Inverness College UHI students encourage schoolchildren to act on safety issues

A group of 27 Inverness College UHI students put their new-found acting skills to good use recently by providing primary school children with educational performances on how to handle safety issues such as bullying and discrimination.

The HNC Acting and Performance students used recent child safety statistics as inspiration in devising, producing and performing a hard-hitting Theatre in Education presentation for Year 7 pupils from Culbokie School a part of their Community Theatre project.

Taking account of the 5 to 14 school curriculum, the students were split into four groups, each preparing 15-minute scripts on issues including bullying, discrimination, internet stalking and road safety before performing them live for Culbokie School pupils.

The presentations were performed in a promenade format, which sees each performance group set up in situ and, instead of having the performers move, it is the audience which moves round to take in each theatrical piece. Not only does this provide an enhanced setting for each performance, but it also actively promotes audience participation.

At the conclusion of the performance at Midmills Theatre, the  students conducted a question and answer session, encouraging the schoolchildren to openly talk about issues which have affected them and to highlight the best ways to tackle such safety issues if and when they may arise.     

Alan Watters, Acting Performance Lecturer, said: “The students worked tirelessly on this project with the aim to create the most educational yet enteraining performances for the children at Culbokie School whilst also taking the opportunity to showcase the skills they have learned on the Acting and Performance Course thus far.

“The great thing about the Community Theatre projects is that they benefit both the schools and students. The schools can build theatre into the children’s curriculum free of charge whilst the Inverness College students can hone their skills and fulfil their course curriculum at the same time.”

Earlier in the academic year, the same group of students performed as part of the Halloween Island project, Malice in Wonderland, another set of 15-minunte theatrical presentations as part of a wider outdoor production.