Event: GCSE Drama

Anglesey

The GCSE Drama residential is an exciting 3-day course which specifically targets the Devising component of the GCSE exam.

Aimed at Year 10 and 11 pupils from schools across the UK this very practical weekend is comprised of a series of workshops with professional theatre makers and educators working in a range of different styles with a focus on devising.

On this course students are taken through the core elements of devising from stimulus to performance, with workshops in creating Physical Theatre responses; generating dialogue and avoiding cliche; creating a visual performance language; Abstraction; and taking a structured, episodic approach.

The weekend is led by Daniel Cambridge, a teacher, actor and theatre-maker who has had a long association with the Conway Centre. The team of practitioners will explore a range of techniques and skills associated with devised theatre and through this immersive experience students will create material that could be directly applied to their own exam work.

Regular tutors include Dr. Lindsey Brocklebank (Shockout Arts, Maelstrom); Grace Goulding (Splendid, Rambert, New Adventures); Dan Meigh (Off The Ground Theatre); Chris Tomlinson (Turntable Theatre.)

Friday

Schools arrive from 4.30pm - Welcome and
Induction, Room allocation
5.30pm - 6.30pm - Evening Meal

7.30pm - 9.30pm - Session 1
All students together working in the Chapel.
Meet the tutors and take part in a large-scale workshop introducing the
different styles, working practises and expectations of the weekend.
Each school group will be split into 4 groups
for the remainder of the weekend.

9.30pm - Students to Social Spaces and school
staff to supervise bedtime.

Saturday

8.30am - Breakfast A carousel of 4 workshops. Each group will see each of the tutors in turn. 9.30am - 12pm - Workshop 1	12.30pm- 1.30pm - Lunch 1.30pm - 3.30pm - Workshop 2 3.30pm - 4pm - Break 4pm - 6pm - Workshop 3	6pm - 7pm - Dinner 7pm - 9.30 - Workshop 4. All groups to assemble in the Chapel at 9pm to share the work from their current workshop.

Saturday

8.30am - Breakfast
A carousel of 4 workshops. Each group will see
each of the tutors in turn.
9.30am - 12pm - Workshop 1

12.30pm- 1.30pm - Lunch
1.30pm - 3.30pm - Workshop 2
3.30pm - 4pm - Break
4pm - 6pm - Workshop 3

6pm - 7pm - Dinner
7pm - 9.30 - Workshop 4.
All groups to assemble in the Chapel at 9pm to
share the work from their current workshop.

Sunday

Bespoke workshops for each of the schools -
through discussion over the weekend a final workshop will be decided upon which
fulfils the needs or desired outcomes of the teaching staff. These can be
tailored towards applying the skills and techniques learned over the weekend
directly to a chosen stimulus in order to consolidate learning and development.

The GCSE drama residential weekends at the
Conway Centre are an institution. Formed over 3 decades the weekends have
shifted and evolved with the needs of drama teachers and their students at the
heart of every weekend. The Menai
experience is one of nurture and inspiration, built around a diverse set of
workshops from skilled practitioners and students are guaranteed to have fun,
be challenged, and learn invaluable skills for successful devising.

Meet The Practitioners

Chris Tomlinson - A freelance theatre director and facilitator with over a decade of experience, and a regular visiting professional at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. He graduated from Liverpool John Moores University in 2007 and has since worked with leading UK theatre companies including Shared Experience, DreamThinkSpeak, Spike Theatre and Giffords Circus, as well as touring nationally and appearing regularly at the Edinburgh Fringe. From 2011 to 2023, Chris was Associate Director at the Everyman Theatre, where he helped develop Young Everyman Playhouse into one of the UK’s leading youth theatre programmes for ages 11–25. Under his co-leadership, the programme was recognised as “Best School” at the Stage Awards in 2015. During this period, he also assisted on numerous in-house productions and served as Associate Director on the Rep seasons (2015–16). His wider work includes international projects such as creating a devised production in Porto, assisting on Love’s Labour’s Lost at Shakespeare’s Globe, and touring with a French fanfare band as part of Giffords Circus. Since leaving the Everyman in 2023, Chris has focused on TurnTable Theatre, an immersive and site-responsive company where he is Co-Artistic Director. Chris’s ethos is deeply collaborative, focused on creating safe, open and enjoyable spaces where individuals can flourish, develop their voice, and tell bold, relevant stories.

