we believe these are more accessible and concrete than abstract concepts. The cultural experience is something that is experienced through the body alongside the story which is something experienced through the imagination. The combination of the two provides a holistic model of inquiry which is engaging as well as fundamentally theatrical. www.ista.co.uk

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THE ISTA APPROACH

US SHARING THE LEARNING

‘Every project generates its own working process.’

(Oddey 2003)

In this stage of the process, participants use theatre and the related arts to share their learning and explorations with an audience, as a piece of theatre. The best way to learn about theatre is to practise it, and here young people become practitioners rather than students of theatre. The ISTA Festival follows the full trajectory of the artistic process of theatre-making from initial stimulus to a finished production that is presented to an audience. This provides young people with the development of key theatre-making skills as creators, performers, directors and designers. In this respect, the ISTA festival has a prominent role in ‘the world of theatre’ strand of our work alongside TaPS, Artist in Residencies and our Performing Arts Academy. The presentation to an audience is key, because this is the point at which we share with others, things that are outside of their experience.

This moves the dynamic from ‘we’ - who have shared something together - to ‘us’ -people who we share our experience with. The final theatrical sharing also provides a common purpose for the duration of the experience. This common purpose is a bonding and community-forming feature of the ISTA Festival and one that is consciously adopted as a mechanism by the artistic team to keep a group connected and to forge a clear pathway through the myriad of experiences. The product and the process that produces this are intertwined strands of the educational purpose and value of the ISTA Festival. This aspect of referring to each one separately should not, as Bolton explains in Acting in classroom drama, give the impression ‘that ‘process’ is to be seen as an alternative to ‘product’, for they are interdependent, not polar, concepts.’ (1998).

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PATHWAYS

THE ISTA APPROACH

TO EMPOWERMENT & ACTION THE GLOBAL LEARNER In their own school/setting groups participants consider global perspectives, the impact of the festival experience and how this learning might be taken into their own community. This is shared with all the other festival participants. In this respect, theatre is re-configured, in this final stage, as a tool for change. It establishes the learning experience as something that has a future beyond the event and establishes that the festival experience is one of empowerment and community action.

Conclusion The ISTA Festival in terms of the artistic processes it employs, is not simply an experience of theatre for each individual but rather the entry into and, over a few days, a residence in a world of theatre, a creative world of learning founded on the ISTA values of connection, collaboration, creativity and community. The ISTA ensemble method develops global learners, develops theatre-makers, encourages friendships and explores the interconnected nature of our world through an engagement with the world of theatre. ◾

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Photo : 'Taking Flight' by Highly Sprung

COLLABORATIONS / PARTNER PROFILE

THE ISTA GUEST THEATRE COMPANY INITIATIVE

A NEW FORM OF COLLABORATION

with

United Kingdom

COLLABORATIONS

Photo : 'Up, Up and Away' by Highly Sprung

We’re so excited to announce an exciting new ISTA initiative. Each year we plan to invite a professional theatre company to artistically lead one of our events. We will be selecting companies that we believe share our mission and values and which are making innovative work that is of global interest and significance. The company will work closely with ISTA but will be responsible for developing the artistic vision of the event. The company’s artists will work alongside ISTA artists, giving our artists an opportunity to be exposed to new practices.

This year we have invited Highly Sprung to artistically lead our Upper MS/HS Terezín Festival at the end of March 2023 which takes place at one of our global sites of learning.

They will also be offering professional development for teachers on Artistic Activism: Devising Physical Theatre about Environmental Change. We hope this will be the beginning of an exciting series of collaborations.

We believe ISTA’s values and mission are closely aligned with those of this exciting theatre company and that this collaboration will bring together Highly Sprung's innovative approach with the ISTA™ Ensemble Method to offer young people and teachers exciting opportunities in the world of theatre.

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COLLABORATIONS

Highly Sprung; the company Highly Sprung knows the power of the arts and uses it as a tool to develop thinking; both with their audiences and more importantly, with the children and young people they work with and alongside. Based in the Midlands, England, they are a physical theatre company fusing dance, gesture and expressive movement with gripping, tangible storytelling. Creating some of the most exciting environmentally charged performance work alongside a vibrant and enticing schools’ programme that develops physical theatre and devising work through a strong co-creation pedagogy. Highly Sprung tour both nationally and internationally, teaching and performing their unique brand of physical theatre and aerial dance, that lends its creativity, self-expression and imagination to strong social messages that affect us all.

Photo : 'Home' by Highly Sprung

The work Highly Sprung creates spectacle in unlikely places, making it free to those who discover and engage with it. They believe performance should be for all and make their work accessible, ensuring any possible barriers are removed. Their work, despite having a resident writer, is often performed without text as bodies shift, glide and collide within the storytelling space to gathered audiences. Their aim is to speak in a universal language, a physical language that transcends the spoken word. The stories they devise are universally understandable, exploring narratives from global issues to the very essence of humanity.

Photo: 'Castaway' by Highly Sprung Photo credit : Andy Moore

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COLLABORATIONS

‘We know the world is a messy place with messy people and messy problems’, they say, ‘and Highly Sprung thrive in this environment and make work with and for young people that puts this mess under the microscope, creating stories and worlds that make sense of the chaos and make the complex comprehendible.’

The ability to bring global issues to the stage through engaging performance couldn’t be more showcased than in Highly Sprung’s 2015-2022 touring performance URBAN ASTRONAUT. The performance tackled the theme of climate change, setting the performance in a future where the people of Earth had finally cut down its few remaining forests and trees. An unappealing storyline interrupted by a visitation from an astronaut, strapped to a flying machine, spinning and jumping up to 6 metres in the air. Spectacle like this is synonymous with Highly Sprung’s work.

Photo : 'Urban Astronaut' by Highly Sprung Photo Credit: Ravji Vaya

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‘Watching a spaceman jumping and moving as if on the moon entices even the trickiest of audiences, however once the initial excitement of the spectacle has worked its magic, it is up to the story and performance to keep their attention. For us, this is where we, as creators and makers, have to understand what the general public find engaging.’

COLLABORATIONS

Photo : 'Urban Astronaut' by Highly Sprung Photo Credit: Ravji Vaya

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COLLABORATIONS

Photo : 'Home' by Highly Sprung

Outdoor work Unlike many arts organisations that create work for theatre buildings and studios, Highly Sprung specialise in making work for the outdoors; where audiences will only take time out of their day or decide to stay if they find the work entertaining or engaging. In 2014 Highly Sprung adopted outdoor performance as its preferred performance arena following a series of indoor tours.

Photo: 'Castaway' by Highly Sprung Photo credit : Andy Moore

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‘I REMEMBER LOOKING OUT ACROSS THE AUDITORIUM AND REALISING THAT WE WERE ONLY ENGAGING WITH ONE TYPE OF AUDIENCE: THE THEATRE AUDIENCE. AS A YOUNG CHILD I NEVER WENT TO THE THEATRE BECAUSE WE COULDN’T AFFORD IT. I REMEMBER MY FIRST TRIP WAS TO SEE A FAMILY FRIEND IN A STUDENT PERFORMANCE BECAUSE IT WAS FREE… I WAS PERFORMING AND HALFWAY THROUGH A SCENE I REALISED SOMETHING NEEDED TO CHANGE’.

Mark Worth, Artistic Director www.ista.co.uk

In 2021 Highly Sprung developed a new outdoor show, CASTAWAY which furthered our fascination with flight using bespoke engineering. The world’s first gyroscopic flying machine sees the harnessed performer diving, twisting and turning up to 9 metres in the air, highlighting the issue of single use plastics and our throwaway society.

COLLABORATIONS

Photo: 'Castaway' by Highly Sprung Photo credit : Andy Moore

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COLLABORATIONS

Photo of Physical Fellowship with Highly Sprung Photo credit : Andy Moore

Schools, community based work and young people The power of possibility that fuels their performances is firmly embedded in their school and community based work and something they try to instil in all participants.

Their highly trained performers are also their workshop leaders, allowing their methodologies to crossover and inform each other. Having extensively worked in schools, they understand what’s needed to fulfil their aim to deliver workshops that empower teachers, excite students and use their expertise in physical theatre and embodied learning to create a meaningful intervention.

Highly Sprung have a passion for working with children and young people and for the past 20 years have led weekly workshops with a cohort of 100 24

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young people aged 6 to 19 who explore and create stories: Sprung Youth. The development of young talent starts with the body, giving the participants a physical confidence before moving into the voice and storytelling within the safety of the ensemble.

'We are finding more and more that children and young people are engaging with our work because of its physicality. Our way of working gives voice to those often afraid to speak, enabling them to be front and centre. This breeds confidence and develops a stronger, more resilient voice’ Sarah Worth, Executive Director

They annually produce the Physical Fellowship, the United Kingdom’s only physical theatre festival

exclusively for young people. The festival, established in 2008, is now seen as an alternative to traditional young people’s performing arts festivals, offering participants the chance to work together and realise their potential through the development of imagination and creativity through a sense of community.

With a reach of nearly 100,000 students over the past 10 years, delivering performances to audiences of over 250,000 over the past 7 years FOR FREE… Highly Sprung are incredibly proud of their role as a gateway arts organisation; knowing some of the audiences they see or work with may never have engaged with the arts before. www.ista.co.uk

COLLABORATIONS In 2020 they were awarded a Gold Pearson National Teaching Award for their work with Birmingham schools on Holocaust education, delivering workshops inspired by the words and interviews of Holocaust survivors. Performances were co-created, inspired by the events of the mass genocide. These performances were then collated by Highly Sprung as artistic directors, in the UK’s youth holocaust remembrance day commemorations, to great acclaim. ◾ Photo provided by Highly Sprung Photo credit : Andy Moore

www.highlysprungperformance.co.uk www.ista.co.uk

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CASE STUDY

Lisbon, Portugal

THE IB ARTS JAM(S)

BY ANTONIO ANDRADE

Antonio Andrade takes us through the journey that 3 IB DP teachers embarked upon to create an inter-arts project for students to have practical experience of what it means to look at the world as an artist.

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CASE STUDY

The Starting Point When I was faced with the task of turning back the clock and exploring how it was that our idea got its legs, the first thing that jumped out was how much this was not originally my idea and how important the use of pronouns will be in this article – because this was, both in essence and execution, a WE project.

It started with three Group 6 IBDP teachers in a TOK integration meeting for said Group 6 discussing how much our

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classes had in common with each other, how much they differed and – probably more importantly – how much our struggles to be taken seriously within the IB programme were ever growing. How do we get our students, whose numbers were very limited within the scope of the juniors and seniors at our school, to feel like their perspective as artists was being valued?

And how much were we succeeding in having them understand that as artists they could – nay, should! – feed off each other?

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CASE STUDY

Elena Crocker (Music), John Hawke (Visual Arts) and myself (Theatre). These are the first WE. The three Group 6 IBDP teachers at our school.

