We co-designed a lively set of pre-event activities to support audience members into the zone of place-connected, futures thinking before they watched the play.
In developing the Tewkesbury FuturesLab event, we made a creative decision to encourage as many audience members of all ages to meet before the performance of River Stories – A Town Called to Speak. Working with the Roses Theatre, our elders’ group and wider community members, we co-designed a range of activities to support participants in FuturesLab into the realm of place-connected, futures thinking before taking their seats in the auditorium. Some activities drew on local expertise of community members; some connected to previous water/climate focused/ heritage projects in the town; others made direct reference to the narrative of the play. Where possible, these activities were created to generate intergenerational dialogue.
Find out more about the range of activities below.
Making a wish
In the entrance hall, the wishing tree was a reprise of a tree used in community engagement in the Voices in the Pandemic project. It asked children and adults alike to make wishes for themselves, their families, their communities and the planet. This tree was put on display at Tewkesbury Library after the FuturesLab to help carry on the conversation.
An action pack
All audience members were given a Programme and Action Pack for the FuturesLab as they entered the Roses Theatre to support their involvement in the performance and engagement processes. (Download a copy of the Action Pack in our Resources section)
Sharing the process of making the performance
A rolling display of stories and artwork shared by children and elders in the StoryLab workshops, as part of the script development process, was provided in the entrance hall. To contribute other knowledges about the lower Severn, some climate science from Sun, the team’s hydro-climatologist, and some explanations for water pollution slides contributed by Severn Trent were also shared.
Preparing for key themes
The origami swan activities made a connection to the ‘resilience of swans’ theme in the play and a previous paper dove activity that had been held in the town led by Tewkesbury Abbey.
Elder contributions
The elders’ group, active in the development of the play, shared various activities and resources to the pre-performance activities. Maggie shared emotive photos of when she opened-up her flooded house as a museum after the 2007 floods. Maggie, was curator of Tewkesbury Museum at the time. Local photographer Ian had taken the photos. Digital stories produced after the 2007 floods by Maggie and another community resident Jeff from a previous ‘Flood Memories’ project were shared in the studio.
Other elder contributions came from Geoff who shared about his coordination of citizen science water testing on the River Avon, and Steve helping with practical water testing activities for children and adults alike. Helen contributed information about her environmental volunteering along with her crafted Twaite shad fish doll, made during the previous process of creating an earlier play in Tewkesbury, The Rivermaids.
Other artists sharing
The original oil painting ‘Tewkesbury on sea’ by local artist Jane Clatworthy was shared. This painting used to be displayed at the entrance hall of the Roses Theatre and was a stimulus for discussions during the workshops with both the elders’ and children’s groups. The painting, with its various creative adaptations for the town, was created by Jane based on a community consultation for Tewkesbury Culture of what Tewkesbury might look like in 2070. Her film about the making of the painting was also shared.
Carrie Sermon, another local artist, reshared her wonderful Rivermaid crafted doll set that playfully anthropomorphised the characters of the Rivers Severn, Avon, Wye and Swilgate – a creative play on mythical ‘mermaids’.
Intergenerational visioning
A simple future river drawing activity on wallpaper was an invitation for children and adults to vision what they would like the future river to look like. Origami fortune tellers, designed by Kate of the StoryLab team, provided a way into futures conversations across generations.
Making a pledge for the future
The cascade of pledges, made of raindrops overlaid on repurposed watery-looking materials, was designed to encourage individuals and organisations to make pledges that could be brought together for climate action in Tewkesbury. This resource was put on display at Tewkesbury Library after the FuturesLab along with a box of shower timers.
After the pre-event activities, the doors for the auditorium were opened and the audience were invited to watch and respond to the play.
Tickets (FREE) are now available for our Shrewsbury FuturesLab event on February 23rd at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury. Grab yours here, and spread the word.