The theatre workshop was a 24 class course that the seven of us who make up the IB2 undertook over the course of year 1 and 2. During the course, we began learning the history of theatre, what constitutes acting, voice modulation, stick-fighting, confidence on stage, and finally how to act. Mr. Bala, our theatre mentor, gave us exercises and introduced us to other professionals in the theatre field, in order to help us learn the essentials of acting and theatre. The culmination of the workshop was to be a play, scripted, directed and produced by the seven of us. Mr. Bala also taught us about stage lighting, set designs, costumes, and all the other components involved in creating a play.
My personal aims when I started the course were to try and gain more confidence in front of an audience, as well as learning how to act. Acting was definitely a new skill that I would be acquiring, one that I was a little apprehensive about in the beginning. However, I really enjoyed the entire learning process, and discovered I was more capable than I’d initially thought. I definitely feel I’ve increased my awareness of areas I can grow.
One of my favourite classes involved Mr. Bala teaching us how to combat using sticks, a traditional method of fighting. This was something I feel I might continue further in the future. We were all also given the chance to interact with other eminent people from the Chennai theatre field, who talked to us, encouraged us, and also gave us their feedback. Others also helped us with voice modulation and stage speaking, making our final play much more professional. The experiences gave us all the chance to be responsible, and prove that we could handle it, as well as prove what we were all capable of.
Most of the classes involved individual learning and development; however, we needed to support and encourage each other all the way, to help people gain the confidence necessary to bring out their best. The final play though, involved a huge team effort, as well as discovery of each other. Firstly, for the final play, each of us decided an area that we would be in charge of. I was in charge of writing the play script and coming up with the initial idea. We also had a director, set designer, costume and prop designer as well as light and sound managers.
Writing the play script gave me the opportunity to show my writing capabilities. It was also a challenge, as I’d never even tried to write a play before, and I had a very short time span to do it. It was a success though, and I was glad to have been able to show some of my skills with confidence. I also learned that some of my other classmates were highly capable in other areas. When the entire play came together, with lights music et all on the final day, all of us were, on a level, surprised at what we’d actually managed to achieve. I think we all began to appreciate each other’s talents a lot more afterwards, but more than that appreciate how well we worked as a team.
I feel this was a course where I was able to show a lot of perseverance and commitment, as it was something I enjoyed doing. I felt a strong desire to succeed, and not give up when we faced difficulties. This truly did pay off for all of us. Success in our final play was one of the most rewarding experiences of our course, and something we all wish we could do again.
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