“We believe in peace, not in passivity” Augusto Boal, creator of Theatre of the Oppressed
During a Day of Dialogue on 11th May, dramatic scenarios will kickstart a conversation with Leith residents, visitors and elected representatives. In Forum Theatre no-one is a passive spectator. By the end of the day Active Inquiry artistic director Gavin Crichton hopes everyone in the hall will have helped to develop an Action Plan with practical solutions to real life issues in Leith.
This is the ambitious conclusion of a Forum Theatre project which began last year with workshops exploring that often elusive idea of empowerment (What is it? How can communities achieve it?). Power to the People evolved into the story of Alice and her struggle to gain support from neighbours to improve life in the community.
Performances of the play drew enthusiastic response from members of audience. Now it is their turn to take to the stage, working with actors to produce their own pieces of Forum Theatre which will be performed at the Day of Dialogue. Don’t miss the chance to discover – and influence – what happens next. (Time and place will be announced soon, check Active Inquiry website )
IT’S NOT ALL IN THE MIND…BUT A LOT OF IT IS
Meanwhile Gavin is working on another exciting project which takes empowerment a step further. On 14 and 15 May ACTive Inquiry is offering training workshops open to teachers, therapists, youth workers, social workers, actors and activists.
The workshops will be led by Barbara Santos, who was General Coordinator of the Centre for the Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio, Brazil between 1994-2008 – working alongside Augusto Boal
Barbara will draw on her latest work exploring how oppressions become part of everyday life – and how we can expose and resist them.
Workshops cost £150 for two days – from 10 am to 5pm on 14th and 15th May at Pilmeny Youth Centre. For more information contact Gavin at gavin@activeinquiry.co.uk phone 0771 4321 629 or check out www.activeinquiry.co.uk
]]>
The Action Research on Violence Project starts on Wednesday 23rd February 4pm til 5.30pm at the Leith Community Centre Cafe; the project will run every week from then for 13 weeks. The project is open for young people aged around 13-16 years from ethnic minority communities in North Edinburgh and Leith, as this part of our local communities has so far not often been offered space to voice their ideas/opinions and perceptions about such a wide and important subject.
Run jointly by Shakti and NHS Lothian, and with support from many local BME community and youth support agencies, the sessions will include Forum Theatre sessions (run by Gavin Crichton of Active Inquiry Theatre Company) to investigate the wide topic of ‘Violence’; members will have the chance to develop a forum theatre piece around the themes that emerge from discussions and games. There will also be a chance for people to creatively contribute towards an exhibition containing our ideas, discoveries and possibly questions to other parts of our communities. A daytrip to visit another youth project is also being planned.
A meeting is being held in Norton Park on Friday 18th February 9.30-11.30am for interested parties and stakeholders to learn more about the project and how you might be able to be involved.
Please note: the project is not a support group or service, nor is it a focus on issues within particular communities – it is a research focus group for young people starting a vital conversation about an issue that affects EVERYONE.
To book a place at the stakeholders meeting or for more information, please contact Lisa Rigby on 0131 475 2399 or email lisa@shaktiedinburgh.co.uk.
]]>
Members of the audience get involved in Change earlier this year (picture by Kasia Raszewska)
The aim of the latest Forum Theatre by ACTive Inquiry, which starts on Sunday 24th November, is to question the meaning of power and empowerment. If you have been to any of the earlier productions you will know that opting out is not an option. But the atmosphere is so welcoming audience participation is not nearly as scary as it sounds.
Not scary at all in fact. Your Leith Open Space blogger was at the dress rehearsal in Pilmeny Youth Centre and can report this is a story that will get you off your seat. As one of the young students in the front row said, “I am not the kind of person who enjoys audience participation but I found myself really wanting to get up”. (or words to that effect).
She’s not alone. The ACTive Inquiry flyer quotes members of the audience who saw the 2009 production SPACE: “I’ve never seen anything like it! It is such an interesting and dynamic way to explore issues. I really liked how the audience interacted with and influenced the play.”
