Then I found out that it wouldn’t be in a theatre because the building was being smashed to smithereens and built back up again. I was a little disappointed, however, I understood that it would be a great experience to see everything that goes on behind the scenes.
The first day arrived and I learnt what a theatre producer does. The best part was putting together a panel for a discussion on a chosen topic – mine was LGBTQ+ schools. I really enjoyed looking for people who came from various backgrounds and were of different races, ages, sexualities and professions.
It wasn’t quite as frightening as I thought it would be, and I found that the rest of the week went by in a bit of a blur.
I participated in Young Identity. I don’t tend to write poetry, however, I loved the session; it was so interesting to see how many different takes there were on writing a poem about the same object with the same selection of words.
Our group’s object was ‘hand’, so here’s mine:
These are instruments of elegance, of artistry, soft and slender
Intricately crafting, sifting through silk, stirring the gentle air
But these are those who leave prints of bloody theft, murder and slaughter
Grip an axe, strike the innocent, fasten the neck of the free
Yet these are instruments of intimacy, intertwined lovingly together
How can it be- they are the same, but do so different?
On Wednesday, I worked in finance, which to my surprise I really enjoyed! Tea and coffee rounds were done on the regular (as a religious tea-drinker, this is very close to my heart). Thursday brought something I had been very excited for, working in production!
I used a programme to project backgrounds/ images onto objects. I managed to have a different image projected on each of the five objects, with no background. I used Baggy Trousers by Madness as my soundtrack and programmed the images to fade on and off at exactly the right moment in the music. As someone who happens to be rather useless in the I.CT/ technology areas, it really did feel like a huge achievement.
Contact has honestly been the best place I could have done my work experience. It didn’t matter that there was no stage because I still got a taste of what the working world was really like and I had the opportunity to see all the areas that go into running a theatre. There are endless opportunities – site visits, completing your Arts Award, youth groups such as ‘Young Identity’, attending an Open Mic Event – there really is no better place you could go.
Whether you’re infatuated with the creative arts, or not particularly interested in them, there’s still so much for you to do.