Connor Wray - An actor and creative based on the Wirral. He has worked primarily in theatre for the last 15+ years, with some on-screen commercials, short films and TV work alongside. Connor also works as a facilitator and practitioner, teaching theatre to students from ages 10 to 25 at various colleges and institutions across the north-west. Connor has a novel, Dear Henry, published by Holland House Books, and is an active playwright, writing for theatres and venues across Merseyside. He runs Off the Ground Theatre, based on the Wirral. Away from his professional life, Connor volunteers for New Brighton RNLI, where he is Press Officer and a Trainee Helm. He is an avid Liverpool FC fan, and is a Starting XI pundit for Fanalysis, a role which has seen him make numerous Sky Sports appearances. He will usually start with a whistlestop overview of the key concepts and terms that will be studied in that session, ensuring everyone starts off from the same base level of knowledge, before diving into practical activities that prove each theory in turn, and allow the participant to discover the effect for themselves, before applying them altogether in an extended exercise. His sessions focus primarily on Brechtian techniques that can be used to access different, engaging ways to present devised work. Looking at archetypes and their place in creating work, and how they can be useful to us to amplify a political point, or the intention of a piece. Devise your own scenes, naturalistic at first, before deconstructing them with funny, unique and powerful redirections, trying to distil the scene into its core point.

Daniel Cambridge - An actor, director, playwright and drama teacher with 25 years experience of making theatre with young people. As a practitioner he has worked in a range of contexts including Off The Ground Youth Theatre, Cheshire Youth Theatre Summer School and LIPA 4 - 19. He has delivered stage-combat workshops in schools, youth theatres and youth clubs and choreographed stage combat for a number of theatre productions. Daniel has taught drama in High Schools and Colleges across the North West and in short projects in primary schools in the UK and Uganda. As a performer he has worked on Television, in touring theatre and in regional theatre venues. Daniel has written a number of plays for touring and youth theatre companies and has self published a series of books for children. Daniel has also worked in Applied Theatre creating and delivering Interactive Theatre courses in communications skills for the NHS, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Institute of Linguists and Lancashire County Council. He is course leader for the Professional Theatre Programme at Cronton 6th Form College. Daniel has been involved in the evolution of the Menai GCSE drama weekends since 1999. Daniel’s workshops are relaxed and informal. His approach to working with young people is one of inclusion, respect and silliness. In his workshops young people experiment, play and create. Daniel value kindness as a human quality and tries to model the effects of kindness in creative acts as a way to unlock creative potential.

Dan Meigh - Dan is a qualified drama teacher and Artistic Director for Off the Ground Theatre. Off the Ground is based on the Wirral and has been creating outdoor and studio shows and running a youth theatre for nearly 30 years. Dan has lectured on Shakespeare in performance at Liverpool University and also teaches trainee teachers on teaching Shakespeare. He has created physical theatre performances and often works as a fight director. He has directed or co-directed all but three of OTG’s summer tours and over 150 youth theatre and professional shows. Dan believes that the skills we learn when studying theatre don’t just make us better actors and directors, but better people. We study the importance of physical control and how we are always communicating, how to read, control and show emotion, how to analyse our own and others actions and, above all, we practice empathy. His workshops are practical and (hopefully) fun, where everyone can feel comfortable trying things outside of their comfort zone.

Grace Goulding - An award winning Welsh Movement Director, Choreographer and Facilitator. She is a current industry professional with over 10 years of national and international work that spans theatre, dance, education and community outreach. Collaborations include work with: Matthew Bourne's New Adventures, Rambert Dance Company, Nick Knight and SHOWstudio, The Liverpool Everyman Theatre, Liverpool Empire Theatre, The National Youth Arts of Wales and The European Opera Centre. She has lectured at both LIPA Sixth Form College and on the LIPA BA Dance degree course. Her 3 years touring work with Splendid Productions saw her performing and workshopping across South East Asia and she has recently returned from Barefeet Zambia directing their performance company and producing a Youth Arts Festival for young people across Lusaka. Grace ethos Grace's person-centred approach places the participant, their instincts and voice at the centre of the work. Her style is to demystify complex ideas and techniques into playful and brave experimentation. It is about embracing and celebrating the range and versatility of the acting body in motion with a strong physical characterisation, vocalisation and socio-political edge. We 'try by doing' and we 'get stuck in' encouraging bold choices producing high quality and ambitious work together.

22nd – 24th January 2027	£235 + VAT per person
5th – 7th February 2027	£235 + VAT per person