BEST EVER PLACE EVER
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE / LEIGH SPINNERS MILL
The Leigh Local Ambassadors commissioned director-writer Joe Gilmour to create a performance that showcased stories from local people.
We held open workshops with the community and targeted workshops with local groups and organisations: Everything Human Rights, More Than Words, Leigh Family Welfare Centre and Complete Kindness.
Charley has the perfect life in Leigh – family nearby, life-long friends, and his dream job – driving the V1 bus! But when his little sister Alex comes back buzzing from an Edinburgh University open day, he starts to realise things might change – will she leave her friends, her family, her local area?
Charley rushes to organise his own open day for Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley to prove to his sister that she should stay!
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Written & Directed by Joe Gilmour & Company
Sound Design by Annie May Fletcher
Set Design by Eleanor Ferguson
This was a really special project working with incredible group of local participants, who brought themselves to the project and invested so much.
For me as an artist, it allowed me to bring my devised theatre-making practice to a community project, and was key in establishing how I work on co-created projects. After meeting the group in workshops and one-on-one sessions, I came back to them with the outline of a story. We then began improvising the scenes together, crafting them and shaping them into the final piece. Local fish and chip shops came up regular as a topic of pride, so I worked with our producer from the Royal Exchange to make sure we could end the play with free chips for everyone!
As I had too many participants, I suggested to one who that she make an exhibition about the process of making the play. This exhibition was a wonderful extension to the audience experience, allowing them to find out more about how the piece was made, while they dug into their free chips!
