On July 17, 2024, the L4PC team spent the day at a secondary school in East London, holding interactive workshops for Key Stage 3 (Year 7, 8 and 9) students. The workshops facilitated by the theatre-maker Osama Al-Azza, focused on exploring emotions surrounding loss, love, and solidarity. Over the course of the day, three groups of 15 students each participated in 90-minute sessions that combined drama, storytelling, and group discussions to encourage creative expression and personal reflection.
The workshops began with a series of warm-up exercises aimed at helping the students become comfortable with their peers and more open to expressing their emotions. These exercises also introduced the students to basic theatrical techniques, encouraging physical movement, vocal expression, and improvisation.
As the sessions progressed, the students were tasked with creating short skits, which served as the culminating activity of the workshop. These skits were focused on imagining how they would feel if they lost something or someone they loved most. They were also asked to think about the type of solidarity they would seek or offer to others in such a situation. Through this creative process, the students were invited to tap into their personal experiences and feelings, as well as empathize with the experiences of others.
Working in small groups, they brainstormed storylines, developed characters, and rehearsed scenes before performing them in front of their peers. What you see on this page, is their ideas around the themes of loss and solidarity.
These workshops were made possible through funding from the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) Critical Area Studies grant.