We sat and talked and discussed. We ranted a lot about the hardships of Group 6, of students being encouraged to replace the Group 6 subject with something else for the good of their future endeavours. A lot of talking, not a lot of actual plans but one clear idea: we should work together and have our students work together.

2nd meeting – (3rd quarter) Product of Drama students context/words/prose, Art students develop imagery and Music students develop a new idea; 3rd meeting – (4th quarter) Art students develop imaging (1st, 2nd or both) Product of Drama students context/words/prose and Music students develop a new idea. What do you think?’

But we followed up on it. Meetings were scheduled, Elena and John met in person while I was out with Covid and chatting with the two of them via computer. And Elena sent this BEAUTIFUL message: ‘John and I have concocted an idea: 1st meeting – Music students present a work. Art students develop imagery/Dramastudents context/words/prose;

Aims

And here it was. The core of what we went on to do!

WE continued to discuss and shape what it would look like around that core of one art form brings in something prepared, the others respond to it by creating something in their own field. Three ‘events’, one per quarter – starting in the 2nd quarter.

‘How do we get our students… to feel like their perspective as artists was being valued?’

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CASE STUDY

But what were our goals?

Well, for students to have practical experience of what it means to look at the world as an artist – not hermetically enclosed in their own art but actually integrating the different voices, experiences and skills of other artists in other fields. When students explore theatre; the different roles, the performance space, the traditions, the

WE WANTED OUR STUDENTS TO COLLABORATE WITH EACH OTHER. TO BE INSPIRED BY EACH OTHER. TO LEARN WHAT IT MEANS TO HAVE A SHARED CULTURAL EXPERIENCE. conventions, all these terms that are so important in IB Theatre Arts – they can lose track of that other, so crucial term: context!

And even when they don’t, what does it mean? Research on political and social factors that influence theatre? Yes. The personal lives and professional approaches of different theatre makers? Yes. Their own personal context, their work, their life, their experiences? Yes! (PS: although my students tend to struggle with this one as well – is it just me?)

But what about the arts as a whole?

Collaboration? Influence? What about Salvador Dali and his work with Hitchcock and Walt Disney? Ibsen, Munch and Grieg?

Our students were being told, taught and shown how artists from different fields explore creativity together and apply it in their own way to their own art. But they were doing so in their own self-contained

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CASE STUDY

'theatre people' collaborating with 'theatre people'. We wanted our students to collaborate with each other. To be inspired by each other. To learn what it means to have a shared cultural experience (school, age, country of birth, country of residence, pop culture references etc.) but then experience, in practice, how that could be translated into a whole range of approaches to the creative artistic output of both shared and contrasting beliefs and experiences. In a sentence, the goal was inter-arts collaboration.

In Practice So in January 2022, the WE became the students.

The IB Music Year 1 and Year 2 students walked into the Visual Arts classroom and presented a music piece to their IB Visual Arts and IB Theatre counterparts. Then they discussed with their colleagues – intentions, reactions, impact, inspiration. A little stiff at first, a little too shy, some drawn out silences… but as the conversation went on, more questions were asked and answered and the students began to see the possibilities. The question stopped revolving around ‘What do YOU (as in us, the teachers) want US to do?’ and it became What can WE (just) do with this?’, ‘How do WE feel?’, ‘How do WE say/show that?’.

the music piece but to what the visual artists were starting to come up with. One 60 minute session on January 14 and then another 60 minute session on February 4 – and after only 2 hours of inter-arts collaborative work all the students were sharing visual art pieces and a physical theatre piece. The musicians adding to their original creation, playing it over the movement of the theatre piece – which in turn was revolving around the artwork of the visual artists.

Two months later it was Theatre coming in with a movement concept, instigating reaction and creation. At the end of the year it was the visual artists initiating the process, the goal always the same – a circular environment of art inspiring art reacting to art inspiring art creating art – and a lot of discussion and reflection on how different artistic approaches and cultural backgrounds resulted in expression and inspiration.

The Visual Artists started talking about different media, textures, colours. The Theatre students went into devisingmode using physical theatre, reacting not only to

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CASE STUDY

The premise was so simple: One art form creates a short piece, the others respond to it and express it through their own creative output.

Reflection

n

ion Creatio t a r pi

C r e a tio tion ira

n

ction In sp Rea

ction I n Rea s

This was the intended loop at the start.

What we got was far more interesting. It was a multi edged circle – it wasn’t geometry. It was art. It was emotion and expression turned practical.

It was:

This was Year 1. Our goal is to continue experimenting with the format. Especially with the timings. How long do the students have to react and create? Do we do it all in one sitting? Two sessions? Do we provide the initial group with a starting point? Maybe even including other Fine Arts subjects – for instance, the first group always has to get their starting point from Dance? Or Film? The scaffolding within the structure should be malleable and we plan to experiment with it. But the basic premise shows promise.

At the end of the sharing sessions, coming back to the Theatre classroom, my students were far more attuned to how artists inspire artists – regardless of their area of expertise. It wasn’t just that they understood that without Ibsen there is no Munch – not as we know it at least.

It’s that they looked at the Dali/Disney collaboration and saw not only a beautiful short film but 2 very different approaches to art, 2 very different cultural, political and ideological contexts, feeding off each other to create something that was more than just the sum of 2 parts.

And it wasn’t just that they SAW it. They had experienced it. Lived it. Created it. ◾

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CALL TO ACTION

IS OUR FUTURE ALREADY DECIDED? What are you willing to do?

Drama teacher Carl Robinson considers the lasting effects of an urgent call to action sent out to the leadership at his school. He invites 3 students to discuss the project and its impact.

BELGIUM

BY CARL ROBINSON This was the final statement, the full stop on the call to action, that the student ensemble in our 48 Hour Theatre Project 2019 delivered to an audience comprised of almost all of the key decision makers at our school. The words were shouted at the end of an impassioned performance which the students put together in less than forty eight hours.

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CALL TO ACTION With an email sent at 5:27pm on a Sunday evening, titled ‘URGENT: important meeting tomorrow about Climate Change’ we summoned the leadership of our school to the drama studio for 10:45am the next day. We had just finished 3 intense days of protesting, devising and performing and the students were ready to take on the world.

Sending an email in this manner was a risk (more so for me than for the students perhaps) but the leadership listened and showed up to watch our performance. That morning we were chomping at the bit to change the world – but did we? Almost 4 years and a pandemic between then and now, myself and some of the students who participated in the project have had time to reflect and now we look back on that final statement, that full stop, or to be more accurate, that question mark.

As the Drama teacher on this project, I’ve also gotten to look back with some hindsight and I wonder to what extent we achieved our goals.

Maybe the pandemic and the resources we had to use to keep school open during that time has made me more doubtful that we’ve made progress. Or maybe I’m just getting more cynical as I get older. But I wanted to ask some of the students who participated in the project and have now reached the end of their school career, how much they remember and how much impact they think we had.

Just before I turn to Olivia, Lihi and Clara though, let me set the stage and give you some context.

March 2019. Greta Thunberg had set the minds of young people alight, with passion and with a call to action - to walk out of school on Fridays for the purpose of protesting the world’s (lack of) response to climate change. www.ista.co.uk

At our school, The International School of Brussels (ISB), only a small handful of senior students had answered the call up until that point, so I saw an opportunity to spark some of our middle schoolers. Early in the year we had planned with ISTA to do a 48 hour theatre project over a weekend and as the date approached, we realised that a school strike would be taking place on the Friday immediately before. We asked students and parents if they would like to participate in the strike, then use the ISTA event to make a show about it. The answer was a resounding ‘Yes!’.

‘The excitement that came from being heard and taken seriously by the adults… made me realise that even as a teenager my actions still do have impact.’

That Friday then, alongside thousands of other protesters, 11 students and 4 teachers set out to join the march in Brussels city centre. We made signs, we marched, we sang and we felt like our voices were being heard.

If not by the Belgian government, then at least by the people in the office buildings who stopped their work to look out of their windows at us.

Saturday and Sunday we were very fortunate to be joined by ISTA artists Helen Abbott and Emily Jane Grant, to reflect on the event, then create and shape a short performance which we delivered to parents and teachers on Sunday evening and then again in our ‘emergency meeting’ on Monday morning.

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CALL TO ACTION

Olivia, Lihi, Clara, what do you remember most about the 48 Hour Theatre Project and the school strike?

Olivia: What I remember the most was the march itself. It was my first time going to one so it really stuck with me.

‘NOW MORE THAN EVER, WE NEED TO THINK EVEN HARDER ABOUT OUR ANSWERS.’

Clara: Me too. I had always been sceptical about the effectiveness of protesting to actually engender social change, but the hope and inspiration I felt being surrounded by like-minded people advocating for what’s right made me absolutely love the experience. Prior to this project, the plays I had participated in had some sort of theme or message, of course, but none felt as relevant as the call to action we were making through the project.

Olivia: I also enjoyed the chance to recreate the protest [as part of our performance], it gave me the chance to be able to reflect on its different aspects.

Lihi: I remember when we all brainstormed ideas as to why people are not taking action towards solving the climate crisis. This was very interesting to me because it helped me come up with more innovative ways to encourage people to take steps to help solve the crisis.

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CALL TO ACTION Do you think we had any impact on the ISB community/school leaders who saw the show? What was that impact?

Clara: Yes, I do think we had an impact. I remember the momentum our project was gathering and the fact that what was initially supposed to be a one-time project continued longer, with our calls to action posted on Twitter. I’m inclined to believe that this momentum along with the efforts and engagement of the actors, audience and ISB school leaders would have led to some impact being made on the school.

Olivia: After the show, there was a greater emphasis on lessening our waste and the school director sent out an email encouraging people to go to the march/congratulating those that went.

Lihi: I hope that we made some sort of impact on the ISB community. I think the project at least left a stamp on the community, which impacted certain decisions of the students, teachers, staff members and leadership of the school although I cannot recall a specific direct impact that the project made.

Clara: Unfortunately, I changed schools shortly after the project and I did not get to see the full result of our work. What I do know though, is that I personally carried the momentum I’d experienced from the project to my new school, where I attended another climate march and eventually became Club Head of the school’s Environmental Action Force.

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Regarding climate action, did the event have any impact on you? What was that impact?

Clara: Yes! The project changed the way I think about art and the way I make my own art because I realised how effective art is as a form of activism. The excitement that came from being heard and taken seriously by the adults in the audience made me realise that even as a teenager my actions still do have impact.

Lihi: The project had a big impact on me personally. I think it really opened my eyes on the subject and pushed me towards researching and taking actions that still lead me to this day. I think that because we took a creative outlook on the climate crisis it made it feel more real than just hearing about climate change.

Olivia: I took some of the advice such as setting a timer when showering, turning off the water when soaping up etc. I was even introduced to reusable menstrual products which as well as being good for the environment, saved a lot of money. So I can say that although this took place about 4 years ago, I still feel its impact.

