Projects

Frenzy

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A group of sixteen young Hackney actors from Immediate Theatre, aged 13 to 21, performed their newly devised play ‘Frenzy!’ in Dalston,    

The play was a Forum Theatre show which  got members of the audience up on stage to improvise alternative strategies characters could have used , in order to change the endings for the better. The Forum style worked a treat and Frenzy  engaged the audience of youth groups, family, friends and representatives from local organisations”

The actors presented two stories about individuals caught up in the rioting and looting. Sarah’s story which followed a young woman who was prevented from going out on the streets by her parents but ended up in trouble after taking a gift of stolen goods from a friend and Brian’s story following an unemployed teenager who took part in the looting. Brian’s story led to the biggest debates as members of the audience tried different strategies to find him a job, resist peer pressure and develop a better relationship with his family.

The individual stories were presented in front of a backdrop of scenes of rioting and looting. As one member of the audience put it “the emphasis was on expression, reflection and listening, not on answers”. The main reaction from the audience was to acknowledge the many different factors underlying why people got involved in the rioting, beyond the main catalyst of Mark Duggan’s death .

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