We've been lucky enough to have Jane with us at Theatre Hullabaloo for a week on work experience. In our latest blog, she gives her thoughts on being an honorary member of the Theatre Hullabaloo team.
When choosing my work experience, it was actually my teacher who told me about Theatre Hullabaloo. I want to work with children in the future, so it’s been really interesting to find out more about the children’s theatre and its work as a charity helping the community. I used to go to theatre shows when I was a little kid – I went to see Mamma Mia, and The Lion King in London, which I loved.
Creative Play has definitely been my favourite part of The Hullabaloo, especially the musical lilypads. I like to see the different ways children learn in the space. It also interests me to see the different people who come into The Hullabaloo, the different times they come in and to think about why that might be. I have dyspraxia so I’ve been to sensory rooms before, with people with similar needs. I think that’s why I’ve enjoyed Creative Play so much because it reminds me of the place that I went to that helped me. I hope to be able to support people with these kinds of needs in the future and be there for them.
As part of my work experience, I’ve been doing everything from making decorations for an event, scanning newspapers for relevant articles and listings, to helping to write press releases, and organising the schools mail-out for upcoming TakeOff Festival. I even got to warm up and play games with the cast of one of Theatre Hullabaloo’s upcoming productions which was great! It was amazing to see how ideas can come together to make an actual show. Since day one, I’ve been made to feel like part of the team.
For a long time I wanted to be a Special Educational Needs teacher. I’m still open to it, but I’m mainly interested in social work with children as my main career path. The Hullabaloo is such a great place to be able to tell the children I work with in the future about.
My work experience placement has definitely opened my eyes to how theatres are run, and has given me a real insight into what it’s like to work in a space for young people. I’m certain I can take the creativity I’ve experienced here and apply it to my social work studies.