Smashing Times Theatre Company Ltd

In 2009 Smashing Times Theatre Company Ltd ran a pilot
project titled Addressing Diversity through Drama which was
funded by Belfast City Council Good Relations Fund and
implemented by Smashing Times Theatre Company Limited in
association with Corrymeela Community, Belfast. As part of
this project drama facilitator Carol Walsh conducted five
pilot workshops with second level schools in Belfast - using
drama to address issues of diversity and identity. The
company worked with Ciara McFarlane, Secondary School
Programme Worker, of the Corrymeela Community, Belfast and
the drama workshop model was developed by Mary Moynihan,
Smashing Times Theatre Company/Dublin Institute of
Technology.

The drama workshop model is innovative in that it uses drama
as an artistic process in it's own right and makes use of
this process to raise awareness of specific issues. Young
people and adults have access to a quality arts experience
while developing a stronger awareness of the issues raised.
Feedback from participants and teachers indicate the
workshops conducted with schools were successful. The
workshops encouraged the participants to think about issues
that lead to discrimination and prejudice and to think about
their perceptions of the 'other'. At the core of the project
and the workshops are the themes of good relations, cultural
diversity, racism and sectarianism.


' It was interesting to find out my classmates opinions on
things and how we can be sometimes frightened by new
situations'

'The workshop helped me a lot, it encouraged me to find out
more about myself''

'It was good to get the chance to express ourselves and learn
about other people's perception of today's society'

'The workshop made (the participants) think about
preconceptions they have about people and some of them said
they would not be so quick to judge the next time.'

'Great fun workshop, it really made (the participants) think
and for some of them it was the first time they were
introduced to the concepts of diversity and identity.'