In the Summer of 2021, Down Stage Write began working in Whitleigh’s Sir John Hunt community sports college as part of With Flying Colours, a brand-new playmaking and performance programme for children and young people in Plymouth.
Our initial pitch to With Flying Colours was simple; to co-create an audio play with the group, which we could share with the school and the wider community. Our job was to hold the process and shape the content generated in sessions by the young people in to a cohesive story that honoured all of their brilliant individual contributions.
(Ideas from the students about conflicts and resolutions between friends that became the heart of some of the relationship drama in their play)
Whilst creating live community-led theatre is our end goal for this project, it feels appropriate that the first stage has seen us produce something digital – removing access barriers for those still facing COVID based complications.
(Drawing out possible themes for the play in the first session)
(Finding out what really matters to young people through discussion and writing exercises)
This contained 6-week pilot represented the first step in establishing a relationship with the school and community; laying the foundations for a year of work beginning this September that will foster community trust and interest to the point that there is enough engagement to enable us to stage a number of participant-led pieces of writing, both inside Sir John Hunt and beyond it.
It also represented a new venture for Down Stage Write: Whilst we are both experienced youth theatre facilitators in our own right, the company’s focus to this point had been on providing production and development opportunities for established and aspiring playwrights. This project with Sir John Hunt has given Down Stage Write the opportunity to pilot a way of working with young people that will expand the company’s portfolio of work, whilst still being firmly in-keeping with our long-term ambitions to see more Devon and Cornwall stories on regional and national stages.
There is something exciting about walking in to a room of year 8s and saying, “you’re all playwrights”.
Jon and Sam