On Friday 13th June, Year 10 Queen’s College pupils explored the exciting world of stand-up at a comedy workshop with Petra Massey from Spymonkey, one of the UK’s leading comedy mentoring companies. Spymonkey’s mantra is that the greatest ideas can be right under our noses and material can be created from the smallest seed of comedic inspiration.
Despite having no previous experience of stand-up, the group soon managed to overcome their initial awkwardness with some ice-breaking group exercises – before moving on to more spontaneous activity accompanied by loud clapping and cheering.
As well as delivering a new-found sense of confidence, the session also helped stimulate a latent interest in improvisation and stand-up amongst the pupils. Queen’s College has a very strong tradition in the performing arts with four students recently having been awarded places at the prestigious National Youth Theatre.