‘I am reminded of the power we have as teachers; in the activities we choose… the provocations we give them and the ways in which we empower [students] to use their agency’ SCENE

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CALL TO ACTION

‘WE MADE SIGNS, WE MARCHED, WE SANG AND WE FELT LIKE OUR VOICES WERE BEING HEARD.’

Though it’s difficult for me to trace the improvements that our school made because of this event, listening to the reflections of Clara, Lihi and Olivia, I am reminded of the power we have as teachers; in the activities we choose for our students, the provocations we give them and the ways in which we empower them to use their agency. They’ve clearly taken away some very important learnings from the event and I am confident they’re making change in their own spheres of influence now. And personally, I was changed by the event too. That call to action that they gave to the audience resounded in my ears for weeks afterwards. I felt like a hypocrite, leading these young people to make a show to demand change from my employers but not making any changes myself.

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So I looked at my own carbon footprint and asked myself: ‘What are you willing to do?’

The answer I had then was to give up eating meat and to ride my bike to school instead of driving and thanks to the energy my students imbued me with, I was able to make those two significant changes and keep them to this day.

With COP27 having just taken place and again not enough direct action being taken by the leaders of our world, our young people are still asking us these questions: ‘Is our future already decided?’ ‘What are you willing to do?’ and as the adults with the power, now more than ever, we need to think even harder about our answers. ◾

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PROFILES

SABOTAGE THEATRE United Kingdom

In this article Zoe Hinks introduces Sabotage Theatre, a grassroots theatre company with a passion for adventure.

BY ZOE HINKS www.ista.co.uk

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SABOTAGE THEATRE

I am the founder and lead artist of a small touring company called Sabotage Theatre. The name is inspired by the myth that workers shoved their wooden shoes (sabots) into machines during the industrial revolution because they were afraid that machines would take away their jobs. Although this portrays them as rather technophobic, short sighted and childishly stubborn, I’ve always connected with these activists. For me, theatre is a way you can jam a spanner into the cogs of progress. This questioning of what otherwise can be blindly followed is a fundamental tool for helping us keep a check on ourselves. It keeps us thinking. It slows us down.

Over the years Sabotage Theatre has taken on many different incantations but a continuing thread is the desire to take theatre into unusual spaces and get there in unusual ways.

We have travelled by horse, on foot, on bicycles, piled props into prams and lit performances with fire torches fuelled by recycled oil from chip shops. We have camped

in school libraries and processed across the South Downs. We have performed in locations spanning from ancient forests to historic churches; from street festivals to lost villages.

When you adopt a community space as your theatre you are working with the associations of the place and this shapes the play each time it is performed. The soundscape of birds in a grand yew forest, the prayers soaked in the stones of an old church, the hubbub of children’s birthday parties staining the floor of a village hall; these are the third players in our shows.

It is not just the quirks of adapting to unusual venues and the ensuing added theatricality of this; it is of course, also that it makes it more possible for more people to see theatre. It takes down financial, geographical and societal boundaries which prevent a huge proportion of normal people engaging with (what I see as) a portal to another world.

‘We believe we have a responsibility to challenge and ask questions.’

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SABOTAGE THEATRE

The Sabotage Manifesto Sabotage Theatre exists to make brave, original theatre.

We believe live theatre is a precious and irreplaceable experience. It is a tool to help us connect with our humanity and interrogate societal norms and expectations.

We believe more people should have access to live theatre.

We believe theatre should be affordable for all.

We are feminists.

We believe we have a responsibility to challenge and ask questions.

We take a fearless and disciplined approach to creating professional plays which provoke, entertain and engage.

We love nature and the countryside and this feeds into our work; in its creation and delivery.

We pride ourselves in resourcefulness and utilise recycled materials in our design.

Sabotage celebrates the audience; intelligent, volatile and critical.

Sabotage celebrates the moment; unique, vulnerable and priceless.

This manifesto has been helpful. It’s easy to get lost in the trappings of current projects but these chapters have heydays and then they become stuck. For 5 years our focus was touring with a horse and cart, our company lived outside and walked between venues, cooking on fires. It was starkly romantic and beautifully bard-like. The communities of friends which bonded during those shows shaped our lives. But eventually the difficulties of maintaining an ancient way of working in a modern world became dangerous and exhausting. It overshadowed the life force of www.ista.co.uk

the plays and so we found the next adventure.

We are constantly evolving and finding ways to stay mobile and reach undiscovered audiences.

Our current show After the Rain is a show for young children. After becoming a mother in lockdown, I was acutely aware of how there are still cultural gaps for families on a low income in a post pandemic landscape.

The children are transported on a kaleidoscopic journey as a rotating, expanding SCENE

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SABOTAGE THEATRE

stage reveals forests, shadowy worlds, bright colourful puppets, music and hosts of weird, wonderful characters. The story is about the importance of nature and preserving its habitat. It is interactive and educational.

Childcare workers will be given a pack afterwards with music, artwork and guided activities so the children can respond creatively to the experience they have had.

For me, theatre is a way you can jam a spanner into the cogs of progress.

well known. Sabotage’s work is grass roots to its core; embracing the fringes of society and telling brave new stories.

As a company we are incredibly disciplined about playfulness. No rehearsal ever starts without games and games thread together our play until the final curtain call. There are so many types of games. Games with rules, games with no rules, games where we change the rules by the minute. Serious games, silly games, games of manipulation. I think it is so easy to try to pin down our best ideas but by clinging to our tricks we deaden scenes. We must all be prepared to change things at any point, to make them as close to the truth of the story as we can find. And a story, like a living thing, can grow and evolve throughout a tour.

After the Rain will perform in nurseries, schools and community centres. This highly portable project has its own pop-up venue, which will pack down small and travel on public transport.As a child growing up in rural Kent I had very little exposure to theatre. Perhaps a school trip or the village panto but the glimpses I had became a raft to imagining a different world for me; one that was vibrant, proudly camp, mischievous. As I grew older I saw how this could be a tool to explore the politically daring. It was a way to connect those who felt forgotten or pushed out of society. The best theatre flirts with revolution but leaves town before it can be pinned down, leaving the tingling aftertaste of unbridled imagination in the air.

We know well the difficulties and importance of engaging with the Arts, in a culture which favours the safe, the well connected and the 40

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SABOTAGE THEATRE

Our company uses puppets and masks. They started as a way of solving creative challenges (such as how to play a child or an animal) but now we’re hooked. Our puppets and costumes are made from recycled materials.

When making puppets and masks I tend to ‘think with my hands’. I am not a designer. I don’t draw plans or create mockups. My training as a theatre maker heavily leaned onto creation through playfulness, experimentation and discovery. So when I start each character I start blind. I feel the character truly is born when I paint the eyes and then show its personality in the rehearsal room.

Live performance is vital in this age where we are building more and more walls between people. We are given so many opportunities to

manipulate and conceal our identities. To thrust a small lit up screen between ourselves and the present moment. We hide behind fashions and intellectualism and knowing the news. And we feel lonely and anxious.

A performer needs to let go of all of this. To skydive into the moment and allow what is lying beneath to seep through so audiences can see it and say, ‘I know you’ and be grateful because they are not alone, to feel soothed because they are not quite so strange as they had feared. Theatre can bring empathy to the privileged; it can give courage to the oppressed.

Sabotage wants to put it on your doorstep. ◾

‘The children are transported on a kaleidoscopic journey’

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Advertisement

A C A D E M I C

T H E O R E T I C A L

REACHING OUT BEYOND THE CLASSROOM Applied Theatre and Arts for SEN community outreach engagement in the real world Dr Catherine Rees, Senior Lecturer in Drama at Loughborough University, one of ISTA's partners, discusses the benefits of reaching out beyond the classroom to engage with external partners and uniting young people to learn collaboratively.

BY CATHERINE REES United Kingdom

Jenny Hughes and Helen Nicholson agree that applied theatre approaches in the university classroom can ‘no longer be described as

How do we ensure that our Theatre and Drama

emergent’

students have useful transferable skills and are

employability

able to apply their understanding of the

university education’. We were therefore

discipline beyond the classroom and into the

determined to offer our Drama undergraduate

real world? One effective method is to help

students experience and skills developing ‘real -

them to see Drama and other creative arts

world’ responses to external partners. In

subjects as having crucial applied value in the

reaching out to colleges and organisations

support, education and development of others.

beyond the university, we enabled our students

www.ista.co.uk

and to

that

they

an1

already

add

crucial

‘expensive

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ACADEMIC / THEORETICAL

would like to collaborate with us on this

‘We enabled our students to expand their horizons…’

project. There would be mutual benefits; our

learning outcomes. These learning outcomes

students would have the opportunity to

were negotiated and agreed with the partner

develop hands-on, real life experience in

college. were: Improved communication skills,

collaborating with other students from an

supporting independent living, emotions and

external organisation and their students would

wellbeing and experiencing overwhelming

benefit from the theatrical skills of our

emotions/emotional regulation.

to expand their horizons, equipping them with the mechanisms to respond in real time, to real life, real world events.

While teaching a Theatre in Education module, I reached out to a local SEN (Special Educational Needs) college and asked if they

undergraduates being applied to their own Our undergraduate students developed 4 one hour workshops designed to engage the local SEN students in applied theatre activities supporting these 4 key areas of development.

They used a range of tools to deliver the desired outcomes – Augusto Boal’s Forum Theatre

approach

to

explore

how

self

regulation might be improved, music and dance to improve communication skills and develop confidence,

a

multimedia

simulation

to

help

walk

condition

through emotional

responses and potential sensory overload.

Later I developed a new module to offer more undergraduates

this

valuable

real

world

contact. Creative Arts in Education offers students across all arts programmes, including Fine Art, Graphic Design and Textiles to develop their own applied skills working with the same SEN partner college. They developed

44

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ACADEMIC / THEORETICAL

some incredibly interesting applied approaches

people, navigating new buildings and spending

and tasks – cartoon strip drawing to support

time in unfamiliar rooms.

practical problem solving, decorative name badges to encourage communication skills and

Of course there are also important societal

my own personal favourite, mindfulness mark-

reasons for connecting these 2 communities of

making, to support emotional wellbeing,

learners. How often do mainstream educational

selfcare and resilience.

learners encounter students of their own age with learning differences and disabilities? It is

Not

only

did

this

practice

give

our

crucial to break down these barriers and give

an

invaluable

lesson

in

both sets of students the opportunity to

responding in real time to real life classroom

connect with each other and learn together.

challenges, they also had a demonstrative

Raphael and Allard argue that: ‘By challenging

impact on supporting the SEN students to

the traditional power relationships between those

reach out into the world on their own. The

labelled as ‘disabled’ and those who would be

applied drama approaches were designed to

teachers, […] workshops help the participants to

undergraduates

How often do mainstream educational learners encounter students of their own age with learning differences and disabilities?

