Projects

Benefit and Pop Up Party

Details

• 17th – 18th February 2012

On Friday 17^th February at The Arcola Tent in Dalston, Immediate Theatre celebrated sixteen years of working with young people in Hackney  with an event which was both a fundraising benefit and their first ‘Pop Up Party’. The event featured 12 members of Immediate’s Advanced Youth Theatre group with a new show, ‘Get The Greedy’, written by playwright Jonathan Wright, based on real experiences from the young actors aged 15 to19 years old.

The play follows a teenage runaway in the seedy underbelly of Hackney, during her first twenty four hours of becoming homeless. Greedy capitalists were represented by the ‘shotters’(drug dealers). Themes raised were young people’s vulnerabilities on the street, relations with community police and the triumph of hope and family feeeling over adversity.

The evening began with a Dalston walkabout with giant puppets, which the young actors animated to the surprise and amusement of people on the streets. The puppets processed to the Arcola Tent, where the evening included live music from cool jazz fusion clarinettist, Arun Ghosh, and beautiful vocals by Ornella Hardie (a former Immediate Theatre trainee), plus high energy comedy from the hilarious Katherina Vrana. A fantastic hot Caribbean buffet by local favourites, Shades Caterers, was followed by sounds to dance the night away.

The joint purpose of the event was to promote the talents of the young people and also raise funds for Immediate Theatre’s work in schools and on estates in Hackney.

Artistic Director, Jo Carter says, “The activities we offer are designed to engage and inspire, promote understanding, confidence, respect and self discipline. We develop skills for employability and we offer properly paid work to those we train.

We want to make Hackney a better place to live for everyone, and we know that many people in the borough would like to see this too.”

The show was a huge success with audiences. Over 70% had not seen Immediate Theatre’s work before - but 100% rated the show as excellent, very good or good. “It’s good to see the youth doing something constructive with a message,” said one person. Other comments offered consistent praise: “The play was very engaging.” “Some strong standout performances.” “Obvious enthusiasm and energy!” “Immediate Theatre are an amazing company, working with our youth and engaging them positively.”

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