BLOG – Chloe

Day 1 – Monday 24 June 2024

It was my first day at the Half Moon Theatre and I was so excited to meet new people and have a good connection with the staff here. They were so kind and directed me to my tasks as clearly as they can. Lydia was the one that greeted me in the afternoon and gave me a tour around the theatre because I had never been here before, she also then gave me a lanyard that had my name on it so that people didn’t forget my name and know who I am. To be honest, I was so nervous to meet new people, but I found a way around it. What I did on the first day was some office work and wrote down the comments of Ten in the Bed. Then once I finished that I had my break and went to the green room which I liked, and I met two new people which was Rachel and Lewis. They were sweet and kind. I was eating my cookies and drinking my drink while on call to my boyfriend. It then went to 6pm which is the end of my break, and I went back down to Lydia, and she told me to give 10-15 mins for Saja to come so that I would help Saja with some props and crops to bring for the youth session.

The youth session was the second thing I did, and I really liked it since they made me feel welcome and they greeted me and told me I can participate in the play. There were children that were my age and younger and they had special needs. I was so grateful to be working with people that have a disability since my mum is disabled and she still finds a way to get up and still participate in things. The session really made me feel happy and I really enjoyed the play they did. We had a little break since it was hot outside and so we could get some water, so we didn’t stay dehydrated. I had a lovely conversation with one of the children and some of the workers. I gave Rachel and Lewis some feedback since I really enjoyed it. They should really keep up the good work. I was really impressed.

Day 2 – Tuesday 25 June 2024

It was my second day of my work experience, and I was feeling great. I came in a little bit early and saw Androulla at her desk, she told me that Lydia was coming in a minute because she was going out to do something. I first sat at Saja’s desk and started doing my Monday blog. Androulla helped me and told me what to do and she talked to me about everyone’s roles at the Half Moon Theatre. She then got a call at the office which stopped her from talking. Once she finished it, she told me to do a review on Hot Orange, or What Once Was Ours, or Daytime Deewane once I finished the Monday blog. Once I finished the Monday blog, I then asked Androulla if she could explain it more since I forgot and didn’t have much of a clue on what to do. She told me to pick out of one of them, so I picked Hot Orange since I’m into that romance acting. I was doing some research on Hot Orange then Lydia came in and told me to watch the performance  which I did, and it was an hour movie. I couldn’t finish the whole play since I had my break so once I was off my break I finished watching it. My break then lasted a good hour and it was at 2 and ended at 3.

Once I came back from my break as I said I finished the Hot Orange play then I wrote half a review on the play, but I didn’t get to finish that because I had a session to join into and it was a youth session that was year 4, 5, and 6. They were so hectic but overall, it was good. I enjoyed the play that they did, and it was interesting since they all were in different groups and each group had something different to do. As one group had a title of bad idea, another had murder mystery and others. They were all so fun to look at and they were all so good at acting. Some people did laugh and didn’t stay in character, but they still tried their best and I was amazed by that. We all had a 10–15-minute break so we could all take some water because it’s so hot out and it feels like you’re about to faint. After that I went to the toilet, and I kept hearing the little children banging on my door and asking who’s in there while laughing. I know they are young and probably didn’t know if it was a good idea or not but if they were older and they did that people wouldn’t be happy. They kept running and hiding from the teachers that were inside the theatre, but I helped them, and they listened. I had a lovely conversation with two-year 5s and one year 4. They were sweet and kind. We went back into the theatre, and I watched some plays individually and helped them out by telling them to face more at the audience but try show that you’re talking to the people if you are. I also gave them a little advice by saying to talk louder so that the back of the theatre can hear them and don’t miss out on anything they say. Once it was done, I said goodbye to everyone, and I took my lanyard off and left. Today was a great day!

Day 3 – Wednesday 26 June 2024

This was my third day of coming into Half Moon Theatre, I was finally comfortable with everyone, there were some people that I had met for the first time, but I felt more confident in doing the sessions and it was so fun. Today I came in and went straight to the office and said hello to Androulla, Lydia and Emily. I then sat at my desk and started with my Tuesday blog, once I was finished with the blog, I started to do the rest of my review but I didn’t end up finishing it so I would be finishing it tomorrow so that I have more stuff to do instead of finishing it within one day. Lydia told me that I didn’t need to finish my review all today and so that I can start on something else. Me and Lydia had a nice conversation, and we were talking about my career, and we spoke about primary school, and it was so lovely to talk to her about it and have a conversation in between the work. I then had my break, but I had it at 2:30-3:30 because the session was at 3:45. For my break I went out then went into the green room to chill in there for a little while and I called my mother.

After my break I went straight to the session, I met Fran, Esther and Ron. I already knew Ron because he was here throughout the whole week as he said he would be because he’s in all the sessions. In the beginning I said hello to everyone, and we started the session with everyone making up an action and saying our name with it. It went around in a circle, and I found it quite nice since I could get to know all the children’s names. There were a few children that came in today and it wasn’t all of them so we couldn’t see all the plays at the end. We then played a game where we are all in a circle and one person goes into the middle and makes an action but freezes and then another person goes to them and taps them on their shoulder and asked them “what are you doing” then they say what they are doing and so the person asks “can I join you?” and they say “yes” so then you do a movement of the action the first person was doing and then the first person goes and then the person that joined in after them does another action and then freezes and it goes on until you get to the end of the circle. After that Fran told them to get into their groups and start practicing their play. Fran gave me a job to make some props for their play. She asked me to make two chocolate bars but one with a blue cover and another with a red cover. Then she asked me to get two show boxes and to write in one of them “Slippers” and in the other to draw a mug and on the mug, it says, “you lazy old crow”. I told Saja and Lydia and they both said to me that it was fine. I then watched some plays, and I helped them by adding some speech to make it a little bit funnier and I gave them advice. I had a good conversation with the year 4, 5, and 6. At the end I watched all their plays one by one and overall, they were all amazing, I would say they need to work on a little focusing and be louder so we can hear them. Today was fantastic, I enjoyed it.

