On Thursday the 6th of November, the Drama Society provided the opportunity to take part in a Poetry Workshop run by their chosen charity, Safe Ground. Safe Ground works to decrease the stigma faced by families of people in prison, and strives to promote a social change by connecting communities and rehabilitating the prisoners’ relationships with their families through the use of drama, dialogue and debate.
The workshop took place at the South Bank University and was run by the writer and performance poet, Dean Atta. I found the workshop particularly engaging because I was familiar with his work. However, Atta made it clear that a keen interest in poetry was not required, as he successfully involved each participant in a captivating three-hour session.
All the exercises were conducted in an informal, friendly manner and we were encouraged to share as little or as much as we wished. The comfortable environment allowed us to explore introspective and collaborative writing, ranging from a personal poem entitled “10 Things About Me” to poems about cellars, and sofas.
Creatively working with such a diverse and responsive group seamlessly allowed for the collation of ideas, and it was fascinating to see what ideas stemmed from team effort.