The Grimsby Story
Carrie Rooney
Project Co-ordinator
In a new series of feature blogs we are catching up with our Community Theatre and Theatre Fellows.
Fusion Youth Theatre one of our Community Theatre Winners enagaged with Grimsby locals with fascinating results.
Capturing Memories at Grimsby Shopping Centre
"On the 15th May 2014, in The Grimsby Minster, we performed "The Grimsby Story". We were able to do this because of the BBC grant we had received.
We had been working in the community, listening to peoples stories of snippets of their lives. It started off with a community event in our local shopping centre. Led by Emma Middleton and Louise Clark, people were invited to share their memories and stories about Grimsby. This was a great success, and we ended up with a group of people who saw the project through to the performance. It’s working title was "Stories, Sites & Spectacles". We attracted participants through posters distributed throughout the town, and by word of mouth.
Once collected, the stories were brought to life through music, drama and poetry. A genuine camaraderie developed as rehearsals went on. All ages and talents came together to develop the piece. Masks were made, from paper mache, of the gargoyles around The Minster, and our Youth Theatre used them as part of the physical performance in the play. The musicians in the group wrote the lyrics and music, inspired by the memories and stories of the group. The oldest member recorded his memories and those recollections were played during the performance.
The performance was a walk through the ages of Grimsby, from the First World War to modern times, via the seaside, through the town and into the surrounding countryside.
Some of the topics covered were letters from the past, postcards from the seaside, hellos and goodbyes, schooldays and a piece devised by a mother of one of our Youth Theatre members, who had never acted before, hanging her washing out, thinking about her life. There was a Victorian scene with a group of children playing in the sandpit, and a child in the audience went to join them! A lovely spontaneous moment.
Ladies & gentlemen from a local choir joined in with the singing, and one man who got involved, used to go to drama school, and said it had reminded him so much of the good times he had there.
We worked with other groups doing this and met new people through it.
The whole piece was all included in The Museums At Night event."
Find out more here
Fusion Youth Theatre and Community Arts
