00:00So, hello everybody. Welcome to the hall. My name is Louise and I am the Creative Director
00:04of Creative Crawley and we are delighted to be presenting this show by Theatre Centre here today.
00:11So, I'm going to do a little bit of an intro and then Rob and Emma from Theatre Centre are also
00:17going to speak. So, Creative Crawley is a relatively new arts charity. We've been going for about three
00:23years and we're based here in Crawley and our mission is to support creative people and to
00:28develop the infrastructure here so that more creative things can happen. We've got two kind
00:34of major projects that we run. One is called Creative Playgrounds and that is the Creative
00:39People and Places project for Crawley funded by Arts Council England mainly. There are colleagues
00:45in the room here so I'll say a big thank you in a minute. And that is a resident-led programme
00:49that's about engaging with people that don't necessarily have access to arts and culture
00:54all the time. And then the other one is the Creative Village and that is what this
00:59programme is part of. So, Creative Village is about developing the cultural infrastructure here,
01:05developing skills in creative people who want to have jobs in the industry and also presenting
01:12extraordinary new work by local, national and international people. So, the programme
01:21is, again, funded by Arts Council England. So, thank you so much for all of the support to the
01:26colleagues that are in the room. The Arts Council are making a difference in Crawley, changing the
01:31face of the town, definitely, through the support for us but also for others. And we are delighted
01:38to have Dizzy here but also in the spring we're working with a company called Retcart and Rosenberg
01:43who are bringing a wild dance show to County Mall, the shopping centre. You listen on headphones,
01:50it's a bit like it kind of just emerges and happens. So, that's going to happen in March.
01:54And then we're working with Leap Then Look who are an extraordinary visual arts-based company
01:59who are making an exhibition that is completely playable. So, you can kind of climb on the
02:04sculptures, you can put things all around the room and it's going to be really fun.
02:10The reason that I'm so happy that Theatre Centre are here is because we're in a partnership that
02:15is about developing a cultural hub in the town, in West Green, in the neighbourhood,
02:21that way, and really near the town centre. And that is to support young people to make
02:29creative work happen but also local artists. So, we're going to test a kind of hub next year
02:35of artist studios and rehearsal spaces. And we're also taking over, this is hot off the press,
02:40taking over a unit in County Mall to present loads of work as well.
02:45So, it's going to be the kind of one-stop shop for culture in the town.
02:51Thank you, Louise. I won't talk for long because you'll want to hear more from Rob than from me.
02:55But I just wanted to really say it's absolutely wonderful to see everybody.
03:00It's a year to the day that we launched the space in West Green with our podcast,
03:05our Crawley Stories podcast, which is still available at the moment. Some of our artists
03:12are in space, Sarah and Anna, and the young people who are involved. We have had the most
03:18incredible 18 months of being based in Crawley and it's the beginning. As Louise has said,
03:22there is so much more that we have planned that we want to achieve. The welcome that we've had
03:28here has been absolutely incredible. And the dreams and the plans that we're putting together
03:35for the future of our work within here, in Crawley, and the way that we want to work with
03:39young people and with artists and local teachers and colleges. It's super exciting and we'll keep
03:46you updated. Hi, I'm Rob. If Craig Crawley is three years old, then Fit Centre is the grandmother of
03:58Crawley because we are 71 years old as a company. We've been doing this for 71 years.
04:03I haven't been with the company for 71 years, but one of our ex-artistic directors is also here as
04:09well. But we are here to make work with and for young people. The with is really important. So
04:16this show that you're about to see, we've been making over the last two years with an amazing
04:20writer called Mohamed Zain Dardar. And we've been going and listening to loads of young people
04:26across the country, including in Crawley. So what you see on that stage has been made through all
04:32the conversations from young people. Zain didn't really know what he was going to write and then
04:36listen to those young people and then went, OK, this is what this is what it is. So he was listening
04:41to lots of young people and it was post-Covid and there was a lot about loss for young people,
04:47loss of identity, loss of opportunity, loss of people. And he wants to write a story that spoke
04:52to that. That sounds really heavy, right? So there is some laughs in it as well. So all good.
05:00And also where it's important to us that the work speaks to everyone. So we do take this into
05:03schools. We were in St. Wilfrid's and some local schools this week. So we take the same show that
05:09you're about to see into schools. The only thing that's different is that you don't get lighting
05:12effects. So you get some extras. And then we take it into venues as well. And it's important that
05:19we go to venues because we want the adults in young people's lives to experience that part of
05:24their lives, a slice of life that you wouldn't normally. Because, hey, after 18, we forget we
05:28were young, right? We call them young people. Rather than actually, of course, we're all human
05:33beings that just age, right? So it's part that all these stories are for everyone.
05:47But do let us know. This is what we do in schools. When we go to schools, we will always do a Q&A
05:52afterwards. It's important for us that the magic of the thing we create, we don't want to be like
05:57Wizard of Oz, and you pull back a curtain. I was a white man, generally, usually. But we're
06:02interested in the people who make the work. So I just want to point out Neil, who is our company's
06:07stage manager, who has just taken over from our other company's stage manager, Lizzie. So he's
06:13just picked up lots of things today. Brilliant. This is Herbie, who's our production manager,
06:17just back there. And Jessie was our lighting designer. All cringing, but didn't realise that.
06:22What is the main question that the children are given?
06:29It's like a set for you that they always ask.
06:32There tends to be, because they're teachers giving them questions,
06:38to write about it in one of their GCSE pieces. And so it's amazing how the wording
06:42will just be like, I've heard that one before. We always just go, great question.
06:46That's something like a 10 point answer for them. But we normally get, what's the moral of the
06:52piece? What should we take away from it? What does the set signify? What does the
06:55costume signify? How did Callum die? How did Yacine die? How did you get into acting?
07:03How much do you get paid?
07:04How much do you get paid?
07:06There's always a cheeky one on the cover that goes, shh shh shh.
07:10What's your favourite football team for Brenda?
07:14Yeah, what else?
07:18So I found the whole thing an emotional rollercoaster. So do you get extreme reactions
07:26in terms of anger or tears or people being upset whilst they're watching the show?
07:29Obviously you're focusing on your acting, but you must sense that it's happening.
07:34Yeah, a few girls who were quite moved by it. I think sometimes it's hard because
07:41we're really blessed because when we go into schools, we have a genuine conversation with
07:46the kids afterwards and we can see their reactions. But sometimes when we did it in
07:50Sheffield, we've done the show, that's it, we don't see the audience up, so we don't know what
07:53their reaction is. But yeah, there was this one school that a few girls were really impacted by
07:59which was hard because you don't want to make young kids cry. But then another school, there
08:05was this girl who came up to us afterwards, she was crying but she was like, no, she was like,
08:10these are happy tears. But yeah, people do have quite a strong reaction.
08:16This is the beginning of stuff for us. It's the first time we've been in the Horth. We've
08:20been welcomed beautifully. We're going to be back here, I'm sure. It is our home theatre space now
08:27that's big and we want to build audiences. That takes time. It is something new that's within
08:32the programme of this brilliant building. My ask of you today is the two people that you know that
08:40might have time tomorrow to come, please ask them. Tickets are £5 or £10. You pay what you want.
08:46Which is less than your monthly Netflix, right? It's on a 4.15, 4.30, 7.15 tomorrow.
08:59And we want as many audiences to come and see this as possible because
09:03we want to start building that. That's what we're about, what Creative Crawley is about.
09:07So more of that, please.
Comments