Why go to drama workshops during the school holidays instead of going abroad? Alex Forde-Erskine reports on two drama workshops in Oxfordshire aimed at young people. 
Creation and Stagecoach, both run during courses in Oxfordshire mainly during the school holidays. The courses last a week and end with a performance on the Friday. The courses build confidence and we meet and work with new and interesting people.
Stagecoach is a popular and exciting group. They create one big play with bigger and smaller parts. There is also a bit of singing and dancing. We’re divided by age into three groups. The eldest group, teenagers up to fifteen tend to get the main parts. The middle group aged 9-12 get few main parts but are mainly extras, and the youngest children, aged from seven to nine, get mostly extra parts and only a few scenes. The plays are written specially for the group, so that even a large cast ends up with a bold and brilliant play for all ages.
Stagecoach is a good place for children who may be nervous about acting in the sense that parts are varied with both big and small parts. If you’ve never tried acting before you’ll get loads of encouragement and maybe move on to a bigger part next time. I have been in two Stagecoach plays: one a modern version of “The Ugly Duckling” in which I was a duckling and a froglet, and the other a spoof of “Romeo and Juliet” named “Robots and Juliet” in which I was an outcast robot.
Stagecoach do not always perform in the same place but move around, mostly using theatre facilities in local schools. We get the experience of playing on a proper stage with and lighting and using stage make up.
Creation is very different from Stagecoach because the inventing and script writing are done by the cast. Unlike Stagecoach, which create one big play, Creation divides into smaller groups. We get a basic idea of what the plays are going to be about then start work. The teachers write the script based on our ideas in about the first two days and the we take it over from there.
The plays are always imaginative and fun packed and very varied: I have been a foreign girl who was burnt in a fire who has to spend Christmas in hospital; a school bully, and most recently, part of a pirate crew.
For the final performance, we provide our own costumes and make-up and, of course help each other out with suitable props. None of the costumes are specially made because there's not much time. The plays take place in the BMW plant in Oxfordshire. The auditorium is a flat surface with a semicircle of seats sloping upwards for the audience, with excellent lighting equipment that the staff control during the performance. Creation is not really a place for a person who would is nervous about acting as the parts are all fairly equal. But if you are really enthusiastic and want to learn, it is a brilliant place.
So there you have it, two wonderful drama courses that are worth it every time. So why are you still on that sofa?