Verbal Combat Incursion

By Imogen Silver 7M2

On the 27th of May, all of year 7 was treated to a special performance called ‘Verbal Combat’. The show included singing, comedy, a rap battle and, most importantly, a crucial message. The play was about the ‘new girl’ at school, called Emily. When she begins at the school she is bullied, simply because she is different from her peers. Emily’s diary is stolen, and her property is vandalised. In one of the final scenes, she falls off a balcony and breaks her arm trying to get away from one of the bullies. At this point, the bullies realise how poorly they have been treating Emily and the impact that their actions were having on her. Emily did not know where to go for help or how to report what was happening.

The play explored the issue of peer pressure.  Many of the characters felt pressured into bullying Emily - whether it was the pressure to fit in, the pressure to ‘look cool’ or the pressure to not become another target for the bullies.  The play demonstrated the importance of being an upstander: this means speaking up when you think something isn’t right, and this takes courage.  But saying nothing has consequences too, as the characters in ‘Verbal Combat’ discovered.

The actors took the opportunity to discuss with us how we could resist being pressured into bullying and what healthy friendships look and feel like. By the end of the performance, we were all laughing and enjoying the show.  And as we left the room we all knew how to be an upstander and who we could talk to if we needed to.