By MJ Milburn
For Level 3 Drama students, school this year started with a fresh new challenge – that of solo devising. Students worked with a number of physical theatre conventions to craft and refine pieces of independent theatre inspired by the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy. Drawing on the theory
of Antonin Artaud, studen
ts created performances that captured the dreamlike and subconscious side
of the human experience. Their pieces drew heavily on ritualised and non-verbal language, and for many of them this was a very different way of working.
Students should be congratulated on their hard work. Devising is a process that calls for a lot of physical experimentation, refining and rehearsal. It asks performers to take risks and to constantly reflect on their own practice. Students regularly showed their work to the class and provided excellent and thoughtful feedback to each other along the way. They were also responsible for self-management of their time, meaning they developed useful skills for future study and the workforce.
