TaPS THEATRE TRIP TO LONDON!

We left on the 7th of October and came back on te 11th. It was an amazing trip! I learnt SO much, I realised so many about theatre and how to reflect and improve on my work. I met so people who became close friends over just aperiod of three days.We had a lot in common and we were all put into the position to make friends anyway haha!

Sunday 7th-
This day we flew and it was our first afternoon and night in London. We went to see a dance theatre production called "Some like it Hip-Hop by Zoonation. I was definitely in my element watching this as I am a dancer. The story was being told through hip-hop dance. It was amazing to understand so clearly a whole story without actors having any dialogue. The only dialogue in the play was by the narrator who spoke about the change of scenes and background stories of some main characters. The whole performance was exciting and there was so much energy. I was so excited to understand the story more but I understand that it was a modern take by using hip-hop on an old story. I absoulutly loved this performance, i couldn't stop smiling throughout the whole show.

Monday 8th-
Today we started our TaPS workshop at 9am. I was a little nervous because i had no idea what we were going to do and who I was going to be with. We then got put into a group that I absoulutly loved. Our leaders taught us the four main things they constantly wanted flowing through the room during the workshop. These four words were Momentum, Energy, Risk and Joy. We began with activites that would raise these words in the room and break the ice between everybody. We did plenty of fun theatre activities and games to get energy up. A main thing I learnt on our first day is what I am as a theatre student and what aspect of the IB learner profile do I want to improve most in theatre class. I realised that I was more of a designer and I wanted to take more risks in theatre class.
A theatre aspect that I learnt about was Lineals. I had never heard of lineals before in drama and i really liked using them whilst performing. Having a thought being said outloud behind the actor, I thought added a very interesting and funny twist to a story that could be boring.

At night we went to see a theatre production called "Oh, the Humanity". The play was about problems and emotions faced in adulthood and trying to find the answers to these problems but really the answers are not found. I did find some of the dialogue quite boring in the performance but I was very interested in the technical aspects like the use of lighitng for cameras. 

Tuesday 9th-
We began with doing activities to get spirits up. We spoke about an practise called flairs which is repeating over and over the same movement and sound of a character. We did lots of activities on these and freezeframes. In the afternoon we had a masterclass on Immersive Theatre. Our class already knew about the basics as we had a presentation from bekki. We made up short performances and had a member of our ensemble that was not in our group to play a role on the spot in the performance. It was interesting to hear their reactions, mostly they were confused as they didn't know how to react to actors talking to them.
At night time we went to see the production "One Man, Two Guvernors". I LOVED this play. It was hilarious. It was taken from Comedia Del Arte and was very slapstick. There was no fourth wall which improved the comedy more.

Wednesday 10th-

Today was our last day in TaPS, i was SO sad :'( I really didn't want to leave. We learnt about levels of tension by pretending there was a bomb in the room. Everyone really got into it on their own and it was interesting to see how comfortble everyone was acting. We had a long talk about PPP and it gave me a lot more help that will come in handy for next year.
At night we saw a production called "Damed by Despair', the play was very grim. At the beginning it was very boring but it gradually got more and more interesting as it went on. There was some dark humour in the play but i didn't really find it funny as I thought it killed the dark atmosphere at times and made it difficult to get back into the humour. 










Thursday 11th- 
Today we left London and I really didn't want to! We had a little tour of London just before we left which was nice.
In all, I can defintely say that I learnt A LOT about the IB theatre course. I learnt A LOT about myself as a theatre student and I learnt A LOT about theatre in general. My confidence as an actor has improved and I made incredible friends and memories. 
I wannaaaa go back :'(