A GROUP of Chester theatre students have represented the UK in an international project based around the pandemic.

Teenagers from Theatre in the Quarter's Quartz youth theatre have been sharing their experiences of the pandemic as part of an international film project.

They have been working alongside Matt Baker from Theatre in the Quarter to put their thoughts to music, alongside teenagers from across the world, including Hong Kong, China and Kenya.

Two films were made, exploring teenagers' experience of living and studying through the Covid-19 pandemic. The films are entitled 2020 Vision and Diary of an Extraordinary Year.

The students from Chester who have represented the UK are Sadie Robinson, Charlie Doyle, Lily Adams, Cecilia Doran, Gregory Black, Ruby Roberts-Nightingale, Matthew Marsland, Theo Lavin and Michal Borkowski.

They have been meeting up online with friends from across the globe and director Dinos Aristidou since January, planning how they would approach this project.

Audio recordings were made by students in China, Hong Kong, United States, Kenya, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Chester. The audios were sent anonymously to another of the students in a different country who were then tasked with bringing it to life as a short film.

The films were then brought together by film director Mike Bindon, based in Belgium.

A student from each of the countries worked online with composer Matt Baker in creating the songs and musical underscore, while another student from each location captured some images and film footage of their village, city or township.

The students were even able to create choreography with dance director Helen Abbott, which features throughout the films, as the students filmed the work in locations which demonstrate the real variety of places in the world from which they are drawn.

The project has been delivered by the International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA), a British-based company which delivers theatre programmes and festivals with students in every corner of the world. Unable to host international festivals because of the pandemic, the organisation has been exploring innovative ways to deliver theatre, music and film projects which still connect people across the globe.

This is the first of ISTA’s global digital projects, with the films having premiered online, and an online social gathering held to celebrate the completion of the projects.

The project was the brainchild of British-based director Dinos Aristidou, who has delivered other verbatim projects, most recently in Brighton.

Dinos, who wrote a piece of theatre for Chester’s Gateway Theatre in the 1990’s said: “The pieces are extraordinary, very moving and more than I could have hoped for. They are truly a testament to the human spirit, to young people’s creativity and to the fact that even in difficult times art flourishes, thrives and innovates.

“I feel so proud to be able to say, when in the future people ask what we did during the pandemic, that we can all say we worked together across boundaries to create, to capture our experiences and to connect with others.”

Matt Baker, who was responsible for creating the songs and music with the students through online workshops, said: “Whilst the world was locked inside its houses it was actually an incredible experience to write lyrics and music and create themes with students who gathered online all the same time; some had just woken up, some about to have lunch, and some staying up late to meet me online.

“There were moments where a student in USA and Kenya would work on lyrics, a student in Chester would offer a chord progression, and a student in Germany would suggest a musical riff. Then each of the students would go away and record their singing, which we would then stitch together. That would not have happened before the pandemic. It was incredible.”

The Chester students were drawn from Theatre in the Quarter’s teenage programme Quartz which meets every Tuesday. During the pandemic, and additional to the international project, Quartz members had been creating films through similar processes. They are now back to meeting face-to-face to create a new piece of theatre ready for December.

Matt added: “Anyone interested in being part of such a creative team of young people can email enquiries@theatreinthequarter.co.uk.”

To watch the films, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzoD_XdvzOg.

Information about the international digital projects can be found at https://ista.co.uk/event/a-festival-of-verbatim-theatre.