Come and find out for yourself, Power to the People starts on Sunday in Out of the Blue and then moves around Leith.
PERFORMANCES:
Sun 21st Nov 2010, 3pm, The Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Dalmeny Street, Leith
Mon 22nd Nov, 3.30pm, McDonald Road Library, McDonald Road
Weds 24th Nov, 7pm, The Lighthouse, 20-22 West Harbour Road, Granton
Fri 26th Nov, 6pm, Pilmeny Youth Centre, 44 Buchanan Street, Leith
If we are all to become part of The Big Society should we decide what power and responsibility we want? Should we empower ourselves to say how we want to be empowered?!
One good question always leads to another. Power to the People? The latest theatre project from ACTive Inquiry invites you to bring your stories, thoughts and ideas to a drama workshop on Saturday 30th October at Pilmeny Youth Centre exploring the meaning of power and empowerment.
As usual, the experience of real people will provide the essential elements for a Forum Theatre production tackling a hot topic. Artistic director Gavin Crichton explains why:
“Active Inquiry is a Leith-based theatre company making theatre with and for the people of Leith. We would like to say that we empower people but we want to understand what that means first! We are developing a piece of Forum theatre exploring the idea of empowerment and are holding a public workshop in order to collect stories, thoughts and ideas to inform this. All are welcome – especially if you live, work or play in Leith. Performances will take place throughout Leith in the last two weeks of November.”
The drama workshop is on Saturday 30th October at Pilmeny Youth Centre from 10 am – 1pm. It’s free and no previous experience is necessary. (What is Forum Theatre? Click here for a brief answer).
Email Gavin for more information: gavin@activeinquiry.co.uk
]]>
Confrontation – how the media simplifies a complex story [pictures by George Lamb]
Every now and then a surprised face peered through the window: this was not business as usual in the Scottish Parliament, not even during the Festival of Politics. For once the emphasis was on actions rather than words. And actions can speak volumes.
The News Group drama workshop chose to work on a topical story very much at the heart of the Scottish Parliament – US reaction to al-Megrahi’s continuing survival a year after his release and how that is being covered by the media.
This was a special festival version of the News Group presented by ACTive Inquiry with Leith Open Space. The event was a sell-out – at 10.30 am on a Saturday too – and perhaps half the group were regulars from the monthly workshop sessions that take place in Pilmeny Youth Centre. New members added a fascinating range of skills and experience to the event in the Education Centre at the parliament.
Gavin leads a warm-up exercise
Without words the group arranged ourselves according to the distance we had travelled to get to the parliament (Gavin Crichton, director of ACTive Inquiry, does a great line in warm-up exercises as you can see from the photo). The shortest journey was just a 10 minute walk but Lorna had crossed water to get there from Argyll and Thom had driven from Carluke.
Once the workshop began we covered a lot more ground – back in time and across the world: from Lockerbie to Libya, from the Berlin nightclub to the White House, searching and sifting through the layers of a complex story rarely tackled in the media. In silence the group expressed questions leading to more questions in a chain reaction spreading across the floor.
It’s not over yet. The workshop ended – as it always does – with suggestions for the actions our Jo (or Joe) the active citizen could take. The top vote went to an idea which could take the drama to a wider stage. Instead of calling for a judicial inquiry, the group would like to see “ a theatre-styled public presentation of the Megrahi case”. It’s an ambitious idea – but it would be a very exciting development for the Festival of Politics. We hope we will come back to it!
The Top Three Action Points
- Create a theatre-styled inquiry
- Research every source to find the truth
- Make an amateur video (in Lockerbie) on the subject of innocence and victimisation
Haven’t got the T shirt – yet – but we are preparing to be part of the Festival
OK, this is the Festival of Politics and yesterday the chamber was occupied by people who had come to hear Annie Lennox, Martin Bell and Mark Thomas discuss Power of the People. It was Mark Thomas who put the ideas to the vote: “Can I be a little cheeky?” he asked. And how was deputy presiding officer Alisdair Morgan going to refuse the man who has toured Britain collecting some wonderfully progressive ideas for his People’s Manifesto.
