A PROJECT run by a Scottish theatre company which gifts free plays and resources to vulnerable young people has had more than one hundred sign ups in its first few weeks.
Positive Stories for Negative Times was started by Glasgow-based company Wonder Fools as a response to the lack of physical spaces for young people to participate in creative activities during Covid-19.
Five UK playwrights have been enlisted to create a programme of plays which will be gifted to 8 to 25-year-olds for them to perform and adapt.
Since the initiative – which is in association with Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre - was announced over six weeks ago, 107 groups from 51 organisations across the UK have signed up, surpassing the original target of 70 groups by the end of the project next March.
Sabrina Mahfouz, Stef Smith, Chris Thorpe and Bea Webster have joined Wonder Fools’ own Robbie Gordon and Jack Nurse to write the series of plays, which tell stories that are described as politically urgent, stand up against oppression and share unheard voices.
Nurse and Gordon’s play, Ozymandias, is a contemporary story inspired by Percy Shelley’s 19th century poem of the same name. It explores power, oppression and injustice through the eyes of young people.
Nurse said: “It has been an utter joy to watch people across the UK signing up to take part in this project. As it is entirely free to take part we want to get this project happening in as many places we can far and wide.”
Working with young people from isolated areas, and vulnerable and marginalised groups, the project was set up to encourage the exchange of new skills and ideas, and to provide a safe online space for them during the pandemic.
Wonder Fools will provide a framework of how to rehearse, direct and record the plays, with guidance on how to deliver the project during lockdown restrictions, through blended learning.
Locations of groups taking part in Scotland so far includes Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Alloa, Mull, Aberdeen, Angus, Falkirk, West Lothian, East Lothian, Ayrshire, Dundee, Perth and North Berwick.
Each performance will be uploaded to the project’s bespoke platform, where participants can see other interpretations of the play and share their creation with their families.
The project endeavours to celebrate young people’s work in the arts despite theatres staying closed as a result of the pandemic.
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