Past Outreach Workshops

LearningDisablilityWales
Learning Disability Wales Conference - My Life, My Way
November 2008

We produced four scenes to present over 2 days at the Learning Disability Wales Conference. The theme of the conference was independence.

Our scenes followed the story of one woman with learning disability trying to gain independence throughout her life. The first scene focussed on leaving home, the second scene getting a boyfriend, the third scene was about getting a job and the fourth scene was about growing old and accessing healthcare.

The performances were presented in a forum theatre style, meaning after each scene a discussion was led with the audience about what advice they would give the main character to help her achieve what she wants.

LearningDisablilityWales In some cases members of the audience also got to join in the action by trying out their suggestions in taking the main characters place when we replayed the scene.

The scenes were developed over four days with a cast of actors with and without learning disabilities. As far as possible these scenes were developed from the groups own experiences in close consultation with Learning Disability Wales.

LearningDisablilityWales
Our actors were Leila Bebb, Andrew Tadd, Simon Richards, Leonie Delgado and Oberon Alexander.

The response to our performance was fantastic. Some of the comments from feedback forms included:

Hijinx performances were excellent - very thought provoking and led interesting and valuable discussion.

Hijinx really brought the realities of situations to life.

Felt Hijinx was great for people with learning disabilities

Since this event we have been inundates with requests to create similar pieces for events and conferences. To date we have created forum theatre pieces for Powys Social Services, Face to Face, Carmarthenshire Council, Cardiff People First and Drive (please see other reports). We have found forum theatre to be an extremely effective way of bringing issues to life for learning disabled audiences and their communities.

For further information on how forum theatre could enhance your event or conference please give Ben a call on: 029 2030 0331 or email: ben.pettitt-wade@hijinx.org.uk