On 3 May a group of Year 9s involved in the National Connections project travelled up to the Garage Theatre in Norwich, to perform the play ‘Is this good enough?’. The morning was spent rehearsing and practising our play for later that evening and taking part in a tech rehearsal, which we can all agree broadened our knowledge of the backstage processes in a theatre. The prospect of being in a professional setting, whether it was new to you or not, was really fascinating and inspiring to get involved in more drama projects in the future and consider performing as a career in general.

In the afternoon, we took part in a workshop, led by one of the directors at the Garage Theatre, which focused on physical theatre and how we can use this in our drama performances. The workshop was particularly beneficial at building trust between others in the group, which would contribute to our later performance. For example, we had to create scenes or objects using our bodies, such as motorcycles or a dinner table scene. We then watched two performances from other schools across Suffolk – ‘Samphire’ by Suffolk One pupils and ‘Tuesday’ by Thetford Academy. These were similar genres of play to ours, exploring school life and the struggles that teenagers face, from different levels of maturity, and were interesting, thrilling and more compelling because of this.

Raring and ready to go, we then performed and delivered a great performance, which we can all be proud of and will cherish for a long time to come. Personally, we enjoyed the show due to its storyline, exploring the different stereotypes of teenagers and using our body language to show the struggles of each scene, such as the sandstorm or cliff edge. This project has been a brilliant opportunity from building confidence and developing acting skills to showcasing our work and talent at such an outstanding theatre.

Many thanks to our drama teachers, Mrs Pitt and Mrs Broach for their help and support in such an achievement.

Hannah R and Lucy E, Y ear 9