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LED EASY
30 September - 31 December 2009For the past ten years, Cardboard Citizens have been touring Forum Theatre shows, performed by actors with experience of homelessness, in London’s hostels and day centres. We are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the tour, which has reached over 10,000 homeless and excluded people.
Our new Forum Theatre play, LED EASY by David Watson, involves three characters led astray by figures from the past, present and the future.
Leo is a teenager with a talent for ‘graffing’, on a London estate where image is everything and it’s difficult to break out. His friend Switchy offers danger, excitement and a life beyond the rules….
Emma wants to make difference, volunteering at a day centre for the homeless, but what is the best way for her idealism to make a dent in the systems of cynicism and bureaucracy around her?
Eve is fresh out of prison, and she’s still dealing with a habit. She wants to make a fresh start and re-connect with her child, but the support isn’t there and the temptations of her old crowd loom large…”
If you are or have been homeless and are interested in being an actor in our next show, please get involved with us by coming along to our weekly workshops.
If you would like to enquire about booking the next Hostel Tour show for your hostel or day centre, or for a conference you are organising, contact Project Manager Tracey Weller on 020 7247 7747 or email tracey@cardboardcitizens.org.uk.
- Writer: David Watson
David's play JUST A BLOKE was produced by the Royal Court Theatre, as part of their 2002 Young Writers Festival, when he was just 17. Prior to that, his plays OBSESSED and NO MORE FLOWERS were given semi-staged readings as part of the Birmingham Rep’s Transmissions Season. In 2004, David represented the Royal Court at the Interplay Festival in Athens, and his play THE FIREWORKS PARTY was read at Birmingham Rep in the same year. The following year David was selected as one of the writes for the Old Vic Theatre's 24 Hour Plays and in 2006, his play ALL THEM THINGS THERE was read at the Soho Theatre as part of their Core Cuts season. In 2007 David’s play FLIGHT PATH was produced by Out of Joint / Bush Theatre (London and National Tour). In 2008 David was awarded a children’s BAFTA for Best Secondary Learning Programme for his episode of L8er, produced by Hi8tus and the BBC. In the same year, David’s play ANY WHICH WAY, exploring knife crime and based on the testimonies of prisoners with whom he workshopped the script, had an acclaimed run at Only Connect Theatre. David has recently co-written a new play THE FREEDOM PROJECT for Only Connect and is currently collaborating on a screenplay with director Charles Barker and developing a web drama. He is also under commission to the Birmingham Rep and Royal Court Theatre.
- Director: Emma Bernard
Emma joined Cardboard Citizens in March 2009 as the Director of the War & Homelessness project. Her recent productions include: Critical Mass and My Secret Heart (Streetwise Opera), Sun & Heir (Royal Opera House Education), Fingerprint and Lip for The Shout. Emma is currently developing a new play, Woman Falling Over.
- Designer: Sophie Jump
- Sound Designer: Reynaldo Young
London-based Uruguayan composer and performer Reynaldo Young
- Actor: Ian S Kalman
Ian has always loved entertaining people and did a lot of performing from school till his 40’s. Last November Cardboard Citizens came to his hostel and the visit revitalised his love for acting. He started to come to workshops and has now increased his knowledge. He looks forward to doing more workshops and acting in the future.
- Actor: Johanna Allitt
Johanna joined Cardboard Citizens after attending a Forum Theatre training week in 2009, part of the Skylight summer school at Crisis. This is her first job with the company as actor/mentor on the hostels tour. She has worked as an actor, singer, director, deviser, live artist, workshop leader and artist in education.
- Actor/Joker: Terry O'Leary
Terry met Cardboard Citizens as a hostel resident at one of our workshops. Almost eight years later she has acted in numerous shows and is now recognised as a leading Forum Theatre joker (Forum Theatre facilitator) in the UK. Terry leads our work with socially excluded young people in schools, and homeless people and refugees at the Crisis Skylight centre.
- Actor: Jennifer Lewin
Jennifer graduated in ‘97 with a BA in Drama, Film and Television. She attended Cardboard Citizens workshops in ‘02, embarked upon her first schools tour, Another Planet, in ‘03, performed in Home and Away and This Way Up, and has assisted and led workshops. Other performance work includes Lavenders Blue with Theatre Resource, Stream and Taking Breath with Optik Theatre, and 7 Dials, a short film for The Actors Centre & the BBC.
- Actor: Andre Skeete
Andre joined Cardboard Citizens after watching a tour three years ago in his hostel - he joined the workshops and took part in a community play, Dust, before being cast in two successive hostel tours: Urban Wildlife and Going Going Gone. Andre has recently completed a film as part of BBC Talent Boost.
"I found this fascinating work and under Emma Bernard's direction these actors are giving performances they can be proud. At only about twenty minutes each these plays have had much more content .and much more purpose than many of the fifty-minute pieces that are presented to paying audiences on the fringe these days. It is good theatre, quite apart from its value in relation to the other purposes for which it is being performed."
