Tuesday 09-05-2017 - 13:52

Genesis Theatre society recently returned from a trip to the capital, and have been busy keeping students entertained on the Cheshire campus.  We caught up with their social sec Shannon Weekes (2^nd Year, Drama) to find out more about the society, and what else they have been up to.

Tell us a little bit about the society.

“Genesis was founded in 2009. We do theatre, but it’s not just exclusive to acting. It’s for people who want to direct, or if they want to do makeup – it’s every element of it. We do about four events per year, so we did ‘Spookfest’ in October, which is an invasive sort of theatre around one of the buildings on campus, and we did ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, which was really good. We meet Wednesdays from two until four, and then Thursdays, seven until nine in Frances Wood. We just do a few games, warm-ups and stuff like that. This year has been quite jam-packed, because last year we did three shows, and this year we’ve managed to fit in an extra one. It’s been rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal but it’s all good fun!”

 

How was your recent trip away?

“So we had a trip to London, and that was arranged by myself. We went to see ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ starring Imelda Staunton. It was incredible.  We went up on a Mega Bus and stayed in a hostel. We obviously went to the theatre, but we did a few games around London too. Even though we went to the theatre, it was more about team building, which was wonderful, because this year has just been full of rehearsals. It was nice to just take a step back and have fun and all be together.”

 

What have you been up to this year?

“So we performed ‘Spookfest’ in October, in the Delaney Building. It’s obviously a Halloween production, and there were different parts to it. There were different rooms focusing on different fears that people have. The room that I was in and helped direct was an ‘intimacy room’, because people can be scared of being close to others, and that was quite invasive. Some people didn’t want to go in, but you do have the choice not to.  There was a room with clowns, dolls, stuff like that.

Then we did ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ which was drunk Shakespeare. You pick a name out of a hat, and they’re allowed to go off script and say whatever, and the rest of the cast have to go with it. The person who was chosen this year was Wesley, and he played Lysander. It was a really funny production and the rest of the cast were amazing.

We’re currently working on ‘Our Country’s Good’ and ‘Attempts on Her Life’.This is being directed by the current chair Amie Atkinson and the rest of the committee are helping where they can.  They will be on in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes out for them.”

 

What other activities and socials do you do when you aren’t rehearsing?

“We have socials throughout the year, like we go to I Love Wednesdays. We’re quite open to things, so if the Musical Theatre society are doing stuff, we’ll go to that together.  Because it’s a small campus, we can go to these events, it’s really nice and it’s supporting other societies.  We’re really about that, because with creative societies like Genesis, like Giggle Dungeon, and like Poetry in Motion, it’s best if we all work together.  That’s how we’re going to get people to come to our performances and watch what we do.  We’ve done other bits and bobs, but it’s mainly around campus and keeping that community feel going.”

 

Have you got any plans for next year?

“I’ll be Chair next year, and we want to do some performances in Manchester.  We’re unsure of what yet, but we’re going to do some quite contemporary work.  A lot of our members at the moment do contemporary theatre as part of their degree, so it’s best to focus on that. We want to get more involved in other parts of the University and The Union in terms of the social side.  We’re not sure what performances we’ll do yet, but we’ll carry on with the tradition of ‘Spookfest’ so that should be exciting. Manchester has different opportunities than the Cheshire campus so it gives our members something new to do.”

 

What would you say to anyone interested in getting involved in the society?

“Please don’t feel hesitant to contact us!  We’re not just about acting, it’s not just about pushing productions.  It’s about every element of it.  If you just want to come and get involved in games and building confidence, everyone is welcome. No experience in theatre needed, just come along and see what we get up to.”

 

 

 

To find out more about Genesis, visit their society page or their Twitter.

To get involved in societies, check out the Opportunities Page.