Guest blog by Al:

It was great to see people again after a week away and we spent the first part of the meeting catching up as usual, unfortunately we lost a few members at that point as their meals were ready – apparently duck legs take an hour and half to cook – who knew?!

Chris led the remainder of the group in the preparing and Zoom performing of some short monologues from the Laramie Project – a play about the homophobic murder of Matthew Shepard in America in the 1990s. It was powerful stuff and I for one found performing my piece incredibly emotional. Whilst that might not sound like the ‘fun’ we usually have at Acting Out and not light relief during a pandemic, for me it was equally valuable. Such pieces help us to explore painful emotions and I found it ultimately moving and exhilarating. Drama is such a good way to do this and ultimately can be a real boon four our mental health; as long, of course, that this is done in a safe way. A huge thank you to the small group who remained for this – we checked out with each other all the way through and the trust we have as a group made this, for me, a deeply positive experience. A real strength of Acting Out that we can do this.

We ended the session on a lighter note and I am left with the image of Chris’s flaccid candle – you had to be there!