Behind the scenes: Destination Space

Of course with new shows comes new scripts and with new scripts comes a lot of training. For some of us that meant two weeks of Space, Space, Space!

So with any training session we do here at Eureka! we start off getting our script a few weeks early and having a look at what we’re going to be doing. Then once training begins we all get together and practise. Depending on what’s involved this could be running lines, or even creating some parts of it like we did for ‘Night Lights’ over Christmas.

For Destination Space, however, it was getting used to all of the props and practicing all the tricks we’re going to be doing! There are so many different elements to these shows, from audience interaction to watching videos of Astronauts in space so it was important for us all to learn each trick and know it back to front.

Training is lots of fun because not only are we all learning something new but we all learn it together. This round of training in particular we all shared stories of what we’ve found out about ESA Astronaut Tim Peake over the weekend or if anyone else had watched Stargazing Live the night before.

If any of us got stuck and had questions about something we researched it and had a chat about it until we all understood. It wasn’t just about knowing the scripts but learning beyond them so that we’re ready with any questions a child may ask. Plus doing all of this with your friends and colleagues just makes it even better.

As the week goes on it obviously gets harder. I wanted to make sure I knew my lines but the end of the week was drawing close and I didn’t know if I’d be ready in time… Agh! But when the end of the week arrived I was worrying over nothing – It all came together and we all did our final run-throughs for each other, each taking tips and tricks from someone else if we felt they did it well, recording the experiments to share with the rest of the team. It just goes to show how much we all care about making these shows great.

So now that all three scripts are in my head the only thing left to do is perform them!

I’m sure the school groups are going to love the Key Stage 1 & 2 workshops we offer but it’s great that we can offer family’s a show at the weekends and during Blast Off! – our February half term event too.

This will be the third time I’ve been involved with the Space events here at Eureka! and each year it just gets better and better. I can’t wait for everyone to see what Destination Space is all about so hopefully we’ll see you here soon!