2

help them live out in the world, independently

engage on many levels’. Indeed, although many

of their parents. The activities designed by our

of our students went into the experience

Drama undergraduates helped them have

thinking that it was their responsibility to lead

more confidence in navigating the outside

the session and assume the authority position

world, for example in cafes, shops, parties and

of ‘ teacher’, in reality the learning was

at the cinema. Just simply by coming onto our

multidirectional; our students learnt at least as

university campus exposed them to real world

much from the experience and probably more.

challenges that, in the outside world, help

Although Prendergast and Saxton caution that

support their development like meeting new

assessment of success of applied projects can

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ACADEMIC / THEORETICAL

be ‘fraught with difficulty’, 3 everybody in the room agreed that it was a positive experience and mutually beneficial; the final workshop the final workshop session that year ended with hugs, celebration and positivity.

Leaning out into the real world and engaging 4 with the local community to develop shared

learning outcomes offers students and children a

number

of

critical

employability

and

developmental skills and opportunities. But what are some of the challenges to this kind of interaction with the world beyond the typical confines of the school/university classroom?

Raphael and Allard continue: ‘While direct contact and positive personal engagement with people with disabilities are suggested by many researchers as being crucial to developing awareness and positive attitudes, it is widely recognised that putting this into practice within the time and resource constraints of university

[it] had a demonstrative impact on supporting the SEN students to reach out into the world on their own.

courses is a challenge.’ It’s important to 46

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ACADEMIC / THEORETICAL recognise

that

to

encouraging empathetic relationships, breaking

overcome. Scheduling two colleges’ different

barriers between different sets of students and

timetables to coincide is a practical challenge.

fostering positivity in encountering people with

Applications

ethical

disabilities in the community. This programme

clearance committee to ensure participants are

of reaching out into the world beyond the

signing up with informed consent can be a time

conventional

consuming maze of paperwork. Once the young

external partners is a positive and meaningful

people are together in the room, there are

experience, uniting different sets of students

additional potential barriers. Students with

together to learn collaboratively. ◾

to

there

the

are

difficulties

university’s

classroom

to

engage

with

SEN might disengage more easily from activities and feel unable to contribute. This was a challenge for our undergraduates who easily felt disheartened if carefully designed tasks weren’t met with unqualified enthusiasm.

Although there are barriers to overcome, I remain committed to this approach and will continue to offer it to our undergraduate students. Helping them understand that their theatrical and artistic skills have practical, real world value is an important stage in their professional development. Bringing together groups of young people with diverse learning abilities is also an extremely valuable activity,

REFERENCES 1. Hughes and Nicolson, Applied Theatre, 4 2. Raphael and Allard, “Positioning People”, 205 3. Prendergast and Saxton, Applied Theatre, 239 4. Raphael and Allard, “Positioning People”, 206

‘The final workshop session that year ended with hugs, celebration and positivity.’

CITED WORKS 1. Hughes, Jenny and Helen Nicholson, Critical Perspectives on Applied Theatre (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016) 2. Prendergast, Monica and Juliana Saxton, Applied Theatre: International Case studies and Challenges for Practice (Bristol: Intellect, 2016).

3. Raphael, Jo and Andrea C. Allard, “Positioning people with intellectual disabilities as the experts: enhancing pre-service teachers’ competencies in teaching for diversity” International Journal of Inclusive Education, (2013). No. 17, Vol. 2.

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Interview

MALINA PATEL Malina Patel is an international theatre teacher currently working at NIST International School in Thailand. She is a long-standing practitioner of Verbatim theatre techniques in the classroom and develops her own original work.

Before formally starting the interview, Malina and I were talking about the recent high school production she had worked on, You Can’t Take It With You. We were discussing casting and gender and the conversation was so rich that I pressed record. Here is our conversation…

Helen: Can you tell me more about your approach to casting and how you address challenges considering the changing culture relating to gender and identity?

Malina: I'm lucky enough to teach in a school in Bangkok which, as a city, is very accepting in terms of LGBTQ issues despite the legalities. Thai culture is mixed in terms of acceptance but the society is very open. Our 48

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Bangkok, Thailand

school is very free for us to be who we want to be.

We have students who are figuring out their own identities, some who identify as nonbinary. So when we came to casting this play with conventions and stereotypes from the 1920s, we chose to throw them out because that's not the point of our adaptation. We don't have to define these relationships anymore, do we?

We have a biologically male character who is ​ the boyfriend of a female character being played by a student who is non-binary. www.ista.co.uk

INTERVIEW

I ask: ‘Okay, now tell me how you want to play this character?’,

I think that's a beautiful place. Young people know about inclusivity and about offering an equitable space.

He says: ‘I don't know, I just play them’.

‘But do you want to have a same-sex relationship? Do you want a more feminine outfit?’ I say. The student’s response was: ‘Does this even have to be a conversation? Can I not just be Donald and play the part?’

I love that. It was great to be able to put the decision in their hands about what they felt comfortable playing. It's the first time I've ever done that; intentionally, purposely.

WE HAVE STUDENTS WHO ARE FIGURING OUT THEIR OWN IDENTITIES In the past, we've had genderless identities on stage where the meaning of the work is more important than the character that they're playing but this doesn't work that way. It gave us an opportunity to ask: how are we teaching this? It’s an area that makes me really passionate - How are we making it okay for kids to just be who they are?

You're all learning together, you're learning from them as much as they are from you. And

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I think any theatre teacher will say that they've always had some form of inclusivity and diversity in their productions; that they don't cast actors who can ethnically play the right role or age or that the family has to all be the same culture.

We've all done it before under the understanding that it's within education so it doesn't matter as much because it's a school production. And that's what's great about now; that there's real intentionality around it.

Because we can put words to it, we can put policy to it and we don't have to say it's a school thing anymore, we can treat it as the professional world treats it.

Helen: You've been teaching for 15 years now, how would you say your practice has changed and evolved over time?

Malina: That's a big question!

My theatre teacher network, largely due to ISTA, has expanded so much and not just in Asia, it's global. I know a lot of teachers have found their department to be quite lonely but theatre is about collaboration and community.

It’s hard to be that isolated person with no one to bounce ideas off. I am fortunate to have a great colleague at NIST, Emily Clarke, who I learn from on a daily basis because we are so collaborative. We make it okay for each other to take risks all the time. It brings something fresh and something new to be excited about.

I'm not an expert but we do this together.

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INTERVIEW

I think being a teacher and being a lifelong learner is such an inspiring thing.

Helen: You’ve recently taken a year out of teaching to work in the professional world of theatre. Now you’re back in the classroom, how do you feel your recent experiences have impacted your work?

Malina: It was a year that had such a huge impact in so many different ways. Life changed and other avenues opened up.

I worked for a company called Obsidian Theatre, who are one of Canada's black theatre companies. Their mandate is about producing and promoting work developed by black Canadians. This was during Covid and really got me to think about working outside of limitations.

We ended up producing 21 ten-minute plays, written by 21 black Canadian playwrights, all solo plays with a team of three - the playwright, the actor and the director. As we were all working at a distance, I ran a rehearsal room and production meetings on Zoom. It was amazing though. We ended up getting it together and filming it all in Toronto. Within 14 days we filmed all 21 pieces. Theatre that was filmed, which I had never done before.

Now I’m back teaching and looking at the middle school play and I’m struggling with it a bit. I want to incorporate some sort of film or media into this world so I'm looking for a scripted piece that allows me to do that or even plays that were written particularly for Zoom for inspiration because if we decide to devise a piece there's no reason it has to be a physical device. The students could do some writing. It could be a really interesting project although a different kind of challenge. The rules have changed. We were all thrown into Covid and there was no rulebook for that. I've always seen myself as somebody who's not an online person. I've never done online workshops before because I like to be face-toface. But the amount of work and learning that I was able to experience during that year out by embracing the virtual world was so inspiring.

'It was great to be able to put the decision in [the students'] hands about what they felt comfortable playing. It's the first time I've ever done that; intentionally, purposely. ' Above: 21 Black Futures artwork by Yung Yemi for Obsidian Theatre

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INTERVIEW

Below: Web Poster Toka - featuring Kat Khan www.passemuraille.ca/21-22-season/

As well as the 21 Black Futures project, I got to work with Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto.

Their mission is very much about accessibility and theatre so they have performers of every walk of life and they make sure there's accessibility for everyone. I worked on a piece called TOKA written by their associate director, Indrit Kasapi, who is Albanian. He wanted to write a really personal story that I don't think a lot of theatre companies would pick up out of concern that nobody can relate to it. IT WAS STUNNING. So that was another inspiration I took away from it - we need to start hearing other people's stories, we need to start doing this in schools. We can't always do the dead white guy. At the same time, I don't have a cast of

TOKA - Photography by Brian Medina www.lemontreecreations.ca/toka

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INTERVIEW

Above: You Can't Take It With You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart - produced by NIST Theatre

25 black kids so that we can do some sort of African story or 25 Thai kids so we can’t look at some sort of Siamese story or ancient Thai piece. We just don't have homogeneous classes in that way. And so while people are now out there writing amazing contemporary plays from all of these different cultural viewpoints, how do we work with that?

Helen: Yes, that's an interesting point. We're in a time where we want to open our minds but there are challenges and there are limits.

We have to look at how we are going to explore these areas, but in the right way for our context. How are you approaching this?

Malina: Absolutely, it's challenging. When we're teaching kids about directing and performing, we're teaching them world theatre traditions and we're saying to

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students ‘you're learning a tradition from a completely different culture than your own.’

How do you do that with cultural sensitivity?

How do you show appreciation versus appropriation? What is the difference? But then we go out and do a play where we don't even address the fact that everybody on stage is a giant family and they all look completely different. How do we have this conversation?

But we did have that conversation with the students. We sat them down and went ‘Okay, so before we get going, ethnicity is not a thing for this play. This is about fun. It’s about them being whoever they want because that's the same sort of message in You Can't Take it With You. It's about loving who you want to love. And that's the way we're conceptualising our production of this play.’

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INTERVIEW

And it was true but it stops us from being able to do more. Not necessarily in terms of study but in terms of production. There are a lot of great plays now but it’s difficult to perform them or select a monologue respectfully.

Helen: It sounds like you and your department are not shying away from having difficult conversations with your students.

Malina: Yeah, we're trying and I think that's the only thing you can do because there's no 100% perfect way. And if you don't at least try to have those conversations, or at least open the door so people feel comfortable to broach the conversation, then you're never, as a teacher, in a comfortable enough place to say I'm sorry, I messed that up. If we're not vulnerable enough to open up the door and

say, ‘Look, I don't know how to have a conversation about this, you guys know way more about non-binary identities than I can pretend to know. So if you guys want to talk about it, let's talk about it. I want to learn from you too. So that you can have higher expectations of me.’

