On Tuesday 21st April, the Years 11, 12 and 13 Drama students experienced an incredible day of creative opportunities. We were invited to take part in a Creative Connections day with the Isaac Theatre Royal, The Court Theatre, Showbiz Christchurch, Frantic Assembly, and Tūranga.
The wonderful organisation, Maranga, generously gifted us a return bus journey, which made the day very affordable. Students were amazed by a backstage tour of the Isaac Theatre Royal, which was preparing for their children’s musical “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. It was so impressive to see the huge set pieces and wall of ropes to fly in and out set pieces, including the towering wall of LCD screens at the back of the stage. Our drama-loving students then got to see a 15- minute makeup transformation of one of their peers into an old granny.
The workshop at the Court Theatre, based on movement and characterisation, was a brilliant way for students to unpack the themes of ‘Wahine Mātātoa: The (Mostly) True Story of Erihāpeti Pātahi’. We also got to see the set of the show and marvel at the huge carved mirror and large pool of water on the stage.
The physical and intimate workshop run by members of the English devising Theatre company ‘Frantic Assembly’ was equal parts exhausting and exhilarating. The recorded performance of their last devised work was intense and so interesting, as it was very different from most other things our students have seen!
Many of our students had previously been to the Tūranga library in town, but none of them had experienced the creative stations in the Makerspace. We got to explore the Podcast labs, where half of us voice-recorded a scene from a play while the other half built miniature-scale sets for the same production.
The experiences offered to our students were beyond our wildest dreams, and I know that we have already had so many discussions around heading back to the venues to screenprint T-shirts and record our own podcasts.
We are so grateful to Rachel Sears at the Isaac Theatre Royal, and to Sarah Harrison from Maranga for broadening our minds, filling our hearts, and further fueling the creative spirit in our wonderful Drama students. They deserve the world, and it is so amazing to watch them experience it.
