PLTS: Team Worker

Collaborate with others towards common goals:

Frankie and I collaboratively designed the set and the costumes.  I drew out the designs on a board whilst we discussed and designed them together.  Although we designed the set together, I made the moving set and stayed after school to put the material over it as Frankie couldn’t stay behind.  We also collaborated to produce and record our song.  Olly and Frankie wrote it together and then we assigned ourselves and each other roles and instruments to play.  Olly helped me with playing the drums as it is something I’ve never done before, he taught me how to play a basic beat which we used in the song.

Reach agreements, managing discussions to achieve results:

We had to discuss when we could rehearse after school and had to collaborate and take note as to when everybody was available.  We all contributed to discussions and everybody had input in turn.  To show respect, we collaboratively sure that nobody was interrupted or left out.

Adapt behaviour to suit different roles and situations, including leadership roles:

I got really annoyed and upset when Olly didn’t know his lines towards the deadline and found that shouting at him did nothing and neither did begging him so I had to try and find a way to motivate him and get him to learn his lines as it is a really important thing and can make a professional look amateur.  We knew that we could cover for him if he did say a line wrong or miss one out, but Frankie and I especially didn’t want it to come to that as he should know them in the first place and it hardly seems fair on us to take responsibility off of him and give it to us.  We all adapted our behaviour when we went to go help the year 7’s with their questionnaires after the performance.  We had to behave more appropriately and adjust our language and tone of voice as we were with a much younger set of people.

Show fairness and consideration to others:

I let people have their input and express their opinions and ideas and then we chose the best one, according to the quality of the idea and the practicality, not who proposed it.  Everybody let each other present their ideas and suggestions; I think this is because we all respect each other enough to choose the options best for the group as a whole, and not the individual.

Take responsibility:

I took responsibility for the set and costume design in collaboration with Frankie.  I also took leadership over the construction of the set and made the designs as well as putting on the material as we had discussed.  I took little bits of responsibility such as learning my lines, bringing in any equipment our handouts we needed, being on time to rehearsals.  Everybody took responsibility over getting their costumes together and bringing them in (although Olly did forget his for a rehearsal we had discussed that we needed them for) and keeping their own personal hand props.  Olly also brought in his iPad which we needed to record the song on and also in the performance because he hadn’t burnt the song onto a disc.

Provide constructive support and feedback to others:

I have written reviews for the other two group’s performances and given the others on my group feedback and we have continually been reviewing and evaluating our own and each other’s performances throughout the whole process.  Everybody in the group has helped each other throughout for example; Olly supported us all during the recording of the song as this is his strongest area and preference.  Also, the entire diploma group have produced reviews of their own and some of each other’s performances.

PLTS: Effective Participator

Discuss and resolve concerns:

I’ve argued a bit when Olly didn’t pull his weight or learn his lines.  We were also worried we wouldn’t meet the deadline and wished we could just have had a block of rehearsals.  We tried to rectify this by arranging after school rehearsals and staying in at lunch and break times.  Also, when discussing when we could rehearse after school, Frankie, Jack and Olly all gave the days they were available and the days they were busy so that we could come up with a date suitable for everybody.

Present a persuasive case for action:

We had to persuade each other on the topics to do in the first place.  Frankie wanted to gender equality but I wanted to do political correctness with a fairy tale theme so we combined the ideas and did gender equality with a fairy tale theme.  When trying to talk us into doing her idea, Frankie pointed out that it was a unique idea, totally different to the other groups and we could make it different and our own.

Propose practical ways forward, breaking these down into manageable steps:

We broke down the process of creating the song.  We wrote it, came up with the chord pattern, identified which instruments we were going to play, learnt our parts and rehearsed them individually then we rehearsed as a group and identified where things didn’t work and changed and adjusted when we were playing, when we weren’t and made sure we had all our cues down.  We then practiced the final piece until we were ready to record it.  We also planned ahead as to what we were going to do in the after school rehearsals and gave time slots for each task or activity we were going to do.  We were going to run through the scene changes and lines, have a draft run through and allow for pauses and corrections to be made then get into costume and have a full uninterrupted run through with no stopping, even if something went wrong.

Identify Improvements:

We improved our piece towards the end of the process by adding a scene which included audience participation.  We wanted to do a proper workshop and have a hot seating session and maybe a forum theatre activity but we were struggling to get the drama finished, never mind a workshop so the additional scene acted as our workshop kind of as it included audience participation.  After watching the video of our after school rehearsal on 9^th June, Frankie and I discussed our concerns and all the things that could have gone better and what we should improve on.  We then presented these concerns to the boys who worked with us to improve the piece.

