Active Inquiry

Not For Profit – Performances

28th November, 2011 - Posted by Gavin - 2 Comments

Well we finally have time to take a breath and get near the laptop again after a whistle-stop tour of Leith over the last two weeks with performances of our latest piece of Forum Theatre – Not For Profit.

This piece told the story of Mary and her fight to achieve her dreams in the current economic climate and looked to engage audiences in debates about the causes of and alternatives to the current Public Sector Cuts.

We were particularly excited about this tour because we were performing in many new venues and had been recommended by top Scottish Playwright Jo Clifford in The List as one of the top 10 things to see this month!

After a cosy first performance in the welcoming front room of Lochend House for Link-up Women our second performance was in Leith Circle– an amazing shop/arts centre/community hub on Leith Walk. Thank you very much to Sandra who allowed us to move her shop around to accommodate the performance. And thank you to Minka who wrote about the performance for the Evans Review. There is always a worry with Forum Theatre that the audience might not get involved but those worries were gone after these performances! Thank you to everyone who played an instrument, joined in with singing or got up on stage for enabling us to enjoy the performances too!

A performance at the Leith Dockers Club was followed by one at the Leith Acorn Centre for Bethany’s Men’s group. This group of men who are currently homeless or have previously experience homelessness were very welcoming and enthusiastic. Thank you to all at Bethany for inviting us.

After working with Dr Bell’s Family Centre to develop a play for their AGM in October we were delighted to be invited back to perform Not For Profit in their cafe space. We hope that this relationship continues far into the future. Then came an exciting performance – we struggled to make our way out of Leith into the big city to perform at Occupy Edinburgh in St Andrew Square.

Over 150 people stopped to watch the piece which carried on well into the dark! Afterwards we all felt exhilirated as well as very tired and with sore throats from having to make ourselves heard above the buses and roadworks! Thank you to Occupy Edinburgh for inviting us to perform and congratualtions on getting approval from Edinburgh Council. And thank you too to Andy Mackie for the pictures and write-up in the Edinburgh Reporter.

Our final two performances were at Out of the Blue and the Punjab’n de Rasoi cafe on Leith Walk. This performance came with the extra bonus of a delicious buffet.

Thank you to everyone who came and saw a performance – over 275 people! And a special thanks to everyone who was brave enough to come on stage and challenge the oppressions that Mary was facing.

Next Steps

This was just the first stage. We have a meeting for all audience members on Tuesday 6th December at Leith Circle at 7pm. This will be your chance to discuss the performances and to decide on how we take our dialogue and learning and turn it into action! We will also talk about our plans to invite all audience members to meet with us on a weekly basis after Christmas to create your own pieces of Forum Theatre for a big community event in the Spring.

Please come and join us and let’s make sure that the current protests and strikes against the government’s public sector cuts are supported by political theatre that encourages dialogue, learning and action!