Our Work
Producing and touring pieces of entertaining, funny, thought-provoking and relevant theatre to a wide variety of venues is a large part of what Open Clasp does. We also work with community groups to create their own plays and performance pieces, enabling people to voice the things that matter to them.
Participants as performers
Open Clasp has a lot of experience in working with community groups to create their own plays and performance pieces. We've spent anything from a day to months helping participants gain the skills and confidence to create, develop and perform their own scripts. These projects are at the heart of Open Clasp's work, enabling people to voice the things that matter to them, and get others thinking about things, while having a great deal of fun and laughter.
Our most recent Participants as Performers Project was Herstory Told (Phase 3) which ran from April – September 2010. 36 women from three community groups brought an incredible amount of courage, energy and passion to 110 hours of drama workshops, developing 2 short plays and a DVD.
These entertaining, thought-provoking, and moving pieces were performed for the first time to an invited audience at a celebratory event filled with laughter and tears in September 2010. 16 of the 36 women who took part in the project performed on the night, and the 125 audience members gave them a standing ovation.
The pieces are going on to be used to raise awareness of issues directly with audiences including professionals and decision makers.
- The GAP Project created and performed When I Was Five
The play explores the stories of Nina, Shell and Monica and illustrates the impact of childhood and subsequent adult exploitation on these three women. - SECOS created and produced the film Lizzie's Story
The film explored the issues surrounding sex work and its affect on the central character, Lizzie. The group chose to use animation in the film, so that all the women could tell their stories through the character of Lizzie. Each scene was devised, performed and filmed by the group, who bravely shared their stories and experiences. - After Adoption created and performed Beginnings
This short play is a monologue by the character Cheanine, focusing on the theme of adoption from the birth-mother's perspective. It is a heartfelt account of the circumstances leading up to adoption, exploring Cheanine's courage and strength as she reflects on the past.
Supported by:
The Equality and Human Rights Commission
See Our work for information on other Participant as Performers projects, including Women Doing It For Themselves and Enabling Women.
"At once endearing, hilarious, passionate and tear-jerking."
"Open Clasp is truly a treasure of the north east that must be supported and encouraged to become a treasure of the nation"
"Open Clasp have the balls, the brains and above all, the sense of humour, to tackle issues in a fresh and beguiling way"