Life Education’s Theatre in Education – ‘Smashed’

By Chris Valli

Life Education Trust’s theatre-in-education programme

SMASHED will make an appearance at Queen Charlotte College and Marlborough Girls’ College this week.

The performance follows the lives of three young people showing how they become involved with alcohol and how it affects them. It educates year 9 and 10 students about the dangers of underage drinking with recent research showing a decline in the number of young people drinking.

John O’Connell, Life Education‘s Chief Executive says while the number of young people binge drinking in New Zealand has declined over recent years, it remains high compared to other countries.

“We’re encouraged by some of the recent research and commentary around young people choosing not to drink, and binge drinking habits, however it’s still a relevant issue and one we continue to need to address at a secondary school level.

“Our theatre-in-education performances are aimed at giving students an interactive environment where they can talk and explore strategies for resisting peer influence and making informed choices,” says O’Connell.

“We’ve been showcasing this performance in schools for the last three years, and the feedback from teachers is they value a visual performance as it gives students a different form of learning, that both enhanced and supported school programmes,” says O’Connell.

The performance covers topics like the impact of underage drinking on relationships with peers and adults, academic results, anti-social behaviour and violence, and accident and injury.

SMASHED is not only a performance, but key to the session is also the interactive session during the performance with the actors, where they get students to talk and explore different ways to resist peer influence and make informed choices.

In 2022 NZ Council for Educational Research (NZCER) reviewed SMASHED benchmarking the programme against best practice. The report noted SMASHED was well-aligned with teachers’ health education focuses, and that it helped reinforce key information, messages, and social competency strategies covered at school.

Life Education Trust's theatre in education programme SMASHED is not only a performance, but also includes an interactive session during the performance with the actors, where they get students to talk and explore different ways to resist peer influence and make informed choices. The programme will make an appearance at Queen Charlotte College on Thursday and Marlborough Girls’ College on Friday.

Students who attended SMASHED gained an increased awareness of how different forms of alcohol-related harm might impact on them and their peers. Life Education Trust has been educating New Zealand children for over 33 years. Today, they are New Zealand’s largest health education provider in schools.

Woody Pig & Deer Hunt!

A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR AWESOME HELPERS: Blue Blick, Stovie (Mike Stove), Ian Stuart, Nels Conney, Missy & Vaeh Cairns, Turbo (aka Ollie Taylor), Renwick Volunteer Fire Brigade, Chris Hammond for the use of DINKY, Bruce & Sue Jolly and David Marsh (Davie).