Hole: #TakeUpSpace

International Women’s Day 2018

Nine of the Royal Court Theatre’s young female employees announced a new series of free workshops and discussions starting in April as part of the movement, #TakeUpSpace.

This series of open and active workshops were created to empower women in the arts, champion the growth of female leadership and to interrogate the current state of creative industries in order to affect future change. The objective: for women to take up space.

Workshops included:
100 years: 100 years since some women were given the right to vote – what do we hope that the next 100 years will look like?

Play in a day: A workshop for those who’ve never written a play before, but have a story that they want to tell.

Women offstage: A workshop to showcase roles offstage for women in theatre.

Empowerment and Taking Up Space: Our Empowerment and Taking Up Space workshop is aimed at those aged 14 – 18.  This is a space to express opinion and to ask questions through a series of exercises and discussions.

Script Club: Each month, we’ll read and discuss a play that is written by a female playwright.

A networking event for Women of Colour in theatre: Are you a producer, writer, director or designer seeking collaborators or simply wish to broaden your network? We invite women of colour to come and talk with each other about their experiences and interests within the arts.

Discussion: Are quotas helpful or harmful?: Examining current models and structures that strive for diversity, inclusion and integration, and looking to a possible future.

Superhoe: Zine

Inspired by Superhoe by Nicôle Lecky, a group of young female theatre makers curated “Good Self Keeping”, a Zine which explored the theme of female empowerment. It included poems, cartoons, testimonies, recipes and much more, and was designed to support young women to make empowered choices.

The System

Sat 14 Oct 2017
Inspired by The Fall, Victory Condition, B and Road, The Young Agitators created an event which acknowledged and addressed questions around the title The System. Including installations, panel discussions, Q&A’s with writers Chris Thorpe, Guillermo Calderon and the cast of The Fall. Plays written by Young Court writers aged 8-25 and a ballot box for audiences to suggest changes the Young Agitators, staff and creatives can make that the government cannot. This free day of events took place in various locations throughout the Royal Court building.

“Great to see plays done by young people about old world problems.”

“A great range of plays exploring the premise thoughtfully, playfully and provocatively.”

“Loved thinking about what the world could become.  What we can stop.  Brought issues in the human system to light through abstract/ dystopia.”

Void

Fri 11 Aug 2017
The Young Agitators conducted an event which focused on the artistic work from emerging artists. It featured: short plays, 3 short films accompanied by movement, a performance art piece, a spoken word piece and an original piano composition. The sold out event attracted new audiences to  the Royal Court and was a starting point for new relationships with young artists.

“Overjoyed, humbled and empowered by the power of youth!”

“Absolutely amazing, surprisingly honest and raw! Best show I’ve seen all year!”

“A great concept with very talented performers and writers. Loved void, sauce and primal instinct was interesting to say the least but left an impression! Thanks.”

The Andrea Project

Sat 01 Jan 2018
Rehearsed Readings, Spoken Word, Live music & Drag performance with 3 installations: “Tortured Artists”, “When do we grow up?” and “W.O.M.A.N”
Since October 2017, as Rita, Sue and Bob Too toured the UK, eight young female writers, four from London and four from Bolton, have been taking part in playwriting workshops led by Laura Lomas and Rachel De-lahay.