Why are Wednesdays so great?
At Durham University, there are no contact hours for your degree on a Wednesday afternoon. This provides students with the opportunity to take part in a variety of different activities. Most societies make use of this free time and will often run training, practice and rehearsals in this time. This is usually a great day for social events too.
What do I do on a Wednesday?
I am hugely involved with Durham Student Theatre (DST), and so often, my Wednesdays are spent in rehearsals. I am currently directing The Spongebob Musical with a theatre company called Ooook! The whole cast and crew is made up entirely of students and we have the best time putting a show on together. I am writing this blog before a rehearsal, and today’s plan is to take headshots of the cast and rehearse the songs in the show. Here is what a typical Wednesday afternoon looks like for me:
1pm: Walk from my house to the rehearsal room that we have booked for ourselves. Wait for all the cast to arrive and set up the room. We usually need to move chairs and tables so there is enough room to dance around.
1.15pm: Warm up- both physically and vocally. Me and my choreographer will run this and get everyone ready for an afternoon rehearsal. We like to check in with how everyone is feeling. Are people stressed with work? Are people under the weather? All good things to know before a rehearsal.
1.30pm: Rehearse all the scenes we still need to get through. I plan this in advance of the rehearsal and give the cast plenty of warning so they know what the rehearsal will involve. I give feedback along the way and we play around with ideas.
3pm: Then we have a well deserved break. Have a break! Usually we all run to Greggs. It has to be done.
3.30pm: Recap choreography. Run through numbers cast aren’t feeling as confident about.
5pm: Finish rehearsal! Go home and grab some dinner.
7pm: It’s social time! We like to hang out as a cast to make great friendships and bond outside of the rehearsal process. The Spongebob team had a great night at Karaoke recently. Would definitely recommend it.
How to get involved?
I found the societies I’m involved in entirely through social media. Of course, I attended the freshers fair at the start of my first year and chatted to people and took leaflets, but it was from those leaflets that I found all their Instagram accounts and had a really good stalk to see what they’re about. Societies will often post about their upcoming events and how to get involved. Sports teams will post about their training sessions and trials and theatre companies will post about auditions. Social media is such a great way to see everything that goes on in Durham!
Discover more
Find out more about societies at Durham here and with Durham Student Union here.
Follow other Durham students on Instagram, TikTok Pinterest and YouTube to see what life at Durham is really like!
