By Hannah Mullen, DYT Ensemble
I have not had an experience quite like the week I spent in Stockton with the Creating Together team in June. I am going to attempt to put it into words, but I have a feeling it won’t scratch the surface. This week was held at the brilliant ARC, Stockton Arts Centre, run by Displace Yourself Theatre, and involved the DYT ensemble members (that’s me!) and the Creating Together members in Stockton. What is Creating Together? I hear you cry. It is a space for anyone and everyone to get creative. Sessions are run regularly in Stockton and Bradford and are a great place to meet new people, gain confidence, and become part of the wider community.
This was my first time meeting the Creating Together team in Stockton and it was a privilege to share the room with them. After being welcomed immediately, we began playing games, writing letters, and singing songs together. The title of the R&D was “Passing Through”, and throughout the week we explored life, death, and the spaces before, after and in between.
For a show about “Passing Through” or death, it was heavy on the life. This not only radiated through the sharing, but through the whole week of working together. Every day, the exploration of life and death, although intense topics, felt like a celebration. I am unsure of whether the material inspired the energy in the room, or if the energy we felt inspired the material. There were times I had forgotten we were putting together a show, and as a maker, this felt very needed to return to process over product. I was enjoying the “life” part of the story.
Still, ideas sprouted, offers were made and slowly we started to piece moments together. The song Pais e Filhos by Legião Urbana was sung beautifully by Abigail, Jake, and Yousra: “You must love people like there is no tomorrow”. The poem “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver was performed by Jackie: “Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?”. The thought of not being here tomorrow opens up the possibilities of how we could live today. We explored this pleasure in the present moment: Xolani’s description of the best day ever, a child discovering movement for the first time, a young man enjoying being out in the rain before he passes away, A baker sharing how he loves baking bread, and Rezah dancing.
We explored community. A village looking out for one another. Ancestors watching over the living. Within many moments, the ensemble held each other, placing a hand on one another’s back, holding them as an invisible support. They watched as a child hatched from an egg and explored her body’s capabilities. Offered encouragement, laughter and commiseration, as she walked, danced and fell. These ancestors welcomed people who have passed on, as if they were returning home.
There are two words that stood out for me in this process. “Community” and “Authenticity”. Theatre has always been a home for me. It has brought me close to people on a level I wouldn’t experience in everyday life. The space allows and encourages vulnerability, openness and truth. There are no wrong answers. This only works if you have nice people to work with, and I couldn’t think of a nicer bunch. When I say nice, I probably mean empathetic or feeling or “authentic”. The bonds created between the Stockton and the DYT members were precious. I got to share myself and be silly with people I would not have had the privilege to meet before. I would not have had the chance to meet them on such a deep level. And this meeting didn’t just happen in the sessions. The audience got to meet us all. Each person had their moment for people to see the real “them”. Whether it was a letter to their younger self, a song, a moment alone on stage. This Stockton group elevated us, the DYT ensemble, to bring even more authenticity to our work. Their bravery made us braver. Their real stories and (not-so-hidden) talents made this sharing rich and full of life. For a show about death, I’d say that’s a success, right?
This wasn’t a show about answering age-old questions of one of life’s biggest mysteries. What happens when we go, or why does it happen when it shouldn’t? But it did make me sleep easier. It made me full. And those two words felt like my answer to a lot of questions.
Thank you to Displace Yourself for holding the space and us so expertly, the Creating Together collaborators for being themselves and jumping at the chance to be a chicken, and Lynne and ARC, for generously having us (and feeding us.)
