Students Experiences of the ISTA Drama Workshop

Last week, 20-22 October, the International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA) held a three-day online workshop where a group of TISB’s IGCSE Drama and IBDP Theatre students participated. The workshop was done in small groups of two or three students, focusing on techniques, such as movement and action, monologues and exploring how to use props and facial expressions. All the students enjoyed the experience and saw a great potential for how to include this in the IGCSE and IBDP Drama and Theatre studies. We got ahold of Sneha from Grade 11 and Rhiya from Grade 9, to learn more about the workshops and their impressions.  

I could really connect the syllabus with my IB syllabus – Sneha, Grade 11 

The workshops were carried out by Ms Claudia Kennedy and Ms Fenella Kelly from ISTA. Students took part in empty and cleared classrooms at TISB. During the first day the workshop explored Laban’s technique, including variations in direction, speed, weight and tension. The second day focused on ‘Rakugo’, a form of Japanese verbal entertainment with one person playing all the parts. The final day brought together learnings from the previous days and analysed performances and how to bring them into planning and directing.  

Having been in lockdown and online learning for such a long time, students both found it a bit difficult and very entertaining to be physically active in large and open rooms. “Because we had to do a lot of physical movements and it’s a little hard to get used to – getting out of your comfort zone and just being yourself”, says Sneha, who took part in the last physical ISTA workshop before the pandemic. “As every day we had a warm-up session and then we progressed with the next part, that really helped me”, says Rhiya, who first felt awkward acting alone in a room in front of a computer, but who after a while had her confidence boosted. 

I did the workshop and when it had finished, it exceeded my expectations a lot – Rhiya, Grade 9 

Both Rhya and Sneha found the workshop very useful for their studies. Sneha felt that there were connections to be made between the ISTA workshop and her IBDP Theatre studies: “We have something called the ‘Directors Notebook’ in IB, so we write about all the aspects of theatre, depending on our performance. So, I could relate to that and actually see what I wanted to do with my performance as a director.” Rhiya agrees and found it being both informative and beneficial to her practice. “Especially the second day, which included somewhat of a monologue style of acting, will be very useful for me”, says Rhiya who is doing IGCSE Drama and the monologue part of her course at the moment. 

Having experienced the online workshop, both Rhiya and Sneha are looking forward to a chance of doing it in real life. Sneha was part of the physical workshop before the pandemic. “I felt that it was a little bit more interactive offline, because we could actually be there with the teacher”, says Sneha who enjoyed visiting the workshop and physical places and getting to know more about the culture. Rhiya is hoping to be there in person next year. “Hopefully we get to go there offline, and I get to meet new people – like actual people from different schools.” 

For more information about the organisation and available courses, visit the ISTA website.