Action! Hackney students go behind the scenes at Barbican

HACKNEY students got a special behind-the-scenes sneak peek at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama last week.

The City Academy pupils were given a tour of the Barbican arts centre and shown the ropes by backstage hands and technical theatre professionals.

The youngsters donned masks in the costume department, saw scenery being built in the workshops and even tried their hand at switching on the stage lights.

Mahmud Ansari, Year 8 technical theatre studies student, said: “It was a very interesting experience. We discovered how important working backstage is and how important the technical crew are - they are the glue that holds a production together.”