GOLD ARTS AWARD

Over the course of a few weeks, pupils in Year 12 and a couple in Year 11 attended Gold Arts Award workshops from external visitors to help progress their chosen skills in response to the Royal Opera House Challenge.

This year's chosen opera is 'The Magic Flute'. Different groups of pupils joined workshops based on their chosen development plans, such as costumes, set design, hair and makeup and plenty more Here's an inside into some of the workshops:

By Missy Richardson

The Makeup, Hair and Wig Workshop

Kate, a makeup artist from the Royal Opera House, joined pupils to teach them the differences between theatre makeup in comparison to daily natural makeup Pupils designed makeup looks specifically focusing on the opera's protagonist, The Queen of the Night She gave pupils tips as well as many factors which contribute to the final look of

We learnt the differences in applying theatre makeup and daily natural makeup

each character whilst performing on a hot stage She then showed pupils how to apply the makeup and certain products which help hold the makeup best

The Set Design Workshop

During the set design workshop, another group of pupils studied the school's stage, focusing on the school's recent set design for Nell Gwynn and looking at comparisons between the initial sketch and the real-life version They learnt lots of different factors which contribute to the set design, such as period settings, different sight lines/light of scenery and flooring. One of the most significant things about the workshop was the overall stage layout Pupils learnt that the audience's constant position of moving around from a proscenium arch meant a part of the set needed to be seen from each of the audience members' points of view

The Costume Design Workshop

A week later, different pupils attended the costume design workshop Firstly, they made mind maps about the personalities of each character and started planning possible outfits for the main protagonists They used a range of different fabrics from containers and started pinning parts to a mannequin From this workshop, they learnt how to arrange different types of costume designs, and adjust certain costumes to equal the personalities of the characters.