Exeter Scholars

Posted by jgprimro

2 April 2025

On the 1st April the Department welcomed 30 Year 12 Exeter Scholars to Thornlea for the afternoon. As part of the University of Exeter’s Widening Participation programmes, Exeter Scholars is for students year 10 to year 13 giving them a taste of University life and an insight into Exeter’s faculties and departments.

After registering in Thornlea the students were split into two groups ready to participate in two 45 minute workshops led by Nikki Sved and Dr Wendy Hubbard. Both workshops gave the students a realistic and insightful taste into our department and a chance to participate in some Drama.

Storytelling with Nikki

In TS1 Nikki led an introductory workshop all about stories and storytelling. She invited the students to think about what stories do we choose to tell? What stories are important to us? What happens when we tell our own story vs someone else’s? The workshop started off by everyone getting to know each other, sharing a small detail that reminds them of home and warming up their bodies. The students were invited to start creating their own stories using a yes and improvisation technique, co-creating fictional stories together whilst also starting to develop a key improvisation technique. The students also got the chance to tell a story of their own, something from their own lives, to a partner and a bigger group. As a group they reflected on what it means to tell a story that is part of you and how it made them feel. They observed the specific gestures, movements and details of each other’s physicality whilst telling a story. Nikki shared that when you tell one of your own stories you can observe concrete, specific detail and gestures and place the person within the story. The storytelling marries the content being told and the person telling the story. This is something unique to telling our own stories and not something we always get when telling other people’s stories. The students were so brave and generous with their contributions to this workshop, they got stuck in to all the exercises and observed and listened to each other with so much care. It was really lovely to see the group bond over this workshop and get a taster in storytelling.

Post Dramatic Theatre with Wendy

Over in TS2 the students got a different flavour of Drama at Exeter with Wendy. This was an exciting workshop that covered many different aspects of practice. The workshop started checking in with each other and warming up around the room in their bodies ready to begin. There was a focus on listening and responding to your own body, moving how your body needs and wants to be moved. The workshop progressed into experimenting with voice, going up and down different registers. It then progressed into thinking about the voice and body together, different sounds with different parts of the body. The students also experimented with Butoh by withering and blooming. They took doing this practice really well and really focused on the concept of staying in tune with your body and growing. They delved into so much different practice and took it all in their stride. In the latter half of the workshop the students explored Post Dramatic Theatre. It opened questions such as what do we enjoy looking at on stage? Is it morally and ethically right to look at some of the images we see on stage? The students looked at a number of images and were given a list of Post Dramatic images and got to come up with how they could be staged and what would come next. Overall, the students did really well to throw themselves into some new practice and experiment and share ideas and it was really lovely to share some of this with them.

After the workshops the whole cohort went on a tour around Thornlea visiting the studios, the costume and workshop facilities and the screening room. They had the opportunity to speak to the tech team, ask any questions and learn about life more broadly studying Drama as a student at Exeter.

Having the opportunity to bring some of The Exeter Scholars to the department was a really lovely opportunity to inspire young people at school to get involved in the arts, help it seem less daunting and create with them. They brought lots of creativity, energy, open mindedness and generosity to the department. It was a really lovely afternoon connecting the department to the wider community.