The whole of Year 7 took part in a drama workshop last week run by Todos Teatro, a theatre company which aims to make excellent and accessible theatre to inspire positive ecological change for young people and their families.

Here is what two of our Year 7 pupils enjoyed most about the workshop:

By Lydie V, Year 7

First, Year 7 heard all about the company’s new production in the making called The Flood. It is about a flood coming into a town where a girl lives whose mother works in a pillow factory. The girl is the heroine of the story.

As well as learning about this production, Year 7 played games about the topic of the environment and took part in activities that were inspired by The Flood. One of the games they played was about what they would do on a boat and how they would show that to the audience.

Year 7 also learned about green washing and, in groups, created their own green-washed advert. They learned about the seven states of tension which are seven stages, the first being that you are very calm and that nothing is wrong and the last being extremely panicked as a result of something awful about to or that has already happened, and learned how to leverage them to create fun and interesting characters.

Furthermore, they met a puppet turtle which had been used in Todos Teatro’s last performance. Miss Morley and Bethan explained that the turtle had been made of only recyclable and sustainable materials like clay, cloth and cardboard.

All of Year 7 loved the workshop and its inspiring theme and enjoyed contributing ideas for Todos Teatro’s new production.  They are eager to take part in more drama activities and felt inspired by the wonderful time they had working with Todos Teatro.

By Imi H, Year 7

The Todos Teatro workshop was such a fun experience! It was led by Miss Morley and Bethan, a clown and physical actress for Todos Teatro, a theatre company that creates plays that can have an impact on the world, such as pollution, global warming and climate change. In the workshop, we did lots of fun activities involving improvisation, the seven states of tension and the topic of greenwashing.

The seven states of tension are seven ways you might hold yourself on stage, each one gradually getting more tense. These can be used to create lots of different characters. For example, in the first state of tension, your body might be so relaxed that you can hardly get off the floor! The fourth state of tension is in the middle, so it would be very neutral, where you aren’t flopping around with completely relaxed muscles, but you aren’t very tense either. However, being in the sixth or seventh state of tension might mean that all of your muscles are clenched, and you might be really stressed physically and mentally. In the workshop, we had a lot of fun exploring these different stages and which one you might be in in different situations, such as a flood.

Also in the workshop, we also learnt about greenwashing, which is when you make something seem good when it actually isn’t, on the topic of climate change. We got into groups and acted out adverts that we created, that made something bad seem really good. For example, you could create an advert saying that floods are good because it means that the entire community gets a free swimming pool!

Altogether, I think that the Todos Teatro workshop was really interesting and fun, especially being introduced to all these different topics and Shelly, a puppet turtle who featured in Todos Teatro’s last play. I think everyone really enjoyed themselves and it was a really amazing experience.