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Pupils enjoy workshop with EastEnders writer
A TOUCH of soap opera glamour came to a city school last week when a freelance scriptwriter led a two-day workshop to excite the minds of talented pupils.
A TOUCH of soap opera glamour came to a city school last week when a freelance scriptwriter led a two-day workshop to excite the minds of talented pupils.Former EastEnders script editor Laura Watson helped the group of 40 pupils at Bushfield Community College on Thursday and Friday in a range of activities.
The workshop followed a recent visit to London's West End to see a performance of Lord Of The Rings, so the theme centred on the popular trilogy.
Director of arts Andy Thorpe said: "It has been fantastic, and obviously it's using the arts to enhance the rest of the curriculum. They've all had a fantastic time."
The workshop was organised for the group of pupils, who are in Years 8 to 11, after a previous successful workshop for Year 10 pupils last year.
Firstly, Mrs Watson, who lives in Newmarket, allocated different characters to each of the pupils, before taking them through the emotional journey that each one faced in the Rings show.
Then, they were split up into groups of five and they had to come up with a script for a new show, either to fit before or after the original piece, which they performed at the end of the final day.
She said: "They have come up with some quite funny stuff and it has been very enjoyable. There's a lot of talented people here with the acting and the writing as well."
There may be an abundance of talent at the school, but they certainly would have learned a lot from Mrs Watson, who has worked on two of the country's biggest television programmes.
Mrs Watson worked for the BBC as a script editor for three years, between 2002 and 2005, before making the difficult decision to leave and follow her dream of becoming a scriptwriter.
She added: "If I wanted to carry on writing, I would have to go freelance which was what I always wanted to do and now I have done that for coming up to three years.
"There has been quite a lot, but I wrote the EastEnders episodes where Sean Slater trapped Deano Wicks in the toilet, and some when Stacey Branning and Bradley Branning got back together.
"Also, I have written for Casualty, and am currently writing something in Brighton, until April, for a new TV show. It's something that I'm enjoying, and, hopefully, I can do it some more next year."
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