Students in the final, honours, year of the College’s BA (Hons) programme have been working with Renfrewshire Alcohol and Drug partnership (ADP) and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde to create a performance as part of their final project.

Students were asked to produce a performance which would utilise and present materials designed by a recent Graduate Intern for a cannabis awareness campaign. Drama students researched and created a play which would dispel some the myths around the drug, and 'de-normalise its use' amongst students.

Curriculum Quality Leader for Acting & Technical Theatre at the College, Morven Pringle, tells how the project was developed.

“Students on our BA (Hons) programme were asked to research the effects of Cannabis use, and to use their talents to deliver their findings. The students came up with a fantastic new piece of theatre, tackling the themes of their research, raising awareness, and opening-up discussion on the use of Cannabis as a recreational drug.”

Alan Curley from NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde worked closely with the College and was delighted with the results.

“I was very impressed with the students right from our initial meeting, where they asked very pertinent questions and their enthusiasm was apparent. At our second meeting, it was obvious that they had really carried out their research well. They had already begun a fantastic piece of survey work involving 500 other students in which they collected data on students’ experiences of cannabis use. They used these real-life student stories to devise a wonderful script which was interesting, fun, informative and creditable to their target population.”

The students performed their final piece to over 80 care students and staff at West College Scotland’s Paisley Campus, with one care student saying  “It was a great performance; knowledgeable and fun too!”

The play was also performed to health professionals at Paisley’s University of the West of Scotland, whose reaction was very positive.

“What a great bunch of actors - enthusiastic, knowledgeable and engaging - excellent work!”

“This was a most effective way of promoting this issue, great for harm reduction and altering awareness.”

The audience included Renfrewshire Councillor Iain MacMillan, who was impressed by the performance, and has invited Renfrewshire ADP to report on the project to the Council’s Community Care, Health, and Well-Being Board, with a view to extending such work into more educational settings.

Students were delighted with this reaction, and the chance to use theatre in a new setting. Morven is proud to share the hard work of her talented students, some of whom have been studying at the College for a number of years.

“The Drama Honours Degree at West College Scotland is delivered in partnership with the University of Sunderland, and allows students to gain a full honours degree without leaving the College. It allows us to spend time really building their talents, and we’re always pleased with the results.”

Alan Curley too was delighted with the final piece, and encourages others to consider working with the College.

“The students produced everything we had hoped for, a fantastic piece of work by the students for students. The students’ knowledge, enthusiasm, organisation professionalism, and the great quality of their final work, all finished within the deadlines given, was very impressive. I would encourage working with WCS and their students to anyone looking for applied-theatre created for them.”