It's Your Go

Drugs and Alcohol Education

It's Your Go is a drama workshop about alcohol, drugs, friendship and risk-taking. The drama introduces us to a group of 11 and 12 year olds. The sketches are interspersed with challenging workshop sections when the audience are invited to improve their decision-making skills, understand their sense of responsibility, learn about some of the realities of alcohol use and consider how their friends and family influence them.

It's Your Go has been carefully designed for use with either year 6 or year 7 pupils. Its themes are relevant to both year groups. Each performance is tailored to the particular audience and embraces the concerns of the younger pupils about to sit SATs and move on to new schools or the experience of the older pupils who are in a new environment and the youngest in the school. The work accommodates both key stage 2 and 3 learning outcomes for drugs education.

It's Wednesday morning, and Alex's mum goes over the house rules with him one more time. She's coming home late and Alex will be expected to take care of himself for a few hours. Ryan, Grace and Maya have got other plans for Alex; with all adults out of Alex's house, they all fancy a leaving party for Maya who is going to a new school. Ryan teases Maya about her school, claiming that the head master sells cannabis.

Alex is initially reluctant to let his friends over as it breaks the house rules, but finally agrees that they can come over and play on his Wii. Once at the house, Alex tries to retain control of his friends to stop them pulling the house apart. Grace goes exploring and comes back with two bottles of cider she has found in Alex's big sister's room. They have a drinking contest to see who can drink the most. Ryan won't though, as he reckons alcohol is nasty. They play spin the bottle, and Alex is less concerned about the house now. They decide to finish the second bottle of cider in the park, as Alex's mum will be home soon.

Maya who has drunk the most is not very chatty, as she feels sick. Alex and Grace are acting up, and Ryan is frustrated as he wants to tell his ghost story. They realise it is late and the park is shut, and they start to panic. A torch is seen moving towards them and Grace and Alex run. Maya can't move because she is too drunk. Ryan stays with her. We end up back at Alex's house; the four friends are all safe but in huge trouble. We hear how Alex's mum has called the police and how worried their parents have been.