A visit by the Brief Candle drama company left Yr 9 pupils vowing never to drink alcohol to excess.
In a play that totally engaged the children and let their imaginations create all manner of potential outcomes, we saw a realistic snapshot of teenage life and the pressure to escape parental control and ‘have fun’ with friends.
Although the play had a happy ending and no-one got badly hurt, the potential for tragedy and disaster was so blindingly obvious that pupils formulated their own behaviour charter which they then gave to the actors in the form of advice.
It was a very clever formula, exceedingly well written, acted and directed, where pupils were never talked down to or told how they should behave, yet they arrived at the right conclusions by themselves. It was a very valuable experience for year 9 which I hope to repeat for other year groups with plays from the Brief Candle repertoire.
Some pupil feedback:
It was funny
It made us want to not get drunk (wow, result!)
It showed how bad the consequences of drinking could be
It was really good the way they acted in the middle of us so we were part of it
The story told us about pregnancy and diseases as well as alcohol
The workshops let us say our own ideas while the play was still going on so everyone got involved
The acting was excellent
We loved the way they kept changing the scenery
It was the best educational play I’ve ever seen. It was brilliant.