Influence others, balancing diverse views:

We didn’t really have much of a problem with diverse views but when there was a disagreement, which happened rarely, we discussed as a group the more practical option as we were on quite a tight schedule and racing against time to get the piece done.  If we had longer, then i think that some of the ideas we dismissed would have been considered more.  Olly expressed his opinion of the additional scene when we first set it and convinced us to go ahead with it as I was a bit dubious about adding another scene when the rest of it still needed to be worked on however, he convinced us to make it a permanent part of the performance and I’m glad we did as it served as our workshop and was the most successful part of the performance in my opinion as we got the audience thinking.

Act as an advocate for views and beliefs that may differ from their own:

My character’s views were pretty similar to my own thought maybe at little bit stronger than mine as he was fussier than I am about Olly’s characters comments, views and actions.  Olly’s character however, was very different to himself as was Jack’s as they both made really obvious, deliberate sexist comments which they wouldn’t normally do.

Peer Assessment: Evaluations

Frankie had a look through my review and gave me some really useful comments and a target to think about so I can redraft my evaluation. 

For the effective participators grid, she commented...

“you have shown that you have given at all the PLTS and you know how and when to use them.

You have given clear examples to all sections of using Teamwork!”

In the PLTS grids, I also gave evidence that other people within the group have displayed use of all the aspects of being a team worker and an effective participator.

Her comments about the evaluation are as follows...

“You have been honest in all your answers, showing improvements is effective and shows you will do better in later life.”

I don’t quite understand what Frankie means by “shows you will do better in later life” so I will have to inquire about that.

The target she set me was...

“Talk more about the workshop”

This is something I agree with and I think I didn’t talk about the workshop in as much detail as I could have.

She left a final comment saying...

“good comments on reviewing bad as well as good!”

I really appreciate this as I did feel the need to include what I didn’t like about the process as well as what I did like as it seems necessary and helps you set yourself targets to work for.

I read Imogen’s evaluation and PLTS grids.  I thought that she was very honest in her review and gave good positive and negative feedback.  I did however, think that she could have evaluated and reviewed the workshop more as she only seemed to reflect upon her performance.  Also, she didn’t cover all of the questions and points we were given as a guide line so she could do to extend her explanations further.  I learnt that Imogen was not as confident as she comes across as when she commented on ‘not feeling comfortable’ singing the original song which she and her group wrote.  She then went on to say that this is ‘something I need to work on’.

Her PLTS grids were good and well reflected.  I especially liked the way she set them out as she had glued the list of the PLTS’s and all the sections they include separately, then had her team worker grid stapled over the top (but so you could lift it and see what’s underneath) with the team worker list and the effective participator  grid with its  respecting list.  I thought this was very effective as it showed that even though we only did 2 of the 6 PLTS’s in detail, she had still considered the others.

Year 7's Feedback

These are extracts from the answers we received from the questionnaires we gave out.

·       The wolf was funny

·       The story teller had a clear voice, good facial expressions and tone of voice

·       Good set

·       Well organised

·       The wolf was funny

·       Red riding hood was very good, had good hand gestures and was against sexist people

·       Red didn’t let the sexist comments go and she fought for what she thought was right

·       I thought the set could have been a bit better

·       Frankie was good at doing any on the spot thinking when on the block.  Frankie played it confidently, had great expressions and projected her voice

·       When red and the wolf were on the stairs, she should tilt to the left so they could see both facial expressions and you shouldn’t talk when the scene is changing

·       Frankie’s voice was confident

·       The male narrator could have made more eye contact but all characters especially Frankie were very confident

·       Red wasn’t afraid of showing how she felt, she wanted to show what she could do

·       Could have been quieter at moving props

·       The wolf was funny and had a loud voice

·       I now think that girls can do a man’s job

·       I think overall there was nothing bad about it, it was great

·       The wolf was funny

·       Red’s character was very clear about sexism

·       I’ve never thought about it but now it’s made me think about gender equality

