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Dateline: 3rd August, 2008
GET IN…! The future growth of theatre in the UK is down to giving young people a voice and ensuring that their diverse range of talents are catered for. This was just one of the many subjects raised during the international theatre forum GET IN…! which was held in Liverpool from 25th to 27th July. Young people were given the opportunity to voice their point of view on how they felt the theatre world needed to change to accommodate them, with the overwhelming opinion that their many skills needed to be recognised and that they had a valid contribution to make. GET IN… brought together hundreds of young people from across the country who were given the opportunity to meet theatre professionals and international performers to explore the work currently being undertaken and to show off their own skills. Among those present was Alan Davey, Chief Executive Arts Council England who praised the young people taking part for being "full of energy, full of questions and full of challenges." He recounted his own upbringing and revealed that it was only through his involvement as a young person with his local arts centre in his native North East that he was able to discover a path to his passion for the performing arts. Also present at the event was actress Cathy Tyson, whose own career began in youth theatre at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre. She spoke about the importance of young people finding an outlet for their talents. "I honestly feel that being part of theatre was life saving for me," she said. "Otherwise I'd have just ended up being a teen wife. These young people involved in GET IN..! are fantastic, it's amazing some of the projects they've been part of." GET IN…! is part of Arts Council England's three-year Young People's Participatory Theatre project and gave the participants the opportunity to attend a number of masterclasses with international artists. These included Japanese group Capliore, who are world champion Double Dutch skippers and Holland's ISH Theatre company which specializes in using everything from hip hop to acrobatics to create compelling theatre. Also involved were Maori theatre-in-education group Te Rakau and Grupo Nos do Morro from Brazil which has helped develop actors, technicians and audiences in communities with no access to the arts. "Some of the work that we've got to experience this weekend has been unbelievable," said 18-year-old Tess Ellison from York who is a member of the National Youth Council. "What all of these workshops have shown us is how art and theatre is created across the world, in so many different forms. It's been a truly amazing experience." Birmingham's Geese Theatre Company showed the work it had carried out in prisons and young offenders institutes and Gateshead's Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company showed off the results of its commedia workshops, carried out with young people with learning disabilities. The event also included wide range of debates and a live link up in Los Angeles with creative leader Sir Ken Robinson and award-winning actress Josette Bushell-Mingo.
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