Our Space

Theatre in education – Our Space

Background

The Our Space project was created in collaboration with the Home Office and nine Crime Damage Reduction Partnerships, to support them in their campaign to reduce criminal damage and anti-social behaviour among youths aged 13 – 19 years.

Aim

To create a dynamic educational programme that works to address aspects of anti-social behaviour among young people.

What did we do?

We developed an interactive theatre workshop aimed at students, (predominately in years 9 and 10) with a high percentage of attendees from pupil referral units.  The workshop provided a dynamic way for students to examine certain aspects of their behaviour and the implications this has when it leads to criminal behaviour. During and after the drama performances, students were encouraged to discuss and make suggestions about changing behaviour in order to see how this changed the consequences – some students took part and helped redirect sections of the drama to reflect alternative outcomes.

The programme was offered to both schools and youth centres and toured 10 key UK regions which were identified due to the crime levels amongst youths in the area.

To extend the reach of the programme, films of the drama performances were created along with downloadable resources for teachers to utilise in their own lessons.

Results

External research conducted by the COI evidenced its success. Due to its popularity we have been in discussion with interested parties to extend the Our Space model and produce a similar mechanic in response to gang and knife crime.

Feedback from adults and young people who attended was extremely positive.  Young people related strongly to the short dramas because they don’t apportion blame; they have clear and strong narratives that open up questions without patronising audience members.