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November Newsletter

November Newsletter

Another month has come to an end, bringing us one step closer to the festive season! And what a wonderful month October was, full of new initiatives and reasons to celebrate. Our Diversity & Inclusion Working Group had its first meeting, we won the ‘Community Group of the Year’ award and announced a series of Masterclasses exploring different elements of theatre performance and production requested by our participants with industry professionals. 

November might bring with it shorter days and colder air, but at Outside Edge we have things to keep you warm and busy. This month we have an exciting karaoke social event planned, a celebration of our beloved Sonya Hale, and the opportunity to gain some new skills in our Stage Combat Masterclass

See all the opportunities and news below, including a time swap for our East London groups and some more social prescribing Taster Sessions


November Workshop Schedule

November 2021
If you are new to OETC and would like to participate in any of these activities then please register your interest here, and someone from our team will contact you.

Mondays
6:00pm-8:00pm – Write Two
The first cohort of writers has been notified. To join the second cohort (starting February 2022) you will need to have attended one of our Write Now groups for a minimum 3 months.

Tuesdays
3:30pm-5:30pm – **TIME SWAP** East London Drop-in Drama (Shiv & Tess)
6:30pm-8:30pm -**TIME SWAP** East London Write Now (Tunde & Charon)

Wednesdays
3:30pm-5:30pm – West London Write Now (Stewart & Katie)
6:30pm-8:30pm – West London Drop-In Drama (Tunde & Julia)

Thursdays
12:30pm-2:30pm – Women’s Drama Group (Charon & Alé/Julia) 
6:30pm-8:30pm – Moving Recovery (Hannah R & Paul)

Fridays
1:00pm-3:00pm – Peer-led Check-in (Billie & Racheal)
The chat room is open for participants to support each other or just meet up to chat about how they are feeling. Open to all participants who have attended 1 other group previously.
6:30pm-8:30pm – South London Drop-In Drama (Júlia & Shiv) 

Please note that all OETC groups (excluding Peer-led Check-in, Write Two & Moving Recovery) are now running a blended delivery, so you can attend in person or on Zoom.

November Masterclass
Stage Combat with Bethan Clark
DATE: Saturday November 20th
TIME: 11AM – 5PM
LOCATION: LAMDA, 155 Talgarth Rd, London W14 9DA
SIGN UP HERE

To keep up to date with the latest schedules check us out on Twitter (@OutsideTheatre), Facebook (@ Outsidedgetheatre) and Instagram (@Outsidedge) every Monday! Follow us on social media to see what Outside Edge is up to. Monthly Schedule of Activities 

EAST LONDON GROUPS TIME SWAP TRIAL

For November and December we will be trialing a time swap for our East London activities. 

East London Drop-in Drama will now take place in the afternoon from 3:30pm-5:30pm and East London Write Now will become an evening group from 6:30pm-8:30pm. Both groups will have the same facilitators and still take place at Brady Arts Centre or via Zoom.

Why? 

At Service User Co-production sessions and in our quarterly surveys, some people have asked for either an evening writing group or a daytime drama workshop and we thought this would be a great way to trial how that would increase our reach into the community. 

When? 

Starting from the first week in November until at least our Christmas Closure (week commencing 20th Dec). After that we will make a decision whether to return to the original times or not.

New Times (starting November 2nd) 

Tuesdays:
East London Drop In Drama – 3:30pm – 5:30pm 
East London Write Now – 6:30pm- 8:30pm 

If this time swap means you can now make one of our East London Groups that you haven’t been able to before, we’d love to see you there. If you’re new to OETC and would like to get involved, get in touch here and Tess or Molly will be in touch with more information.

OUTSIDE EDGE DOES KARAOKE

We are thrilled to announce an upcoming social event for all Outside Edge members, and this time it’s all about Karaoke. Join us on Sunday November 7th for an evening of Karaoke, socialising and snacks. 
We will kick off at 5pm at Lucky Voice Holborn and will have several private Karaoke rooms booked out for you to enjoy. Snacks and soft drinks will be provided. 

This event is open to all new and existing Outside Edge service users! Everyone is welcome, but we ask that you let us know you are attending by clicking here, so we can add you to the guest list. 

WHEN?

Sunday 7th November from 5pm-8pm. 

WHERE?

Lucky Voice Karaoke Bar (Holborn), 84 Chancery Ln, London WC2A 1DL

WHAT TO EXPECT ?

Lucky Voice is a Karaoke Bar and will be open to the public when we are there. 
We have arranged a cordoned off section for you to mingle and chat with one another outside of the private karaoke rooms, but please be aware there is a bar in the same room and you may encounter other members of the public who could be drinking alcohol.

We know that for some of you this is not a space that supports your recovery goals, so please do think carefully about if you can make this event and as always put your health and wellbeing first. As with all Outside Edge events and workshops there is an abstinence on the day policy for all guests of Outside Edge. Please respect this at all times during the event. The private rooms that we have booked will have no alcohol in and will only be accessible to staff and OETC members. 

