Playing ON is 10!

Nov 27

We are 10! Happy 10th Birthday Playing ON!

Today as we celebrate a decade of exciting and innovative work, come along with us as we journey through our favourite memories and challenges of the last ten years.

We can’t party in person, so instead we got in touch with friends old and new to talk about the past 10 years. This is what they had to say!

A message from our Artistic Director, Jim Pope

In 2010 Philip Osment and I founded Playing ON Theatre Company.

After extensive research in young offenders’ institutes around London, Philip had written the play INSIDE for students who had completed the Playing Up programme at the National Youth Theatre, several of whom had direct experience of the criminal justice system.

In the short term we wanted to provide professional development for the cast. We had received arts council funding to produce the play at The Roundhouse in Camden with some additional funds to deliver a theatre engagement programme with MAC-UK, a local mental health charity for young people at risk of gang involvement.

Our longer-term vision was to create a permanent theatre company, which would enable disenfranchised people to have their voices heard in community spaces and in theatres.

A lot has happened since then…

Philip is sadly no longer with us having passed away last year due to an underlying respiratory illness. He has left a powerful legacy of theatre practice as a tool for transforming people’s lives.

Starting a radical new theatre company wasn’t easy in the aftermath of the financial crash of 2009. We struggled from project to project in the first few years, determined to show that it is possible to use our approach to both encourage community participation and produce high quality new theatre showing an urgent portrayal of contemporary Britain.

To be honest we still struggle. We are not yet in receipt of regular funding and the times we are currently living in are not without challenges of their own! Over the years though with each new project, our confidence has grown. We have cemented many valuable relationships, both within the Playing ON community with board members and associate artists and with external partners who have spurred us on to expand and widen our reach.

To date we have worked with prisoners and prison staff, mental health service users and NHS staff, hospital patients, drama students, those in recovery for addiction, young people in care and youth offending teams.

We have produced three full scale theatre productions and many intensive theatre devising programmes. We have mentored emerging practitioners, delivered trainings and headed conference events.

Our work has continued unabated through lockdown as we have used social media platforms, mobile devices, go-pro cameras and social distancing measures to enhance our usual theatre making offer. As lives become more isolated and the gap between rich and poor widens, the need for our work has increased. Lockdown has created opportunities that did not previously exist. I was moved recently by a comment made by a young care home leaver in a drama workshop, which I was running on zoom. She said that it was the first time she had been in a space filled entirely by her peers all of whom have also grown up in care. For her it meant a respite from stigma and not having to pretend that she led a different life.

Thanks to the extraordinary support of our trustees we have moved from strength to strength. I would like to give special thanks to our previous chair Pauline Gladstone and director Lucy Richardson who recently left the board after helping us to become a charity and securing a kick ass executive producer, Rhian Davies. We have made it to the ten-year mark and I am now convinced that we will be playing on for many years to come.

Jim Pope

Ten ways to get involved with our double digits birthday!

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1. Follow us on Twitter

You can find us @playingon_ or hit the link at the bottom of the webpage

2. Follow our brand new instagram

You can find us @playingon_ or hit the link at the bottom of the webpage

3. Visit and explore our new website

You’re here! Have a look around.

We’ll let you know all about workshops and productions and other updates. We won’t share your details - you can check the privacy policy!

5. Nominate Playing ON as your Easy Fundraising & Amazon Smile charity

As you get ready for the festive season you can support us as you shop - it doesn’t cost you anything extra and big retailers give us a percentage of your purchase.

6. Join in with our birthday hashtags

Post your theatre highlight from the past 10 years with the #alookatthelast10years and #happybirthdayplayingon

7. Buy a copy of one of our plays.

You can get Philip Osment’s final play Can I Help You? directly from us, email info@playingon.org.uk for your copy.

INSIDE and Hearing Things are available through most good bookshops.

8. Book a £10 place on a training weekend

Check out our training page and if you book your place before the end of 2020 you can save between £140 and £240 on your course.

9. Become a trustee

We have an involved and committed board and are currently looking for new board members with experience of marketing and/or HR. If you think you could join us email jim@playingon.org.uk for more information.