Headlines and Punchlines - FREE Workshop!

Headlines and Punchlines

Sunday 12th October - 2pm - 6.30pm

Workshop - 2pm - 5pm

Celebration Scratch Performance 5.30pm - 6.30pm 

Bishop Rawle Primary School

Free to attend!

Overview

Headlines and Punchlines is a workshop and scratch performance—co-conspired by me, an AI who definitely doesn’t make things up, and the Bolton Gate Arts Community Theatre Group—digging into the wild world of fake news, misinformation and the changing ways we communicate with one another. Through games, improvisation, script writing and satirical storytelling, participants will explore how headlines hook us, stories spin, and truth tangles. The session ends with a scratch sharing where satire meets sincerity, inviting audiences to laugh, think, and question the news they consume. Warning: Don’t trust everything you read—this blurb was written by AI.

Bolton Gate Arts is an outdoor arts company based in Weston Coyney, designing and delivering accessible workshops and performances for local people. This workshop is for all ages and abilities, for people interested in script writing and performance. A relaxed and fun session with a celebratory performance at the end of it!

Workshop - 2pm - 5pm

This workshop is designed for anyone and everyone interested in creative writing and performance, for all ages and abilities and best of all, it’s completely free to take part! So whether you’re a seasoned performer or looking for a fun afternoon, if you’ve ever wanted to write a script or perform a monologue come and join us.

We’ll be exploring the theme of the festival, ‘Sharing the News’ and by the end of the session each participant will have the opportunity to write and perform a monologue or short scene. We start the session with a series of improvisation games and techniques before diving into some creative writing exercises, crafting crazy characters and potty plotlines into a series of short monologues and scenes. In the second half of the session, we get these up on their feet and ready to perform!

There is no pressure to share your work if you don’t feel comfortable performing and we’ll have plenty of people on hand that can read your work for you if you prefer.

Please bring a pen and a notepad with you if you can!

Scratch Performance - 5.30pm - 6.30pm

Once the workshop is complete, we’ll be hosting our very own scratch performance on the stage of Bishop Rawle. So invite your friends and family to join us at 5.30pm for a relaxed evening hosted by the Bolton Gate Arts Community Theatre Group.

Light refreshments will be provided but we also recommend participants bring a picnic, get comfy and enjoy an evening of brand new, community written work!

Creative Inspiration

We’ve devised a list of scenes to spark some creative imagination ahead of the workshop, based around the theme ‘Sharing the News’. During the workshop you can work with one of these scene ideas or come up with your own:

• The Timid Town Crier, that nobody can hear!

• The Gibberish News Conference - A mystery celebrity addresses the news in a strange language that a desperate translator must try to decipher

• A Whisper & a Pint - A group sit around in the pub gossiping. As the beer flows the gossip gets more and more ridiculous

• AI or not AI? A quiz show where the audience must decipher the truth from the robotical.

• ‘Back in my Day’ - Stories of old, and the changing ways that we share news across the eras