Day 4 – Thursday 27 June 2024

This was my fourth day in Half Moon, I came in quite early and I heard Eminem on the radio, and I was vibing to that. As always, I said hello to everyone, and I met new people that just came back from holiday today. Jackie and someone else but forgot his name (sorry). They came back from Greece; it was lovely there. I told them that my dad went to Greece before because he has. I went to my seat, and I was so hot. Simon asked me if I wanted a hot drink, but I told him no thank you since I would get hot sweats. I started off with my blog and started doing some paperwork for Lydia. She made a whole to do list for me so I can finish all the stuff for when she isn’t in too. She showed me how to do everything and then told Emily to take me down to the prop room with me to get all the stuff. I then began with my review about Hot Orange, I finished that and then went straight onto the paperwork. I didn’t finish the paperwork in time, so I had to finish it off tomorrow and after my break. I then had a conversation with Jackie, and she is such a lovely, beautiful woman. After that I went to go enjoy my break which was at 2-3pm.

I went back to the Half Moon Theatre and tried to finish off the paperwork but couldn’t since I had a session at 3:45-4pm and I didn’t have enough time. I had a session called Next Steps and Malachi and Saja and Hazel was all working together. The session is about year 6 transitioning into year 7 (secondary) and they are showing you what it’s like to be in secondary  because some people are scared to change or they might be scared in case you get bullied or making new friends and to be honest you shouldn’t be scared because the only thing you should focus about is your GCSE, Exams or your grade so that you get a good job and a great career. They started the session off by everyone getting into a circle and then playing a game to warm up. At first they played a clap game where you see how fast it goes around the circle and it took them 3 seconds or 4. Then Hazel played a game of who is it to blame so you blame each other and it went around the circle so everyone got to blame someone. Then at the end they played one last game, and it was like a murder mystery. The detective had to go outside, and someone gets picked to be a murderer and the detective comes in and tries to find out who the murderer is. The murderer kills everyone by shaking their hand in a different way. If everyone dies before the detective guesses, then the murderer wins. The detective has 3 guesses, so they must guess quickly. After that Saja put down unhealthy, healthy and then the middle where it has both. Saja and Malachi gave everyone a sheet of paper that has something written on it and its about if they are a fake friend or a good friend or whatever they do is unhealthy or healthy or in the middle. I felt sick so I sat out but still watched and thought that it’s amazing how they are teaching the youngers for the future and if they are good or bad friends. Once it was the end, I said bye to everyone and left. I felt so gutted since I felt so sick and in so much pain I couldn’t join in with the session.

Day 5 – Friday 28 June 2024

It’s my last day and I came in so devastated because it was my final day then I’m finished working in the Half Moon Theatre for my work experience. I was so gutted because I didn’t want to leave. I was really having fun and I loved the company and the people that were here, everyone was so calming and wonderful to me. They helped me so much and showed me how it will be like to work in a full-time job. I started my day off by coming in and finishing my blog and my paperwork since I couldn’t finish it all yesterday due to no time. I said hello to Malachi and Emily and everyone else that was in the office. I heard music on the radio and stitches came on and I was so happy. I then started with these certificate winners that Lydia told me to do and if I’m being honest, I didn’t know what to do but I know I’m smart enough to understand it, or I’ll just ask some lovely people for help. I finished the certificate and then I moved onto my poster for the movie night, and I’ve made it look nice, I told Malachi and he said he will photocopy it and print it out so that everyone gets an email and a poster of it. I only had 10 minutes till I had to go on my break, but I asked Emily, once I come off my break, I wanted to go down to the prop room, and she said yes that’s fine. I then wrote on a note what I need to get from the prop room for when we go down. Then I went off to break and today my break was 12:30-1:30pm.

I came back from my break then I started eating my food in the office because I didn’t have time to eat out. Before I ate, I asked Emily if I could and if it was fine with her and she said yes and that she would come back down from the green room at 2pm so that I had time to eat and so we could go down to the prop room. Then we went down to the prop room and got all the stuff for Lunar, Orbit, Solar, Eclipse. Once she came down, we went straight to the prop room and got all the supplies that we need and we got: red paper, blue paper, carboard and two boxes for them t look like presents. I finished cutting out the chocolate bars, so they are finished all I needed to do was print out some chocolate labels and put one that’s nuts and one that’s not nuts. I was looking through some chocolate labels and I found one that caught my eye, so I used it. I finished everything on time and printed everything and stuck it all in. I’m so glad that I could help, and this was fun. The last thing I needed to do was to finish off my blog. I will really miss everyone here. They were amazing to work with and I would definitely, come back! I really enjoyed the whole week, and I will come to see some of the plays everyone done, and I will definitely come to see the Solar members. Thank you for having me!