Chalk Talk: ‘I didn’t see that coming!’ High drama at Athboy CS

A VISIT from comedian and actor Bernard Casey gave TY students at Athboy Community School a chance to forget about being self-conscious, think on their feet and discover just how unpredictable drama can be. During the two-hour workshop, students worked through a series of acting and improvisation exercises, beginning with some warm-ups designed to get everyone comfortable performing in front of each other.

One challenge saw students trying to arrange themselves into a diagonal line, an S-shape and a triangle according to their birthdays, first names and even how far they lived from the school. Each shape was then given a number and students had to remember where to go when Bernard called them out at random. Things became considerably more imaginative from there.

Students were asked to use their bodies to create different objects, including a house and a piano. The house soon developed beyond four walls and a roof, with students adding furniture and even the people living inside, while others became the keys of a human piano.

Improvisation brought some of the biggest laughs of the workshop.

Working in groups, students had to invent a scene which finished with the line: “I didn’t see that coming.” One group staged a wake - only for it to turn out that they had the wrong person!

While there were plenty of laughs, the workshop also showed students how much acting depends on teamwork and being willing to have a go. The relaxed atmosphere made it easier to try out ideas without worrying if everything went exactly to plan and sometimes the things that went wrong provided the biggest laughs.

Bernard, who regularly travels to schools around the country delivering drama and improv workshops, clearly enjoys the sessions as much as the students.

“Absolutely love doing these drama and improv workshops,” he said. “Great energy, plenty of laughs, and brilliant to see students throwing themselves into it and getting so much out of the sessions.”

The Athboy students certainly threw themselves into theirs, with the workshop giving them a chance to experience drama away the usual classroom setting, while getting creative with their classmates and stepping outside their comfort zones.