30 pupils from years 7 to 9 performed in an immersive cinema experience at the Barbican, as part of the British Film Institute’s Gothic season, based on the film ‘The Innocents’. This involved a series of workshops which led to them performing an immersive theatre piece (which means the audience are interacted with by the actors and walked through a series of locations, making them a part of the story) where they became characters from the film to bring the audience into that world.
|
The pupils were utterly incredible in this, working with audiences that were largely sixth formers and performing in character without any fear of the older children. A real highlight of this was when the pupils lined the walkway from the Barbican Centre to the cinema, creating creepy statues and humming the nursery rhyme ‘Weeping Willow’- frightening members of the public as well as the audience (see video below). They created a really effective atmosphere and were so impressive in performance that the staff at the Barbican wanted to know which ‘Drama School’ they were from, only to be shocked when they found out the pupils weren’t professionals child actors.
|