MAKE PLAYS
Our Impact in 2020/21 In 2020/21 we continued with our Three Pillar, young person centred approach using peer education and theatre to empower three separate groups of beneficiaries: young actor peer educators, disadvantaged project participants and young audience members. Our young actors are always central to everything we do at Peer Productions. In this year, with multiple changes to Covid restrictions which dramatically impacted our ability to reach young audiences with a live theatre offer, we had to be particularly creative and nimble to ensure that the Class of 2021’s year at Peer, whilst like no other, was equally as transformative as for previous cohorts. The following pages include testimonials from participants on our Peer Actor Development (PAD) course this year, highlighting what they considered to be the most important or rewarding elements of their time with us.
WE DID THIS BY: • Producing and distributing a digital version of our play Hidden – a play about self-worth, mental health and self-harm. • Filming Season 2 of 50 Days: Alone Together – Season 2 of our mental health miniseries follows a group of first year university students in their first fifty days at university during the Autumn 2021 lockdown. This interactive drama, developed in partnership with a range of mental health professionals, enables young audience members to access information, advice and guidance to support their mental health and wellbeing. • Training the next generation of performers and theatre makers using a blend of in person and online learning retaining 100% of learners with 86% of learners moving on to drama school, higher education or related work within one year. • Delivering drama outreach work and digital resources for marginalised and vulnerable young people through our groundbreaking Generation Girls programme. This project uses drama to empower Autistic Girls and Girls with Learning Disabilities improving their confidence and reducing their risk of sexual exploitation.
I have discovered skills such as improvisation, comedy and character building throughout the course. Through doing a range of different performances, based around who I am as an artist, I found that comedy is a style I like to include in my own life and also in performing. I have learnt to be more instinctual and believe that through improvisation exercises, I have become more naturalistic. I am less afraid of listening to what is happening within the moment; feeling connections with the other actors on stage. I have gained a strong use of techniques that I enjoy using when embodying a character. I resonated with animal studies and found that working from the outside, inwards, helps create a unique energy to the character. I have learned that I enjoy having a good sense of the character, and connecting them to stories when acting.
Sophie Frearson 6
