A new series of free creative workshops is launching in York – that aims to explore the local history of The Groves.
In a collaboration between Theatre@41, The Groves Association and York theatre company Next Door But One, comes a series of workshops that will combine creative writing and drama activities to help participants discover, tell and retell stories inspired by the history of The Groves.
The project is called ‘Future Groves’, and the stories in question have been unearthed through the longstanding community engagement of artist and storyteller, Stephen Lee Hodgkins via We Are The Groves.
The project is part of York Trailblazers, a city-wide programme of events and activities that celebrates York’s heritage, and Theatre@41 secured funding awarded by Make It York and York Civic Trust, available thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to run the workshops.
Matt Harper-Hardcastle, CEO and artistic director of Next Door But One, spoke to Laura Castle from YorkMix Radio to share more about the project.
“What we have is a series of eight creative story workshops for any adult in York,” said Matt. “Whether they’re really experienced in script writing and performance or whether they’ve never done anything arty before and just want to give it a go.
“We have a wonderful writer and director Paul Birch running the workshops using all these brilliant stories from right on our doorstep to make into whatever people decide to make – whether that’s a script, some poetry, art, a performance, we’re really excited to see what happens.
“It’s going to be a brilliant exchange of skills, local history and stories from our community.”
The workshops will take place on Monday evenings, 7:30pm to 9:30pm, at Theatre@41 on Monkgate, starting from 27 May until 15 July. There will also be a session on Saturday 20 July from 10am to 4pm as an opportunity to share and perform the work that has been created.
The workshops are completely free to attend, and participants just need to book on by visiting the Next Door But One website and completing the sign up form.