BLOG – Elora

Day 1 – Monday 26 January 2026 

I arrived at the Half Moon theatre around 2:30 and was greeted by Bradley and then Lydia, I instantly loved the energy of the people here and the environment! Lydia then gave me a tour of the building and the different rooms, such as the props room, the green room etc. She also told me a little bit about the history of Half Moon and how it came about to be a young people’s theatre, which I found very interesting. I had only been to this theatre once before, so it was nice to get an insight from a historical point of view! Lydia was lovely to meet, and she gave me a warm welcome to the theatre! After the tour, I went through the work experience pack that I was given and read through the different roles of staff, different tasks I could do, and some information about the youth theatre groups. Then, I got started on the computer and started watching one of their productions for young people called Butterflies and although I couldn’t finish it then, I still found it really intriguing of how the cast and directors explored the concept of anxiety which was expressed perfectly for the age range. It was quite unique and I definitely want to continue watching it at some point.

After watching for a bit, I began to help Shjodi with some of the items in the props and resources cupboard. I was surprised by the number of objects people do use in their productions and activities and I love the creativity it takes to take one object and turn it into something else with just a bit of imagination. We brought down lots of objects for the Solar group session which was going to take place later in the day, and the rest we attempted to organize into the right cupboards/areas. I also loved meeting Shjodi during this and it was lovely to get to know her and her bubbly personality 🙂 Around 5pm, I went on my break. First, I decided to get a bit of food to eat from down the road, and the rest of the time, I hung out in the green room. I really liked the atmosphere of the green room, as it was nice to be somewhere with some peace and quiet where I can just relax.

After my break, I sat down with a group of staff to get ready for the Solar group to come in! I loved meeting them all and I felt very welcome; we discussed what the group would be doing for the day etc. Then, the Solar group came in, and we began with some exercises which were incredibly fun to participate in. It was quite different to what I had done before in my Drama classes, so I was slightly outside of my comfort zone. However, I’m happy I did take that risk instead of acting shy because it ended up being a really fun experience. Later in the session, I took some pictures on a camera of the group and their work which I liked doing, and it was nice to see everybody so happy and engaged in the activity. As the session ended, I got ready to go home around 8:30pm. Overall, I believe I had a really productive and wonderful first day here at the Half Moon theatre. I loved meeting the different people and seeing aspects of working in a theatre which were not only about acting!

Day 2 – Tuesday 27 January 2026 

On my second day at the Half Moon, I arrived around 12pm. I got to meet Androulla and we talked about some of the other things they do at the theatre and what I’d be doing today! I got started on my blog for a while and had to try and recall the details of my first day, so it was overall a pretty chill start to the day. After an hour or so, I started logging some data for different schools that the Half Moon would want to contact for things like workshops, or information on clubs etc. I went through all the schools in Hackney and got started on a different borough. This task was quite helpful for me because I like the fact that I have gained some more experience in data entry now. I had also done similar tasks like this in other work experiences, but it’s still insightful to see how to use programs like excel better and getting to explore the other features of it. I also enjoyed seeing the more admin side of the Half Moon and realised that there is definitely an incredible amount of work and effort put in in order to run this theatre and similar places too, which people don’t typically realise or see. Then, at 2pm, I went on my break and pretty much just chilled in the green room again because it was way too cold to go outside ;( but I didn’t mind because I love the cozy vibe of that room!

After my break, I continued with the data entries for about 45 minutes before I went to go meet the team who were going to run the Eclipse youth theatre session. We briefly discussed what would happen in the session before the kids came in and the team was lovely to meet! In all honesty, I thought it would be absolute chaos considering they were all like year 4 – 6, but it’s safe to say I underestimated them and actually really loved meeting them. I have worked with kids before, but not really of this age group, so I definitely became a little nervous about how they would behave or act, but they were an excellent group of kids to work with. Seeing the creativity of a lot of those kids in that room made me really happy and I love seeing younger kids understand the joy of drama and acting! I worked with one particular group of girls who were very sweet and had some incredible ideas and I really liked helping them put it together 🙂

After the session, I waited for most of the kids to be picked up and sat with some of those whose parents hadn’t arrived yet. I talked to them about school and their subjects and I thought they were so cute!! After they had left, I also got ready to leave around 6pm and that was my second day! I really do enjoy working in this type of environment and it doesn’t feel like some sort of gloomy, depressing office when it’s in a theatre. It was also nice to see what the youth theatre sessions are like and how different age groups might work and think. Everyone seems to get along great, and I think it’s super nice to be in such a healthy environment.

Day 3 – Thursday 29 January 2026 

My third day at the Half Moon started at 10AM. I came in and again continued with this blog. I’m quite glad that we do this blog, as even now, I’m finding it hard to remember my first day, but writing this means I’ll be able to read through it and remember in the future! After that, I continued with the data logging from the day before and got a lot completed, all this took around an hour and a half. Then, I was invited to join one of the team meetings to see what they discuss and how these meetings normally go. I found it quite insightful to see that this is how they basically keep things organised here and to keep everyone in the loop, which they must do in other workplaces too. As somebody who goes to the theatre quite often to watch shows, I never really thought about how they might have organised everything down to every detail, not only the acting, so it was nice to see the team discuss that!

Around 12pm, I got to watch a run of the upcoming show Brave Bettie, and it was amazing! I loved watching the actors at work and also the technical team. The show is targeted at young children, but even as a 16 year old + somebody who really enjoys acting, I found it so interesting to see how different themes were expressed in the play, which would definitely be good for young people to see. I also really liked the fact that there were only 2 actors, yet the story was still portrayed beautifully!

After the show, which lasted around an hour, I went on my break. I went to the green room again, and Lydia had to let me in because I could not unlock that door for the life of me. I chilled for a bit and got to speak to some of the team from the show as well as the actors! Everyone was super lovely to meet, and I was invited to sit through a bit of their rehearsal! I ate a little bit, and then my break was over! After my break, I headed to the Upper Studio to watch the actors rehearse. They started with different exercises to get into the character, and I found it super cool how they were able to embody the characters and almost left their own minds, just through some simple exercises. I had never really seen something like this, since it’s on a more professional level, and things we would do at school are much different. However, I do want to consider professional acting so it was great to see what that may be like! Soon after, I went back down to the office and started to write a review on the show I watched but didn’t have much time so I only wrote like a paragraph. Before I knew it, at 4pm it was time to go home! This day was filled with different activities which I truly enjoyed! It was definitely a new experience for me, and the day was slightly different as there was no youth theatre session, but it was still productive and very fun. 🙂

Day 4 – Friday 30 January 2026 

This is my last day here at the Half Moon Theatre! Up until now today has been quite chill, I came in and saw Lydia and then continued with my blog. I also finished with my review on Brave Bettie today, and it was a little hard to recall smaller details of the show, however I got it finished and that felt like an achievement! I then went to watch the actors of the same show rehearse for a bit, just until my break since there wasn’t much else to do. It was fun to see them rehearse and talk to the rest of the team too, who are a lovely and very funny group of people! I helped a little bit to reset their props as they were going to rehearse a specific scene, and then after that I went on my break. During my break today, I surprisingly didn’t go to the green room! I went outside for a while to eat and ended up walking pretty far because I got distracted and then walked my way back and by then my break was pretty much over. Lydia then asked me to help with answering some questions to see what the HM could do to support young people better, and I typed up a few of my ideas! Then I just started on my day 4 blog and edited the rest of it a bit. I also finished the form which was on the work experience pack and am going to get ready to go home soon :).