Pimlico

THE STORY SO FAR…

YEAR 1:
In 2015 we brought the Royal Court from Sloane Square to Lupus Street. Working with the local community we:

-Had over 40 meetings with individuals, community groups and government schemes

-Held a weekly stall at Tachbrook Street Market for eight weeks, serving written-to-order ‘espresso plays’ and handing out over 100 free playtexts to local residents, as well as discounted tickets to Royal Court productions.

-Engaged 80 Pimlico-based artists

-Commissioned six site-specific audio-plays by emerging writers, set in Pimlico Playground

-Partnered with Pimlico Academy, engaging with over 70 of their students, working closely with 16 BTEC performing arts students on their final project (which they performed here in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs) and holding workshops with Year 9 students, led by Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone.

-Worked with Open Age, who specialise in creative activities for older people, to run playwriting workshops from which we produced 18 short plays, performed in a rehearsed reading at the St James Theatre.

-Facilitated scriptwriting masterclasses as part of Pimlico-based festival, South West Fest

YEAR 2:
-We continued to partner with Pimlico Academy, working with the A-Level students for the first time as well running their BTEC course for a second year, culminating in another performance here at the Royal Court.

-From our work in Year 1, we discovered that Pimlico’s pubs are a vibrant part of the way the community comes together. So in 2016 we commissioned We Anchor in Hope by playwright Anna Jordan, performed in a pub in Pimlico, by local actors we’d met in the course of the project.

-The Pimlico Dream Club continues, a monthly gathering of local artists from all disciplines, led by Royal Court Artistic Associate Ola Animashawun for a second year.

YEAR 3:
-We continued our partnership with Pimlico Academy, supporting Year 10 BTEC students with the direction and production of their final devised performance.

-We began working with a new group of students – 20 girls from Pimlico Academy aged 11-16 years old – to create a devised performance piece in their spare time. ‘The Girls Project’ involved weekly workshops on writing and directing, led by playwright Rachel De-Lahay and Royal Court Associate Director Lucy Morrison. The aim was that the girls write, devise, direct and finally perform a piece of theatre about what it’s like to be a young women in modern society, providing them with a platform to talk about their personal experiences.