"Born and bred in Tower Hamlets before becoming homeless, Mr Kalman said he ‘loved’ the experience of touring.
He encountered Cardboard Citizens one year ago where they performed at the hostel he was staying at on the Harrow Road in north-west London. He had acted ‘years ago’ and said the experience ‘rejuvenated my interest in it’. He began to volunteer for the company, until he was asked to perform in Led Easy.
Forced to live on the streets, Mr Kalman had begun to loose his self-confidence: ‘you begin to ask yourself ‘are you valued?’’ He now believes everyone should participate in acting workshops: ‘It does help to value yourself’."
"It's difficult to rate a piece of Forum Theatre. After all, the success of a session depends largely on the calibre of audience contributions, and in this case we were watching a showcase as opposed to a 'real-life' production (Led Easy is usually performed in hostels and day-centres).
So the five stars awarded here are not just for the high quality of both David Watson's script and the performances, but for the overall work of Adrian Jackson's Cardboard Citizens, a theatre company that must surely rank as being amongst the most genuinely life-changing in the UK..."
How to book a Cardboard Citizens performance at your hostel
Read through the Performance Requirements info (below) to ensure that you are able to meet the requirements needed for the performance.
If you are able to meet the requirements and would like to book, then contact Tracey Weller or Abena Adofo at Cardboard Citizens to see if your preferred date is available.
Telephone: 020-7247-7747
Email: tracey@cardboardcitizens.org.uk
or hosteltour@cardboardcitizens.org.uk
We will talk you through the requirements of the performance over the phone and check the availability of the show. Once a telephone booking has been made we will send out a booking agreement for you to complete.
If you have not returned your booking agreement within 15 working days of your telephone booking we may offer your date to another venue.
We require a deposit of £100 which must be included with the booking agreement to secure a performance at your hostel or day centre. We will return to you if the following criteria are met:
- The show reaches the pre-agreed attendance level. The attendance level will be set at a minimum of 30% of your bed spaces or 12 residents/service users, whichever is the greater. This number should not include any staff.
- The staff member on duty needs to take a register and return it to the stage manager at the end of the show.
- The staff member on duty needs to complete an evaluation questionnaire and return it to Cardboard Citizens.
- A member of staff must be present throughout the whole performance.
Deposits will be refunded if the criteria are met by the hostel and these will be pre- agreed before and included in your booking agreement. The Hostels Tour is funded by a number of charitable trusts and foundations so that we can provide the performance free of charge to your residents/service users. However we do need to meet their (and our) audience targets, this is why use a deposit scheme.
Performance Requirements
Ensure that you measure the space that you would like us to perform in, the space we require is as follows:
Width 5m (16ft)
Depth 6m (19.5ft)
Height (floor to ceiling) 3m (9.5ft)
Additional space is required for the audience. There is no set size for the audience area but it should be large enough to accommodate the audience numbers you expect (preferably between 12-60 people).
We also require:
- Parking for a Luton van (off street where possible)
- Loading / unloading area
- Electrical sockets
- Chairs
We need to arrive at least 90 minutes before the commencement of the show in order to unload the set and props and for our actors to get into costume.
Guaranteeing good audience numbers for the show.
Cardboard Citizens has toured the hostel tour performance for a number of years around London hostels and day centres. To ensure good audiences for the performance, we find that the following measures will help:
- Schedule the performance for when the most number of residents are in the hostel. Past experience has shown that the best time is after a meal (if your hostel serves meals)
- If your hostel or day centre does not serve meals, it would help if you could provide refreshments for residents while the performance is on as it makes the day into more of an event. (Refreshments would also be appreciated by the actors!)
- If your hostel or day centre runs a points / credit scheme towards education, employment or meaningful occupation, attendance at a Cardboard Citizens performance could be incentivised as part of this scheme.
- We will send you fliers and posters several weeks before the performance date. Posters need to be displayed in a prominent place where residents are likely to read them and fliers should be given to residents individually.
- Occasionally we are able to provide a Cardboard Citizens member to come down to your hostel or day centre to chat to residents/service users about the performance and the services that we offer several days before we are due to perform at your venue. If you would like us to arrange this for you then please mention it to Tracey or Abena when you make your booking.
Liaison between Cardboard Citizens and the hostel / day centre
We will be in regular contact with you from the time of your booking until the date of the performance. Please ensure that there is a nominated member of staff who acts as the contact point throughout this period. We would prefer it if this person was on-duty during the performance, if this is not possible then let us know in advance the name of the member of staff who will be supervising so we can make sure they have all the relevant information prior to our arrival.
NB – A member of your staff team will need to be in attendance throughout the performance. This is essential for the safety of our actors.
The Hostels Tour is just one of the projects we organise in hostels each year – if you would like any information about our other projects please contact us on 020-7247-7747
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Super exciting news from #FewManFridays rehearsal room: we're doing some filming at Pinewood Studio today! Bond last week, Citz this week!- @kerrynorridge Thanks for RT! How are rehearsals coming along?
