Lewis Harratt talks about his work experience with New Vic Borderlines…
“As part of my experience here I have been taking part in a project known as The Unquiet which included a performance. We worked with members of the community to create a piece of theatre about the effects on community following the loss of local industry. I joined the project a little later but there was plenty for me to get involved with!
I put myself forward to play guitar on the last song we worked on, which was called Women Of The Working Class – an old miner’s wife’s song by a women named Mal Finch. I’ve had good past experience playing guitar on stage and good overall working as ensemble experience so this was great for me.
On days when there was no rehearsals I was responsible for finding research on old miners’ stories and images to inspire The Unquiet. The inspiration was used for costume design as well as some makeup design that we used for the end performance.
The people I worked with on this project were all volunteers and people in close contact with the New Vic Theatre. We all worked together to pull something together, there was something for everyone to do and we supported each other really well.
At the end of the performance I was greeted by my mentor at Acorn Training and he was very impressed. We all got good positive feedback and personally I really enjoyed it. I had already performed guitar on stage, but not acted and it was a really good experience.
My time with the staff from the New Vic Borderlines was fantastic, it is really easy to get on with the team, I now consider them friends as well as work colleagues.”