o-oj in Stoke: medley

Weekly workshops:

1. ESOL - the group of young immigrants from different countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, Poland, etc.) who are studying at Stoke-on-Trent College. We have workshops with them every Monday for an hour.

2. Strathcross- the group of adults with learning difficulties. 2hours workshop every Tuesday.
3. YPTC - (Young People Theatre Company) the group of young people from difficult backgrounds, with complicated life stories who where working with the Borderlines before.2 hours every Wednesday.
With all three groups we are working on a Lost Boys project connected to the Peter Pan performance in the theatre. We are playing various games trying to explore the idea of being lost (in many senses) and the story of Peter Pan and the ability of storytelling and improvisation.

Extra projects:
1. Yizkor - Project about Holocaust.
a) We had workshops in primary schools based on the Legend of Lódź Ghetto. We were working on drawings made for children from the Glezer factory.
b) we are preparing performances for high schools.
So for the last two weeks I was watching "Peter Pan" (1953 & 2003) "Hook", reading about Peter Pan's syndrome and about Lodz ghetto, the holocaust, Auschwitz, and the Jews. These two things got mixed up in my head in a very strange way.

Other things in a theatre:
1. I have seen The Game
2. Rehearsals for Peter Pan just began and I'm happy to have warm-ups every day with actors, I have even tried "silk" with them.

3. We had auditions for the Yizkor performance, and now rehearsals have begun.

4. For one week we had in Borderlines Aiden - a young boy, who came for his work experience. When you are 15 in the UK you have to go and work somewhere for a week or two- we should have the same thing in Poland.
5. We are preparing ourselves for a Halloween event.

Weekends:
1. I went to London.
2. I went to the Peak District with my landlady. We visited Eyam - a small village best known for being the "plague village" that chose to isolate itself when the plague was discovered there in August 1665, rather than let the infection spread.