BARE TRUTHS 1
New Wimbledon Theatre Studio — 6-7th September 2007
The project was a partnership between Merton Youth Justice Service (MYJS) and Pro-ThinC, a south London theatre company that used drama techniques to help young people express themselves and explore issues relevant to their lives.
The majority of the participants had no prior experience of drama and had never performed before; it proved to be a profound and transformative journey of self-discovery for all, enabling them to take a fresh look at their prior histories and current circumstances, and to make important decisions about what kind of future they would want. Through improvisation, the teenagers learnt a greater repertoire of social skills, rather than simply resorting to their defined character roles.
Bare Truths 1 was the creation of the young people themselves and explored issues around the role of parents, drugs, violence and the potential for resolution and personal change. The show ran for three evenings and sold out every time.
Bare Truths 1 is a story of turbulent lives:
-A mother who, having left her marriage and battling with addiction to cocaine, prioritises drugs over her children.
-A father who, having been left to raise the children on his own, wrestles with his instinct to resolve conflicts through violence and finds himself increasingly isolated from his family, friends and local community.
-Two brothers: one wheelchair bound, in care and desperately wanting to be a part of his brother’s life; the other, wanting to change but continuing to deal drugs and unable to publicly acknowledge his hidden sibling.
What will it take before they face up to the downward spiral that is their lives? What will it take before they confront the Bare Truths?
