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Rhondda Theatre Group

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Vlog submission

Rhondda Theatre Group:

https://www.facebook.com/RhonddaTheatreGroupRTG/

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Alterations and Developments

If we had more time, I would have liked to have developed Sausage, Egg and Beans. I would have liked to have longer scenes, maybe interacted with different groups using this approach as a warm up as a way of seeding for a later task. If I could go back and change something in my work-shop, I may look at using different photos, although the content we had from the photos that we did use, I think some used didn’t show a clear message, others could have led to more intriguing questions.  

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Weaknesses

Some weaknesses that we faced were not realising until later down the line that the children were a lot more advanced and mature than we originally thought and planned for. We had to change elements of certain tasks to make it more age appropriate. When doing the first warm up game, I think the participants were too focused on remembering the order of people when throwing the ball. I think this made the energy quite stand still where we wanted the participants to relax and enjoy the elements that the game supplied. When executing this task, I decided to take out ‘remembering the order of people’ so that we could become faster and louder. I think taking out that feature of the game allowed the energy to bounce back up and it made it more fun for everyone. An issue I struggled with when delivering our work-shop was to making sure I wasn’t taking the back seat too much. Some members of my group had bigger and louder personalities than myself, so matching my group members enthusiasm was sometimes hard as I tend to take a quieter approach to working. I think I kept quite vocal and I hope this came across as I intended it to. I think overall the learning outcome worked well and we worked well as a group to achieve a well thought through work-shop.  

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Strengths

I think we were very lucky when planning our work-shop as I think we had a strong team. We all had strong ideas and everyone felt equal when developing our ideas into warm ups and tasks. We also all had the benefit of having experience when working with children. We also all agreed on the same learning outcome quite early on, so the direction of the work-shop moved along rapidly. I think when implementing the tasks, the strengths included at what point we introduced the animal game, I think this allowed the participants to change their stance and pitch which I think helped them to become more comfortable when moving around the space, I think everyone interacted well with others, including the interaction with facilitators, which I feel is important when new people are introduced to a group. I think the tasks that we introduced were quite risky as the topic of conversation could have gone down many different paths but we were prepared and were open to allowing the participants to explore new areas, some of which we hadn’t thought about until then. The tasks that we chose allowed the participants and ourselves to open up and talk about deeper meanings behind the pictures that we displayed. The pictures that we used for topics seen that the content that the participants created was well thought out, and it was obvious that they all really engaged with the tasks. These also allowed for a discussion after each group had performed their tableaux which helped to create a friendly atmosphere between us facilitating and the participants, it also helped us to move the work-shop along and in the right direction. When we were delivering our work-shop I think it worked well because we were ourselves. We kept it natural and I think that was an important element for this group as we didn’t want to come across as ‘teachers’. We agreed that we had a natural element of friendship between the four of us so it was important to us that we played off of that. I think the participants appreciated the way we communicated to our team as it was channelled back through them.  

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Who Influenced My Work?

When preparing my work shop the key influence that I had was Dorothy Heathcote. Heathcote was a drama teacher and academic who adapted the ‘Mantle of the Experts’ method. This method interested me as it breaks down the walls of teaching and explores how the individual child approaches a task. This way of working places the child at the centre of learning and moulds and shapes around them. It combines both the child’s interests and needs to create an environment for the child to learn in. The importance of teamwork when using this approach helped me to focus on what I wanted to put into place when carrying out my work-shop. To prepare myself more, I read the book ‘Mantle of the Experts’ I found this very useful and tried to incorporate elements in my own work. 

https://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/MOTE-Chapter-3_Aitken_Pages-from-Connecting-Curriculum-Fraser-v3-220213.pdf 

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HIJINX

I think the values that this company holds are very apparent throughout their work, both onstage and offstage. Community is a huge factor in this companies work. They strive for including everyone in their line of work and put their actors in the heart of everything they do. Hijinx are known and loved for managing to give a platform to people who are otherwise overlooked in society and offers them a fair role in their work. Hijinx also gives voice to political and social issues that diversity and disability faces in life too. Hijinx values the strength and playfullness that their actors posess and their characters are shown through every project that theyre involved in. Hijinx recognises the benefits of working within a group who has a different outlook on the world and has different challenges, they agree that working within these communities is a gift and they get to learn as much as the participants do. By addressing the workplace, the streets etc in the statement, this allows the company to expand frm just theatre, into the community. By telling us in their statement the nature of the work and participants it tells us how much the participants themselves are at the heart of the company. ‘For Wales and The World’ explains to us that this is a world-wide organisation that captivates audiences internationally.  

I think the values that this company holds are very apparent throughout their work, both onstage and offstage. Community is a huge factor in this companies work. They strive for including everyone in their line of work and put their actors in the heart of everything they do. Hijinx are known and loved for managing to give a platform to people who could be otherwise disadvantaged in society and offers them a fair role in their work. Hijinx also gives voice to political and social issues that diversity and disability faces in life too. Hijinx values the strength that their actors possess and their characters are shown through every project that they’re involved in. Hijinx recognises the benefits of working within a group who has a different outlook and who faces different challenges, they agree that working within these communities is a gift and they get to learn as much as the participants do. By addressing the workplace, the streets etc in the statement, this allows the company to expand from just theatre, into the community. By telling us in their statement the nature of the work and participants it tells us how much the participants themselves are at the heart of the company. ‘For Wales and The World’ explains to us that this is a world-wide organisation that captivates audiences internationally.  

The strengths that Hijinx have with their approach is that they have a good understanding of the work that they do within a community. They know what a certain project can potentially bring to a community that is perhaps struggling. Their approach is to apply theatre and drama to everyday situations and settings, to address issues and complex situations. They have to address the question ‘who is this project serving?’ and what is the message? I think they tackle these questions well and manage to provide a theatrical way of educating. One challenge that they face is making sure that they’re not creating more questions than answers. So they need to make sure that any project that they are providing helps to educate and solve problems with a clear message and end point, so that their audiences/participants understands the direction in which they are being pointed to. If this is not met, it could raise questions and confusion.  

http://www.hijinx.org.uk/about-us/ 

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Hijinx Mission Statement

The mission statement for Hijinx not only tells me that the aim of this theatre company is to work with disabled/ autistic actors, but they facilitate to an actor's needs. Applying theatre to many platforms across day to day life, not just onstage. By applying the skills they learn from Hijinx to other aspects of life, such as the work place and on the street, it helps to involve people of all walks of life, and encourages communities to take part in creative and forward thinking projects with people with a range of different abilities. Although this company is based in Wales, it has projects around the world helping to join a global community, celebrating every one for their individuality.  

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Hijinx is... striving for equality by making outstanding art with learning disabled and/or autistic actors   On stage, on screen, on the street, in the workplace locally, nationally and internationally   For Wales and for the world

http://www.hijinx.org.uk/