Now far be it from me to contradict Lord Morrissey of Mancfester but as that song continues… ‘a death for no reason and death for no reason is murder’, it is surely wrong. Death for no reason is manslaughter. Murder is pre-meditated, i.e. thought about and usually for a reason. You could also argue that the ‘turkey you festively fry’ was killed for a very good reason – to feed you.
Anyway the beautiful creature to which I refer is our drama group Weekenders. I started the group in the Spring of 2002 so we have been running for slightly longer than the 3 years I gave it at the outset. Throughout that time Pete and I have been the permanent fixtures and Katy, Becky, Rachel, John and, latterly, Charis have ably assisted us along the way. We have survived a venue change midway through, I say survived in actual fact I think that gave us a new lease of life to keep going.
The high points have been many. The best nights were always the unplanned, impromptu ones, the worst the well planned badly received ones. We have put on a number of pantomimes, we’ve created music videos, we’ve done dance routines and we’ve sung songs. My personal favourite moment was when we rehearsed a short play we created that used the slight bleakness of The Smiths classic How Soon is Now to convey the crushing hopeless loneliness that young people can feel when they feel like outsiders. We contrasted that using Gene’s ‘Olympian’ (‘I wanted to be there with you for I can only be normal with you’) to suggest the euphoric feeling of finding yourself with trusted friends who sustain, support and affirm you. When I think back to the rehearsal of that, not the final performance which was good but not as good, it brings a lump to my throat and it is all I can do to not cry such was the power and beauty of the performance.
And that really was the essence of what we were trying to do. We created a space, a place where kids could come along and try to find themselves in a supporting, non-judgemental environment. Where they can be as ‘normal’ as they want to be. I think we succeeded largely. Yes there were some that didn’t get it and they didn’t last long but in the main they did and when they all did together the feeling was like no other.
So why am I ending it? Well to be honest those great nights aren’t really happening any more. 9 years is a long time and we are tired of doing it.
What will I do now? Still not sure, I do want to write up our BCLC exploits as I think there are some very valuable things we learned from doing that whole thing but I do need to work with people in some context.
Perhaps I will find my inner clown at last and take him on the road.
Strike another match go start anew….
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