Conversations, dispatches and ideas from the Bush Theatre.
Cat took part in a week of work experience at the Bush Theatre. She’s a member of our community company The Neighbourhood Project. Here she tells us a little bit about her first encounter with a theatre office.
My first encounter with Bush Theatre was at its original building where the first Neighbourhood Project took place, organised and produced by the amazing Amanda Castro [Community Producer at the Bush]. I was blessed with the opportunity to be a part of this life changing performance, which gave me insight to acting. During these workshops we worked from stimulus, which made us think about the stories which make up our lives and our culture, which makes us. This developed into a script which was later performed at the BBC. It helped me make new connections and has opened doors for me in the world of theatre.
Since then, I have done a week work placement at the Bush Theatre office; this phenomenal experience gave me insight to every possible career within theatre. During my time here I was a part of admin, production, community, marketing and literary teams . I was even working with the General Assistant at the construction site of the Bush Theatre.
I was given the opportunity to read plays, write reviews and suggest whether or not they should be performed at the Bush. This lead on to me writing workshop plans for children based on the plays; and for World Book Day I designed a lesson plan based on a book. Moreover, I was able to draft a schedule for the reopening day of the theatre (18 Mar 2017). This included organising a ribbon cutting, finding acts, arranging a taster time for the new menu, and planning what art and sculptures would be around for the exhibition. This helped my organisation and research skills.
I would highly recommend the Bush Theatre’s work experience to anyone; the team is exceptionally friendly and they are full of enthusiasm. I would like to thank all the team for allowing me to be a part of the family, especially Amanda Castro who gave me this remarkable opportunity. Despite the fact my work experience is over, I am sure to keep in touch with the theatre and hopefully be involved in other projects in the near future.