·       The performance was good

·       Abi had a loud clear voice and told the story very well

·       I’ve never thought about gender equality but now it’s made me think

·       The set was shiny and well made

·       The male narrator was very funny and spoke clearly

·       I already know about gender equality

·       The stage was nice and shiny and the play was creative

·       Red riding hood was confident and used gestures

·       I will think about what I say to people because it could upset them

·       The costumes helped show what characters they were

·       Red riding hood was confident but Abi did have a really good audience awareness

·       I will think about what I say

·       They had great costumes

·       Shown more about the girl and boy being sexist

·       I think it was good and I heard a lot of information

·       I thought it take them forever to make because it was so good

·       I thought it was really good and can make people think about what they say.  Try not to get your words mixed up and make sure you put the right cure cards up

·       Yes I think you need to treat women the same as men

·       I thought the show was very good and easy to learn something of

I thought some of their comments were very mature considering their age.  This suggests that I perhaps underestimated our target audience and should have expected more from them.  This would have affected our piece had we known the extent of their understanding previously as we could have used more sophisticated language and more mature storylines to explore and harder questions to think about.  If we were to explore gender equality again as a piece of TiE, I think it would be interesting to try an older target audience as it would be more challenging for us to gather all the research.  We found that our audience, although they knew basic manners and a couple of them had a basic understanding about equality and sexism, they hadn’t been introduced to this topic either in school or at home and I think that influenced our work and made us underestimate them even more than just the age of them. 

Review of 'Family Portrait'

Is this an effective piece of TiE and why?

Yes, definitely, it is a very intense piece of drama and demands your attention.  The audience were very attentive which just proves that the drama was effective and strong.  The music throughout just brought the whole piece together and the choice of songs were perfect.  You could tell they had done their research as they were very sincere and knowledgeable and even offered advice.

What conventions have they used?

Seb narrated most out of the three and the first scene consisted of a monologue which was really effective as we saw it from the child’s point of view.  They incorporated physical theatre and dance which was great and expressed feelings well as well as portray their story and relationship a lot better that with words.  They also hot seated at the end and shared their own accounts of divorce and then did a role-play session.

How well did they work as a team on stage?

I think they worked very well as a team on stage and this could be seen in the physical theatre with Fran and Tomas.  Some of the things involved in the physical theatre were stage fighting and dance which they had to work together for and be very careful with so they showed really good teamwork and co-ordination to perform it safely and effectively.

Review of 'Skeleton In My Closet'

Is this an effective piece of TiE and why?

It was effective but didn’t really offer any advice until the hotseating.  The drama was good and well acted but it lacked that bit of sincerity as (thankfully), none of them have evr been through an eating disorder before.  They had obviously done their research but it didn’t seem as personal and sincere as the ‘Family Portrait’ performance.

What conventions have they used?

As the audience entered, Imogen was singing.  They used a lot of thought tracking, especially Beth who played the mum.  They also had a narrator, Imogen.  At the end of the piece, they did hotseating with Beth.  They had also planned to do a role-on-the-wall but didn’t have enough copies do it.  They then answered questions and received feedback from the audience.

How well did they work as a team on stage?

They worked more individually on stage with a lot of thought tracking and narrative but they had obviously worked well as team to create it in the first place.  They say that they have worked as a group well through the process and it was seen though the performance as they all knew what they were doing and were co-ordinated with each other throughout.

Performance Review

1.    How did you feel before the performance and why?

I felt very nervous and unprepared as our run through just before still didn’t go perfectly.  I was also nervous about whether the boys in the group would remember their lines and stage directions.

2.    How did your group support each other during the performance?  Consider the team work and effective participators PLTS’s.

We supported each other really well as the set was in the correct place at the right time as everyone remembered their lines and cues.  Frankie covered up for Olly when he forgot his line and Jack and Frankie covered for me when I forgot a line.

3.    What was the strongest moment in the piece with regards to the intention of the work and why?

When a boy in the audience said he had learnt something from our performance.  This was during the ‘Emily Bile’ scene so that was probably the strongest part of the performance as it made the audience think and participate.

4.    What skills did you display as an actor?

I projected my voice throughout the performance and stayed in character.  I also worked as a joker quite well and got the audience to speak when they were asked to.

5.    How did you feel at the end of the performance and why?

Relieved that it was over as it was a long, hard process.  I was happy with the performance but I was very happy when it ended.

6.    How did your audience respond to the performance, use examples from your questionnaires?

They did as we instructed at the start and ‘booed’ in all the right places.  They laughed in all the right places also.  We asked for input, they did reluctantly at first but did move on as I encouraged them.

