A Coronavirus Time Capsule
Susan Elkin
Friday, May 1, 2020
Susan Elkin introduces a project which is connecting young people around the world during the lockdown – giving them a creative outlet and a community
Everyone, everywhere is suffering during the current lockdown – 2020 has turned out to be the year of social distancing and staying at home to avoid spreading the Coronavirus. Perhaps, though, it's especially hard for teenagers. Adolescence is a tricky time of adjustment under any circumstances and brings, potentially, a whole raft of possible mental health issues without being denied access to your friends and almost everything you're used to doing. These young people will look back and reflect on this time for the rest of their lives, just as people who have lived through more ‘conventional’ wars do.
And youth theatre – including extracurricular drama in schools – is a lifeline for many young people. But that creative outlet is also denied them at present. Lockdown blues are a serious threat for many teenagers.
Connecting young people
Enter Company Three's Coronavirus Time Capsule. It is a week-by-week video record of the pandemic through the eyes of teenagers and it's free for youth groups anywhere in the world to join in. It aims to reduce the effects of isolation and anxiety by giving young people connection and a virtual space in which to express themselves. It is also well placed to develop a strong network of youth groups and a new sort of world community.
Company Three is a Youth Theatre based in Islington, one of the most diverse and unequal boroughs in the UK. Its 75 members are referred by local teachers, youth and social workers who think they will benefit from the disciplined creativity the company offers.
‘We know that the shutdown feels particularly difficult for teenagers, stuck in a space that is only partially theirs, living through all that the pandemic will bring and missing out on hugely significant moments in their education,’ says Ned Glaiser, Company Three's artistic director. ‘So we wanted to do something to provide support, and a space to be heard – and then to connect with other teenagers in similar situations.’
Each week participants like Allegresse, 14 – and other 11-19 year-old members of Company Three – make their own films responding to life in shutdown. Online workshops, video and phone mentoring help them to do it to a reasonable standard. Then, every Friday, Company Three compiles their work into an edited, cumulative video time capsule and releases it online.
Reaching out across the world
But although the work begins in Islington, it certainly doesn't end there. In partnership with Nick Hern Books, Company Three is sharing all the resources it is using for this project, free, to encourage other youth groups across the world to create their own time capsules. At the time of writing over 125 groups have signed up to take part including those from Brighton, Derby, Edinburgh, Norwich and Plymouth. There has also been interest from Australia, Brazil, Croatia, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, New Zealand and the USA.
Nick Hern books has released the Coronavirus Time Capsule Blueprint, a free online guide for youth theatres, educational institutions, student drama groups, amateur companies and community arts projects everywhere. The resources can be adapted for any size of group, any budget and any timescale.
Company Three is working with Unicorn Theatre, National Association of Youth Theatres and Scottish Youth Theatre in order to disseminate this project. And it seems to be working, given the breadth of the initial response.
‘The response to our Time Capsule makes me feel very reassured,’ comments Allegresse. ‘It's our generation next who are going to be in charge of what happens in the world, and even though we are mainly controlled by adults it's our world as well, so it's nice to know people still care about what we think.’
Company Three, which was founded in 2008 to give teenagers the ‘power to make their own change and tell their own stories’ and has created over 50 shows, launched its first Time Capsule video and the free resources on 27 March. Within days it had been viewed 15,000 times across the world.
‘We are so inspired that so many people have signed up already and can't wait to see what they make,’ says Glasier, ‘This unprecedented global emergency should also be an opportunity for unprecedented global sharing, understanding and connection and we hope that's what this project offers teenagers everywhere.’
The first video:
@company_three
@NickHernBooks