We're in a really interesting time. It's not didactic anymore. It's not an older person teaching facts, it’s a two-way street. And young people know phenomenally more than us about certain subjects. Their brains are more malleable and open to just grasping this stuff a lot quicker. And I think that's why education is really going through a dynamic change; especially in subjects where you can be a bit more flexible around things like the arts. It’s the perfect place, isn't it? ◾

‘BEING A TEACHER AND BEING A LIFELONG LEARNER IS SUCH AN INSPIRING THING.’ Above: NIST Theatre Department - me and my amazing colleagues on the set

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SPOTLIGHT

All photos: Our Blood Runs in the Street

SHANE ANTHONY JONES Presenting real stories on stage: Navigating the challenges of Verbatim Theatre 54

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Sydney, Australia www.ista.co.uk

SPOTLIGHT

In 2014, I picked up the book Bondi Badlands by Australian journalist and author Greg Callaghan and was shocked to learn of the crimes described in the book: An extensive series of alleged murders of gay men and transgender women that took place across Sydney throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s.The number of murders was astonishing, heartbreaking and deeply unjust. I was in disbelief to learn that most perpetrators had not been convicted.

At the time I was working as a freelance theatre director staging existing international and Australian plays, but I had a growing desire to create my own work. I wanted to tell stories that felt relevant and necessary. And local.

In 2015 I returned to study, embarking on a post graduate degree in Screenwriting at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS). I briefly considered a major feature project anchored around these crimes but soon realised the scope of research required would not be possible during my studies. I held on to the idea as something I was passionate to return to at some point.

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SPOTLIGHT Then in June 2018, the New South Wales Police Force announced the findings of Strike Force Parrabell, a three year investigation into eighty eight deaths in NSW, each listed as potentially involving gay or transgender hate bias. Parrabell found that twenty seven gay men were likely the victims of hate crimes, though this figure was contested by the LGBT community, who believed the figure was far too low. With the announcement of Parrabell’s findings and the tense dialogue in the community, the need to tell these

stories suddenly felt more urgent.

In 2018, Metro Arts Theatre supported me to develop a new Verbatim work inspired by gay and transgender hate crimes in Australia and Our Blood Runs in the Street was born. The title for the work was informed by a quote I had come across during early research into the crimes. On th the night of 5 April 1991, a small group of gay men splashed red paint and posted the following quote on prominent media and law buildings across Sydney:

Above: Our Blood Runs in the Street rehearsals

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‘Our blood runs in the streets and in the parks and in casualty and in the morgue...

Our own blood, the blood of our brothers and sisters, has been spilt too often...

Our blood runs because in this country our political, educational, legal and religious systems actively encourage violence against us...'

Their aim was to bring attention to these crimes, considering how little media and police action there had been.

This quote fuelled the spirit of protest at the heart of ‘Our Blood’.

SPOTLIGHT historians, police officers, journalists and researchers. I was expertly guided by Michael Atkinson, ACON’s Program Manager of Historical Justice, who generously gifted his time to support consultation with the LGBT community and provide guidance on the ethics of such a project.

I had previously directed several Verbatim plays but had never been involved in the creation of one. Aside from the challenge of uniting multiple events across an expansive time frame (a difficult period to neatly package any play around), I knew it would be important to manage the ethics of the process delicately and with deep respect.

These were real stories, real crimes, with many family members and friends still grieving and left without closure.

My vision was to investigate how cultural prejudice and bias in our institutions and in society contributed to violence against gay and transgender people. The truth surrounding these hate crimes lacked conclusion for many and I hoped the project might provide an opportunity for the voices of victims and their loved ones to be heard. Verbatim Theatre felt like the right container for this project; I wanted to honour the community’s voices and document a complex network of crimes, spanning across decades, as truthfully and accurately as possible.

Partnering with community organisations AIDS Council of NSW (ACON) and Mature Aged Gays (MAGs), I started the long process of researching, connecting with the community and beginning to interview victim’s family members, friends, witnesses,

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SPOTLIGHT

‘I wanted to tell stories that felt relevant and necessary.’

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SPOTLIGHT

Verbatim playwright and academic, Janet Gibson, suggests: ‘The creation of Verbatim Theatre has complex ethical dimensions, often overlooked by both practitioners and scholars, but with which they still need to be engaged. At the very least, certain questions need to be asked about these responsibilities, and from these questions, discussions need to take place, both amongst theatre practitioners and scholars, even if answers are not to be easily found.’

‘...to investigate how cultural prejudice and bias in our institutions and in society contributed to violence against gay and transgender people.’

Without a guidebook to navigate the process of presenting these stories (but with a genuine desire to do so with care), I turned to the code of ethics for documentary filmmakers to scaffold my engagement with the community. I had become aware of ‘ethical rules’ adhered to by documentary filmmakers during my studies at AFTRS. In addition to ensuring ‘transparency with communication, clarity with project contract’ and ownership of material, these ‘rules’ are an unspoken but widely adopted code in the documentary film world. www.ista.co.uk

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While common sense, they were useful reminders to guide my process: 1. Do no harm: Honour your subjects.

Protect them from attack and don't leave them worse off than when you met them.

2. Honour the viewer’s trust: Make sure that what they understand to be true and real wouldn't be betrayed if you told them where and how you got that material.

3. Honour your partners’ and intended vision: Do what you contracted to do.

This simple set of principles became invaluable throughout the development and staging of ‘Our Blood’.

Verbatim Theatre research involves hours, if not days of recorded interviews which are then transcribed into hundreds of pages of raw material to edit, shape and form a piece of theatre.

Throughout the process of interviewing, several interviewees also entrusted me with their own research and resources. These included archival documents, police and legal reports and court transcripts. I ended the research phase with more than twenty thousand pages of material and an overwhelming sense that I had no idea how to piece this jigsaw together. Perhaps the most challenging aspect of Verbatim Theatre is turning raw, diverse interviews into a satisfying dramatic arc and a coherent narrative for the stage.

Following the interviewing process, I started collaborating with a company of performers

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SPOTLIGHT and designers who worked with me to bring these words to life. I arrived at the first day of rehearsals with a rough draft of more than three hundred pages, which was loosely structured around themes or significant recurring figures.

Working closely with the company of performers I slowly edited the script down to something much more manageable. Our final rehearsal script retained a sense of the chronology and scope of the crimes, authentically profiled the voices of the local LGBT community, offered distinct theatrical staging potential and was mindful of the code of ethics.

I’m reminded of the final line from Father Roger Schmidt in The Laramie Project challenging the Tectonic Theatre Project: ‘And I will speak with you, I will trust that if you write a play of this, that you say it right. You need to do your best to say it correct.’ ◾

Our Blood Runs in the Street premiered in February 2020 as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival. I’m proud this work has become a platform for the LGBT and broader community to understand the injustices of the past and move towards a more tolerant society.

Verbatim Theatre is a brilliant art form to affect change. Sharing these types of stories reminds me of the important and powerful role that storytelling can play in our community.

During the initial season in Sydney in early 2020 and a more recent tour of the show to Brisbane in July 2022, I spoke with many members of the LGBT community who attended the show. They spoke of the power of the work to encourage dialogue, provide space for their voices to be amplified and as a challenging but important vehicle for healing and catharsis through story. They also echoed the need for absolute respect and care with these stories and this history.

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PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL THEATRE

Hong Kong

Year 7 Introduction to Physical Theatre:

THE TIME MACHINE

BY JULIETTE O’BRIEN

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PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL THEATRE

‘I’ve found that it nurtures full body awareness’ Towards the beginning of Year 7 I always like to introduce different types of physical theatre. It’s fun to get the students into embodiment, especially at an age when they’re still playful. Furthermore, from the beginning it’s good to get them straight out of any assumptions about Drama residing in the spoken word or beginning with the sort of ‘I’ll be the mum and you be the child’ or ‘Once upon a time’ style narratives.

To break down the notion of physical theatre at this age, I like to introduce two concepts: using the body to create objects and the space around them and creating roles through highly physical performances. I do

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this through a unit of work called ‘The Time Machine’, in which the students use their bodies to create both the machine itself and the various worlds that the machine and its time travellers visit.

This exploration takes place through 5 activities over approximately 4 hours worth of class time, in which the first 2 activities take a full hour, the third and fourth take an hour between them and the final activity fills the final hour. I’ve included suggested warmups that I use to introduce the concepts that will be built on in the lesson. I also try to keep descriptions short and simple to allow room for creative interpretation.

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PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL THEATRE

ACTIVITY ONE WARM UP ONE Begin with the eternal drama skill, the students walking around the room and filling the space, and practising 'freeze' on command.

Then instead of 'freeze', call out an object and the students have 10 seconds to become whatever you name: toothbrush, cup, book etc. (anything you like), then in pairs: a boat, wardrobe etc., then in groups: a bicycle, pair of glasses etc.

You can introduce group numbers after the first couple, so the command becomes something like 'Threes, Eiffel Tower' or 'Pairs, car'.

Once the students get it you can reduce the time to 5 seconds, then even 3.

WARM UP TWO Tell the students to imagine they are surrounded by a machine- what elements might they use to operate it? Hopefully they come up with answers like buttons, levers, pedals and wheels.

The task is then to create a sequence of 4 movements to operate the machine and that can be repeated.

Pair up and teach your sequence to a partner- now you have a pattern of 8.

You can share these quickly if half the class shows at a time and the other half sit and watch. It can be interesting to see what elements make for the best viewing.

ACTIVITY Introduce the concept of physical theatre. Ask them what they understand by it first, then clarify the two broad types identified above.

Today they will be working with creating physical objects and environments with the body.

Introduce the theme of ‘The Time Machine': A complex form of transportation that moves the passenger in time rather than space.

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INSTRUCTIONS In groups of around 6 create what you would imagine a time machine might look like. One person must be a time traveller. Your time machine must have the following: 1. A door that can open and close 2. A seat 3. Controls of various sorts: panels, levers etc.

It must surround the traveller, who is nonetheless visible to the audience.

Show as a still image.

Now animate your time machine: Show the time traveller getting in, activating the machine, time travelling and getting out. The machine should make noises as it is operated and time travels.

Show them to the class and make time for feedback and discussion. I often run out of time, so this can be done at the start of the next lesson with a short amount of time for revision.

ACTIVITY TWO WARM UP ONE Observation exercise: Stand in a circle- look at each other, look at how we stand.

What do you see?

Feet apart, often one knee bent, sinking into a hip, slouched, arms folded etc.?

This is contemporary.

INSTRUCTIONS Walk around the room again, filling the space. Listen to and follow the instructions as you walk.

Pick someone to observe but don’t let them know who it is.

Watch how they walk, note their posture, how their foot hits the ground, whether they have any turn in or out of the feet, how much bounce or www.ista.co.uk

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PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL THEATRE

drag they have, how they hold their arms, how they hold their head and anything else of interest.

Now begin to copy them.

Once you feel you have got their walk, try to exaggerate it slightly to turn it into a 'performance' of their walk.

ACTIVITY Revise the time machines from Activity 1 and share if you didn’t do so at the end of the previous class.

