Rebecca Brynolf: Actionwork® Creative Co-ordinator 2008-2010
Since working with Actionwork® I’ve been part of a number of projects that have helped me develop various skills and talents.
Working as an actor, I’ve performed in two plays for Actionwork®; both were 45-minute pieces, a one-hander and two-hander respectively. The plays dealt with the subject of bullying and cyber bullying and were toured twice a day throughout the UK for five weeks each. While working on the play that focused on cyber bullying, the other actor and I were required to operate puppets and took part in a daylong puppeteering workshop and utilise the skills learnt in each performance. I’ve got a good understanding of how to make a puppet seem alive to an audience now. The tricks to making this happen are subtle but effective! As an understudy I frequently travelled between two simultaneously touring productions of the same show to step in should either lead actor not be able to perform.
On another production that dealt specifically with racism, I was the stage manager. This ran for two weeks in Dorchester and was toured around all of the schools in the area. My responsibilities included looking after the portable PA equipment, sourcing props and costumes, keeping an up to date prompt copy and making many, many lists.
I have written extensively for Actionwork’s online magazine, Mpower and have also co-written plays that have been performed in schools and youth clubs throughout the UK. In addition to this I’ve proof read extensive academic work that colleagues were doing outside of Actionwork®.
My background in teaching has helped me facilitate and support many workshops in schools, youth clubs, festivals and sometimes as part of teacher training courses. The workshops I have led have focused on topics such as bullying and racism, and a tour of workshops that focused specifically on cyber bullying. In the workshop context I’ve worked with people of all different ages, abilities and backgrounds and have found my outlook has broadened as a result.
Because of my teaching background I was able to create two different anti-bullying activity packs, each geared specifically either towards primary or secondary school. Both were designed differently in order to fit in with a typical teaching schedule, school day format, timetable, etc of a primary or secondary school teacher. These have been popular with teachers throughout the UK, as has our anti-bullying resource DVD. I helped compile and edit this with my colleagues and even created a short film called, ‘Be a Bully’, a spoof of anti-bullying films but with the ultimate message that bullying is still wrong. Other film work has included two shorts commissioned by local councils in which we worked closely with pupils to train them up in using camera equipment and help them make a film on a topic of their choice. As a result I’ve become proficient with Final Cut Pro.
Outside of Actionwork® I’ve continued working creatively through writing and performing stand up comedy and writing for Cardiff-based publication, Buzz Magazine, where I usually write about theatre, comedy and music, and sometimes conduct interviews.
I’m also developing as a playwright and have recently won Sherman Cymru’s script writing competition, Script Slam. The prize was a chance to work with the team at Sherman Cymru to develop the short script into a full-length play, something I’m looking forward to starting. I’m very interested in verbatim theatre, which is something I would like to continue exploring.
Aside from the various skills I’ve developed since starting out with Actionwork®, I’ve also seen my confidence grow when working with young people. I became quite disillusioned when working as a teacher and know how easy it is for someone barely out of Uni to feel intimidated. I think there’s certainly been a cross over, where facilitating workshops has helped me be a bit more with my delivery in stand up and stand up has helped me be more confident in front of young people. Actionwork® and stand up combined have also helped me develop my skills as a public speaker in general.
My writing skills have had the chance to develop simply because there have been plenty of opportunities in which to do it. As I’ve had to write in a number of different forms for different audiences, I’ve been able to easily adapt my writing style for various projects. This, along with my work for Buzz and Mpower magazine, has been particularly useful, as it’s led me to get onto a Masters degree for writing in London.
