Raising the Roof in Lewisham
A page to accompany our Project Grant Application
Raising The Roof
In partnership with Leap Confronting Conflict, Playing ON has been running Raising The Roof for the past 18 months. Care experienced young people have developed stories with fictional characters inspired by real life.
These videos give a taste of the engagement work that we have been delivering, and will deliver alongside the fully realised production in future.
You’ll meet Artemis (pictured left), Lewis, Keelan and John, who will be care consultants on Lin’s commission, and Ashley who will join the Writers Group.
Raising The Roof
The Method
This is an excerpt from a performance event early on in Raising The Roof, due to Covid it was held on zoom.
In this video you will hear some of Lin’s poetic writing, see Ashley’s nuanced and truthful performance of characters co-created in sessions, and experience how we work with participants as Jim Pope invites the audience to co-create one of the characters in the story being told.
Our work in Lewisham
Here is some spoken word from the project, the full production was held at Climate Home, as part of the Lewisham Borough of Culture.
Our Drilling Diamonds participants shared their thoughts on the process with a film maker.
Eliezer and Godfrey are joining the Writers Group.
Eliezer is a Lewisham based actor and graduate of the Playing UP course for NEET young people, which Jim set up at NYT. Eli, with a couple of other professional performers, was employed to perform alongside young people in the production.
We have continued to support Eli by employing him on another project, supporting him with audition preparation for drama schools and by introducing him to other organisations in our network including New Horizons, who employed him to star in this short film.
Playing ON Professional Productions
Playing ON has produced 3 professional productions that have emerged from our engagement practice. They were written by the late Philip Osment, and dramaturged by Lin Coghlan. They all received brilliant critical acclaim and encouraged new audiences to engage with theatre. Lin’s piece will be our first professional production since Covid and we plan to tour it nationally after a London residency; future productions will emerge from the Writers Group.
INSIDE
INSIDE, 2010, sold out at the Roundhouse Studio with many attendees being first time audiences.
Emerging from work with young people with experience of the criminal justice system, Sir Ian McKellen said ‘it’s impact on the audience was startling and, for me, it was a most convincing theatrical representation of life in prison.’
INSIDE toured to YOIs during which the usually clamorous wings were silent, as the authentic experiences engaged the audience.
HEARING THINGS
Hearing Things, 2017-18 emerged from 5 years of working in mental health settings. Supported by Wellcome Trust, the production toured Omnibus Theatre and Vault festival before returning to clinical and community mental health contexts.
Several further NHS projects emerged from the production and we are still working in partnership with East London NHS foundation as a result.
CAN I HELP YOU?
Can I Help You? explored the roles race and gender play in mental health.
Jim Pope was an Offie Finalist for Best Director in 2020.
Alongside performances at North Wall, Gulbenkian and Omnibus Theatres, Can I Help You? toured to clinical and community mental health settings.