Devising Creative Theatre – Brief Encounter

Adam Milford of Theatre Workout believes that Drama teachers and students should have more resources available to them after seeing a West End production. More often than not, schools will see a show and then when they return to the classroom there is nothing available to help them explore the production.

This Theatre Workout guide looks at ‘devising original theatrical performances’ inspired by Kneehigh Theatre and Noel Coward's Brief Encounter.

The exercises are quite generic, which is useful as you may have various members of staff delivering this and not everyone will have seen the show. On the other hand, I would argue that a teaching resource based on a particular play should delve more thoroughly into the text and its themes than this resource actually does. I don't think you need a page explaining who Kneehigh are if you're going to see one of their shows. This is information which could be easily found out. It might prove useful as a handout to younger students, but I think that a teaching resource should focus on ideas and classroom exercises, alongside practical workshops.