A site-specific theatre production can help local people to connect with the stories being told, explains Frances Land.
Foursight’s site-specific theatre has mainly focused on large-scale regional projects, using them as opportunities to celebrate the extraordinary lives of ordinary people and to reach as broad a range of people as possible. Our most recent production, The Corner Shop, was a co-production with Black Country Touring. The Corner Shop project began with a period of research followed by a devising period. We recruited and trained a group of local volunteers to conduct interviews with current and previous owners of small local shops. These included White British people who were shopkeepers during the 1950s, shopkeepers from the Caribbean, the Indian Subcontinent and more recent arrivals from the Middle East and Poland.
We found a large empty shop unit in a shopping centre, and negotiated free use of the space. Next we had to share the many hours of interviews with core members of the creative team, the designers, composers and scripter. We mapped out a structure. Taking common themes and the most dramatic stories, we set them against what the space itself suggested –
a dingy run-down street, a shop space with the living area behind, a sweet shop – the ideas began to flow.
As the cast arrived each was given a number of interviews so they became completely familiar with those people and their stories, feeding them into the devising process. The result was a promenade production with live music and soundscapes, through a set of small shops and intimate living rooms. The audience experienced the rich stories of life, work and, most importantly, community in which these shops played a pivotal role. The production team included 33 people, with professionals working alongside volunteers and people on work placements. The production attracted a diverse audience, including many people who would never dream of going to the theatre, as well as regular theatregoers. It resonated with people in many ways, from a recognition of their own experiences to an understanding of the vital role local shops play in holding small communities together.
We also ran an education project, working with local schools towards a promenade site-specific production in their own schools. All the material generated, including photo documentation of all its aspects, fed into the creation of a new local archive, a touring exhibition, an online archive and into national archives.