Breaking the chain: Theatre31's Cookham Wood Project

As drama and performing arts teachers, we often have to argue our corner about the value of our subject and the positive impact that the arts can have on young people. It is great when we can draw on examples of powerful work to support our case in an ever-changing world of EBaccs, STEM subjects and minimum course numbers. The great work being done by Icon Theatre under the Theatre31 group is a terrific example of performance reaching out and engaging young people.

By young people for young people

The really exciting element of this project is the fact that it is run by young people for young people, empowering those who have had positive experiences through the arts to inspire others. Based in Medway and Sheppey in Kent, the initiative is run by Icon Theatre, a company based at The Brook Theatre in Chatham. Theatre31 is not about being based in one place however and is very much about outreach work in various settings. Having already engaged over 4,000 people, even during lockdown, this truly is community theatre at its best.

Article 31

Theatre31 takes its name from Article 31 from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child. Article 31 states that: ‘Children have the right to relax and play, and to join in a wide range of cultural, artistic and other recreational activities.’

As part of the UN convention, the rights of the child were put at the forefront of the way that children and young people would be seen as human beings and individuals in their own right. Theatre31 have taken this on board with young people being given a voice as they lead other young people in activities that are wide ranging in exploring cultural and artistic endeavours and always with the aim of playful exploration. Theatre31 has made creating a safe environment an essential part of their work which aims to ‘completely support the energy, vision and journey of every young person’ they meet. What a wonderful vision – it is projects like this that give us hope for a bright future for the arts in the hands of our next generation.

Lady Unchained spoken word activity Brenda Birungi used this activity as a starting point with her group at Cookham Wood and it struck me that it could be an excellent way to start to create spoken word material with a new group of young people. Take a piece of paper and write the heading: ‘I come from…’. Write down your answer and then fold over the paper, passing it on to the next person in the group and so on, making sure participants aren't able to see what has been written by each other. At the end of the paper, read out the lines that have been written, preceded by the line ‘I come from.’ Reflect on the lines that have similarities/differences and see how they can be reordered to create an original piece of spoken word performance.

Cookham Wood

The Cookham Wood Project is Theatre31's most adventurous and authentic commission to date, truly representing their mission to reach hard to engage young people. Run in partnership with Medway Library Services – who run the library at Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institute – the project sees three terms of theatre workshops within the Institute each led by a renowned professional artist. Kicking things off is lead artist, Brenda Birungi, better known as Lady Unchained, who brings not only her talent and craft in spoken word but a great deal of experience, knowledge, and passion with projects of this nature.

Lady Unchained

The artist tells me about the work she has been delivering at Cookham Wood. Fresh from a BBC Radio 4 documentary, a Tedx Talk and a new book, Behind Bars (due for release in 2022), Lady Unchained has been a very busy artist and activist. As an ex-prisoner herself, Birungi made use of her time in prison to work on her own writing, penning little notes to herself to stop her thoughts turning into words that would lead to her getting into trouble.

Having already started her work in Cookham, Birundi spoke about using the project to enable the young inmates to ask, ‘what they can do creatively to get themselves back on their feet’ and ‘to learn other ways to explore their emotions and stories'. It is clear that the work is already having a profound impact on the young people whom Birundi works with, and is offering a new path for young people to explore their creative sides in a safe, non-judgemental environment.

Empowering those who have had positive experiences through the arts to inspire others

All the activities as part of this new programme are free, and there are lots of ways that young people and artists can get involved, including youth theatres; workshops; technical training; Artsmark; careers advice; performances; schools' projects; co-creations, and commissions.

To find out more visit www.theatre31.co.uk