We have always encouraged our Youth Theatre members to get out and about and experience theatre and performance from other theatre companies – we think watching the performing arts can be such an enriching and important experience and can enable folks to see and understand other lived experiences as depicted on stage. We also think it helps our older youth theatre members be better performers and theatre makers too (hence we do go-sees when we can), as they see other stylistic techniques, ways of storytelling, staging and theatre making that may inspire their developing artistic practice alongside supporting the cultivation of their own opinions around what they like and don’t like and empowering their voice as cultural consumers in their own right. Last year, Ensemble Young Company member Amaaya attended and reviewed Black Love from Kiln Theatre, Paines Plough and Tiata Fahodzi, staged at Roundabout Harbottle Park in Byker, as part of her Silver Arts Award. We found it fascinating to read Amaaya’s impressions of this unique and thought-provoking musical that covered themes of familial love and conflict through the lens of two black siblings who are navigating their differing relationships to their cultural identity. Read on for Amaaya’s review: “The story centres around two siblings, Orion (played by Nathan Queeley Dennis) and Aurora (played by Leah St Luce) who live together in a small London flat surrounded by memories of their parents. The siblings present two starkly different characters; Aurora is bold and full of energy; she loves her culture and is openly proud of who she is. Her brother Orion, on the other hand, is more of a gentle, soft character who doesn’t understand his culture and at times struggles to accept it. Black Love tracks their shared struggle refusing to believe what society tells them about themselves and their culture. I loved the combination of humour, arguing, playful teasing and love between the siblings throughout. The relationships between the siblings, as well as Orion’s new girlfriend and their deceased mother push the characters in different directions. Some of these conflicts are quite comedic. I also like how across the production they used different outfits to suggest the passing of time but also to show character and relational development and how it influences the visual expression of their culture. All the senses are activated in this musical as different elements come together to show the family’s rich cultural identify. I really love the R&B Heritage music that is used as it is one of my favourite styles of music. Visual references to the family’s culture are present in their house as the table has different patterns and bright colours that are commonly seen in Nigerian fabrics. Incense is used which may be another indicator of the sibling’s cultural identity. The director and writer Chinonyerem Odimba is a Bristol based playwright who was born in Nigeria, so it is interesting to see how her personal experiences may have influenced these design choices. An unusual element in Black Love is the way the voices of the different characters are used playfully to help deepen your understanding of them. You learn a lot about the character of the sibling’s mother, but she is never on stage as she had died before the story began and is instead represented as a disembodied voice. And another interesting technique I liked is as the characters are having discussions and conflicts amongst themselves, the actors often break the fourth wall to express their real feelings to the audience. The stage design uses the theatre-in-the-round effectively as a turn table which spins to transition from one scene to the next. They use lively retro imagery to create a strong sense of place, with records shown to indicate where a scene takes place, in a club, bar or public area. A particularly powerful part of Black Love incorporates the stage design to create a solemn and striking scene. Screens around the room light up with a list of names of black people who have been killed by police. And at the same time the characters read through this list; I found it really moving whilst also educating the audience and humanising the issue of race-based violence in police forces. Black Love taught me so much about why it is important to love your culture and not be afraid to show it to the world. As a mixed-race person, I don’t feel like I know as much as I should about my Asian culture but since watching Black Love, I feel prouder of my culture and want to learn more. This musical has taught me why it’s important to accept your own culture, even if it is not the dominant western culture that has been taught as the “norm” to so many of us from a young age. I also learnt about many of the black people who have sadly passed away due to the racism of the police, and I also gained some insight into different elements of Black British culture.”
Thank you Amaaya! Really insightful review. Did you also see Black Love? Let us know what you thought in the comments or is there another theatre production that you want our youth theatre members to know about and may be come see! If you would like to see more content created by the youth theatre members check out our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5oSgd5M3SZE29NWzlbHG4A/videos
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In the spirit of #WorldPoetryDay and its purpose to unite communities with shared values and to celebrate poems as a means of self-expression and as a powerful catalyst of social change, we invited our Ashington Youth Theatre Groups to write poems to share with our community! Our young people responded to the prompt “What would you do to improve your local area?” and worked with our practitioners to creatively explore their wants, hopes, needs and thoughts and to collectively come together to write poems, which we have the pleasure of sharing with you all. Our youth theatre members frequently express that they often don’t feel listened to when it comes to what’s happening in the world and what could be different! Part of our role at Mortal Fools is to give children and young people a space, where they can authentically express themselves without judgement, and have their thoughts and opinions listened to, respected and like in this blog post today, platformed and amplified to our community. Since arriving in Ashington in 2021, we have experienced firsthand how friendly and open the community is, continuously partnering with YMCA Northumberland, working with local schools and big, warm supportive Ashington audiences and youth theatre group members who have joined us! The community has welcomed us with open arms, and we are so thankful! The first poem we’d love to share from our young people, celebrates Ashington, community pride, belonging and the open welcoming ethos of everyone who lives here: In crafting their poems, our young people shared ideas for how things could be improved in Ashington and wider Northumberland. Children and young people aren’t often invited or supported to explore social and community change in a meaningful way; we have found giving space and scaffolding these conversations in a similar way to our theatre devising process, enables such insightful and quality contributions! An idea that was shared with us repeatedly, was that Ashington needs more clubs and activities for children – with opportunities to try different things! As a charity, we know how important access to quality provision and a safe space is for children and young people and that in the cost of living crisis, families often can’t afford membership fees, tickets etc. Our young people tell us that extra-curricular activities and the opportunity to participate should not be a nice to have, but an essential part of their growing up – this next poem demonstrates the importance of choice, the importance of nurturing interests and enabling folks to find likeminded people: At Mortal Fools we are always experimenting with and exploring different ways of involving young people in our decision making; most recently we have been working on creating a youth advisory group that would enable youth led accountability, governance, and critical thinking beyond what we already have in place to allow for authentic meaningful co-creation. We are collaborating with YMCA Northumberland and other youth settings to deliver several creative consultation sessions to gather the insights of Northumberland young people beyond those we are already engaging with. This will enable us to explore what a Southeast Northumberland offer for children and young people could look like, ensuring it is needs responsive, featuring activities young people want to try and support they would benefit from. As well as activity variety, young people have expressed a need for more mental health and wellbeing support. As the NHS is struggling to cope with a continuously increasing demand for young people’s mental health services and young people often find themselves stuck on long waiting lists, schools and youth groups have become even more vital in supporting young people as a front-line service providing interventions. The poem below perfectly illustrates the role all folks can have in looking after each other and providing a supportive space for the young people in their lives: The reoccurring theme from all our poetry writing sessions was that our young people want the adults in their lives to proactively ask them about their needs, feelings, and ideas. They are passionate about creating change both on an international scale and in Ashington, but they need adults to listen and take their ideas seriously! If young people are the future, then we need to listen in the present: Poetry is a powerful tool that young people can use to succinctly express their feelings and creatively play with language, and we hope by reading the poems featured on this blog post that you understand some of the things that Ashington young people want and need and that you’re inspired to ask open questions to the young people in your life and to listen.
And beyond today’s #WorldPoetryDay – you can see and hear from more Ashington young people on the 1st April at our theatre show FLUX – coming to YMCA Northumberland and devised and performed by our oldest group of young people! Join us for FLUX and you will see 12 unique young voices come together on stage, exploring what it means to question your identity in a world that feels determined to put you in a box. You can find out more and book tickets here. |
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