Students at St Paul’s Way Secondary recently had the exciting opportunity to take part in a National Theatre Writing Workshop, led by acclaimed playwright Jennifer Farmer. The session aimed to inspire creativity and introduce students to the process of building believable, complex characters for stage and story writing.

The workshop began with students inventing their own unique characters, exploring their personalities through detailed mind maps that included their secrets, strengths, flaws, and defining traits.

They were then given a random object to connect to their character, using imagination to decide how that object might reveal something meaningful about their personality or life.

From there, students developed themes, images, memories, and even smells that could be associated with their character.

They also explored relationships by drawing three circles to represent people within their character’s world, from close family and friends to acquaintances, and discussed how differing perceptions between characters could create conflict and tension.

The final part of the workshop focused on world-building, with students considering the social and political contexts their characters lived in, from global events down to specific moments in time.

By the end of the session, students shared rich, imaginative summaries of their creations. The workshop not only strengthened their creative writing skills but also reflected our core school value of Aspiration, encouraging every student to think boldly and pursue their creative potential.