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BLOG – Reece

Half Moon are committed to providing quality work experience opportunities for those interested in a career in the arts and ask all of our students to write a blog about their time with us. Recently we welcomed Reece to Half Moon. Read on to find out what they got up to.

Reece’s Work Experience Blog

Day 1 – Monday 1 July 2024

When I arrived at the Half Moon Theatre, I pressed the buzzer and shortly after Lydia welcomed me in (I was about 5 minutes late, but no one seemed to mention it, so I knew I had to be early on Day 2). Once I was inside, I saw everyone sitting down having a meeting. I was a little confused as they were all talking about workshops and sharing’s that are going to take place in the subsequent term. When the meeting came to an end, I was introduced to everyone and then I got taken for a tour with Lydia (my favorite rooms was the red room since it had a piano and the green room because it looked so comfortable). When me and Lydia returned to the office, she gave me a folder which contained a work experience pack and my timetable, and she told me to read some blogs to influence mine and then it was my break

During my break I headed to the green room where I saw Rachael and the shortly after Ron entered then we had a brief conversation about basketball and then Rachael was speaking about how she brings her younger sister to Hyper Japan for her birthday. Then I left and took a walk to the local park and came back just on time.

At around 5:45pm, Lydia asked me to help her bring in props from the basement to the ground floor for the Solar Youth Theatre group to use later that day and then I made a sword template for them to use so they could trace over it if they needed. As soon as I finished the template it was around 6:20pm so the Solar group was starting to arrive. I got involved in the session because it looked fantastic. After the warmups, we did rehearsals I was in a group with three young people but one of them was working so hard she tired herself out, so I filled in for her in the run through at the end. Unfortunately, the session came to an end and I left to go home at around 8:45pm and couldn’t wait for what Day 2 would bring.

Day 2 – Tuesday 2 July 2024

I know I said I was going to come in early on Day 2, I barely even made it on time, but I wasn’t late. When I entered the office Lydia hadn’t come in yet, so Androulla told me what my tasks for the day were. She told me to start my blog (Day 1) and then choose a show to watch, I chose Hot Orange because it’s immersive and in my GCSE Drama course my show is going to be immersive as well. After choosing Hot Orange, I had my break in the green room, but I didn’t leave for a little walk due to the poor weather. After this I watched most of Hot Orange, then I read through the How to write a Critique for a Theatrical Performance document, so I would know what to look for in the play because I was clueless what I was answering to begin with. After this I helped Simon, Rachael, and Ron with Youth Theatre. During this session I got to watch so many amazing shows like ‘nightmares to dreams’, ‘super silly sneaky heist ‘, ’a blast from the past’, ‘the big bang‘ ‘the bad idea’ and ‘never suspected a lights out mystery‘. I also got to watch Emily do the lighting and the sound (this was a great experience because in my drama studio there’s a similar board to the one Emily was using. Towards the end Lunar (the older Youth Theatre group) started to enter to watch the plays as they had written them last term. Since Lunar came a little bit late the session got extended past 5:45pm but it was worth it.

Day 3 – Wednesday 3 July 2024

On Day 3 I arrived around the same time as Day 2 and again I entered the office to start my blog, but obviously for day 2. This time it was fuller then yesterday and so it felt like I was late. After I completed Day 2 of my blog, I finally started my review of Hot Orange. I had my break but this time I had a walk through the park and came back to watch an episode of my favourite show. I then came back in the office to start my blog and shortly had to switch computers since Saja came back to use hers, but because Malachi had left earlier I could used his computer. At 3:45pm I met the team for the 3rd Youth Theatre session of the week. I also watched Emily do the lights, so it was fun, and the performances were outstanding; I don’t know if they had names like Day 2’s group because they didn’t mention it. This session finished on time, so I headed back to the office after to attempt to finish my review on the show Hot Orange. I was so focused on finishing it Emily had to tell me it was already 6:05pm.

Day 4 – Thursday 4 July 2024

I arrived at the Half Moon 10 minutes early on Day 4 and I was pleased with my self because on all the other days I was coming exactly on time or a little late. I started my blog and shortly after my review on Hot Orange and while I was writing it someone walked through the door, and she looked familiar, but I couldn’t tell who it was. Then I realised that it was TATENDA NAOMI MATSVAI (!!!) but I didn’t say anything though because I was way too nervous especially while at the very same moment, I was critiquing their work. When I finished my review, I helped Lydia with putting surnames on the certificates which will be handed out at the Youth Theatre sharings next week. At 4pm I was helping in the Next Steps session which is the Year 6’s getting prepared for the transition to Year 7. The topic we were exploring was ‘how to be/stay safe online’ the group had already had basic knowledge on this matter, so it was fun. At the end of the session, we had to preform a short story about a person who meets up with someone he met with online. Since the session concludes at 6pm I went home after it was completed.

Day 5 – Friday 5 July 2024

Today the rain was horrendous when I left my house, I got completely drenched and had to turn back to change my clothes and retrieve my umbrella. Due to this I was about 10-15 minutes late and I had to go straight into the workshop because it just about to start. In the workshop I noticed I was the youngest person in the room,  I had to address the elephant in the room, so introduced myself to everyone and told them I was on work experience. In the workshop it was fun but at the start I felt a little bewildered as we were playing games and  they were making their own rules like adding additional sounds like ‘fireball’ and ‘water bucket’ and shouting them in silly voices was comedic. Unfortunately, I had to leave because I was only in the first half of the workshop because I had to finish this blog in the office. (I would have said ‘money calls’ but I don’t get paid for work experience; obviously 😒). When I finished Day 4 of my blog, I started on Day 5 and realised that my Day 1 was immensely bigger than Day 2, 3 and 4, so I knew I had to add some detail in Day 5. After my break I went back to the workshop but this time it was full of Year 5’s and the adults who I had met in the last session were supervising and taking notes. Some bits were funny, but I was trying to hold in my laugh because no one else was laughing and that would have just been awkward. When the Year 5’s left I went back into the office and Lydia told me to help fold up all the black clothes to prepare them for the sharing next week (8th July-12th July). I plugged in my earphones and got to work. After about half an hour I came back to the office to finish my blog. The time I spent at Half Moon was incredible and I would love to come back for some more experience but since my time here has expired it’s a big THANK YOU to everyone 👌

~Reece

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