Hassles and humour

The great thing about Cultural Exchanges week is the opportunities it provides to do something that you might not under ordinary circumstances. You are able to meet and listen to wonderful people and experience exciting, unique events. In order to experience something I usually wouldn’t, I attended The Meltdown Test.

It consisted of six unique plays, written by MA students in TV Scriptwriting, exploring ‘the stresses, strains, hassles and humour of modern day British life’, all performed by drama students.

It was a fantastic event, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Awkwardly, I arrived half an hour early by mistake. That was fun. 

 

However, it was worth the wait, and when the sketches finally started I was really impressed by the collaboration between actors and writers.  Each short play explored a different - sometimes unusual - circumstance in daily life, tempering serious moments with comedy. My favourites were Rock and Roll by Pamela Hallam, in which a suspicious, wittering old man murders his grandson, and Stuck by Ellis Di Cataldo, a story examining the similarities between two strangers placed together by fate.

I thought the event was a brilliant idea, bringing together students to create successful and original performances. I would certainly attend an event like this again.

J.Wedgbury

A Degree of Creativity

When you're being served apple juice in a wine glass, you know you're in for a treat. And I'm not just talking about the selection of toffee eclairs, cupcakes and - Will Buckingham's personal favourite - pink shrimps, that were on offer.

Demon Crew's Student Publications Launch at Cultural Exchanges showcased some of the finest work produced by the Universities third year students. With a wide selection of performances on offer - poems on puzzles, post-it notes and in concrete form, audio performances from radio to song, not forgetting extracts of prose and general talks about the publication process - the turn-out was tremendous.

Each performer was received heartily by the crowded audience and the atmosphere was buzzing with electricity. The Creative Writing team (Kathleen Bell, Will Buckingham, Simon Perril and Johnathan Taylor) have clearly built a great rapport with their students across the board; humour, jibes and jabs were well-receive.

Laughs aside, the event was a great success and, for me personally, an insight to my future. As a first year student, I attended the event with certain expectations. These were surpassed; beyond any doubt each piece performed was a credit to the creative staff at De Montfort University and a to the high level its students have achieved.

Cultural Exchanges is one of De Montfort's biggest yearly events and already I look forward to the next one for more 'posh' apple juices, free cakes and hopefully a pink shrimp or two, if I can get there before Will! And I'm also looking forward to more performances and inspiring works from DMU's most talented creative writers.


(Thanks to Pamela Hallam & Alex Bliss for the authorising use of the photo above.)


Holly Hookway