Daryl Beeton is recalling a drama course run by Half Moon Young Peoples’ Theatre last year, in Tower Hamlets. DJ and producer Steve Bicknell, renowned for establishing the ‘Lost’ underground dance events in the early ‘90s in London, worked with young people with disabilities to create a piece of theatre and an accompanying soundtrack. The CD the group produced by the end of the week-long course has now become the soundtrack for Half Moon’s latest professional touring show. It was, Beeton says, one of the most enjoyable projects he has worked on since taking up the post of Associate Director (Community and Disability) with the company just over a year ago.
‘Young people have an input into our professional work,’ Beeton explains. ‘It’s not just that we are a professional company doing youth theatre and educational work… It’s about making sure all the strands fit together and feed into each other.’
While there are now a large number of organisations in London and around the UK working in the inclusive and disability arts sector, Beeton emphasises Half Moon’s ethos is to encourage new talent. Young people, he adds, are really at the heart of the theatre. Whether participating in the company’s school drama projects or in one of the eight theatre groups, the experiences of participants spills over into the scriptwriting process and, ultimately, the professional touring performances.
Established in the mid-1970s by the Inner London Education Authority, as part of the now-defunct Half Moon Repertory Theatre, the Young Peoples’ strand specialises in working with and for children aged 0 to 17 years. The company produces two professional touring productions a year, as well as running six inclusive theatre groups and two specifically for children with disabilities. Drama courses are also tailored to the individual needs of primary, secondary and special schools, predominantly in Tower Hamlets and surrounding areas.
However, after recently tackling racism as part of Celebrate Diversity – a project created in collaboration with the Tower Hamlets Equalities Initiative to develop anti-racism policies in schools – the company is now adding another string to its already dense bow.
Last Saturday, Beeton led the first ‘Learning Laboratory’ workshop, a trainee support programme for workshop facilitators. The move was in response to a need Half Moon practitioners observed on behalf of drama tutors, many of whom felt unqualified or inadequately equipped to run workshops with groups of young people of varying abilities.
This issue has become more complex recently, Beeton explains, following the closure of a number of specialised units within the youth and education sector. As a result, some young people with disabilities have been fed into the mainstream education system, and arts practitioners are therefore coming across groups with just one or two individuals with impairments.
The challenge Half Moon’s Learning Laboratories address is how to develop ways of working to make games and exercises accessible across all levels of ability.
However, Beeton adds, the workshops also take into account the desire for young people with disabilities to work with more disabled arts practitioners. ‘It’s about arts professionals coming together and sharing their own experiences, methodology and practice… We can pick bits of each other’s work and apply it to our own to enrich it,’ Beeton explains.
The new training strand will also feed into Creative Capital, the continuous professional development partnership framework for London. The initiative forms part of a nationwide pilot, Creative People, which aims to help artists to identify, prioritise and implement professional development activities.
In recent years, the promotion of social inclusion in the UK – especially with regard to racial and disability discrimination – has moved into legislation. Organisations, including those in the arts sector, are now required to have a Disability Action Plan in place that responds to obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
While legislation intends to pave the way for greater access to – and participation in – the arts for people with disabilities, it’s an agenda Half Moon Young Peoples’ Theatre has been working towards for the past 30 years.
But with the UK launch last week of the European Year of Disabled People, and 2004 earmarked as the International Year of Disabled People, the future is also looking brighter for that buzz word – ‘inclusive’ – beyond Britain.
For more information on Half Moon Young Peoples’ Theatre, visit the company’s website
