‘Devised’ was a five-week project, culminating in a theatre performance made up of short stories by students on the Level 2 and 3 Performing Arts courses.

Students were split into groups and tasked with creating their own theatre companies. They conducted interviews addressing serious issues such as eating disorders, loss and mental health, and used the content to write scripts. This technique is known as ‘verbatim’ and was inspired by studying the theatre company ‘DV8’.

The performance, at Berkoff Theatre in Weston, was a huge success and earned high praise from numerous members of the public.

This is one audience member’s reaction to the performance:

“What an incredible show. Devised was simply superb, beautiful and emotional. I could add more superlatives but it wouldn’t do justice to the outstanding acting, emotion and expression.

“The opening scene was incredible. It was about missing people and there were some amazing messages coming through about the pain and suffering of those whose loved ones have gone missing. I was on the edge of my seat. Tears did start rolling down my face though, and that was just the opening scene!

“I could go on and on about Devised. As a therapist who works with many of the issues and themes that were acted out, I was able to relate to so much of it on a professional level. The piece on addiction was outstanding and all the themes throughout this play resonated with the work I do.

“All of the young people in this play were excellent. A massive thank you to the Creative Arts Department for empowering all the young people on the Level 3 Performing Arts course to produce this show. It was stunningly brilliant.”

With only 2 weeks to go until our annual business awards, we’re excited to be bringing you another employer award article.

Today we’ll be talking through our nominees for the Disability Confident Employer of the Year award.

Good luck to all that have been nominated! You can find out the winner of the award on 20th June. Stay updated by following our Facebook and Twitter pages or by following #BusinessAwards.

The Construction Training Centre has been open for just over four months, and is already proving a popular destination for construction firms.

The centre was developed in response to the growing demand for a trained and skilled construction workforce, and is the first of its kind in the region.

It isn’t focussed on providing training for one industry, but is instead a ‘one-stop shop’ that offers training courses in:

• Plant
• Health and safety
• Scaffolding
• Highways and groundworks
• Driver training
• Warehousing

The courses are developed around employers and their needs, to ensure that the centre provides relevant and effective training.

The facility is impressive, and boasts all the equipment you would expect to find on a construction site.

You can see images from the centre below.