Pupils hone performance skills in National Youth Theatre and stage combat workshops

Following last term’s hugely successful productions of Bull and One Night Only, the HCS Drama Department have already arranged two wonderful opportunities for pupils to work with experienced professional theatre practitioners to develop their skills and to audition for the acclaimed National Youth Theatre.

Last Saturday, 15 students were involved in a three-hour workshop with the actor and director, Gareth Warren, from the National Youth Theatre (pictured below), who we were delighted to welcome back having run last year’s auditions. Gareth took the students through a number of challenging warm-up exercises, before moving into extended improvisations and character work. It was a real pleasure to see the students’ confidence and creative responses in the workshop blossom during the morning. Following lunch, each student had a one-to-one with Gareth to perform their audition monologue. This was an outstanding opportunity for the pupils, and they eagerly await the results of their audition in May.

On Wednesday afternoon, 26 students took part in an exciting stage combat workshop with Mark Ruddick from Squire Stage Combat. Mark led an exacting warm-up, before moving into teaching the principles and techniques of armed and unarmed stage combat. Students focused not only on the technique needed to throw convincing punches, chokes and swordplay, but also to consider the storytelling principles that underpin any successful production.