By Cam Lucadou-Wells
The Smashed Project is proof that learning can be entertaining – even on the serious issue of underage drinking.
Theatre-in-education group Gibber Australia has visited Killester College and Lyndhurst Secondary College as part of a national tour that’s reached 140 schools and 30,000 Year 8 and 9 students.
Students don’t want to be lectured on “this stuff”, says Gibber Australia chief executive Tim Watt.
“It talks in a language they understand, and in a way that entertains and engages them.”
The show aims for relevance. It portrays “pretty ordinary” teen characters in a slice of life, tackling the pressures to “fit in” and to “look cool”.
The script is regularly updated with the language of the schoolyard.
“If it’s unbelievable, they’re not going to go for it,” Mr Watt said.
The play ends with an accident that has long-term consequences.
The students then take part in interactive workshops, examining the choices made in the play’s “sliding doors” moments.
Effectively, they’re advising each other on the dangers and the consequences, Mr Watt said.
Months down the track, sometimes the actors get a hint of the impact they have.
Such as a student in the audience who stops her binge drinking and summons the courage to seek help.
In a post-audience survey, 85 per cent said they were unlikely to drink alcohol underage.
But overall, the stats aren’t as bad as people think.
According to official surveys, less underage Australians were drinking or taking part in the binge culture of generations gone by, Mr Watt said.
“The younger generation are taking on board the message about the risks of alcohol.”
