Friends2Friends

I had a lovely time meeting the Friends2Friends group at Cruck House in Lichfield this morning.

Some of my new friends gather for a photo

We spent an hour chatting over coffee, discussing what type of drama production they would like to do and when to do it. There were lots of ideas from pantomimes to local history stories but eventually the group decided it would be good to devise a piece about Friends2Friends and some of the things they have done since their formation. They decided to aim for a performance as part of their 2nd birthday celebrations in May 2014. They are keen to include some music, comedy and possibly dancing, and there were lots of suggestions as to what Friends2Friends landmarks could be included - they are such an active group there will be no shortage of material!
As a next step, they are going to sketch out a few ideas for scenes which would illustrate what Friends2Friends is all about. As well as using this to celebrate their birthday they also talked about being able to use it as information about the group and maybe performing it elsewhere in Lichfield to raise their profile in the City.
What a lovely bunch of enthusiastic people - I'm really looking forward to visiting them again soon!

Simon and Mal: Part 2

Another lovely chat with Simon and Mal. Since we last met they have had a think and come up with some fabulous ideas for a theatre/poetry event around the theme of  'Temptation'. The more we chatted the more possibilities sprang to mind including forum theatre and film. The idea is to use a mix of participants; inviting some previous Lichfield Mysteries participants to work alongside people from Tamworth involved in their recent production of Quadrophenia (who would be new to the Mysteries), and people who are completely new to performing; aiming for an intergenerational, multi-cultural performance.
We also discussed performance spaces and the possibility of performing in both Lichfield and Tamworth in around 12 months time.
It all sounds very exciting!!
Congratulations to Simon and Mal on their recent Quadrophenia production. Read about it here.

South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Arts for Health

This morning I went to visit the Arts for Health team at  St George's Hospital Stafford.  St George's Hospital, part of the South Staffordshire and Shropshire Health Care Trust, is actually a combination of two historical hospitals—the Kingsmead Hospital (previously an elderly care facility) and the St George's psychiatric hospital. It provides mental health services, including an intensive care unit, secure units, an eating disorder unit, an EMI unit for the elderly and mentally frail, drug and alcohol addiction services and open wards. The Arts for health Team, Eleanor, Jessica and Helen work with both in-patients and a variety of out-patient groups both at St. George's and further afield across South Staffordshire and Shropshire. Having done a lot of visual arts, music and creative writing they felt that drama would be an area that they would like to extend their work in. We also discussed dance as they have not done very much work there either.
Armed with a few ideas, they are going to have a chat with potential groups and we can then start to make some plans.
Thank you Eleanor and Jessica for making the time to see me, making me so welcome and giving me an opportunity to explain what this project is all about.
I'm looking forward to hearing from them soon.