The Game is On Again

Bespoke theatre piece and workshop for Amnesty International for their RISE UP programme. Rise Up is a fully funded, one-year course for young people interested in achieving social change. This Applied Theatre work is specifically designed to use performance to ask probing questions of younger people (16-24) and present challenging situations in an enabling and engaging way. • The game is to respond to a political and civil crisis. Blending game-playing and group strategies with dramaturgy and story-telling, we reveal consequences and the people behind issues. • We all have a stake in the outcome of this game. As individuals or as pairs we are given specific roles in the game – these are sometimes in subtle competition and conflict with others, so we have to negotiate. • At certain points we hear from speakers impacted by the events, these testimony-style accounts connect us to the consequences of our actions. • These story-givers might also give us new information, set questions or challenges, remove resources, provide more support. • There are no right or wrong answers to the situation – but rather this is about thinking about HOW we work together for consensus, when decisive action might be needed, and how we might fine-tune our responses based on shared group-learning. Performance and workshop in December 2019 to 230 people