Arrival & Mingling: 5pm – 6pm
Karaoke Rooms Available: 6pm – 8pm 

REFRESHMENTS

We will provide some light refreshments and soft drinks on the day to keep you going whilst you sing your hearts out! 

WHAT IF I DON’T WANT TO SING?

You’re still very welcome to come along and catch up with friends; every singer needs a supportive audience, so you’ll definitely have plenty to enjoy. 

If you have any questions about the event please don’t hesitate to get in touch.  

MASTERCLASSES

 Last month we were thrilled to announce a series of monthly, day-long, Masterclasses exploring a variety of production and performance skills, and taught by industry professionals.

The choice of topics will respond directly to interest expressed by Outside Edge participants in our recent co-production meeting.
These sessions are a wonderful way to try your hand at something new, delve deeper into the possibilities of theatre and work with experts in their field.

We got the ball rolling with a Masterclass all about the ‘Art of Learning Lines’ with Lesley Ewen, who is a professional actress, contemporary performance maker and RADA tutor. The day-long workshop took participants through different breathing practices and exercises from Stanislavski’s later work, yoga and neuroscience and gave them the tools to approach line learning in a fun and accessible way.

Missed this first masterclass? Have no fear!

Our second masterclass is just around the corner, and this time we’ll be exploring the world of Stage Combat! Join Fight Director and Action Coordinator Bethan Clark for a day long workshop that will teach you different stage combat techniques. 

DATE: Saturday 20th November

TIME: 11am-5pm

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR: Bethan trained at Drama Centre (MA Classical Acting) and at Exeter University gaining a first class BA (Hons) in Drama. After gaining Advanced Actor Combatant status with the BADC she worked professional as an actor and fight performer in theatre and film. 
Prior to my teacher training and alongside acting she was an applied drama workshop facilitator for 12 years.  She worked with all ages and backgrounds of participants and specialised in working with offenders, using drama and theatre as a creative and explorative outlet. Recent clients include York Theatre Royal, Geese Theatre Company, St Georges International School Luxembourg, The Wellcome Collection, Queen Mary University of London.

Masterclasses are open to all of OETC participants who have attended at least 3 months of any of our activities including Drop-in Drama, Write Now, Women’s Drama Group and Moving Recovery. You do not need to be an Edge Two member.

For more information email: [email protected]

Workshops with Part of the Main

Our friends from Part of the Main are offering Outside Edge service users three, free workshops exploring different areas of theatre production. These workshops follow the recent run of ‘Frits and Matlock’ at The Pleasance Theatre in London on which three of our service users assisted in different areas of the productions. 

The workshops on offer:
Directing with Jess Millward
DATE: Friday November 5th
TIME: 11AM – 12PM

In this workshop, Jessica will discuss her process of directing the new play Fritz & Matlock, as well as the journey of her directing career and answer any questions participants have.
Jessica is a theatre director and actor trained at LAMDA and the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.

Her recent directing work includes: OFFIE nominated Fritz & Matlock (The Pleasance) and Associate director on Operation Crucible (Sheffield Theatres). Other theatre credits: Joanne (Mountview), Without Malice or Ill Will for Together (Sheffield Theatre and Tour) Good Gracious, Good Friday (The White Bear Theatre), A Life Sentence (Wandsworth Fringe). Assistant director credits: The Laramie Project (Hackney Showroom) and Chicken Soup (Sheffield Theatres).

Producing with Olivia Munk 
DATE: Thursday November 11th
TIME: 11AM – 12PM

In this workshop, Olivia will discuss the basic overview of producing a theatre production in London, from meeting with writers and directors, to programming, to securing funding, to organising marketing and PR, to opening night and closing a show! She will also discuss the overview of her producing career and answer any questions participants have.

Olivia is a theatre director and producer from NYC based in London. She is Artistic Director of Part of the Main, a theatre company focused on emerging artists and gender equality. Productions include The Squirrel Plays (4*s, EdFringe), All By Myself (4*s, Applecart Arts), and Fritz & Matlock (5*s, 3 OFFIE nominations, The Pleasance). Forthcoming productions include OCO-2 R&D (NDT Broadgate/The Bush), Beg For Me (The Pleasance), and The Tinker (VAULT Festival). Olivia is also Producer of Zoo Co, a theatre charity that champions the talents of young, deaf, and disabled artists. She also previously served as Interim General Manager of OETC!

Co-writing with James Wallwork & Sal D’Aquilla 
DATE: Friday November 12th
TIME: 4PM – 5PM

In this workshop, writers James and Sal will discuss their process of co-writing their 5-star, OFFIE-nominated new play Fritz & Matlock. They will discuss the trajectories of their careers as writers and performers and answer any questions the participants may have, James and Salvatore met at LAMDA in 2007. They have worked as actors since graduating but only recently moved into writing.

