Making theatre more accessible to all

The last night of Writefest saw the first step in a new project at Progress. Ali Carroll, who runs the successful Progress Youth Theatre groups, has a vision to open up participation in the theatre to people with learning disabilities or mental health issues. She is planning a session of workshops looking at backstage skills as well as acting. These will be open to all Progress members and in addition she will invite a number of people from the local community who may find it difficult to access the theatre without support. The idea is that they will each be supported by two existing Progress members. One of these supporters will always be at the workshops as a guaranteed friendly familiar face. They will also negotiate supporting the new members in other theatre activities.

Saturday was the first meeting of the support network with five existing Progress members meeting with Ali and four potential new members. The group met in the theatre bar for a chat over tea and biscuits before attending the Writefest together. It was a good event to start with as the different plays gave plenty to talk about. Loyal members of the group however insisted that their favourite was ‘My home is my Castle’ a monologue performed by Ali.

As well as the support network the visitors met many other members of the theatre while enjoying a drink in the bar during the interval. Being introduced to Alex, the voice of the elevator, was a particular highlight. We hope that Saturday night was the start of a successful attempt to widen participation in Progress.

Coming soon ...

The next production at Progress is ‘Much Ado Nothing’ by William Shakespeare. 25th November to 5th December 2009. The next blog post will be a behind the scenes look at the costumes.

Auditions for 'A Couple of Poor English-speaking Poles' by Dorota Maslowska on Sunday 29th November at 2.30 and Tuesday 8th December 7.30 both at Progress Theatre.
See progresstheatre.co.uk for more details.