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Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn
Funded by the Community Development Foundation (www.cdf.org.uk) the Tricycle Theatre was able to continue its groundbreaking work bringing young Jewish and Muslim students together to develop their drama skills and create friendships and understanding across the faith divide. The students worked over six months culminating in March 2007 with a public performance at the Tricycle Theatre of "Evicted", a play which they had written about a group of diverse tenants facing eviction. The students gained not only theatre skills but understanding of each other's culture and background as well as how to work together as a team on a shared project. "Evicted" was performed to a high standard and to an enthusiastic audience from across the communities. The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation (www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk) and the Pears Foundation (www.pearsfoundation.org.uk) jointly funded an experimental extension of this project which was to tour the production of the drama group around 20 schools in North London and to develop an educational resource and DVD, initially as a pilot project for citizenship classes in secondary schools in the London area, who would not receive a live performance. The tour to schools proved difficult to organise given all the pressures on the school timetable. But the DVD has been made of the drama group at work, bringing out developing relationships across the faith divide. The Education Pack is also near completion and there are plans for it to be distributed widely in secondary schools with the aim of encouraging young people to discuss their own experiences in the broader context of anti-racism and citizenship education. Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester The CDF also funded the Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester to bring together for the first time Jewish and Muslims students in Manchester to work on a drama project. Working together over several weeks the 16 students devised a piece called 24 Hour City which they performed in public at the Royal Exchange Theatre in March 2007. Part of the play is the students' own words about their own or their family's journey to Manchester while another part of the play has them exploring other characters, speaking things that they don't necessarily agree with or believe. Commenting on the group of students Janine Waters, Community Partnerships Coordinator at the Royal Exchange Theatre said "The majority of people have said that they've joined because they've never really had the opportunity to talk to a Muslim or to a Jew before. The joy of a theatre company is that it sets up a safe environment that enables people to get together and focus on something else, which is creating a piece of theatre... The most interesting question is: will they stay in contact after this project? At the moment, I really think they will and the nicest thing I've heard, and I've heard it throughout the project, is one or another of them saying, 'You know I've never had a Muslim friend, or a Jewish friend, before'."
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Jewish /Muslim Youth Theatre projects