Chortlon Arts Festival Workshops 2012

After performing at Chorlton Arts Festival 2011, Aqueous Humour were invited back to be part of the schools programme for 2012. They run a series of workshops and performances in the Blue Box Theatre at Chorlton High School for pupils at the school and from local primary schools. We worked with kids from Chorlton Church of England Primary.

Tom  from Aqueous Humour explored drama games and improvisation with Year 1. Quite a change from the KS3 kids we have been working with. It was a delightful afternoon filled with fun and noise. Intrigued to discover many didn’t know what eye colour their own eyes were when asked to get into groups. Mild chaos & confusion ensued but they worked it out in the end by all working together. Enjoyed making images in groups but everyone wanted to be eyes in the face task. In one group nobody would back down so one boy suggested that they become a ‘3 eyed alien’. Well, Tom never said what kind of face. Tom felt it was a really successful session especially at the end when they thanked him with an en-masse hug/rugby tackle requesting him as their new teacher – aw, bless.

I made alien masks with Year 4. Aliens are good fun as can go mad with colour and texture and shape and antennae and tentacles etc. I worked with them in small groups to create the base masks while they drew some designs. It’s important to create a design however quick & rough to help get ideas going and make decisions. This leads to faster more confident work once you get to the making stage with less mistakes. Once they transferred their designs to the masks, they used tissue paper to colour them and ribbons, pipe-cleaners, sequin waste, wool etc to decorate them. They created a fabulously imaginative array of colourful aliens.

Chorlton Church of England School should be proud of their pupils. They were a delight to work with and created some fantastic work. Thanks also to Chorlton High School for lending us their arts ambassadors to give a hand with the workshops, I hope they enjoyed themselves too. The Blue Box Theatre was a lovely (though a bit hot) space to run workshops in and hope to return in the future with a performance.