The Stage - Education from a Different Perspective
Peer Productions teaches both school pupils and young actors something new with its latest show, The Homophobia Project, turning discrimination around to raise awareness, writes Susan Elkin.
Imagine a world in which everyone is gay or lesbian. Every child is conceived by artificial insemination and brought up by a same-sex couple. It's a place where the word 'hetero' is a term of abuse and anyone suspected of it is ruthlessly bullied at school.
It's an ingenious idea for a play about homophobia, which is touring secondary schools in May and June as part of an awareness-raising education package. I watch seven young actors, aged 18 to 20, rehearsing The Homophobia Project. It is co-written by tutor Nina Lemon and student Bethany Clark, 19, and inspired by workshops held with gay and lesbian teenagers earlier this year.
The Homophobia Project, along with play about school exclusion and local history, are part of the work of Peer Productions, a new training company based in Surrey. It was set up by Nina Lemon and Jason Orbaum at the end of last year.
The students I meet are working for the company's Certificate in Peer Education - accredited by Arts Award Gold. It is a full time, practical course for people aged 16-23 interested in theatre and education. The idea is to help students to develop essential skills for success in the performing arts and to give them opportunities to take part in a wide range of productions and community projects.
The group - very well bonded and competent - is a mixed bunch. Some have tried other things. Softly spoken Denis Sewell, 19, for instance, tells me that he was expelled from school in Year 11 after which he took a year out and did a bit of "practical stuff like plumbing". Then came two years at Brooklands College, a performing arts diploma and some part-time activity under Lemon's tutorship at Camberley. "I've done some youth work with excluded children" he says, "and my ambition is to start a company of my own." He is certainly a talented actor with enviable, mature people skills.
Others have left school or college after A levels and are using Peer Productions as a stepping stone to drama school or university training. Chloe Wigmore, 18 - probably the best in the group - is going to the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York in October. Gemma Coleman, 20, starts Rose Bruford in the autumn and Felicity Murdoch, 18, has a place to study performing arts at the University of Chichester.
The quality of their work together is very high as they rehearse The Homophobia Project. I saw it a few days before the first school booking.
Regrettably, despite funding from regional Youth Opportunities Fund panels and the Local Network Fund which means any school in Surrey can have it for free - The Homophobia Project has not been universally welcomed. "Some schools just don't want to address this issue." says Lemon.
It is a pity that the teachers who think it is unsuitable for their schools have not sat in on a rehearsal as I did. The play is not about homosexual sex. There is no prurience or swearing. It is about attitudes and developing kindness and understanding between human beings. The language is not homophobic either. Because of the inverted situation, it's the heterosexuals who are abused.
The two-term pilot training course has been run free - as a way of putting Peer Productions on the map. All the students I met are benifiting from free tuition for two terms to July this year. They are full of enthusiasm. "Nina has taught me to be critical," said one. "I'm much more aware now." said another.
A new group is due to start in September to do an expanded three-term course. More details and an application form are available online at www.peerproductions.co.uk.
As well as its new certificate course, Peer Productions also runs a large youth theatre operation on Sundays for ages eight to 23 at its headquarters, Woking Youth Arts Centre, a converted former school loaned to it by Surrey County Council. It performed Part I of Nichola Wright's His Dark Materials, adapted from Philip Pullman's novels, to great acclaim in February. Part II played at the Rhoda McGaw Theatre in Woking last week.
Holiday courses are yet another strand of Peer Productions' work. A two week musical theatre course for eight to 18-year-olds 'Bear-the Musical' starts on July 30.
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