Year 7 Verbal Combat

On the 20^th of June, Year 7 students had an incursion in the hall with the people from Verbal Combat. Verbal Combat is one of the many theatre productions from Brainstorm Productions and targets bullying in schools, cyber-bullying and prejudice. In the play the students in Year 7 saw the effects of bullying and also what others can do if they see someone being bullied. Many of the characters played by Rodney and Rachel were typical high school students that really didn’t know what to do when someone was being bullied or they were involved in bullying.

In this play, performed by Brainstorm Productions Rodney and Rachel, Emily (played by Rachel) was the new kid in school and was targeted by the ‘cool’ group in the school. What we can learn from Emily: Try talking to someone or making new friends so that you can clear any misunderstandings or talk to a teacher when you are being bullied or harassed so that the teachers can help you too because we can be like Emily and even though we may not be the new kid in school we can be very misunderstood by our peers.

There was also Danny (played by Rodney) who, during the play, was a bystander and saw all the bad things that were being done to Emily but didn’t do anything to stop it. What we can learn from Danny: is to get active by telling a teacher about anyone being bullied or if there is someone getting bullied online we could tell someone so they can put a stop to it so that we can stop bullying because we can be like Danny sometimes and do nothing.

Gabrielle (played by Rachel) was one of the ‘cool’ girls who was tricked by her friends and bullied Emily. What we learn from Gabrielle: is that friends who use you, aren’t really your friends and if they are bullying someone we need to stand up to them and tell them that what they are doing isn’t nice. We can be like Gabrielle when we ‘go with the flow’ without thinking whether this is right or whether we are just being used by our ‘friends’.

Rocky (played by Rodney) was a confused kid who was easy to control, because of that he was always being dragged into bullying Emily even though he didn’t want to. What we can learn from Rocky: is that you don’t have to do what others tell you to do, if there is ever a time when someone is trying to force you to doing something wrong you can tell them NO and leave. We might be like Rocky and we don’t know if what we are doing is right or wrong but if you feel like this is wrong to you then you do have the choice to say no to them.

There was also Katrina. She was the mastermind in bullying Emily and got others (Gabrielle) to do the dirty work. What we can learn from Katrina: If we ever feel the urge to bully someone you don’t have to do it. You can just talk to a teacher about those thoughts and find ways to be friends with them instead because we can be like Katrina and harm others with our words or actions rather than help others.

Something to think about:

• Sometimes we can be like Emily and close ourselves off from others and if this ever happens: What do you think we should do so that we aren’t misunderstood or alone?
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• We can be like Danny and do nothing but if we do see something wrong happen. Is there any way for you to help?
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• We can be confused and easy to control like Rocky. Is there some way for you to overcome the people trying to control you?
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• Or we can be like Gabrielle and bully others because of our friends. Is there a way to break away from them and stop your group of friends from bullying others?
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• Are we like Katrina and bully others? Do you think that’s right?
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• Do you need to bring others down to make yourself feel better? If so, talk to a teacher to get help because this isn’t normal behaviour.
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• What do you think is ‘cool’? Is that actually ‘cool’? Are other people telling you that it’s cool?