SCHOOL THEATRE Name of feature Extreme success


Dave Jones from GW Theatre Company talks


about the nationally acclaimed theatre production One Extreme to the Other, which helps schools to tackle racial, political and religious extremism and has been seen by 40,000 people


extremism – there was no bigger issue to look at and we were gripped by the creative challenge and the notion that we could make a difference with our work. We went on to produce our most successful production to date – One Extreme to the Other. The challenges in producing issue-based theatre


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can be significant and highly complex; however, this is what makes the work exciting. The target audience must be respected and the


professionals you are inviting compelling to follow-up and develop the work. The issues must be brought to life through believable


characters in strong narrative drama that engages and enthrals audiences, creating a space afterwards in which the complex topics it has deliberately raised can be considered, discussed and debated. The job of the theatre production is to be a catalyst for all the work that follows. However, this is where the difficulty can begin,


because for the play to be a catalyst it has to explore many different situations, attitudes, conflicts, and possible resolutions. To succeed it must try to expose, reveal, provoke and contradict. If it only explores what is already out in the open – looking only at the things we are comfortable with – then it can only be of limited value and at best patronising. The key is to look at deeper and darker things, even


if they are disturbing, revolting and frightening. These dark things lie beyond the rational and, so, beyond the conscious. To face the notions there, to entertain them, is dangerous and challenging. We keep some things in the dark because we would much rather not examine them. Yet, the desire to address them, to bring them to


light, to form the unformed thoughts into a logical presentation, is the desire to create art, leading to gripping drama that touches and affects us all. Good theatre can break through a social deadlock


by saying things that no single person or organisation ever could – art is an immensely powerful tool for inspiring learning and change and this has been our raison d’être for 24 years. So it was that we set about developing One Extreme to the Other in 2006. We produced a proposal for a theatre-led project


to tackle extremism which would be supported by educational resources on a specially developed website. Where does extremism come from? How can it be


challenged? How can we all get on despite everything that makes to separate us at home and abroad? We want to raise awareness among young people, to provide them with the knowledge to make choices based on facts and to resist those who may be seeking to exploit their fears. Given the level of disengagement and disaffection


among many young people of all cultures, this would seem to be an excellent time to bring them together in discussion and debate about one of the most divisive issues of all. An example of this is from Oldham Metropolitan


Borough Council, which decided to commission the project as part of its commitment to build positive community relations and tackle the problems that underpinned the social disturbances in the town in


SecEd • July 1 2010


W THEATRE Company was 20 years old in 2006 and we wanted to mark two decades of artistically and critically successful work with a new production that would raise the bar even further. We chose to explore violent


2001. There was a determination not to let history repeat itself by looking directly at the issues and dealing with them. Oldham committed funding and further support came from the AGMA (Association of Greater Manchester Authorities), the Arts Council, Communities and Local Government, and The Pears Foundation. An advisory group helped to develop, challenge


and encourage the project in all its key stages. We had teachers, faith representatives, a youth worker, and young people. Further research by writer and director, Mike Harris involved meetings and interviews with a range of people and extensive background reading. There is an exciting creative tension triggered


by working in this way – very different views and approaches but one single key aim to produce something creative through negotiation that works very well. So how do you pull all this things together, the


thinking, the art and the need for something urgent on the ground to open up and tackle the issues? What you do first is ask and listen – two consistent


issues came up again and again in the research, and these ended up being central to the narrative in the play. The first: violent Jihadi Islamists, specifically the


arguments they use to groom young people and the arguments from within Islam that could be used to counter them; second: the Far White Right, again specifically the arguments they use, and the arguments that may be used to counter them. Other issues that came through the research included


prejudice and racism in all communities, grievances both real and perceived, class, entrenched attitudes and beliefs, poverty, immigration, migration, ignorance and vulnerability. There is a high degree of skill involved in producing a very successful production but essentially, very good research ultimately equates to a very good play. The same can be said for the follow-up resources.


We have involved talented teachers in the development of the current learning resources and this is an ongoing process – our experience is that most schools and teachers really want to tackle these issues but need guidance, training and confidence. They also want the work to open up a more


progressive agenda that can, for instance, make it possible to discuss and challenge the use of racist insults and language in schools. There are no easy solutions to these things but even a small input of well planned discussion or debate, together with a well planned education, can have a lifelong impact on a young person. In One Extreme to the Other, Ali’s got mixed up


with an Islamic extremist. His former friend Tony is flirting with the far racist right and unemployment is rising. There has been another terrorist attack in London and a far right organisation is organising a march throughAli’s neighbourhood. Will Tony march? Will Ali fight? Can his sister


Sarah make him find another way? Will journalist Jessica use past relationships to get a scoop on the threatened riots, or will she put principles before her career to stop the clash and avert disaster? No issues are avoided but in the end One Extreme


to the Other stresses, above all, what unites us rather than what divides us, and asks the audience at the end: we have a future in common, what do we do about it? Performances are followed by character “hot-seating”, where the audience asks questions of and challenges some of the play’s key characters. Furthermore, pre and post-lesson plans are provided


offering cross-curriculum work and activities and some schools and local authorities ask students to complete pre and post-performance questionnaires as part of a sustained and in-depth evaluation. In fact, the project can provide up to six weeks’ work. The play was piloted in late 2006 and then toured


fully with the online resources in place in 2007. This was in a period of intense national concern around these issues and the play had an immediate impact. In 2008, GW secured a three-year grant from


Communities and Local Government to develop the capacity of the project – funding 110 national performances. The play won the Community Cohesion Award at the 2008 FusionAwards and was performed at Parliament to ministers in March 2009. This month, the company will mark the 250th


performance of the play at a special event in Manchester. The play has so far been seen by over 40,000 people, is cited as a key resource in the former Department for Children, Schools and Families’ Toolkit for Schools Learning to be Safe Together. As well as exploring and challenging political,


racial and religious extremism, the project also seeks to provoke a much broader debate on issues such as nationality, identity, belonging and society – going above and beyond the relatively narrow remit and


Challenging: Scenes from One Extreme to the Other, the acclaimed theatre production ‘


Where does extremism come from? How can it be challenged? How can we all get on despite everything that makes to separate us at home and abroad? We want to raise


awareness amongst young people, to provide them with the knowledge to make choices based on facts and to resist those who may be seeking to exploit their fears


criteria of the government’s Prevent Strategy. The scheme, for students in years 10 and 11, plus colleges, universities and many other settings, has been toured nationally to every imaginable audience with great success, whatever the ethnic mix, gender or class – with responses mirrored in very different geographical areas and schools.


SecEd


• Dave Jones is creative director at GW Theatre Company.


Further information


GW Theatre Company will be touring One Extreme to the Other for at least another two years. Using the government grant, it is able to offer eight local authorities that have not yet used the play five significantly reduced performances in the year 2010/11. A new play is planned for 2011, tackling knives,


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guns, gangs and serious youth violence. Visit www. extremenews.org.uk and www.gwtheatre.com


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