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Will you be soft or spiky?
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Jannah’s Work Experience Blog
My day started with the journey to Half Moon Theatre. I’m already familiar with the way here because I’ve been going to the Youth Theatre since summer term last year. I was greeted by Lydia and she, like all the other staff members, was really welcoming and kind. We met just outside the office and she gave me a tour of the whole theatre, it was really cool seeing all the secret rooms in the basement as well as upstairs, completely different to the rooms I’m used to being in here. My favourite room by far was definitely the Red room, I loved the hidden dressing rooms and the piano.
Once the tour was done, I settled down in the office. At first I sat in this desk in the corner, it felt a bit cramped at first but it was actually really cozy. My first task was to choose one of the productions here at Half Moon to write a review on, but before I started with this, I helped Saja bring up some of the props from the resources room, which was a little messy since it was being organised. It was really fun getting to explore inside those rooms. After I’d come back, I got moved to a bigger desk since the WiFi was being a bit slow, which was convenient so then I could take notes while watching the production. I chose Hot Orange, and it was genuinely one of the most unique and interesting productions I’d seen, both story line and staging. I can imagine it was really fun to have watched live. After I’d finished, which was around 5pm, I had a break, and I chilled upstairs in the Green room, which was really cozy.
I came back to the office around 6pm, and I met Rachael, who was leading Solar, the youth theatre I was helping that day. I’d already known her from being in Lunar last year, so it was nice seeing her again. Androulla and Lydia also checked in on me since I was feeling a bit poorly earlier, they were all so caring, and they made it a really safe and happy atmosphere to be in. I chilled in the office for about 10 minutes before going into the theatre to meet with Rachael and the other adults, I can’t remember all of their names but they were very sweet and fun to be around. We spoke about what we’d do for Solar that night and the tasks all seemed really fun, and they played “Shut Up and Drive” too, and I think that song’s a banger.
At 6:30pm, everyone else had started coming in, and they were all so fun to be around, the atmosphere was really relaxed and fun, almost as if it were a casual meet up with friends rather than a youth club, a lot different to what Lunar and Orbit are like. We used physical theatre to create some transport, the group I helped made a hovercraft, which was really fun. After the break we went upstairs to explore the space. Unlike the other youth theatres, their sharing covered the whole space, which is really cool. We then met downstairs and everyone said their byes and shared back. Then I went back into the office and took all my stuff and got ready to leave, saying bye to everyone. Overall, the first day was amazing, if I had the chance to relive it, I would.
I came in a little earlier today, around 11:50am. Malachi greeted me and set me up at a desk so I could start writing up my blog for Day 1. They started playing “Good 4 U” by Olivia Rodrigo, one of my favourite singers. After that, Malachi gave me a few bits of paper to laminate (I’d never used a laminator before, so I found it a lot more enjoyable than I should’ve). Then after that, Lydia asked me if I could tally up some surveys. At first I thought it would be kind of boring and tedious, but then she showed me an easier strategy of doing it, so the job was done quickly. After I’d finished all of those mini tasks, I started writing up my review on Hot Orange, and I’d managed to complete the first paragraph and a bit of the second, while starting to plan the structure of the rest.
Then at around 2pm, it was time for my lunch break so I went into the Green Room to have my packed lunch. The atmosphere there was really cozy and relaxed, so it was a really nice place to be in. Then I went outside and explored for a bit, and I was really happy because I found a bubble tea place nearby! Once I’d come back I had about ten minutes to spare, so I went back into the Green Room and called my parents to tell them about the fun time I’d had.
I came back to the office at around 3pm and I carried on a bit with writing my theatre review, before going to the Upper Studio to meet the people leading Eclipse, the youth theatre group I’d be helping out with later on. It turns out that I’d already known the people, Simon and Ron, since they also lead Lunar (the group I was in last year). It was nice catching up with them, as well as meeting Lara and Hazel, who were really nice too. At 4pm the students had arrived, and it honestly wasn’t as hectic as I’d thought it would be, considering that they were all in KS2. Since we were in a smaller space compared to the theatre, we did a lot of drawing and story-building based ideas, which was fun.
After Eclipse was over, I said bye to Simon and the others before going back to the office and getting ready to go home, looking forward to coming back the next day.
I took the longer route to Half Moon from my house since the weather was nicer compared to previous days that week. Today I wore my Hamilton hoodie, which is one of my favourite musicals, and Androulla noticed it so I got to speak to her about Hamilton for a bit, and as a hardcore fan that really made my day. Once I’d arrived, there was a show going on and I got to watch as an usher. It was a baby production, Soft or Spiky, so it was really cute and interactive. It finished at around 12:40pm, so then I came back into the office and started writing up my blog for day 2 and editing a bit of day 1.
After I’d finished writing, I went down with Malachi to the design room. Since Chris and Jackie are leaving this week, they wanted to surprise them with this celebration, and they needed to colour in some signs, so I did a few of those. It took some time, but it was therapeutical. That ended up taking me to my lunch break, so I went into the Green Room as usual to have my packed lunch, then I went outside for a walk and somehow ended up in Whitechapel.
I came back at around 3pm and went back into the office, then me and Lydia went back down to the design room. They were going to do a project for babies and toddlers, something got to do with imagining they were going to a farm, so they needed some pretend sheep (I honestly think its so cute and silly). I made those with cotton and string, and I used a hot glue gun for the first time, so that was enjoyable. That took me to about 3:45pm, so I brought the sheep up to the office then went to meet Fran and Ron since I’d be helping them lead Equinox. I already know them because they lead Orbit too. In Equinox we made puppets out of newspapers, which was both fun and frustrating since the newspaper kept ripping. But in the end we all had super cute puppets, so it was worth it.
Once that was done, I’d finished my day, but I had Orbit straight after so I just waited in the foyer.
I got here earlier than usual, at around 10am. I came into the office as usual and I started finishing off my blog for day 3. Lydia gave me my first task which was to start tallying up the comments of the surveys from all of the youth theatre groups (except Orbit). This took quite a while, and was pretty much what I did for the most of today. It was a bit boring at first, but once it was done it felt like a big achievement. Then at 12pm I went to watch the same show as yesterday, assisting the audience with the doors and lift. After that I went to have lunch at around 1pm, I went to this café nearby. I came at around 2pm, and I continued tallying up responses, eventually finishing all of them (like I said, this felt like a really big achievement, as if I’d won an Oscar). Then to top it all off, I finished off writing my theatre review, and I felt really proud and productive, so in the time I had left, I finished up my blog for today.
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