So anything can happen in the Festival of Politics. And on Day 5 – Saturday 21st to be precise – we are about to find out what lies in store when you invite people to bring the news stories that are making them mad to an experimental drama workshop.
Leith Open Space is joining ACTive Inquiry, the radical theatre group, to present News Group, a drama workshop exploring topical issues. The idea is to encourage people to take an active part in events rather than passively consuming all the media throws at us 24 hours of the day. (In the monthly workshops we have grappled with the public sector cuts, the global response to the Haiti earthquake, and the Big Society.)
News Group uses drama techniques to analyse current affairs but it also employs Open Space democratic processes and everyone in the group is equally important. The Open Space process began with Harrison Owen, an American consultant who has specialised in mediation work with large and diverse groups. His work in Africa taught him that people communicate most freely when they sit in a circle where everyone has an equal chance to talk and listen.
Interestingly, at yesterday’s discussion in the debating chamber Mark Thomas also commented on the significance of the seating arrangement; the chamber’s semicircular plan deliberately encourages consensus in contrast to Westminster’s confrontational layout.
On the way out of the Parliament we took a quick peek in the Education Centre where the News Group takes place on Saturday. It can fit a maximum of 30 people so it will be a tight circle if the room is full. But it will expand to accommodate a world of news. And who knows what will happen.
]]>
Flashback to last year: World Kitchen launched during the wet, wet Leith Festival Gala. This year we are going undercover!
There are moments in the early hours of the morning when we wake up and wonder how we got into this but after a good strong cup of coffee we are raring to go again. First of all, World Kitchen in Leith promises to be a really exciting project during the Fringe, with lots of support from Out of the Blue Drill Hall Cafe. But more of that after tomorrow’s planning meeting with the rest of the World Kitchen team.
And then a little later in August there’s the News Group drama workshop in the Festival of Politics. Leith Open Space is really delighted to be working with ACTive Inquiry on a very different kind of event in this year’s varied programme at the Scottish Parliament. Chris Berry the director did say he was hoping to encourage participants to blog on the Festival of Politics website, so we might just take him up on that.
]]>
So that’s us on Day 5 at 10.30 am in the Education Centre on Saturday 21 August. News Group is a drama workshop – created by ACTive Inquiry in partnership with Leith Open Space – using drama techniques to dig below the surface of current issues.
It’s free and no acting experience is necessary. You just need to be willing to have a go. Instead of ranting at the telly, as Gavin Crichton artistic director of ACTive Inquiry puts it, this is an opportunity to explore how we can become active participants rather than passive consumers of non-stop news.
The News Group began last November and since then monthly workshops in Pilmeny Youth Centre have explored stories such as the war in Afghanistan, the Haiti earthquake, the BP oil disaster and the UK budget cuts. And who knows what the headlines will be during the third week in August.
ACTive Inquiry invited Leith Open Space to take part because there is a strong link between the community activism which is an essential element of their work and the community engagement of the Open Space discussion process. Both encourage people to take positive action and that fits beautifully with this year’s Festival of Politics theme ‘Changing Politics’ ( if you are familiar with the work of ACTive Inquiry you will know that change has been very much part of the discussion in this year’s productions).
There is a special buzz around this year’s Festival of Politics with 47 events in the five day programme covering some of the most challenging issues of the moment. And in the Scottish Parliament too which gives a nice twist to discussion about the politics of ageing, football, food, human rights, climate change and much, much more.
Many of the events are free and the top price for tickets is only £6 if you book to see one of the stars – Annie Lennox talking about the Sing campaign fighting HIV/AIDS in South Africa, Mark Thomas on public involvement in politics or John Prescott on a life in politics.
]]>
The cafe was always a place where you could go and talk about changing the world. But now a bigger change is happening; something that requires less talk and more action…
Action points: there’s lots of exciting stuff simmering below the surface which we are not quite ready to tell you about. But one festival event is ready and raring to go public. Don’t miss The Legacy the latest Flashback Drama Group production during Leith Festival on June 17, 18 and 19 in Out of the Blue Drill Hall.
