Transitions Phase one;
The Transitions project grew out of the work Collective Encounters had been doing with the homeless community in Liverpool.
In 2009 Abi from Collective Encounters conducted some research in Liverpool, talking to people experiencing homelessness finding creative ways to explore which issues affecting them they wanted to shout about and asking if drama had any place in telling their stories. The issues came thick and fast and people felt theatre was a great tool all the findings and a series of monologues were put into the Streetscape Report, which formed the basis of Songs for Silenced voices 2009 and 2010.
The Whitechapel Centre wanted to continue the work and partnership so weekly sessions were set up. In these sessions people shared their stories, some of which were performed at the Homeless strategies meeting in Liverpool. The group also worked on the companion piece to Songs for Silenced Voices’s 2010.
Transitions wanted to expand the Homeless work across the city region, which it did.
There are so many stand out moments and memories from this three year project; the devised show the Whitechapel group performed at the alcohol awareness day; the cabaret at Boscoe House, Bootle; the Nativity at Crisis Christmas party; devising a street theatre show about the environment; the two weekend workshop with the Alternatives to Violence project, our first accredited course; the six weeks in Ark, Birkenhead where no one wanted to stand up so all the games, devising and performing was done seated; the workshops at St Helen’s YMCA; the performance of ‘Our Street Life’ at the Black-E and the Community College; and being part of Homeless Link regional homeless network, to sight but a few.
One of the stand out events was when Transitions was picked to be part of ‘With One Voice’ which formed part of the Cultural Olympiad 2012, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It was an incredible event that brought together 400 homeless people from across the country to perform sketched, songs and poetry. Transitions started their slot with a 10-line play, that highlighted some of the violence homeless women face on the streets, it stunned the audience into silence.
Ten-line play
Man: – He said Oi Scum
Woman: – She did nothing
Man: – He walked towards her
Woman: – She did nothing
Man: – He kicked her
Woman: – She did nothing
Man: – He laughed
Woman: – She did nothing
Man: – He walked away
Woman: – she wiped the spit from her face
Seize the day was sung and we finished with ‘I want to go Home’ written and performed by John Dermody for the Cultural Olympiad 2012, then performed in In Our Times and as part of Seize the Day which we performed at the Homeless Strategies conference in Warwick University in 2015.
