Theatresports is a collection of improvisation games in which school teams from all over Australia compete once a year, comprising of 3-4 rounds in each competition. The first round is a game of up to one minute, with the second and third rounds increasing to 2 and 3 minutes respectively. For intermediates and senior students, the 3rd round is played in the form of an open scene of up to 2 minutes. And the 4th round is for intermediates and seniors only which is an up to 3-minute scene. There are 3 Judges across all rounds – each judging technique, entertainment and narrative. The scores range from 1-5, with 1 being “you got up and gave it a go” and 5 being “that was the best scene I’ve ever seen!!!”.  

At the beginning of Term 2, theatre sports coach Mr Trenerry announced the teams for the competition – one with Year 9 and 10 students, and another 11-12 team. The year 9-10 team (intermediates) included Sienna F (10), Charlotte M (10) Susannah S (9), Miriam Robson (10), Dayna E (9) and Samuel C (10). The Intermediate team first braved the stage on the 12th of May at Tara Anglican school and blitzed their heats, coming 1st out of all and progressing to the semi-finals. 

The team played 3 games. The first, a 1-minute game called ‘Mime’, in which the team had to perform a scene in silence . The prompt was cleaning a fridge and they scored 3, 4 and 4. The second round was up to 2-minute games and the team played ‘Character Swap’, with the prompt the greenhouse, where they had to perform a normal scene, until the host called out character swap, and the team had to swap actors quickly without changing the original scene. The scores awarded were 3, 4 and 4. They also had an open scene with the prompt Museum and scored a 4, 5 and 5. Finally, the 3rd game they played called ‘Emotional Roller Coaster’ in which they had to play a neutral scene and the host would call out random emotions that the scene must change to adopt. Our scores were 4,5 and 5 which placed them first in their heats and through to the semi-finals (which are happening soon)!  

The Year 11-12 team (seniors) participated in their competition at Lindfield Learning Village. The team consisted of Connor M (12), Josiah L (12), Alexandra S (11), Ryan M (11) and Zoe L (11). The team played 4 games, including an open scene of two minutes. The first game they played was ‘Mime’ in which the team had to perform a scene based off the prompt Mining for Gold, all while being unable to speak. The team scored a 4, 3 and a 3. The second game the team played was ‘Historical Replay’ in which the team plays a neutral 30 second scene and after must replay that scene in a different historical period. The team had the prompt archery and replayed it in Roman, Medieval and World War 2. The team scored a 4, 4 and a 4. The next game was an open scene in which the prompt Coronation was used, and the team scored a 4, 4 and a 3. Finally, the team played ‘Oscar Winning Moment’ in which a normal scene is played and at any time the host calls out Oscar-winning moment by a particular character and the character must give an Oscar-worthy performance. The team had to prompt Fancy Dog salon and they scored a 4, 3 and a 3. The team overall placed tied 5th and progressed to the Semi-Finals which were held Friday 27th May at Tara. The team did well overall placing tied 4th.  

After speaking with both teams (and being in the seniors) everyone has enjoyed it so much and would highly recommend doing it again next year. It’s a great exercise to build relationships and stronger bonds with everyone in different grades. Overall 5/5 performance from both strong teams… Good luck to the intermediates for their semis!!!