Undergraduate Drama students at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, will be visiting South Africa next week to understand ways in which drama techniques can be used for social and political change by working with schools and local communities. The Drama and Applied Theatre students will take part in the two week trip, which will offer them the opportunity to work in local schools, run workshops and tour Durban with a forum theatre performance on gender equality and stereotype in the UK. Drama and Applied Theatre lecturer Matthew Hahn commented, “This trip to South Africa is a great opportunity for students who will have the exciting opportunity to reflect on how their learning in a British university can be further influenced and challenged by the active practice of teachers working in Africa. “I am sure that this year’s trip will prove to be just as successful as last year’s where students developed a verbatim play based on interviews with HIV positive people in London. The play was performed in Lilonge, Malawi and London last year and was later filmed at the Nickelodeon Studios as part of MTV’s ‘Staying Alive’ Foundation.”