Shrewsbury school pupils debut thought-provoking show created as part of pioneering new drama project

The initiative at Prestfelde Preparatory School in Shrewsbury has seen the creation of what the school said is the first 'multi-school theatre project' in Shropshire.

Final rehearsals took place this week ahead of the debut show to schools in the Severn Bridges Multi-Academy Trust on Wednesday morning, which will be followed by a tour around other schools in the region.

Year Seven pupils who are involved will perform in front of more than 500 people.

The Prestfelde Theatre Company launched last autumn. Led by Prestfelde's head of drama, Liberty Griffin, the company has created a thought-provoking performance inspired by themes from the Key Stage Two (KS2) curriculum framework.

Year Seven students from the school have worked together since October to create a 16-minute long production focused on cyber-bullying that they will go on to perform in front of children of a similar age at schools around the county. 

Pupils have created everything themselves, from the characters and stories to the monologues, songs, and the creation of a guitar piece.

Although the project has been running since October, Liberty said the group has only had three days together to construct the show. 

Pupils had days together in October and November, and then met for their final rehearsals on Tuesday before the debut performance on Wednesday.

"This has been an incredible journey for everyone involved," said Liberty. "Watching our pupils grow in confidence, creativity, and teamwork has been truly inspiring. 

"The Prestfelde Theatre Company is a celebration of what young people can achieve when given the opportunity to shine. We can't wait to share this performance with the community."

She continued: "It was created as part of Prestfeld’s centenary strategy so we are really looking at community partnerships and the ways that we can work with other schools. As a drama teacher, for me, that always involves performing, so I wanted to create a piece of work that was created by the pupils and was for other pupils.

"What I did was look at the KS2 PSHE curriculum and gently nudged pupils towards picking one of those. The piece they have picked is about cyber-bullying which we know is a really big hot topic at the moment, and there are lots of themes of mental health.

"So with a lot of the pupils coming to watch, it is specifically targeted for their age group as a PSHE focus."

The company's inaugural tour will visit schools across the county this week, giving audiences a chance to witness the results of months of hard work and collaboration.

The production of the show has taught pupils several new skills and provided them with an opportunity to spend more time doing drama than they would during their day-to-day lessons. 

"For our pupils it has given them experience in decision making, directing, writing, they have been able to say yes and no, they have voted, they have collaborated in a completely different way than what we have time for in lessons," added Prestfelde's Head of Drama.

"We only have 40 minute lessons so it is a very short and sharp project a lot of the time, but this is completely different. 

"They have taken complete ownership of every aspect of it. Even one of our pupils 3D printed prop phones for us!"