Students now need to work out a way to assemble and disassemble the machine that is performance worthy. They must consider how they move- fluidly, like a dream sequence or mechanically, like a machine. These transitions should take 5 or so seconds and be precise.

Revise the 2 definitions of physical theatre mentioned last time. Tell the students that today they will be working on the 2nd type.

INSTRUCTIONS

WARM UP TWO Deportment class - walk with a book (real or imaginary) on your head.

Describe a whale bone corset and ask students to walk imagining they are wearing one; show or describe a Victorian photograph (chin up, stiff etc.).

Now walk like a Victorian.

Try other times or places including, of course, how we imagine cavemen.

Choose one period in the past and mimic how people in that time might have moved and interacted (do this as a mime, no dialogue).

As the time traveller steps out of the machine the time machine disassembles and becomes the people of the past- who are they, where are they, what are they doing?

Be specific, not generic.

The goal is to SHOW that the time traveller is out of place because the characters they are surrounded by move differently.

Now show what happens in this new environment, allowing minimum dialogue if you wish.

Share the following sequence and give feedback: Time machine assembles, time traveller operates it to travel to a different time, time machine disassembles, the time traveller explores their new environment.

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PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL THEATRE

ACTIVITY THREE WARM UP Repeat warm up from Activity 1 and/or Activity 2 warm up 2 with different eras, characters or places.

ACTIVITY Choose another period in the past or future. Decide how the characters in this environment move- who and where they are and what they are doing.

INSTRUCTIONS Revise your first world. Someone from this world accidentally finds the time machine and goes inside- it is they, and not the original time traveller who therefore has to take over their place inside and operate the machine, and it is they who travels to the second world.

The machine disassembles and the new time traveller then keeps their character’s physical behaviour as they explore a new environment.

So for example - if you first travelled to the stone age you then have a stone age person in perhaps a robotic futuristic or staid Victorian world.

NB: In practice this means that one member of the group takes on their time machine role for the new time traveller to find.

Once this has happened the rest of the group quickly assembles the rest of the machine before they get inside. Working out the transitions takes time and is a great exercise in collaboration and precision.

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ACTIVITY FOUR WARM UP Repeat any of the above.

ACTIVITY Repeat Activity 3 with a traveller from the second world travelling to the third.

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PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL THEATRE

ACTIVITY FIVE WARM UP Warm up if this is the start of a new class.

‘…the conclusion is up to the students’

ACTIVITY Recap the definitions of physical theatre (hopefully the students can do this by now).

INSTRUCTIONS Create and rehearse final piece as follows: The time machine assembles and a contemporary time traveller goes into the machine.

They time travel to time A, the machine disassembles and becomes time A and the time traveller explores.

Character from time A finds the time machine, which reassembles and travels to time B, the machine disassembles becomes time B and the character from time A explores.

Someone from time B finds the time machine, which reassembles and time travels to time C and explores… the conclusion is up to the students.

Show and give feedback.

ASSESSMENT How well can each student explore, represent and adapt themselves to 4 different physicalities- that of the object of the time machine and 3 different characters in time.

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CONCLUSION I’ve always had a lot of fun with this little unit. It’s a great one for encouraging collaboration between students in the devising process as well as allowing creative freedom within a well defined structure.

I’ve found that it nurtures full body awareness in the students and gets them to use their bodies in a variety of different ways, exploring expressive potentials and possibilities. ◾

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PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR HIGH SCHOOL THEATRE

TELL US YOUR LOVE STORY

VERBATIM T H E A T R E

The process and wide-reaching benefits of Verbatim Theatre projects for your high school students.

BY ANTHONY CUNNINGHAM

The Hague, Netherlands www.ista.co.uk

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PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR HIGH SCHOOL THEATRE

PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR HIGH SCHOOL THEATRE

I have been teaching Verbatim Theatre for years. It’s the one unit that I look forward to the most and has often been my greatest teacher.

I am often so moved, engaged and enlightened by my students’ discoveries. There is a natural excitement and intrigue that accompanies their process and unravelings. They are making real world connections to theatre.

Tell Us Your Love Story: Students travelled to Amsterdam for a day and set up a table in a large park, inviting strangers to tell them their love stories.

Examples of past projects Two students explored how they felt wrongly judged and misperceived because they attended 'the American school'. Both had connections with Dutch and American students in the local community. It sparked conversations and healing.

One ensemble came up with a novel approach, probing into the lives of early female icons from Hollywood. They scoured newspaper reports, documents, interviews and videos from actors such as Marilyn Monroe and Jane Mansfield. They uncovered the victimisation of the media, the humiliation of certain questions asked during live interviews and even how media editing made them out to be something that they were not.

One year a group said, 'Let’s interview several of the adults that we see around school all the time but don’t know their stories or names'. From security guards, to nurses, to receptionists and beyond they found a way for us to appreciate faces we may see each and every day. Many of those who were interviewed attended the performance. It made us feel closer.

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PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR HIGH SCHOOL THEATRE

My favourite opening exercise I usually divide the class into 2 groups. I say to them as they come into our theatre, 'You are going to enter this space and see or experience something. I don’t know what. But your job is to recreate it as accurately as possible. You may use anything that you want'. The students tend to love this. Some are very mischievous and make it wickedly random and frantically physical. Each group has a chance to be the performers and the re-creators. I ask the following questions thereafter:

Which techniques worked best for you to recreate the others?

Was technology an asset?

How does Verbatim need to be to capture the essence of the truth?

What is difficult or even impossible to recreate?

I asked the group that was being 'captured' how accurately they felt the observers emulated them.

Surprisingly, they are usually very impressed with their peers' ability to replay these short observational encounters. It gets them thinking and they tend to have fun.

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Focus on a text This segues into exploring The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman and The Tectonic Theater Project. I know there are many Verbatim plays but I continuously return to this one. It is just so provocative and so emotionally moving. It’s very real for our students. It raises difficult questions. I mingle actual exercises used by The Tectonic Theater Project throughout the process with a focus on their concept of 'I begin, I end' to understand Moment Work. An incredible resource: Moment Work (Tectonic Theater’s Process of Devising Theater) by Moisés Kaufman and Barbara Pitts McAdams.

I do a class workshop introducing LeCoq’s states of tension based on ISTA workshops that I have attended and inspired me. But there are so many sources to be found on this including The Routledge Companion to LeCoq. Thereafter, I invite students to apply 3 different states of tension to 3 different characters/moments from the play. They are challenged to change their physicality and vocal colouring. After each student performs, I delegate groups to comment on measurable observations. It helps to develop the language of communicating onstage action.

It can be informative to read and to review the essay that inspired Tectonic Theater, especially if you plan on doing or have previously done work on Bertolt Brecht: The Street Scene: The Basic Model for an Epic Theatre by Bertolt Brecht.

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PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR HIGH SCHOOL THEATRE

Expanding the possibilities of theorists When students cringe hearing the term 'theatre theory' I recall one wise person’s words: ‘Theory simply means someone else has already done the work for you. It's a shortcut.' I love that.

There are an infinite number of wonderful sources and texts on Verbatim theory. Consider exploring Danton’s Death by Georg Büchner and how his collection of quotes during the French Revolution was actually a form of Verbatim Theatre and a valuable historical document.

Once upon a time I used to think that Verbatim Theatre had to be so literal, exact and without artistic interpretation. During my own growth and development I have discovered that there are endless approaches to Verbatim.

My number one, however, is always the ethics of Verbatim. We are not there to exploit or to diminish others.

Interviewees may be involved in the editing and rehearsal process. There needs to be explicit clarity on how the words and interpretations of others will be staged. As a teacher, I look carefully over final scripts and engage the participants in discussions to keep all involved safe.

I ask students to review a range of videos and to pull from them: Which theories or ideas might actually be useful in the creation of our own project? I have them take notes on each one in their journals. There are so many resources on YouTube or Vimeo. The National Theatre has several that are an excellent starting point. Fires in the Mirror reconnects to Tectonic with one actor taking on multiple roles. America is Hard to See and Come From Away (including an interview with Beverley Bass) introduce music as a storyteller.

Excerpts from DV8’s Can We Talk About This and To Be Straight With You show how Physical Theatre can convey truths.

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PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR HIGH SCHOOL THEATRE

THE STUDENTS CREATING THEIR OWN VERBATIM PERFORMANCE What is the purpose of doing this unit early in year 1 of IB Theatre?

The benefits are huge. You are creating so many starting points for discussions and later references in the course that will feel real, memorable and practical.

PRODUCTION PROPOSAL An in depth analysis of a published script exploring tension, emotion, atmosphere and meaning (TEAM). Building the language to describe onstage action.

RESEARCH PRESENTATION The art of imitation as a way of honouring others. Many students can refer to the Verbatim unit in Criterion C and their understanding of their role as a performer and theatre in the world.

COLLABORATIVE PROJECT I have students make posters: What are your experiences and strengths as a theatre maker?

Which new skills would you like to develop i.e. set designer, director, lighting designer?

Where do you excel in group work? What limits you? They then form groups of 2 to 6 based on their shared interests. I strive to challenge them to find diverse group members whose interests are different from their own. I use the grading descriptor from Criterion A, B and C to access them through portfolios and videos with specific timestamps. This creates a familiarity with the language of upcoming assessments. I ask the students to include in their portfolios a two hundred word statement of artistic intentions. They also begin to discover just how performance and artistic contributions can be assessed by viewing the video of their performance.

Above all I request: Do not have the answer until you explore.

Let the process be the illumination. www.ista.co.uk

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PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR HIGH SCHOOL THEATRE

SOLO THEATRE PIECE I use the 2nd bullet point from Criterion B for this assessment and ask them to explain how theory has informed their project. They can use the aforementioned videos, approaches

by Tectonic Theater and techniques from Brecht or LeCoq. They learn a great deal from asking their audience questions after the performances to see if their artistic intentions were met.

What is ‘truth’ and how can Theatre as an art form be truthful?

This unit culminates with the students sharing their Verbatim performances in front of their target audience. Very often they invite the people that they interviewed to gain further insight into how well they have honoured them. There is a Q&A following the performance,

after

which

the

students

submit portfolios tracing their process and evaluating their performance, the production elements

and

the

impact

of

their

performance on the audience. ◾

Above: Students interviewed a range of individuals to find out their perceptions about what happens after we die.

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YOUNG VOICES

Geneva, Switzerland

TITANIC

FROZEN IN TIME A CONTEMPORARY PIECE

by Pola Aleksandrowicz, Lily Colsenet, Layla Issa and Erika Ware

Photo screenshot from our piece Titanic inspired by Gecko

4 students from the International School of Geneva reflect on a recent devising project looking into the people, politics and stories aboard the Titanic.

Here they each reflect on part of the process.

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YOUNG VOICES

Pola Aleksandrowicz As we started our process, we came up with an intention for this piece. Our intention was to expose the politics of class, gender, religion, race, sexuality and The American Dream portrayed by the event of the sinking of the Titanic. Who survives and who was to blame, who were the heroes and who were the villains?

