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Scenes from a Quarantine
(how topical for the year of Covid 19 lockdown)
a vignette play in one act
by Lindsay Price
Workshop week
17 to 21 August 2020
Gosforth Public Hall
The workshop began on Mon 17th Aug and ran from 10 am to 4 pm daily. This was 2 weeks later than our normal week, while we waited for those very nice people at the Hall to prepare the venue for re-
We are GADS -
Monday 17 August 2020
After a slightly delayed start due to a lack of snack delivery (don’t worry, we sorted it in the end) we started the week with a lot of getting to know each other games. We learnt each others names, some facts (and some lies) about one another, what we loved/liked/loathed, and how well we can keep a straight face. Fact: some are MUCH better than others. Our breaks are a little different than previous workshops, but in the morning we enjoyed some lovely fresh fruit and juice cartons before -
Lunch was well earned and flew by, and before we knew it we were doing our first read through. This year’s script is called Scenes From A Quarantine and has been specifically written to be performed online. There was a lot of excitement when everyone realised how many parts are available! So we had a read, and over our afternoon break (of Freddos and Smarties to combat that mid-
Tuesday 18 August 2020
Tuesday was a wet start but it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm! We started with lots more games, many of them requested by the youngsters yesterday. More fruit, and then we started experimenting with our cameras, learning all about composition, camera angles and different types of shots. Lots of fun, lots of amazing (and not so amazing) photos in the practice session. They were then given a mini task of shooting a very simple story and playing with the things they had learned.
The afternoon was spent getting familiar with their scenes, scene mates and directors. Tomorrow we start shooting them, so they were thinking about how they were going to go about it. Then there was a well deserved chocolate break before more games and home. It’s busy but so much fun.
Oh, and just to keep things interesting, we had a fire drill in the morning too -
Wednesday 19 August 2020
Today felt like we did a lot and yet, not a lot. There was a lot of practicing lines and running scenes -
It was an arty day as well, with lots of things being made both on paper and on devices. All will become clear when the show is released on Saturday. As always we are being blown away by the creativity of our participants. Mary and Tosh have spent most of the week simply supervising the group -
Thursday 20 August 2020
It was a crazy busy start today. Almost all of the remaining scenes have now been filmed, and the group worked like heroes to rehearse and shoot everything they could. There was a lot of energy and hyperactivity, but it definitely worked in our favour in the morning.
So we celebrated with games. And more games. And a bit of devising, some improv and loads more games.
Just one more day to go, and we’re all a bit sad. So we ended the day by saying one positive thing about the week. Some highlights included ‘learning how to film and all about camera angles’, ‘making some new friends’, ‘being face to face with people again’, ‘feeling like things are normal again’, and best of all, ‘everything’.
What an amazing bunch of young people.
Friday 21 August 2020
And that’s a wrap. It’s been an absolutely amazing week with the kids once again surprising us with their hard work, their creativity and above all their resilience.
The hard work of the previous four days really paid off as we only had three short scenes to complete in the morning. After that it was games galore! We did silly games, serious games, improv games and even a game where the children, as celebrities, convinced us why we should let them into Heaven. Some great and very convincing arguments. And at the end of the day everyone helped clean the hall down ready for the next users -
It’s been a pleasure to be a part of this week with some of the most happy and polite young people in West Cumbria. From Mary and Tosh, we want to say thank you to all of the kids for making our week so enjoyable -
Until next year!
And there was a film of the production too.
But it was only avalable on YouTube for 3 months
Feedback from some of the parents and participants (but from GADS first)
We have run these workshops for over 10 years now -
It’s exhausting when there are only two adults! Definitely four or five is a better number, as it’s hard to police 15 kids potentially doing three or four things at once at the same time. Kids were fab though, and looking forward to the next one (Organiser).
It was amazing, everything was really well planned and it was a great week (Participant).
Both our children had a fantastic time, they were very excited to see their friends from previous GADS workshops and Tosh is so great engaging with them, and really getting them involved and boosting their confidence. The games and activities really helped them to burn off and express their pent up frustration from lockdown. Plus smarties were a great treat to keep them going. Many thanks to you all for continuing to provide a great week (Parent).
Both of our children had a wonderful time, many thanks to Tosh and Mary for running it this year. They really enjoyed the challenges this years workshop presented -
Our son had a wonderful time during his first GADS workshop. The sheer joy on his face when he woke up and knew he was going said it all. The GADS workshop seemed to heal him from the strain of locked-
The best bit about GADS is all the games we played (and the smarties!) (Participant).
It was fun, and I really enjoyed it. It was great to be able to meet people again, and it was the only drama work I have been able to do for months -
Our daughter has been bursting with excitement for tomorrow and tales of todays experiences, she's had a fantastic time, thanks to all involved (Parent -
Really well organised. I felt comfortable that you did everything you could to keep them safe without it dominating the week. She always came home happy and excited for the next day (Parent).
Great fun, loved seeing my friends, a fun filled week of activities (Participant).
Our daughter had a great time and couldn't wait to get there each day. She said Tosh was so much fun. And she really enjoyed doing the editing skills too -
Our daughter had a wonderful time. She was so excited to get there every day and loved every minute of it as ALWAYS (Parent).
And if you want to mark your diary for next year:
Week beginning Monday 2 August 2021