7.    How well did you work as a team during the workshop, what could have been improved?

I think as we worked well as a team during the workshop as when we got ideas from the audience, we had to improvise and adapt to what they said.  I think that whilst receiving ideas from the audience, we could have stayed in character better.

8.    If you were to work in this group again what would you do differently and why?

I wouldn’t leave Olly to do his own thing, I would give him explicit on what to do and encourage him to give his opinions and ideas.  I would also make sure that everybody knew exactly what was going on and make sure there were consequences for missing deadlines and rehearsals.

9.    What would improve your ‘performance’ as a TiE company?

Give ourselves each other clearly defined roles rather than just doing parts as we go along.  Also, create a rehearsal schedule and a checklist of all tasks, costumes, props and set we need and tick them off as we go along.

10.                      What are your thoughts on your TiE project from watching the recording?

The scene changes weren’t as smooth as they could have been even though we rehearsed them a lot.  Also, at times, people slipped out of character momentarily.

June 15th: Drama Pre-Performance

On June 14^th, we finally performed our pieces to our audiences.  Frankie and I were particularly worried about this as on the run through we recorded on Thursday, there were lots of lines missed, lines said wrong, set being moved at the wrong time or not at all when it should have been and skipping to the wrong piece of dialogue at the wrong time.  We requested that if we rehearsed in the morning and it there were still lines not being said, then we could postpone the performance again but Miss Woffinden said that we were able to cover up and mistakes and missed cues, especially as it was in a style where we could be comical about it for example, if Olly jumped to the wrong line a bit early, I could chip in with ‘Oh Olly, you forgot that the wolf comes on first!  The story is just right there!’ and it wouldn’t look too out of place.

Still slightly anxious, we rehearsed for an hour but due to rooming issues, we couldn’t use our set as all 3 groups were sharing 1 room and another group had already brought their set in and claimed the space.  This was a small issue as we were the first to perform and out of the 3 groups, the most worried and least confident.  As we had very little space, we decided that we would just sit down and run through the lines but with the music (the backing track of our song) playing in the background to see how it sounded.  I think it just gave the play a little more life and filled and silences there were during scene changes.  For the second hour, we got moved into the room we would be performing in, we requested that we have our set at as during the rehearsal process, when all 3 groups were in 1 room, we had been the group with the least space.  We managed to claim a corner and could only have 1 of 3 pieces of set we use.  There were the GCSE drama group in with us aswell which made everything even more cramped up.  Miss Woffinden said that because their next topic was TiE, they could watch us rehearse and/or we could perform for them to give them a taste of what it was like.  Seb was practicing with his guitar which made it very hard for us to hear each other and our track so Frankie and I went into the ICT room to print off he posters and programme.

During break time, we set up all the set and got into costume.  We had 1 final run through and waited for the audience.  Olly and I went up to the classroom which they were in and asked them to make their way to the drama studio in character.  We escorted them down to the performance area and got them sat down.

We then performed.

June 7th: Music

On June 7^th, Olly came into the music lesson with a complete backing track of our song.  I think it sounds great!

He had edited and added extra parts to it and overlaid another version of the song using the features on Garage Band on his iPad.

We then just had to record the vocals over the top of it.  Olly suggested doing it individually, using the headphones so the iPad didn’t pick up the music it was playing out loud and make the song sound distorted. 

I went first.

I had sung in front of my teammates before but this time, they couldn’t hear the music I was singing to so there was nowhere to hide!  Once I’d recorded, Jack then went however; it got interrupted as someone came into the practice room we were working in.  Whilst Jack rerecorded (fortunately, Olly was able to take the version with the noise on, off of the track), I made a sign for the door saying ‘SHHHH!!  RECORDING!!’, so another disturbance wouldn’t be made.

We then just made final touches, adding ‘ooh’’s and ‘ahh’s’ to it.

I am pleased with the final result, although I am a little conscious of my singing, I think the final result was very good and something to be proud of.  Here is the complete song.

Gender Equality Song by leea03

May 26th: After School Rehearsal

On May 26^th, we had an after school rehearsal for 2 hours as we all felt as a team that we needed the extra time.  We had intended to record the song on Olly’s iPad and has scheduled that to take about 10-15 minutes.  We were then going to rehearse the drama for the remaining 1 and a half hours (we started 15 minutes late to allow Jack time to arrive). 

