探花社区

I applied for the Production Assistant role on Three Ghosts of Silvertown through Unitemps, 探花社区's job platform. It was a chance to work with Newham Plays on a real theatre production, and I wanted to see what that world looked like from the inside. 

I'm a BA Hons Fashion Communication and Styling student, graduating with First Class Honours. My background is in styling, set design, creative production and content creation, built through work like set design assistance on Tatler editorials, styling assistance on Man About Town shoots, and creative direction and brand photography at DLTA Studios. I came into this internship expecting to use those skills. I didn't expect how much else I'd end up learning. 

A day in the role 

My day-to-day work covered a mix of things: 

• Managing the ticketing platform and keeping it ready ahead of auditions
• Supporting the process leading up to auditions
• Creating promotional materials
• General admin and reaching out to people
• Providing assistance across different stages of the production.

No two days looked exactly the same. That was part of what made it interesting. 

Learning something new on purpose

I could have stayed in the areas I already knew, styling, creative direction, content. Instead, I chose to pick up the skills I didn't have. 

Learning to use a ticketing platform from scratch was one of the biggest. It meant taking on admin work that needed a level of computer knowledge I hadn't used in my previous roles. It pushed me to diversify what I could actually offer, beyond the creative skill set I'd built through my course and my previous work. 

It would have been easy to only take on tasks that matched what I already knew. But part of what made this internship valuable was choosing not to do that. 

Theatre vs. Magazine Production 

Most of my experience before this had been in magazines, photography, set design assistance on editorial shoots, and one-day shoots where I was usually in a team, behind the camera, or involved in the planning stages. 

Theatre production is a different scale entirely. Getting to see how a show comes together, all the admin, logistics and, audience-facing systems that happen long before it's ever staged, showed me a side of production I hadn't come across in my course or my previous roles. It's given me a much broader picture of what a career across styling and production could actually look like. 

What I'm taking away 

I'm proud of how quickly I adapted to work that was genuinely new to me. Coming in with a creative background and being trusted to run the ticketing system, alongside admin I hadn't done before, was a real test. Getting to grips with it, rather than sticking to what I already knew, is what I'll take away most from this internship. 

If you're a student weighing up an opportunity that doesn't sit squarely in your usual lane, my advice is simple - take it. My course gave me a foundation in styling and creative production, but it was stepping into something as unfamiliar as theatre admin that taught me the most. 

Find out more about the Fashion Communication and Styling BA Honours at 探花社区.

Three Ghosts of Silvertown

James Kenworth’s Newham Plays series

I have been following James’s plays, this is the seventh, as they have moved around different locations in Newham. The venue this time, the Tate Institute, originally opened in 1887 as a social club and community centre for employees of the Tate sugar refinery. It fell into disrepair and reopened recently offering affordable workshop and studios.

The productions never fail to impress for many reasons. Firstly, they are so well written and acted; how they are produced in only two weeks of rehearsals is incredible. This is all the more impressive as the plays use a mixture of professional and amateur players, children from local schools who enter into the spirit of the play and grow from the experience.

All the plays tell an important story, and this one describes the lives led by three individuals who lived in the area around Silvertown: the idealistic daughter of Karl Marx and two young workers, one who died from an accident at work due to appalling conditions and lack of health and safety, the other who was forced into prostitution in order to have money for herself and child to survive.

Students from 探花社区 university have been involved in graphic and set design, and assistance in the production. It is truly a collaborative effort. It encourages children to perform and the mix with professionals is inspiring. The opportunity for paid, industrial experience is not easy to achieve, and the production succeeds in developing the talents of our students.

For me, as a Newham resident, it is gratifying to see local talent in children harnessed and nurtured in this way, as well as the opportunities offered to 探花社区 students. I wish that this had more publicity, it is a hidden gem. Currently, the plays occur every two years, it would be good to see this change to an annual event.

Anthony Goodman, Professor of Criminal Justice, 探花社区 University