A blog to stop you being 'BORED'

6 March 2017

By Abbie Thomson, first year

At the start of this academic year, my Drama teacher, Liz, told my class that the College was working with Merseyside Police to create a story that would inspire young people to not be involved with antisocial behaviour. I was hesitant at first, due to me not knowing a lot about the matter, but the first rehearsal gripped me, and I wanted to get involved.

Learning the hard facts about how many people in the UK are affected by antisocial behaviour each year made me think about how many people lives I could impact with a 20 minute play.

The cast of 'BORED' look out onto the audience at the Floral Pavilion

Coming up with a script was difficult at first, however, when we met Baroness Newlove, the UK’s Crime Commissioner, her story on how antisocial behaviour affected her and her family inspired us all to figure out what essential scenes we should include to make to play a success. We decided to call the play 'BORED'.

On the day of our first performance in December, I wasn’t too sure if there was going to be a huge audience. I had self-doubt that the play may not changing anyone’s mind and how they act sometimes. The positive atmosphere from the cast calmed me down a lot and I was just going to do my best. Walking out in front of so many young people gave me a boost to just go for it, and when the play finished, the reaction out of everyone was so great, and I was so proud to be a part of such an inspiring project.

Abbie in action during a dress rehearsal at the Floral Pavilion

Meeting all the police officers that were saying that we did such a good job with the project made me feel proud to be a part of it all. Having a conversation with Pete Price about my career was also a highlight!

The police organised the play to be performed in the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton to an even bigger audience (over 750), which got me and the cast so excited. We all knew that it could impact even more lives and make a real difference. Going back to rehearsals after the Christmas holiday was great. We all wanted to include a couple more scenes so that the play would have even more depth to it.

The day of the second performance, I was buzzing that we could perform it all again and there were posters all over the Floral Pavilion that had my face on, which was so surreal!

After the performance, the reaction from the crowd made everything worthwhile. It was a really big achievement to have the opportunity to change the way the audience sees the world, and how I see the world.