Spotlight on new placement: Sally
When I first walked into Face Front, I was nervous. Everything felt new and unknown to me. Although I have previously completed placements in SEN school settings, this is my first time working with an inclusive theatre company, so I wasn’t completely sure what to expect or what my role would look like.
My name is Sally, and I am currently a third-year student at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, studying BA Drama, Applied Theatre and Education. Over the next few months, I will be doing my placement with Face Front Inclusive Theatre and working with a range of different groups.
One thing that has stood out most so far is how different every session can be. My previous placement experiences have mainly been within SEN school settings, whereas at Face Front I can meet and work with people across different age groups. Every group has its own energy, personalities and ways of participating, and I am slowly learning how to adapt to each new space.
At the beginning, one of my biggest questions was quite simple: what does it mean to support someone in an inclusive theatre session?
I sometimes wonder whether I should step in, observe, join an activity or give someone more space. As a placement student, it can be tempting to feel that you always need to be visibly “doing” something to be useful. But through my first few sessions, I have started to realise that supporting someone doesn’t always mean leading an exercise or having all the answers. Sometimes it can simply mean being present, joining in, responding to what someone offers and building a connection with them.
One moment that has really stayed with me happened after a DDM session. At the end of the session, several of the young people came up to me and told me that I was nice, that they liked having me there and that they hoped I would be back the following week. It was such a small and unexpected moment, but it meant a lot to me. Until then, part of me had been wondering whether I was contributing enough. That moment made me realise that making a difference doesn’t always have to look big. Sometimes being someone that a participant feels comfortable with and is happy to see again can mean something too.
And luckily, there is still so much more to come!
Over the next few months, I will continue working with different Face Front groups, join some of the It’s My Move school tour, and be involved with the Blue Sky Actors’ pantomime. Towards the end of my placement, I will also have the opportunity to lead a Bridge Group session myself. Right now, the idea of leading my own session feels both exciting and slightly terrifying, but I am really interested to see how much my understanding of inclusive facilitation will have changed by the time I get there.
If there is one thing my first experiences at Face Front have taught me, it is that not knowing exactly what is going to happen isn’t necessarily something to be nervous about. Sometimes the unexpected moments are the ones that stay with you the most.
And I’m starting to think that maybe not knowing what will happen next is part of what makes Face Front so exciting.
