The pilot programme of  NAYD’s Community Drama Training is well underway in Drogheda and is facilitated by Colin Thornton, NAYD’s Community Drama Development Officer. Some of the participants have very kindly agreed to share their experience with us. Here Ciara Duffin, a Youth Support Worker with Drogheda Youth Development, gives us an insight into the second and third months of the programme.

Month Two

The second month of our Community Drama Training began with the group being encouraged to become more aware of our own reactions when confronted with some of the challenges of participation, and how individual reactions and behaviours can have an impact on the whole group. Following on from this, we were introduced to a simple method for reading the level of participation within each member of any given group.
The technique uses a sliding scale of three differing personality types and how these types will usually perform within a group context. Type A is the confident participant who is always willing to step forward and volunteer for exercise after exercise. This type of participant is very important to the facilitator, as they are often “ice-breakers” and encourage progression within the sessions. The role they play especially within newly formed groups, or groups with particularly low self-esteem where there can be a reluctance to participate should not be underestimated. However sometimes Type A’s never-ending enthusiasm can start to have an opposite effect on a group and alienate or distance some of the other members, so it’s important not allow them to overly dominate the session.

Then there is Type B who will typically allow type A to go first, however if type B is in a group where there aren’t any type A’s then they will take the lead and put themselves forward within the group. This type of participant usually has more awareness than type A when it comes to considering the larger group.

Finally Type C represents the type of participant who rarely if ever volunteers to put him or herself into the spotlight.

I found this to be a very useful tool for facilitation as part of the job can be about helping people who may be feeling vulnerable within a workshop. I also knew that I had been a bit of a type C so far in our training sessions, therefore I challenged myself to behave like a type B for the rest of the day. Using the scale allowed us to observe ourselves and our own behaviours as participants in a workshop. I imagine, as a facilitator, this is what you have to be looking out for whenever you lead a session with a group. You are looking for patterns and bad habits that may be developing, and from this you try to come up with ways in which to challenge this kind of behaviour in the hope of getting individuals within the group to step out of their comfort zones, which in turn will build a stronger ensemble.

Over the two days we explored and participated in a number of Process Drama techniques. Process Drama is a specialized area of drama where drama techniques are used to engage participants in a wide range of subjects and issues with the higher intention of learning.
This was of particular interest to me - working as a Youth Worker, I was searching for techniques that I could use to address various subjects of importance with young people, while still making it fun and engaging. The idea behind Process Drama is to give young people the opportunity to step into a variety of roles and situations, in an attempt to explore an intellectual or social problem. Colin offered us 30 different techniques we could use to achieve this. We got through as many of them as possible over the next two days as a group, and it was a fun and interesting way to discuss topics such as Sexuality and prejudices surrounding it, Crime & Punishment, Laws in Society and more. It really stirred up the emotions of the group, and some very strong opinions emerged along with stimulating conversations that spilled over to the cafeteria table at lunchtime.

At the end of the two days, Colin explained that next month we would participate in a one-day complete Process Drama Workshop, where everything we had learned over the past two days would be put into practice in a more ordered and sequential fashion. As there had been a lot of techniques to get through in a short space of time, we were all looking forward to experiencing Process Drama in a more concentrated form.

I thoroughly enjoyed the two days, and it was very encouraging to see the ways that young people could participate in an active discussion around a topic, without it seeming like a teaching environment. I am looking forward to putting it all into practice next month.

Month Three

This one day Process Drama workshop began with the usual gentle warm up we have now become accustomed to - which is a great way of waking yourself up in the morning! Colin then initiated a game called “Anyone Who?…” which begins with the facilitator making a generic statement like “Anyone who is wearing jeans today…”. Upon which, anyone who is wearing jeans must cross the circle and take a different position in the room. A later question asked was “Anyone who went drinking on Paddy’s Day change places in the circle”, as St. Patrick’s Day celebrations had just taken place recently. This naturally led onto a brief discussion around drinking in Ireland, and whether we use national holidays like St. Patrick’s Day, as an excuse for over indulgence in intoxicating substances!

We asked ourselves, who do we think does the most unnecessary drinking on such occasions, and we decided that teenagers were most at risk, of feeling obliged to participate in binge drinking. Colin encouraged us to consider, what we were like ourselves as teenagers and the kinds of activities we would have engaged in to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Personally, as a teenager I spent a lot of time as part of a Youth Theatre, and we annually took part in the Drogheda St. Patrick’s Day Parade either through street performance art or as part of the local Samba band, so I had little time to spend “drinking with my mates”. However, plenty of others in our group admitted they would’ve engaged in under-aged drinking around St. Patrick’s Day when they were teenagers. Colin asked these people where they would have gone to drink at that age, considering the pubs and nightclubs weren’t an option. It was agreed, that back then and currently even now, the “Ramparts” by the river is probably the most popular spot for teenage drinking in Drogheda. We decided as a group that this would be the setting for our improvisations. Colin divided us into three groups and each group was asked to represent in a “freeze frame” what a group of teenagers might look or behave like, at the beginning, middle and end of a night’s drinking. We stayed in our groups and then we had to act out an “Incident” that may have occured over the evening’s drinking. Process drama is all about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, and it was interesting to see how we had developed different scenarios and circumstances that young people could find themselves in when alcohol was introduced to the equation. Without realising it, we had entered into a deep discussion around teenage drinking where we were exploring the temptations, dangers and consequences surrounding it. It felt like a natural progression of thought rather than a structured workshop with a specific agenda.

