A digital theatre project that gives a voice to deaf young people in Medway.
Since March 2020, the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic have been felt across the UK, with many young people facing isolation, grief and disruption to their education. But young deaf people face unique challenges that are too often overlooked.
We passionately believe that all young people have a right not only to access the arts, but to have a voice. Which is why we were proud to commission through our Theatre31 youth programme, Big Dreams by D-Live!. A digital theatre project, which gave deaf young people from The Thomas Aveling School a chance to share their point of view.
The young people aged 11-16 worked with D-Live!’s team of artists, spearheaded by Artistic Director Steven Vevers-Webb, who brings over twenty-five years of experience as an actor, director, writer and workshop facilitator. Together they worked through a series of workshops that developed the young people’s skills in filmmaking, editing, 3D art and visual storytelling.
Big Dreams weekend workshops were held in the MESS ROOM at Sun Pier House in Chatham, a community space that is home to a wide portfolio of inclusive creative projects which primarily support deaf, hearing-impaired, blind and visually-impaired people to access the arts.
At the end of the project, the young people used their newly developed skills to create their own piece of digital theatre. Their work was fully supported by professional artists from D-Live!, but in true Theatre31 style, their final project was entirely youth-led.
Big Dreams is a D-Live! project.
Co-Created with Thomas Aveling School. Commissioned by Theatre31.
Photo credit: Roswitha Chesher
