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Theatre group gets youngsters involved as Weekend Project continues

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Published: 03/03/2009


One year group from King Richard School in Paulsgrove became part of an innovative project aimed at driving home the messages about underage drinking last week.

On Wednesday, February 25, Year 9 pupils gathered to watch an hour long performance where two 15-year-old girls decided to get drunk.

They made cocktails of their own invention and invited over a 17-year-old boy they had met previously. The girls get very drunk and one passes out on the sofa, while the other ends up sleeping with the boy – who her friend has a crush on.

The friend later runs out on discovering what has happened and, in her intoxicated state, runs into the road and is hit by a passing car, breaking her leg in three places.

The girl has to go to the police after her mum finds out what she did with the boy, and she also has to take emergency contraception, as well as catching Chlamydia.

The play was staged by a group of four actors from the Solomon Theatre Company; Forest Paget, Hepzi Roe, Dylan Tate and Rebecca Hack, who have travelled the county delivering similar performances with continued success.

After the play the three young actors remained in character and the audience were broken into three groups, and were each given the opportunity to question them on their actions, and discuss what they think should have been done instead.

The students were vocal in their opinions on what they had seen and openly questioned the actions of the actors in the story, and though the majority of the audience admitted having drunk alcohol themselves, they were sensible in their reasoning and ideas on what they would have done.

This activity was part of the ongoing Weekend Project, launched in Paulsgrove in January, where the police, council, trading standards, and support organisations such as Motiv8 are working together to educate young people and their parents and carers about the dangers of drinking underage, as well as enforcing the laws around the issue.

This work includes test purchase operations at local shops, seizing alcohol from under 18s and informing their parents, working in schools in the area and a public awareness campaign.

Inspector Eddie Charlton, who leads the Safer Neighbourhoods teams for Cosham, said, “This kind of activity compliments the work that we do in enforcing the law relating to underage drinking, teaching young people the risks of drinking alcohol, and it’s important in ensuring our message is heard and understood.”

 


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