Session 8 - Performance Concepts with Stephen Burke at 41 Monkgate Studio Theatre

Session Aims:

• Offer and share stories
• Learn and practice performance skills
• Develop performance confidence

RARPA Statement:
"I can develop a performance concept for use in the film production"

The group were asked to respond to the statement, the Green marks show how the group felt at the start of the session and the Brown marks show how they felt at the end.

For this session the group were joined by experienced and respected Theatre Director and Performance Artist Stephen Burke.

Stephen's session was all about taking the creative elements of the poetry session and other creative elements from the campaign so far and giving the group the chance to use a theatre space to bring movement and life to the images in preparation for the film production.

Stephen began with a number of warm-up activities which were designed to encourage the group to use space and movement. Time was also dedicated to the idea of narratives and stories and how a story can be owned and respectfully 'borrowed' or taken by someone else to create a different feel. These exercises illustrated the depth of personal stories and how they can be used to strike an audience with the key messages of the campaign.


Stephen then led the group through an activity where they would consider location, delivery and audience experience by presenting the poetry from Dani's session in places outside the theatre setting. Each group set up their scene and led the rest of the crew to discover the scene approaching it on foot whilst another group member read out the poem. The results helped to shape the crew's understanding of how scenes could impact on the viewer's experience.



Finally the group worked with Stephen to present another of their ideas from a previous session. The idea is all about how numbers represent each of them and their experiences. To find out more about their idea you'll have to watch the final film...!


The group worked hard all day and have now got a good head of steam going into the final session before production begins. Of course amongst all the high quality work and artistic commitment, it wouldn't be Young Carers Revolution if there wasn't loads of fun to be had along the way...