We went into the music block and requested that we could use the space and the equipment to record our song.  Thankfully, we were allowed so started setting up.  Olly, being the music expert among us said that the acoustics were better in the larger room so we had to move the drum set into that room.  He then set up the microphones for us, one for me and one for Jack.

We then started to record.

It took quite a few takes to get it right as we were all quite nervous and made a couple of mistakes.  We then finally got a track but to my dismay, because we had recorded it with the metronome on, we couldnt take the metronome sound out! 

Frankie had to leave slightly early so Olly and I sat in the drama studio and recorded a couple of ‘ooh’’s and ‘aah’’s onto the track.

Olly also added a baseline to it using GarageBand, a program he had on his iPad which gave the track an extra element and a bit more depth.  Olly is going to edit/correct any timing issues and just ‘tweak’ the track to make it sound even better.

Although we didnt get to do our drama, at least we got the song done and out of the way which means we have more time to rehearse in anymore after school rehearsals we plan so all in all, a productive day.

June 7th: Drama

By the end of the rehearsal today, I would like to have taught Jack the additional scene we created yesterday which is a parody based on ‘The Jeremy Kyle Show’.  I would also like to go over all the scene changes and moving the set around so that everybody is confident when the set is being moved, where, and by who.  Finally, I would like to run the whole piece uninterrupted at least once just to see how it flows.  We need to carry on through the mistakes and mishaps because we have Thursday to perfect and clarify everything.

In the first hour, we managed to teach Jack the additional scene and run it through a couple of times with limited space.  We then went through the moving of the big piece of moving set so we could all get used to it.  We had intended to do a run through whilst we had the drama studio but over the holidays, we had forgotten a lot of our lines and cues and were getting nowhere so decided to go home and have the lines perfect for our rehearsal on Thursday.  We decided to go through the additional scene instead and ran it through once.  We then asked Miss Woffinden to watch it and she gave us a lot of feedback.  She suggested that Olly’s character should make overexaggerated sexist remarks more frequently as the audience is quite young and will need a bit more prompting as to what the issue really was.  She also gave Olly tips on blocking as he was upstaging himself all th time and told him to face the front as it was really the auience we’re talking to and just turn his head to look and Frankie (who the speech was directed at). 

We also discussed having extra rehearsals because as the deadline becomes nearer, we are getting more and more worried about it.  Unfortunately, there are no other days apart from Thursday which we can practice as at least one person has another commitment.  This is obviously an inconvenience as we had exams today and had to miss and hour (although we worked through half of lunch) so our last rehearsal is the one on Thursday which means we cant afford to waste any time.

We watched the annorexia groups piece and discussed just how rehearsed it was and how everybody knew exactly what they were doing and when which is a slight issue with our group.  We also commented on how strong the drama in it was and started to doubt our own piece however, we reassured ourselves and each other by reminding ourselves that ours was a completely different topic and type of drama as we have incorperated a little comedy and audience participation.  We concuded that ours wasnt any worse (though maybe more under-rehearsed), just different.

Additional Scene

On 6^th June, we decided in our music lesson, because we had finished the song, to make an additional scene as we are conscious that our piece was significantly shorter than the others pieces. 

We were discussing this predicament with Miss Hepworth and she suggested that we do something that interests us because our enthusiasm and passion for the subject had dropped since she last saw us.  I can’t recall who suggested it in the first place, but ‘The Jeremy Kyle Show’ was brought up and we all liked the idea of doing a parody of it.

Now that we had an idea, we could develop it into a scene. 

Unfortunately, we didn’t have Jack so we are going to fill him in tomorrow at rehearsals.  We assigned me the role as the host as i wasn’t directly involved in the preceding scene, Olly is the Woodcutter Person as he is in the last scene and Frankie is still Little Red.  The scene, is discussing whether Olly’s characters actions were good or sexist as he barged in assuming Little Red needed help because she couldn’t handle herself.  We have aimed to make the scene amusing as Jack is going to walk around the stage holding signs up that say things such as ‘cheer’, ‘applaud’ and ‘boo’.

We decided to include audience participation as I go up to them and ask them their opinions of the situation.  This gets them thinking and involved and just adds another dimension and helps break down the fourth wall which ties in with the Brecht style set and signs as breaking the fourth wall is another Brechtian technique.

I am glad we have another scene as it gives us a chance to give it more style and add some more conventions in that will hopefully lift the whole piece.