Hot on the heels of Change, the election campaign drama series, ACTive INquiry presents a new work exploring how we deal with change and how we can be actively involved in enabling positive change to happen in our lives and communities.
As always this is a collaborative production, devised and written by the cast and directed by Gavin Crichton of ACTive INquiry, a Leith based theatre company with the declared aim of encouraging participation in the arts as a catalyst for active involvement in society.
And where better to start than the cafe, as the Legacy flyer says: “The cafe was always a place where you could go and talk about changing the world. But now a bigger change is happening; something that requires less talk and more action.”
Legacy is on show at 7.30pm on 17th and 18th June and at 2.30 and 7.30 on Saturday 19th June in Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 36 Dalmeny Street Edinburgh EH6 8RG. Tickets £5.
]]>
All smiles: Maria Masur-Grieve and just visible behind her Marek Pietryzykowski
Politicians take note. Sometimes the simplest ideas win the most hearts, minds and votes. Last night’s political drama in Fort Community Wing ended with a competition for a project to change life in Leith for the better. And the clear winners of a small cash prize to make it happen were Maria and Marek for an idea that costs nothing to put into action. Smiling Leith simply asks everyone to smile three times a day to a complete stranger.
Try it, urged a smiling Maria and Marek, it can make you and someone else feel happier. It certainly seemed to work a treat for the crowd who had come to see the first night of Change, a political (with a small p) play exploring how we can influence positive change in our community.
The other two proposals are also good ideas: a leaflet campaign to promote the club for young mothers at the Citadel and a public event to excite support for the Greenerleith vision for pedestrianising the Shore. And of course they can still happen. But it was the smile that won the day when Gavin Crichton, the ACTive Inquiry director, asked the audience to take part in an old fashioned democratic show of hands. 
Smiling Leith wins £50 for a poster campaign to get everyone smiling.
Gavin spent the earlier part of the evening in the role of The Joker (see right) coaxing members of the audience on to the stage to play their part in changing events. With amazing success.
On the way into the hall Mridu said she definitely did not want to get involved in audience participation. Guess who was first up on stage after Gavin asked the audience to suggest how the main character Sophie might have done things differently to secure her dream of running a community course encouraging local people to take more control of their lives.
On the other side of me Al confided his fear of being dragged on stage. Guess who was next up? Al improvised a scene skillfully persuading the community centre manager that Sophie might find an alternative source of funding for her project. (Later Al admitted it was very close to the role he played in getting Greener Leith started).
Playing their part: Mridu Thanki (left) of World Kitchen in Leith and Al Tibbitt of Greener Leith with Suzanne of ACTive Inquiry as the harassed community centre manager.
And by the end of the play even Leith Open Space was drawn into the action, persuading the bank who employ Sophie that they could help to make the community project happen and restore some of their bad name at the same time.
Try it for yourself – Change made its debut at Fort Community Wing thanks to the wonderfully enterprising Swietlica drop-in club. The play is now running in different venues throughout Leith during the election campaign. Next showing at Duncan Place Resource Centre, 4 Duncan Place, Leith on Wednesday 5 May 7pm.
And don’t forget to smile – ‘Three smiles a day keeps misery away”, is the slogan suggested by Mridu for the Smiling Leith poster campaign which will be launched with the help of the £50 prize awarded by ACTive Inquiry. Who knows who and what will win the next prize. Could be you?
Teamwork: Mridu, Marek and Marcin demonstrate people power (thanks to Kasia Raszewska for the black and white pictures)
PERFORMANCES
all free
Wednesday 5 May 7pm – Duncan Place Resource Centre, 4 Duncan Place, Leith
[Thursday 6 May – still to be confirmed – Out of the Blue, Drill Hall, Dalmeny Street, Leith]
Saturday 8 May 4pm – The Lighthouse, 20-22 West Harbour Road, Granton, EH5
(plus a private performance at NEECAG (North East Edinburgh Care Action Group) Older People’s Forum, at a sheltered housing complex).