Media capitalism, nationalism – through the history of Titanic's birth and disastrous sinking, these issues of Edwardian 1912 are timeless but also seem too timeless as they are still the same issues we see in our present time. Our verbal and physical theatrical language was inspired by Complicité, Frantic Assembly, LePage, Brecht, Mitchell, Gecko and Verbatim Theatre.

During the creative process an issue that came to light was the persistence of sexism in our modern times. From the world of politics and power to people sitting in the very audience, feminism is a movement that carries pressing importance in this day, just as it did in 1912. Drawing on a contemporary song, Norman *******

Rockwell by Lana Del Rey, we explored the frustration of oppression, and the subsequent freedom the women dreamed of. Using largely physical theatre allowed the audience to witness the visual unfolding of a woman’s internal struggle portrayed by Ninette, a secret lover of Benjamin Guggenheim, the millionaire on the Titanic. The theatre technique we used in this scene was positive and negative space with women simply ‘filling in’ the negative space around the men (in the literal and metaphorical sense). Prior to the scene, men mock the large decorative hats that were fashionable at the time¹ and these hats are a powerful production element we used. All suffragettes and Ninette took off their large hats and placed them on the heads of the men sitting frozen. This was done in a movement sequence to symbolise the reclamation of one's right to freedom. The Brechtian Silent Scream was also used during the sequence, communicating the silence women are subject to and their desperation to be heard.

Image from the Production, Suffragettes placing hats on men’s heads, mocking them.

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YOUNG VOICES

Lily Colsenet We took inspiration and ideas from multiple contemporary devising companies, one of those being GECKO. Gecko is a group of theatre creators that use synchronisation to perfection, coupled with the auditory aspect of making sounds with their mouths, resulting in an impactful experience for the audience. They stay within proximity of each other in order to stay constantly connected. 2 This then leads to fluid and unified movements within a performance.

We applied these techniques in different variations in a scene depicting the 3rd class passengers boarding the Titanic. Most of these passengers were immigrants who were chasing their ‘American Dream’ in search of a better life. By applying GECKO’s techniques, the scene which initially was devised as chaotic and disjointed became smooth and effective.

The use of multiple overlapping voices in conjunction with 4 different languages came across as coherent and clear. This technique allowed us to create one global vision of different countries being represented on the Titanic, as well as the contrasting nightmarish scene of how those in 3rd class were confused due to language barriers and faced death.

‘Most of these passengers were immigrants who were chasing their ‘American Dream’ in search of a better life.’

Photo screenshot from our piece Titanic inspired by Gecko

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Screenshot of Racism in Titanic production La Chataigneraie

YOUNG VOICES

‘There were many people whose voices and stories weren’t heard.'

Layla Issa Honouring the victims of the tragedy of the Titanic was an essential part of the production. There were many people whose voices and stories weren’t heard, including the one of a Black Haitian man by the name of Joseph Laroche.

the Laroche family went through on board, which allowed the audience to question why class seems to be the focus of the Titanic but very little regarding race. Why isn’t this taught? It is a much bigger question. We began to understand that what you’re exposed to can be held by a person's bias, whether it's societal or an individual bias.

James Cameron’s portrayal of a Titanic love story is about a fictional white couple, instead of a real interracial couple because it did not fit Hollywood’s standards. We find ourselves asking: ‘Why weren’t we informed of this?’ ‘Why was the Laroche story ignored?’ In order to create this scene, we played with 2 contrasting pieces of music, a traditional waltz piece and a French rap song called Interracial and mixed them together. We wanted to highlight the modern relevance that this scene had through music. We then used Verbatim texts from an interview given by Juliette Laroche, a survivor, to create a monologue. We wanted to capture the authentic and real version of the Laroche story. This highlighted the racial abuse that Picture of the Laroche Family, Article on Joseph Laroche Credit: www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/laroche-joseph-phillipe-lemercier-1889-1912/

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YOUNG VOICES

‘The theatre technique we used in this scene was positive and negative space.’

Erika Ware We decided very early on that we wanted to showcase the actual victims' stories and honour them, as well as veer away from the expectations of the James Cameron film. We kept this in mind as it came time to create the final scene, just hours before the performance.

We knew that it had to be impactful so we decided to add in a Brecht technique as we left the ending scene vague and unsure as to what would happen to all of these survivors. We did this because we needed to highlight the untold stories. This forces the audience to think and gives them something to take away. We were sitting in a lifeboat and recounting stories that hadn't been told in our performance but in silence, inspired by Brecht’s Silent Scream by mouthing the words. This was to emphasise the fact that many peoples’ stories went down with the ship and many are unheard of. This honours the Brechtian ideas around giving a voice to the voiceless which was heightened by the silence and desperation that we expressed while trying to get the words out. It was the simplicity of this that created the greatest impact. ◾ 80

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Picture taken by Pete Harris-Lindop, Theatre Teacher at La Châtaigneraie

‘WE HEARD CRYING, LAUGHTER AND GASPS COMING FROM THE AUDIENCE.’ www.ista.co.uk

R E S O U R C E

Siobhan Buckman, Acting teacher at the American University in Cairo, takes us through the process that led to the writing of This is my Story, a play based on Malala Yousafzai’s life and experience. www.ista.co.uk

A KEY MOMENT

BY SIOBHAN BUCKMAN SCENE

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RESOURCE

‘I am Malala.

This is my story.’

This project started in a HS English classroom.

A student, their age, who had made a split

Students were asked to reflect, explore and

decision that altered things forever for

write about the idea of a Key Moment, a

herself and the wider world. They wanted

Before-and-After, the point where something

to do something with her story and so the

transformative happens in life. Research into

secondary high school production was

public figures whose actions had shaped their

born. A group of forty high schoolers

own lives and the lives of others was done

showed up eager to make it all come to life.

alongside an introspective reflection, deciding what story they wanted to tell through the

We used Malala’s autobiography as the

identification of their own moment.

main source for the script. It was written throughout the process as the ensemble

From the project came writing and ideas that

worked to piece together her life, her

had great potential for further exploration

context and her impact. The ensemble

and Malala Yousafzai in particular, seemed to

wanted something more than a telling of

exemplify much of what had hooked the

her story.

students.

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RESOURCE

Their intention was to show her whole context and the non chronological structure allowed the cast to tell her story in a way that seemed whole and full. They juxtaposed her idyllic village childhood, for example, with the alienation she experienced on her arrival in the United Kingdom and interspersed at various points is the scene that depicts the shooting – her Key Moment.

It was an experimental process during which various major decisions were made; to cast multiple Malalas and to have multi role playing, to base the devising of scenes on the basic premise of a large ensemble piece and to compose and integrate live on stage music.

‘The sequence is non chronological, exploring how moments hang together not through time but through shared significance.’

The project was a good example of how to harness student interest, how to empower an ensemble and how to collaboratively devise using a dynamic and experimental process. It brought Malala’s story to life and equally importantly, emphasised to the young adult cast the power of action and the potential that lies in the choices that we make.

The extracts shared here include the stage directions as they happened in the final iterations of the scenes. They are specific to the staging of the production; a BBX, traverse staging and scaffolding at each end of the traverse used for various settings and to house the musicians.

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Scene Five: Childhood A large number of the ensemble are in this scene. Floor Projections show golden fields of corn. Music starts with the dance and continues to play throughout the dialogue. A dance sequence opens the scene - the ensemble dance with large soft gossamer fabric - it billows around the space. The atmosphere is one of peace and beauty.

Malala: We lived in the shadow of the Hundu Kush mountains (Circles the stagedirect address to audience) Men: Where the men went to shoot ibex and golden cockerels (enter stage through scaffolding) All: Our house was one storey and proper concrete. On the left were steps up to a flat roof big enough for us children to play cricket on. It was our playground (ensemble creates the space through movement and gesture, they start playing, loud shouting/ laughing etc) Father: (ensemble becomes men, tone softens, levels are lowered, all are in a circle) At dusk my father and his friends often gathered to sit and drink tea there.

Malala: (in the middle of the tea circle) Sometimes I sat on the roof too, watching the smoke rise from the cooking fires all around and listening to the nightly racket of the crickets (men rise to become smoke and slowly dissipate off stage whilst human soundscape begins).

All: (all actors are balanced around the space, straight out to the audience, earnest and descriptive) Our valley is full of fruit trees on which grow the sweetest figs/ and pomegranates and peaches/, and in our garden we had grapes/, guavas/ and persimmons. There was a plum tree in our front yard/ which gave the most delicious fruit. It was always a race between us/ and the birds/ to get to them.

Malala: The birds loved that tree, even the woodpeckers (the rest of the ensemble move to become ‘gathering of women’)

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Malala & Mother: For as long as I can remember my mother has talked to birds.

Mother: At the back of the house was a verandah where the women gathered. We knew what it was like to be hungry, so my mother always cooked extra and gave food to poor families. If there was any left she fed it to the birds.

Malala: (from the top platform of the scaffolding) I liked to sit on the roof and watch the mountains and dream. From the rooftop I watched the mountains change with the seasons. In the autumn chill winds would come.

All: In the winter everything was white with snow/long icicles hanging from the roof like daggers/which we loved to snap off. Spring was when Swat was at its greenest/Eucalyptus blossoms blew into the house/coating everything/and the wind carried the pungent smell of the rice fields.

Malala: I was born in summer which was perhaps why it was my favourite time of the year. I arrived at dawn as the last star blinked out.

All: People in our village commiserated with my mother and nobody congratulated my father.

Malala: I was a girl in a land where rifles are fired in celebration of a son, while daughters are hidden away behind a curtain.

All: For most Pashtuns it is a gloomy day when a daughter is born.

Malala: But not for my family, not for me.

All: Ten long years later, there was going to be another birth. Nobody knew then or could have predicted the emergence in to the world of Gul Makai Malala: Gul Makai would be the pseudonym I used to write the diary that became my message to the world.

Music builds to climax at end of scene Blackout

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Scene Ten: The Shooting 2 Malala: (from the top platform of the scaffold) Country created at midnight. almost died. left my home for school and never returned. shot. unconscious.

I believe in my heart. torn from love is not something to wish on anyone.

I close my eyes and for a moment (music begins) I am back in my valley – my heart smiles.

I am reunited with my friends and teachers.

I meet my best friend together, talking and joking as if I had never left. The day when everything changed (Malalas enter the space and set up ‘bus’. They are lively and energised. A ‘man’ enters the space and walks slowly around the perimeter of the stage. He stares at the gaggle of girls).

Malala: a bookish girl (gestures to herself) Malala: For us girls that doorway was like a magical entrance to our own special world. Our headscarves, our backpacks Man: Girls should not go to school Malala: I used to walk, I had been going with other girls, coming home by bus. I thought if anyone attacked me it would be on those steps.