Some of the other process techniques we used were: Tableaus, Thought Tracking, Hot-Seating, Imaging on the hour, Sliding Scale, Writing in role. In the afternoon Colin parked the workshop before it came to an end. We were then asked what would we do next if we were facilitating the workshop ourselves. We divided ourselves into smaller groups and each group came up with some ideas around how the workshop might progress from here.
My group considered using Decision Alley, or Meetings where the participants/young people would come together as concerned parents to address the problem of their teenage children’s bad attitudes towards under-age drinking. I thought that young people might enjoy impersonating their own/each others parents while at the same time being forced to look at things from an adult’s point of view.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop, and it was helpful to see how easy it is to create learning opportunities for young people, without them feeling they are being lectured to, or spoken down to.

Ciara

Find Out More about the Community Drama Training Programme

 This year’s Young Critics had their first meeting a couple of weeks ago. Luke Casserly from Backstage Youth Theatre Longford, shares the experience:

Our journey started on Friday evening, where we all gathered at various points around the G.P.O in Dublin City Centre. Everybody was scattered around the building, almost like pieces of a jigsaw scattered on the floor. Little did we know, this jigsaw would soon be assembled and would present itself in the form of a beautiful picture. We eventually introduced ourselves to one another when Alan King, our NAYD Leader and Young Critics coordinator showed up to meet us.
From there, we got a bus to the Marino Institute of Education where we would be staying for the two nights. Mirjana and Diane were our welfare leaders for the weekend. They were both extremely nice and we all got along with them.
We had our first workshop on Friday evening when we arrived at Marino Institute. We were all slightly “train and bus-lagged” but we got through it nevertheless. It was Alan who gave us the workshop, he did some warm-up exercises with us and that got us all energized and ready for action. Alan then divided us into groups and we discussed important questions like, “What does a critic do?” and “What is the job of a critic?” The workshop was really fun and enjoyable. It was the perfect start to the weekend.
Marino was a really nice place to stay. We would be sharing our bedrooms with one other person. I was sharing with Aaron from Co. Roscommon Youth Theatre. There was also a common room with couches and a television where we had the opportunity to socialize and get to know everybody better.
The next day, we had an early start (8am if I recall.) After breakfast we had our second workshop of the weekend. This time, we were introduced to Dr. Karen Fricker who is a professional theatre critic and a drama lecturer at Royal Holloway. Karen was really cool. She had loads of experience and knowledge regarding criticism. We looked at some background information in connection with Alice In Funderland and Tea Chests and Dreams. We discussed openly in small groups what we were expecting from the performances that we were going to see that day. We looked at images from both productions, the cast list and their backgrounds, production teams, venues, etc.

Following the workshop, we had a quick bite to eat and then we journeyed on the bus, which brought us directly to the Abbey theatre in Dublin’s city centre to see Alice in Funderland. It was absolutely fantastic. Philip McMahon produced something very fresh, vibrant and engaging. Not one dull moment throughout. I recommend anybody to go see it; it’s well worth it. The souvenir programmes were also fantastic. I personally collect programmes from all the shows I go to and this one was really superb. It was my first visit to the Abbey Theatre venue and it will be indeed one that will last with me a lifetime. I found it really warm and inviting. Overall, an outstanding production in a lovely venue.
After the performance of Alice In Funderland, we took a bus out to Ballymun in Dublin where we would see an evening performance of Dermot Bolger’s play Tea Chests and Dreams - A Night of First Nights in The Axis Arts Centre of Ballymun. We were served dinner in the Axis before the performance, it was delicious and we were all really well looked after. The Axis, for me, was a bright, open and airy space with a very laid-back and relaxed kind of ambiance. The Axis provides a wide range of services like Theatre, Arts classes, Crèche, etc. so therefore I was very excited about the prospect of visiting it. Our group found the play very good overall but we felt some aspects of the show were a little lacking in spots. Bolger’s script was magnificent which made it a joy to watch. In a nutshell, a really nice production in an excellent venue which had some flaws but they may be forgiven due to the strength of the rest of the production.

A very tired bunch at this stage, we returned to our beds in Marino Institute that night after what was a very exciting and action-packed day. The two productions we had seen that day left a really lasting impact on us and it was really good to have the chance to mull things over, in a manner of speaking, overnight.
On Sunday, we arose bright and early for another workshop, again facilitated by Alan and Karen. It was excellent as always. We were divided into smaller groups and we engaged in discussions and debates about the productions we had seen the day before. It was really interesting to hear everybody’s opinions and reactions to the performances. Some people highlighted things others didn’t see and vice versa. We then had a questions and answers session with Karen in which a group of representatives from the different groups shared their mixed views and opinions.
We then got our final bus of the weekend into the city centre and parted ways. Knowing that we had learnt and shared things over the weekend that we mightn’t have got the opportunity to do, had we not been there, was a small consolation to the sad moment when we realized we wouldn’t be seeing each other for another three months.
We had seen two amazing pieces of theatre, engaged in lively discussions and debates, made new friends and had the craic all weekend and that is what I think sums up our weekend at NAYD Young Critics 2012.

Thank you so much NAYD for a fantastic weekend that we will truly never forget.

Luke

Find out more about Young Critics