METHODS AND RESEARCH

 

To enable SWT to assess the attitudes and feelings that exist between the generations on the estate some form of information gathering process was needed. Instead of a questionnaire which, (in an educational climate of testing rather than expression), ran the risk of attracting what was perceived to be the correct rather than the honest answer, something more liberating was called for.

POEMS

As this project was to be primarily arts based, SWT felt that if the children in the three schools were asked to write poems about attitudes to older people the emphasis on composing a poem may facilitate a more genuine response. The dual purpose of gathering information and kicking off with an artistic, expressive piece of written work would also be a good introduction to the methods and aims of the project.

Over 1000 poems were eventually returned and read. They provided an interesting insight into prevalent attitudes amongst the age group 9 to 16 and were a rich resource to draw from while developing the play. Attitudes varied but predominantly the poems exposed a narrow perception of what the lives of older people may be like. Generally, only where the writers were discussing their own grandparents, did they find any depth of understanding or emotional involvement in the lives of the older generation.

A preoccupation with unfashionable clothes worn by "old grippers in slippers" was a theme that reoccurred. Definitely no designer labels! Other impressions of older people included wrinkly skin, stained clothes, bad smells, poverty, rage, a habit of reminiscing and pastimes like Bingo. There were many poems describing how the children would behave when they were old . They would not be caught dead in old baggy jumpers etc. but they would wear their ADIDAS , NIKE and REEBOK gear, not realising that every generation may of course be just as welded to the style of clothes that were smart or fashionable in their youth.

Several of the older generation wrote poems in response.

 

DRAMA WORKSHOPS

Drama Workshops with THE HEALTHY, WEALTHY AND WISE group were held at their base at Trelai Library, Ely . The first session was an introduction to Small World Theatre’s work and an explanation of the aims of the project. The company performed a small scale puppet show to demonstrate the potential of the medium. This set the project in motion with a lot of laughter and audience participation. After a coffee break Small World Theatre applied participatory appraisal techniques they had used in their work with communities abroad to identify attitudes and problems as perceived by this group. This led to the production of a large list of positive and negative qualities of the younger generation. John Winslade also handed out a short questionnaire to further clarify the process.

It was generally felt that the intergenerational tensions needed to be addressed, Issues of crime related to youth gangs should also be tackled in some way . The group endorsed the drama and puppetry approach.

The second session was carried out on one of the group’s regular Wednesday morning slots. Bill and Ann arrived with a life sized head and shoulders puppet of a youth who somehow attracted the name of "Robbo the Yobbo." Robbo unleashed a strong reaction which revealed the fear and distaste felt by some older people towards young people. Although criticism was usually balanced with comments like "of course there are kids on the estate who are well behaved but......."

Bill sat in a chair with his head and shoulders inside Robbo’s jacket. Bill's face could not be seen but his voice took on the character of the latex puppet. The 42 older people entered into a dialogue with the puppet asking questions about Robbo’s attitude to work , crime, vandalism, violence, older people, joy riding and other issues. A heated debate ensued . The puppetry approach seemed to have freed up the discussion and stimulated fairly deep responses.

The puppet's responses were improvised which helped to create the illusion of a young person invited spontaneously off the street to join in a debate. The medium of puppetry inspired very lively participation and was a successful tool for gaining insight into a snap shot of opinion. The disadvantage was that as the youth’s responses were actually the improvised role play of the puppeteer they were not the genuine article. However it would have been quite an ordeal to expose a random member of Ely youth to such a barrage of anger and frustration.

The third session which had been planned as the moment to bring both generations together at Trelai Library, had to go ahead without the participation of students from Glan Ely school owing to unforseen difficulties with timetabling and transport.

A general framework for the drama was emerging, set in a hospital ward after a car accident involving an under age driver and an old woman. Improvisations were developed around the scenario of an older person and a youth in hospital beds. The youth having run her over in a stolen car. In this session both old and young parts were being taken by older people with the 35 members of the group suggesting questions, answers , dialogue and plot development. This was a productive morning that contributed a lot to the structure of the play. Extra sessions with HWW where progress was reported and advice sought were slotted in around other events and speakers at Trelai Library.

Drama workshops in three schools were going ahead in parallel with the workshops with the older people. The company would introduce the aims of the project, inform the participants of the work of the company and teach drama techniques such as mime, characterisation and improvisation. The students produced improvisations at the end of the sessions with scenarios involving interaction between the generations. The non formal approach adopted by the company encouraged an atmosphere where attitudes could be freely expressed. This revealed prevailing attitudes to older people and made some progress towards exploring ways of staging and developing a final performance.

In a similar way to using poetry for research purposes, physical theatre techniques were used to enable participants to physically portray their point of view. They were asked to express age by using body shape, style of walk, tone of voice and other revealing physical traits that they associated with older people. Initially the students tended to create stereotypical images of the disabilities associated with ageing. Hearing problems, short sightedness, breathlessness and so on were employed ad nauseum to portray elderly people.

This was discussed and addressed so that the final improvisations were less stereotypical. Some role reversal between the age groups happened and more positive, stronger, elderly characters emerged. This process of looking at positive and negative images of older people built up some depth in the students understanding of the other generation.

In the two secondary schools the students were responses but in Glan Ely it was clear that the school had a drama teacher and the students were initially more at ease with this sort of work. A few individuals stood out as potentially interesting performers and only one out of the large number of participants declined from joining in. It was her first day in a new school that she had not chosen to be moved to. It is tough to expose your attitudes to strangers on your first day .

The Junior school drama group was less concentrated and needed more leading. The resulting improvisations were shorter and less focussed but similar points of view were expressed to those of the secondary schoolchildren.

 

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