Comparing Gail and Pavla's Interviews

We have now had chance to recieve an insight into 2 directors’ work, Gail from the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Pavla from Blah Blah Blah.  Here are the links to the 2 interviews.

Gail McIntyre

Pavla Beier

One of the main differences I noticed was that Gail only directs, where as Pavla directs herself and acts.  Gail said that she likes to keep her acting and directing separate (as she does both).  Gail expressed the difficulties it imposes, being able to act as an actor, not a director and vice versa but Pavla didn’t even comments on the difficulties in brought up for her. 

Also, I noticed that in the company Blah Blah Blah, there was more of a role heiracy than at the West Yorkshire Playhouse as Gail commented on it being more of a team effort.  It is still a team effort at Blah Blah Blah but they all ultimately answer to the Artistic Director, Anthony. 

At West Yorkshire Playhouse, their planning process so much longer than at Blah Blah Blah as they plan for as long as 2-3 years ahead whereas Pavla said they have varied deadlines depending on budget and whether its a request and when they want it for.

I think that both companies rum very similar but very differently at the same time, they both have the same aim and do pretty much the same thing but they way they go about it is different.  The West Yorkshire Playhouse has a much larger team and I think that is due to the fact that they are funded by more places (which imply they have a higher budget).  It is hard to tell as no figures on funding are given out which is understandable but it is obvious that Blah Blah Blah have a smaller team, whether it be due to choice or funding issues.

Both companies are successful and achieve what they aim to do and I think it is really interesting to see how the same job is done in a different way as it opens your mind to more possibilities.

I really appreciate the time both Gail and Pavla have given up to answer our questions as reading what they do on day to day bases, they are very busy!

Questions and Answers from a Professional Assistant Artistic Director, Pavlar Beier From the Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah

1.    Do you enjoy your job and what does it entail?

Yes, i really enjoy my job.  There’s so much diversity in what my day will be like from one day to the next.  We have three strands of work in the company, our Residency Programme, where we work with schools more than once during a project, our Touring Programme where we take one-off participatory show to a school and finally, the Theatre Academy for young people aged 10-16 at the Carriageworks in Leeds.
In the Residency Programme I am often co-deviser and performer in the projects and also director when the teachers are involved in delivering the sessions alongside me.
In the Touring Programme I am often script editor and performer with the directing usually being done by Anthony, our Artistic Director.
I am not generally involved in he Theatre Academy strand of the company although I have on occasion run a workshop session with the young people who meet ever Saturday afternoon.

2.    How has technology influenced your work?

Technology doesn’t really influence the actual delivery of our work as we like to keep props and set simple, letting the children and young people stretch their own imagination-particularly in the residency work we do in primary schools.  Of course we rely very much on computers for accessing information during our research into new work, storing our database and communicating with schools when selling the work.  We are in the process of re-designing our website which is something we intend to make more use off when communicating with audiences.

3.    How do you connect with different communities and audiences?

Intellectually and emotionally, we connect with our audiences by tailoring our work to suit our audience.  We don’t start from that point, but its very much part of the creative process.  We begin from a point where we look for a story we are interested in.  We explore that story and then we look at how it would work for a particular age group.

Physically, we connect with our audiences through our selling by advertising at events such as The Store (an event organised by Artforms, Education Leeds, where companies and artists set up a stall for a day and teachers come and see what’s on offer), phoning schools as part of a large selling campaign and word of mouth from current or past audiences. 

4.    What has been you favourite project and how long did it take?

It’s hard to say what has been my favourite project as I always enjoy something from everything we do.  I have particularly enjoyed the different versions of a participatory show called ‘The Raft of the Medusa’ because of how it has developed over the years.  We have toured it to high schools in a few different guises- twice with the teachers who first devised it and performed it with Anthony and then twice as a Blahs tour with professional actors- we also took it to a children and young peoples theatre festival in Germany were I performed some of my role in German which was a great challenge for me personally and a really exciting opportunity.

Raft began its life back in 2006 as a touring piece but is now more of a showcase piece that we only bring out for festivals and conferences as a good example of our work.  Each time we put it back together we find new moments in it that get re-worked so it is a bit like a living organism!