Malala: I remember that inside the bus/ Malala: it was hot and sticky.

Malala: The back where we sat/ Malala: had no windows, just thick plastic sheeting at the sides/

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RESOURCE Malala: which flapped and was too yellowed and dusty to see through.

Malala: All we could see/ Malala: was a little stamp of open sky out of the back and glimpses of the sun, / Malala: at that time of day a yellow orb floating in the dust that streamed over everything. I don’t remember any more (music stops, abrupt) Man: (crosses the space) Is this the Khushal School bus? Who is Malala?

Malala: (stands) I am Malala (beat) This is my story (to audience) ◾

The full script is available for purchase (and includes all copyright and performance rights).

ALL PROCEEDS OF SCRIPT SALES GO TO THE MALALA FOUNDATION. For more information please contact siobhanmariebuckman@gmail.com

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PATHWAYS

5 MINUTES WITH...

JORDI CAHÍZ Barcelona, Spain

Tell us about yourself

What kind of work do you do?

My name is Jordi Cahíz. I currently live in Barcelona, Spain; one of 7 countries I have lived in over my 29 years. I’m a highly creative individual with most of my passions and interests being in the arts, history and philosophy. Of course my culturally diverse and nomadic lifestyle has played a big role in my development. Outside of my pursuits I’m a lover of all foods, proud dog owner and a hiking fiend.

I work as a visual artist, specifically a painter using a variety of mediums, mainly within the realms of abstract and figurative art. I received a portion of my training from the Barcelona Academy of Arts which is a traditional art atelier.

I know that my ISTA journey and years of theatre experience drove me closer to pursuing a lifelong career in the arts, whatever that medium would be.’ www.ista.co.uk

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PATHWAYS

What role did ISTA play in your journey?

What advice do you have for young people today?

ISTA played a brief but profound role in my theatrical journey as a young thespian, one where I built great memories and friendships alongside the knowledge I obtained. Though I do not practise theatre at this point in my life, I know that my ISTA journey and years of theatre experience drove me closer to pursuing a lifelong career in the arts, whatever that medium would be.

Do what you love, don’t listen to the naysayers and those trying to convince you to play it safe. Care little of what others think, you’re not here to be liked by everyone and do not compare yourself to your peers, you are your own. Comparison is the death of joy and everyone has a voice.

Steal from the greats, we study and admire them for a reason, but don’t be afraid to make it your own, for we constantly need to be turning the wheel of innovation. Be honest, be bold, be fearless. You have one life, you have nothing to lose. ◾

What is the value of arts experiences in the world of work and life?

Arts is integral to all aspects of life and can be defined in many ways. Apart from the necessities of survival, the primal factors that are key to human life, there is only art. For me, art is everywhere, at all times. It’s what feeds the soul and gives meaning to what might seem meaningless; it gives beauty to what might seem ugly. Art connects us, it has been a universal language for millennia and will continue to be, if we don’t lose sight of how it benefits us and how crucial it is in whatever pursuit you may have. I’m not a religious person but I believe in art as a guiding force, one that I will keep all my life, driving me to stay curious and never lose hope.

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Be honest, be bold, be fearless.

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CONTRIBUTORS

ANTONIO ANDRADE I am a writer/director who started in theatre as a stage manager 24 years ago. Founding member and director of the group Dramatis Personae from 2002-2012, I became a Drama Teacher in 2016 when I joined CAISL, where I have been working ever since as a Secondary Drama and IB DP Theatre Arts Teacher.

SIOBHAN BUCKMAN I was born in Devon, England, and grew up in West Africa and Greece. I continued my travels as an adult, as a Drama teacher in London and then moving on to Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Lebanon and Egypt. These cumulative experiences have affirmed the belief I have in the value of international communities where power can be found in the exploration of diverse perspectives and lenses.

Over the last 10 years I have worked extensively in the area of staging original performances and have focused on building and developing devised theatre practices and processes. I am currently teaching Acting at the American University in Cairo and also continue to work as an ISTA artist, workshop presenter and IBDP Theatre examiner.

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CONTRIBUTORS

JORDI CAHÍZ Jordi is a painter living and working in Barcelona, Spain. He started out as a street artist in the US before transitioning to canvas in a studio. After attending the Barcelona Academy of Arts and receiving a more classical training, he has since moved away from the traditional teachings of an atelier and adopted a more abstract approach, constantly experimenting with various mediums and techniques.

His work explores the chaotic realities of modern life and dark undertones of humanity, while pushing to the viewer to embrace an array of conflict emotions. His notable influences are Cecily Brown, Willem De Kooning, Lee Krasner and Francis Bacon. www.jordicahiz.com Instagram: jordi.cahiz.art

ANTHONY CUNNINGHAM I began teaching in Toronto, Canada and since then have lived and worked in Peru, Turkey and The Netherlands where I currently reside. I have a passion for engaging theatre to pursue issues around social justice and human integrity and experiences based on Boal and Playback Theatre have been huge inspirations.

Through ISTA I have had so many amazing interactions, roles, and personal growth and have seen my students blossom through festivals. I love verbatim theatre and am open to so many forms and to constantly being a learner. I love to write, to direct and to imagine.

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CONTRIBUTORS

ZOE HINKS Zoe Hinks founded Sabotage Theatre Company in 2008 after graduating from East 15 Acting School with a BA in Contemporary Theatre. Since then she has written scripts, performed, directed, painted sets and wagons, produced, built stages, sewn costumes and rifled through skips.

Zoe wrote the Sabotage Manifesto in 2009 which has become the basis of the company's practice. Sabotage has created 8 plays and toured Kent, Sussex and Cornwall with a mission is to inspire people off the beaten track with bold, visual, contemporary theatre. ‘After the Rain’ is touring Essex this Summer.

SHANE JONES Shane is a theatre director, dramaturg, and movement director who is passionate about stories of relevance and heart and believes that storytelling is an essential ritual within our community to make sense of, to cherish and to challenge the world around us.

He is excited by art that provokes discussion around important social issues and has a fierce interest for interrogating stories of community, legacy, and injustice. He strives to highlight moments of hope and beauty in the most challenging scenarios. In recent years, his practice has grown to encompass the creation of new verbatim theatre, making bold work that speaks to contemporary Australian experiences and working closely with community in the development and presentation of these works.

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CONTRIBUTORS

JULIETTE O'BRIEN Juliette has worked with young people in dance for over 2 decades.

She has choreographed original thematic work for performance using contemporary, jazz, street, and theatrical dance, as well as a variety of culturally specific dances. She has created movement and dance numbers for a variety of musical theatre shows. She has experience in teaching choreography skills and has worked with dancers in dance clubs, theatre camps, festivals, and workshops.

Juliette is passionate about Shakespeare in practice, getting the texts up and moving, exploring the works through practical approaches that use experimentation with voice and movement to bring the text to life. She runs her school's annual in house Shakespeare Festival, using filmed and live performances of poetry and plays. Juliette believes in keeping Shakespeare fresh and fun.

MALINA PATEL Malina has been a theatre teacher for 15 years. She has been a long time practitioner of Verbatim theatre techniques in the classroom, and in developing her own original work. Pieces have focused on youth mental health, motherhood, and the journey of refugees. She likes to connect performance of verbatim work with service and action in the community.

Teaching in international schools has highlighted the need for practical approaches to more inclusive in schools. Malina has attended DEI training workshops specific to working in the arts, and has researched and compiled resources to help educators be more mindful in their practice. Workshops are practical and can be adjusted for the number of participants or the needs of the school.

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CONTRIBUTORS

CATHERINE REES Dr Catherine Rees is Senior Lecturer in Drama at Loughborough University and also Programme Leader for the undergraduate Drama and postgraduate Theatre programmes.

Her research interests are primarily in the field of contemporary British Drama and she has published three monographs on this topic: Adaptation and Nation: Adapting Contexts for Contemporary British and Irish Drama (2017), Harold Pinter: Readers’ Guide to Essential Criticism (2017) and Contemporary British Drama (2019).

She is currently researching a new study of Martin McDonagh’s work, which is due to be published in 2024 with Routledge. She teaches across the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at Loughborough, taking a special interest in Applied Drama techniques and approaches.

CARL ROBINSON I am a drama teacher at the International School of Brussels and have been a theatre maker with the companies Trace Theatre, Light Bulbs In Soil, and Green Parrot Productions.

I like to think I have some of the spirit of Peter Pan inside me- the boy who never grew up, so play and imagination are both important elements to the work I make.

I focus on collaboratively devised performances, that usually don't have a single director, and often the work has a movement/dance element even though I'm not a trained dancer, I still love dancing.

Student contributors Lihi, Olivia and Clara are current and recent graduates of the International School of Brussels.

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CONTRIBUTORS

MARK WORTH As Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Highly Sprung, Mark Worth is an experienced director, physical theatre practitioner and writer. His work is designed to engage a range of audiences and participants of all ages and from varied backgrounds. Mark also works with schools, theatres, community groups and other organisations as a drama facilitator and motivational speaker. He is focused on the development of young people, inspiring them to aim higher and achieve their potential.

Mark is responsible for writing and performing in majority of Highly Sprung’s productions, creating work that is hard hitting, relevant and memorable for audiences. Mark also leads physical theatre workshops for children and young people. He has toured worldwide leading creative and physical theatre. Currently, Mark is also leading on the Coventry Young Producers Collective, training up the next generation of leaders and movers within the arts.

If you are interested in writing an article for Scene please contact our Editor, Helen

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YOUNG VOICES CONTRIBUTORS

ERIKA WARE Born in Singapore and attending La Châtaigneraie International School of Geneva. In her first year of the IB programme.

Erika appreciates the theatre and has done so for many years. She likes the magic of it and can't wait to share the process of creating the devised piece and how it is relevant to today.

LAYLA ISSA Born in the US, and attending La Châtaigneraie International School of Geneva. First year IBDP student, and attended the London IB ISTA TAPs workshop.

Layla enjoys being creative and expressing herself and to her, theatre is the best way to do that! She’s really passionate about costumes and hair design no matter what show she’s doing. Layla can’t wait to show the contemporary relevance through their show and how the company achieved that through the art of theatre.

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YOUNG VOICES CONTRIBUTORS

LILY COLSENET Born in Montreal, Canada and attends La Châtaigneraie International School of Geneva. She is currently in her first year of IBDP. Lily is a big theatre geek who loves the role of being on stage, doing lighting or working backstage. She also took part in the ISTA TAP’s workshop in London and loved every minute of it. You can always find her cuddling the closest dog she can find!

POLA ALEKSANDROWICZ Born in Switzerland and attending La Châtaigneraie International School of Geneva, Pola discovered her passion for theatre at age 10 when she did her first show. Since then, she’s been actively involved in the world of performing, dance and devising.

Currently doing her first year of IB and having attended the ISTA Workshop in London, Pola can’t wait to share the work of her and her peers, as well as the importance of contemporary theatre today.

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