Last week Year 9 students were treated to a performance and workshop by Reflex Theatre, called No Big Deal. The performance focussed on substance abuse, making the right choices and the consequences of actions. Owen and Poppi tell us all about the performance.
‘Today we had a visit from the Reflex Theatre who gave a performance on the dangers and consequences of drug use and how it can impact everyday life. We thoroughly enjoyed the performance and feel that we now are more informed and aware of the risks revolving around drugs.’
‘We followed the life of Matt, a schoolboy preparing for his GCSEs. We saw him face peer pressure from his friend Sean who encouraged Matt to stop being ‘Captain Boring’ and take drugs at parties. The performance was interactive so we, as the audience, got to decide the choices Matt made and then find out the consequences he would face.’
‘We followed Matt as he became more involved in the drug scene and frequently contacted a dealer named Mel. We learnt about Mel’s story and how her challenging childhood resulted in her bad decisions later on in her life. Matt became addicted to the drugs and severe consequences followed. Our choices during the performance heavily affected how serious the consequences were.’
‘After the performance we split into smaller groups to take part in workshops based on the performance. My group then played a game where we had to decide whether the statements about drug use were true or false and after hearing the information in the performance, we did this very well. We then went off into smaller groups again and had a workshop about the importance of knowing how to stay safe, recognise different scenarios involving drugs and how to take action to help others. We learnt about how drugs affect the brain and how someone can get over an addiction.’
‘We then all gathered back into the hall for the final part of the production where we saw the characters a year later after the initial performance and found out how their lives had changed. We had plenty of opportunities to ask questions throughout and we found out lots of information overall, it was a great experience!’
A big thank you to the Reflex Theatre group for putting on this powerful performance and workshop.
