Drama Students at St Mary’s Invited to Blog for International Media

Drama students at St Mary’s University, Twickenham have been invited to work with the Global South African Newsletter, documenting their forthcoming trip to work with communities in South Africa. In April and September, second and third year students from St Mary’s Drama and Applied Theatre undergraduate programme will visit Durban in South Africa to work with local communities by facilitating a variety of drama workshops over the course of a fortnight. The programme will see them perform a piece of forum theatre exploring gender roles in the UK, along with a devised pieces with Durban school children, based on the stories of South African writer Gcina Mhlophe. The annual trip offers students the opportunity to take their learning and apply it in a completely different setting. It also demonstrates the impact that applied theatre can have on local communities. This year, it has attracted the attention of the Global South African Newsletter, which has invited students to blog, v-log and engage in social media with its readers. With rehearsals for the first trip well underway, the first v-log will see students record a personal monologue about their hopes, concerns, training and expectations of the forthcoming trip. The annual trip is organised by St Mary’s Senior Drama Lecturer Matthew Hahn, whose research includes his verbatim theatre play The Robben Island Bible, which explores the power of Shakespeare’s words as a site for the political resistance with many of the anti-apartheid prisoners incarcerated on the island in the 70s and 80s. Matthew said, “The build up to the trip is always an exciting time. This year even more so as the students will be commenting on their preparation for the trip via new media. I look forward to their posts whilst they are in South Africa and to hear how they are applying their training.” To see the student blogs, please visit the Theatre for Development and change at St Mary's website.