Co-creating Time-bomb with our new audience
Time-bomb community engagement sessions
Time-bomb is inspired by events that happened in Essex, north Kent and by the ripple effects on those travelling in and out of East London. It looks closely at the effect the climate emergency has on Gen Z.
To support the work that we’ve been doing developing Time-bomb, we’ve organised a series of community engagement sessions with young theatre-makers.
March
Young Actors Club @ Green Shoes Arts
First we were in Romford, working with Kirsty Cherrett and the Young Actors Club (YAC) who are the youth theatre at Green Shoes Arts. Kirsty trained in musical theatre and now specialises in youth theatre in Dagenham and Barking and Tower Hamlets.
The group sang “Standing on the Edge” together (a rousing rendition with so many voices) and worked on scenes from Time-bomb in pairs and small groups.
“The ice-caps are melting”
April
I liked the song, I think it was really inspiring and teaches you about climate change and how you should respect the planet
– Sofia age 13
I really liked the story and I also enjoyed getting to perform one of the songs
– Arran age 15
Morpeth School
Next we joined Kirsty and the musical theatre students at Morpeth school in Bethnal Green. The pupils really enjoyed engaging with the creative process of developing a new musical!
I loved the song – it was very catchy. It stuck in my head on the way home
– Emelia, age 13
I really, really liked the song, it was very catchy and also portrays the message well, which I think is hard to do
– Penelope age 12
National Youth Music Theatre
We rounded out our final week before rehearsals with a full table read of Time-bomb with Kate Golledge and 8 young performers from the National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT).
Everyone enjoyed working on our new musical at the Umbrella Rooms in London’s West End.
What were we hoping to achieve from these sessions?
- To hear and explore young people’s views on climate change.
- To listen and absorb the language they use to express their thoughts and feelings.
- To offer an insight into our theatrical process, using our text and music as a jumping off point.
What did we learn?
Climate breakdown is vivid in the minds of young people and they knew a great deal of climate detail.
What did the young people learn?
That we can talk about climate in different ways – musical ways!