5.    What creative process do you use?

As I mentioned above, we tend to begin with a story or sometimes even a picture and the story behind it, which evokes an interest for us.  We begin to explore what those stories mean to us and why they are interesting- what is the hook that pulls us in.  Only after we have begun to develop an idea do we then look at how the piece could link o the criteria that schools might be interested in connecting with it.  Having said that, we also sometimes create work from a stimulus that teachers approach us with.  Or example, a school asked us recently to create a piece of particapatory drama based on the circus as that was their topic next term, so we looked for a story that would be specifically relevant to that topic.

One of the first exercises we do when entering a new process is to ask ourselves ‘Who would I like to meet?’ in the story.  Then we set up improvised scenes where we meet the characters and ask ourselves, ‘where are they, what are they doing and when are they?’-at what point in the story do we meet them?  This is a really great was to explore peripheral characters or even characters whom we have invented within the context of the story.

6.    Are there any age groups that are more difficult than others?

I don’t think that any age group is particularly more difficult, rather they present different challenges for us.  Much of our work is very transferable and pieces that we make for younger children would be just as accessible for older children, but the difference is in how much we challenge them during the drama.  We have to be in tune with our target audience in order to understand just how far and how deep we can go on a certain line of questioning.  Because what we do relies on the children’s responses to add detail to the story, if we have underestimated or overestimated how much they will take on, we are always ready to adapt our questioning on the spot to try and keep in line with where the children are at.  Children and young people of any age can be difficult to work with if they’re not interested in what you are doing with them.  That is the real challenge- to find something they are interested in so they engage you with you and want to join you in what you’re doing.

7.    Is there a hierarchy of roles within the company?

Anthony Haddon is the Artistic Director of the company and he is answerable to our board of five directors.  Myself as Assistant Artistic Director, Maureen McGough who is our General Manager and Cas Bulmer who is our Tour Co-ordinator/Administrator are all answerable to Anthony.

Anthony has overall control over the direction the company will go artistically, I am involved in the decision making when it comes to planning the layout of the artistic programme and Maureen is in charge of the financial side to the company, while Cas is at the forefront of our contact with schools.

8.    Do you use song and music?

Depending on the piece, yes we sometimes use music.  In our last tour Rumpus we had two actors and a musician who performed the two pieces to reception and Yr 1 children.  And in one of our residency pieces, Silas Marner, we have singing as a soundtrack at one point.  It is easy to forget just how powerful music can be in assisting the telling of a story by the emotion and the atmosphere it can evoke.  We are always open to incorporating music in our work where relevant.

9.    Have you ever tried to act and direct in your own production?

In our Residency Programme, a lot of the time I am acting in a piece and directing myself.  Sometimes I work with primary school teachers where I direct them in to a piece of participatory drama that they will be acting with me.  Occasionally, I direct a freelance actor in a piece of residency work alongside myself too.

In our Touring Programme I am more often in an acting role being directed by Anthony.

10.                       How do you fund your productions?

We recieve core funding from the Arts Council and the local authority as well as a certain amount of lottery funding.  We also submit bids to separate funding bodies for individual projects and we charge schools for the work we do with them.

11.                       How did you first get into TiE?

My degree at university was called Communication Arts: Specialism Drama and covered quite a broad scope of drama and theatre practices.  One of my final modules was Theatre in the Community.  I was really interested in making theatre for an intended audience who would be involved in the final performance in some way.  I was very fortunate that a lecturer of mine saw potential in me and took me under her wing when I graduated, getting me involved in youth arts projects and finally introducing me to the world of TiE.  It wasn’t of course down to her that I got involved in the work I did, but she encouraged me and pointed potential opportunities out to me.

12.                       What is the most challenging thing involved in TiE?

To continue pushing the quality of the work higher and higher- we are always looking at ‘raising the bar’ of Theatre in Education.

13.                       How long have you been working in TiE?

I graduated from university in 2001 and got my first professional acting job with the Blahs in 2002 on a TiE programme based on the story of Silas Marner.  I then worked as a freelance performer for four years working with theatre companies such as Tell Tale Hearts (children’s theatre) and Faceless (street theatre) as well as other TiE companies such as Alive and Kicking and Yorkshire Women Theatre.  In 2006 I became a full-time member of the Blahs as Theatre In Education Co-ordinator and then as Assistant Artistic Director in January 2011.

14.                       How long does it take to create a piece of TiE?

This can vary depending on how much time you actually have for a project.  Often, the budget we have for a project will determine how long we will have to initially develop a piece, but we like to come back to stories we have created again and again so that we revisit them and re-look at them to take them further.  The story of Silas Marner I mentioned above has been going since 1999 and has been toured as a show, as a four part participatory drama and now lives on as a two part participatory drama where teachers are involved in telling/acting the story alongside us.  This means that we are constantly finding new detail in the story even after all these years.

