Throughout June and July 2023, Underground Lights (UL) kindly hosted me on a placement. I was an MA student, studying Applied Theatre (Theatre in the community, education, and the criminal justice system), at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. As a performer and youth worker, I really wanted to explore more movement-based theatre work with adults, particularly finding ways of making movement more accessible for all and UL supported me in this. They explained what their company members enjoy, what they would like to do more of, and how best to support them through this. They supported me to contribute to sessions, to co-facilitate, and to build up relationships with the group, as well as gave me space to plan my own sessions and deliver them too. It was great to see how embedded co-creation is at UL, especially as the company is run by members, for members, and collaborated strongly with artists within the community too.
I felt welcomed by all right from the start and it was well worth the twice-weekly travel from Brighton to Coventry and back! Even if the trains tried to sabotage us a few times!
All term we had worked towards the first presentation of the group-devised Lights Up Project! I loved standing in for some of the cast during that showing and supporting those initial stages. It was even better to return in March 2024 to lead some warm ups, and voice projection exercises, and to see the final piece; And WOW what a fantastic show! The performers all looked so confident and made the audience laugh so much. Familiar bus stop, shopping, catwalk, and wedding scenes were even more polished and new, comical roles were created, as well as new performers taking to the stage in scenes like ‘cake of the day’. The choir was also a brilliant collaboration, and I was singing along to all the songs we had begun to learn whilst I was there. Congratulations you all smashed it! #proud
Thank you so much to Beth, Hayley, Alisha, Liz, Wes, and Ben for all of their support, and to the whole Underground Lights company and members for a fantastic placement! Please see the poem below that I wrote at the end of my time with UL.
Underground Lights Poem
Underground Lights is such a special place,
No matter your background, your culture, your gender, or race,
You’re supported and challenged
With creativity, and care,
Something special lives here,
Something that’s quite rare.
In this room you’re free to roam,
To be yourself where the people feel like home.
Drama and movement, music and song,
We are all human beings, and sometimes we can get it wrong,
But most of the time, here, I think we get it right,
Thank you for bringing me into an Underground world that you’ve, through performance, kindness, and humour, illuminated with Light.