SMASHED performer Troy Vandergoes mid-performance at Ashburton College yesterday. Photo Jaime Pitt-MacKayAshburton College students got a dramatic look at the dangers of underage drinking and dealing with peer pressure yesterday.

SMASHED, which was established in the UK in 2005 and will this year be delivered in 21 countries worldwide, has been brought to New Zealand as part of responsible drinking initiative The Tomorrow Project and is being delivered by the Life Education Trust.

The trio of performers were at Ashburton College yesterday to deliver the hour-long show that consists of 30 minutes of performing and 30 minutes of a workshop with the students on what they learned from the performance.

The performance highlights three friends and their experiences with alcohol and its negative effects, including what happens when one of the characters becomes grossly intoxicated and has to be carried home by his friends, and a fight between the two male characters, Caleb and Jack, that results in the character Charlotte being injured as a result.

Neatly woven into the performance are important lessons around the drinking age and the short-term and long-term effects alcohol consumption can have on the body.

“This project lasts five months and we are on our second-to-last week now,” performer Troy Vandergoes said.

The main aim of the show was to educate the students on underage drinking and avoiding peer pressure, he said.

The tour will continue south as far as Queenstown before returning to the North Island.

Tomorrow Project spokesman Matt Claridge said establishing the SMASHED programme in New Zealand is an exciting opportunity to address the issue of under-age drinking as well as encourage a responsible approach to alcohol as adults.

“We know, from our own research, that the younger people are when they begin drinking alcohol, the more likely they are to develop poor drinking behaviours later in life and this is a pattern that we are looking to change,” he said.

“The unique theatre-based approach to education is proving incredibly successful globally as students are engaged in an interactive way.

“The UK – where more than 380,000 pupils have participated in the programme, has seen a significant drop in the number of young people drinking alcohol, from 45 per cent of 8 to 15-year-olds in 2003 to 14 per cent today.”

SMASHED will reach more than 21,000 Year 9 students this year across 120 schools, with funding being secured to roll out to all 60,000 Year 9 students in 2020.

Life Education Trust CEO John O’Connell says SMASHED represents the organisation’s first foray into secondary schools.

“We’re delighted we have the opportunity to work with youth and support them with a programme that has a proven track record internationally,” he said.

O’Connell said the uptake from schools booking SMASHED has been significant.

“We’ve had a huge response from schools which indicates it’s an issue they see real value in supporting their students,” he said.

A global survey of SMASHED participants shows the programme, developed in collaboration with young people, has had a real impact on teenagers and their attitude and behaviour related to alcohol.

Ninety-five per cent of students said they understood more about the dangers of underage drinking than they did before the workshop and students who knew the legal age for buying alcohol in their country increased from 78 per cent to 94 per cent.

Eighty-six per cent of pupils demonstrated confidence in where to get help with alcohol-related issues after the programme (an increase of 33 per cent)  and 15 per cent have said the most important thing they learned from the session was how to challenge peer pressure.

By Jaime Pitt-MacKay © The Ashburton Guardian - 19 September 2019