15.                       What styles of theatre do you use in your productions?

Our work is very influenced by Brecht in that we break down the fourth wall between the actor and the audience.  Other influences are object theatre and puppetry combined with live performers, image theatre of Boal and theatre conventions created by Dorothy Heathcote that come from her asking open questions which allow the audience to draw on their own knowledge and interpretation.

16.                       What styles of theatre do you create?

We create participatory theatre which combines all of the above.  We set out to work with small audiences so that we can make contact with all of them.  We want a genuine conversation with our audience within the structure of the story.

17.                       Is your work scripted or improvised?

The work we create is scripted.  If we are devising new work, these scripts are partially developed from improvised scenes we have been playing with in the rehearsal room and partially written by one or two members of the company.  In the past, in our touring work, we have devised and toured a show then commissioned a playwright to rework the piece and then we have retoured it.  As I mentioned in my answer to question 6, there are sometimes moments for improvisation in our work due to the nature of us placing so much importance on the participants’ responses.  We always try and work all the possible responses we might get while we’re rehearsing so that we’re prepares with an ‘improvised’ response ourselves.  Of course, we can’t always predict every possible answer and are often taken by surprise so still have to think on our feet!

18.                       Do you have a timeline for your rehearsals?

With a touring show using professional actors, we generally have three weeks rehearsal for a seven week tour.  This means that w have generous amount of time to work through a play in sections and then run the whole thing together towards the end of the rehearsal period.  However, in the residency work, I often have one day to take a teacher through a four session drama project we will be running together from start to finish so structuring a plan I advance for exactly what you will cover hour by hour in those sessions is really important- and sticking to time slots for each session is imperative too!

19.                       Are any age groups more difficult to perform to than others?

As I’ve said before, it all comes down to whether you can engage your audience well enough in the first place.  Sometimes older children and adults come into a performance with pre-conceived ideas of what to expect and if they haven’t had positive experiences of theatre or if they are particularly self-conscious, then they might be more hesitant and even reluctant to participate, but if you can grab their interest and simultaneously make them feel at ease, that usually subsides as they get caught up in the story.

20.                       Which age group do you prefer?

The majority of my work within the company is with primary age children and I really enjoy working with them as you can challenge the children in a different way.  Its really fun working with the lower end of the school as the children are so open and playful, but I particularly enjoy seeing older children being so engrossed in a story that they forget to keep up the attitudes they sometimes walk into the room with.  It’s also great that they are at an age where they will challenge what you are telling them or asking of them and you can enter a real dialogue with them.

21.                       Do you think going to young people is better or having young people come to you?

We don’t have children/YP coming to us as our aim is to take theatre into places it’s not usually associated with.  Using space familiar to the children and young people- i.e. their own classroom or school hall- in an imaginative way by transforming it is one of the reasons that we do this.

22.                       What are your responsibilities as an artistic project manager and director?

At present I a leading the Residency Programme within the company and am responsible for most of the teacher CPD programmes we run.  For these smaller scale programmes, I liaise with schools on the content of the work, devising the new material if it is to be a new piece, timetabling with the project and then I rehearse the teachers into the work.  Finally, I perform with the teachers when we deliver the work to the children.  So I am co-ordinator, deviser, director and performer on a lot of these projects (sometimes even a designer and prop-maker if we have a very small budget!).  I also sometimes attend conferences and festival on behalf of the company.

23.                       How many people are involved in each project?

In the Residency Programme it is usually myself and two teachers from each school.  Occasionally we may have a designer who works with us or Anthony might be in a project too.  In the Touring Programme, the teams can range from three to five actors, with Anthony performing as well as directing the show.  Behind the scenes, Cas it the person selling and co-ordinating the tour and Maureen not only works out the budgets for the projects in the first place but also draws up the contacts for each school and chases up payment.

24.                       How do you know when a project was/is successful?

We ask for feedback from schools we have worked with.  With the touring work we have feedback forms which we ask both the teachers and the young people to fill in directly after the show and with the residency work we often have evaluation meetings with the teachers about their experiences of being in a TiE team and also what they saw the children’s experiences to be.  And of course, if someone comes back to us the next year wanting our work again, we know they value it.