SENIOR SCHOOL
Melbourne Arts Tour
Five Year 10 and 11 drama students attended the fabulous
Melbourne Arts Tour in the April school holidays with Ms
Diamond, Head of Arts/Drama, and 63 students from
Churchlands Senior High School, John Septimus Roe
Anglican School, Mercy College and John XXIII.
The boys took part in daily drama workshops conducted
by industry practitioners at the Melbourne Theatre
Company. The Melbourne Theatre Company is a
professional theatre company that has been running since
1953. Not only does the company produce outstanding
world class theatre but it also has a burgeoning education
program; it is this education program that offers a week
of intensive workshops focusing specifically on the WA
and Victorian drama syllabus.
Most powerfully, the
students constantly needed
to work from an authentic
space or sense of self, to
be open, non-judgemental,
honest, and sensitive from
moment to moment.
This year’s theme was ‘Turning Points’, and students
were taken through many different processes arising
from this theme; exercises in centering, deep focus,
self-awareness, working with a partner in movement and
dialogue sequences, working with emotional, visual and
literary imagery, ensemble skills, and building relationships
through physical and imaginative tasks. Most powerfully,
the students constantly needed to work from an authentic
space or sense of self, to be open, nonjudgemental, honest, and sensitive from
moment to moment.
The workshops culminated with a shared
performance that was extremely moving
to watch. On the free days, the group
visited the National Arts Gallery of Victoria,
The Centre for the Moving Image and the
incredible Dreamworks exhibition. Each
night was a new culinary experience with
international food from Japanese to Turkish,
visits to Starbucks and eating freshly cooked
pancakes on Swanston Street. The boys
also enjoyed some sensational theatre and
comedy performances, the performance by
Australian comedian Frank Woodley being
one of the week’s hilarious highlights.
Ms Jane Diamond
Head of the Arts Faculty
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