'Hope In The Enchanted Forest'

This is the first big project we've been working on since starting this new year and I've really enjoyed piecing it all together and having much more control over what we create. We were given the opportunity to create our own idea that fell into the subject of education in theatre and we had to work that around our chosen age group, which we decided would be the early primary school years. We had some great sessions where we worked on different themes for the show but we eventually decided on a piece focused around climate change and we want to teach the schools about the importance of recycling, walking to school and the environment through theatre. We decided the cast as a company and I was chosen for the role of Hope which is very much my typecast and its a role that I've loved creating and getting to experiment with my physicality, voice and movement. I also loved getting to be more independent on this process and working with the budget we fundraised ourselves, and even though it was very stressful at times as we had a lot to focus on as well as the piece, we all came together to create a show that we all felt very passionate about and we worked very hard to fundraise the money to provide a wonderful show for these schools. We had some issues with finding the right schools for our tour and if we were to do this process again, I would consider contacting the schools earlier so we have more chance of them having some available slots as we had many schools that asked us if we were able to perform in the New Year, but we had to turn them down. I felt we were very lucky this term to find some local schools and I'm glad everyone we performed to enjoyed the show as much as we did performing it.

I loved playing Hope, it was great getting to experiment with different childlike characteristics and this was the first project where I got to work on chemistry in character groups. I also enjoyed getting to devise a piece and then create a structured script, it was nice to experience a new way of creating work rather than working around the script we were given, it was great fun to play and see where the scene goes by trying it in different ways. Getting to write and direct the movement for this show was a challenge but I've never had the opportunity to showcase my passion for anything outside of acting and when I joined the process I said that I wanted to branch out and see if I'm able to write and choreograph alongside it. Even though it has been stressful taking care of more than just the performance side of things, but its made me feel more independent and I feel like we've gelled very well as a company. The process has been hard to cope with at times but I love this style of theatre and getting to include other elements, such as songs as movement of our own, was an amazing opportunity!