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Home arrow News arrow LiveEd News arrow My Body, My Voice. 11th June 2007
My Body, My Voice. 11th June 2007 PDF Print E-mail

Jessica and Lianne performing in a Newham school
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A wonderful achievement! Over 600 Yr 9 students in Newham have watched the production of ‘My Body, My Voice’ this month, as part of the second phase of this project. Valerie and Barnabas from Namibia joined forces with Jessica, Gopal, Charles, Jamilla and Leanne to perform a strong piece of Forum Theatre, raising awareness of issues of sexual health and early teenage pregnancy, Ray Downing, the director wrote:

” This play highlighted that theatre can be a force for change and education. It was educational, informative and exciting. The audience were totally engaged throughout the performance and forum”

Musa nad Bruce performing in a newham school
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An example of some of the comments from Yr 9 students  are,

“I liked everything, because it really helped me to think about it”.

“Brilliant stuff. Excellent Actors. It gave me new ideas, new information. They had beautiful voices”.

“I liked the songs and drama techniques. There was lots of information and the performance was really good”.

One adult audience member write, “This was the best performance I have seen addressing the very taboo subject of sexual health!”.

Andi Smith, Head of CPD for teachers sent this by email:

“What a performance. Please pass on  to the actors and crew concerned  my thanks appreciation in what can be described an an outstanding piece of educational theatre!”

The performers taking part all agreed the international exchange element has been really powerful. Jessica Frimpong Manso wrote:

“We were able to work with people that w wouldn’t normally get to share our ideas and collaborate with. We also got to see the parallels between both cultures first hand.”

Valerie performing in a Newham school
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Valerie wrote: “ …you learn a lot from each other. I also benefited in the sense that I got to see London and the beautiful architecture and my perspective of people’s behaviour has broadened”.

All in all, a huge success, thanks to the commitment, support and funding from 2012 Citizens, Healthy Schools, and the LiveEd team.

We look forward to the next phase, where the team hopes to film and produce an Educational film of the play and forum, as a resource for teachers in UK and Namibia, as well as other parts of the world.
Last Updated ( Jun 12, 2007 at 08:27 PM )