James’ first play, ‘dot dot dot dash’ is in development with McGill Productions and Sean Sweeney Ltd. With plans to stage it in the West End.
Together Salvatore and James have written ‘Fritz & Matlock’ where they were nominated for ‘Most Promising Playwrights’ in the OFFIE Awards 2021 and they’ve also written ‘Robin’ a short film that is currently being submitted to film festivals around the world. They are also developing the feature film of the same story.

How to attend:
You can access all of these workshops via the Zoom link below-

Zoom details for all workshops:
Click Here to Join
Meeting ID: 832 2470 3195
Passcode: 433060

Sonya Hale Celebration

Outside Edge is co-hosting a celebration of Sonya Hale’s work on November 19th at 2:30pm at the Royal Court Theatre.

Sonya was a former OETC service user turned Write Now tutor and Associate Theatre Facilitator. We would love to have as many of our extended OETC family and participants who knew and were inspired by Sonya in attendance. Tickets are free but limited in number, so if you would like to attend you will need to send an email with your full name to Neil Grutchfield at the address below in the invitation by 5pm November 4th at the latest. If you do not include your full name, then the box office will not be able to issue you a ticket.

Please note that the Outside Edge office staff are not responsible for organising tickets for this event. If you have any questions about tickets, please contact Neil directly.

ABOUT THE EVENT: 

You are warmly invited to attend this special event at the Royal Court on Friday 19 November at 2:30pm to honour and celebrate the brilliant work of playwright Sonya Hale.

The event is hosted by Clean Break, Outside Edge and Synergy Theatre Project, all of whom had long term relationships with Sonya as she developed her craft. 

As well as speeches by those who knew her best, the 75 minutes will include readings from a range of her plays. Anyone who was touched by her words and who wants to celebrate her extraordinary skill and hear her magic on stage, is welcome.

The event is FREE and will be BSL interpreted.

Advance booking is essential so please RSVP by 5pm on Thursday 4 November 2021 by emailing [email protected] and confirm how many seats you will require.


Outside Edge Wins ‘Community Group of the Year’ at the Link Worker Day 2021 Award

 We were thrilled and honored to be awarded ‘Community Group of the Year’ at the Link Worker Day 2021 Awards, which was “a celebration and showcase of Social Prescribing Link Workers’ impact and role in creatively disrupting inequalities and powering up integrated care.”
The judges commended Outside Edge for their work, saying:

“Outside Edge Theatre has been able to demonstrate that it can make a tangible difference in the lives of people with addiction issues, despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic they embraced changes needed and brilliantly adapted their services. They worked innovatively with social prescribing link workers and partners, created a solid evidence base for the value of Arts in empowering people to find renewed meaning and purpose, and the outcomes they have achieved for people is compelling and inspires others.”

CEO and Artistic Director Matt Steinberg expressed his gratitude in a speech thanking, “Our freelance facilitators who deliver our arts-based social prescribing activities… Our heroic back office team… Our incredible peer mentor volunteers… The phenomenal link workers who we worked with across London… Arts Council and other funders who supported this work… Our wonderful trustees… And most of all, our extraordinary, creative and committed service users who demonstrate every day the value of social prescribing.”  

The online event featured a series of talks and masterclasses, including a drama workshop exploring the Five Ways to Wellbeing led by our very own Molly Cox and award-winning Peer Volunteer Billie. It was a wonderful day of celebration, sharing practices and highlighting the importance of social prescribing.

Diversity & Inclusion Working Group

This month we had our first co-production meeting for our new Diversity & Inclusion Working Group (DIWG). Peer-volunteers, service users and staff members met with representatives of our (DIWG) to reflect on how we can become a more diverse and inclusive organisation. 

The DIWG was set up in response to the events of the past 18 months which highlighted to us how much more work we need to do to ensure that our unique offer can be accessed by everyone who needs it. We recognise that Outside Edge must work harder to overcome unconscious bias and the existing barriers to access for many service users, audience members and freelance creatives who should be able to participate in our activities.

We realise that the work of the DIWG is only the beginning of a much larger and more in-depth culture shift within our organisation, but we are excited to be able to take this first step with service users and staff members who are interested in helping us start this journey.

The DIWG is generously supported by:

The Health Tree Social Prescribing Event

We have already delivered the first two sessions for our Health Tree Social Prescribing Taster Sessions, thank you so much to everyone who has joined us so far. 

This month we were thrilled to attend the Social Prescribing event at The Brady Arts Centre in Tower Hamlets, where we had a chance to meet people from the local community, learn about other social prescribing organisations and share our work through a Drama Taster Session led by our very own Charon Bourke.

You can still join us for the remaining sessions of The Health Tree!
The Health Tree sessions are focused on connecting Social Prescribing to arts organisations in East London and offered in partnership with St. Margaret’s House Health Tree Network programme.

In this series of workshops, each 1 hour session will be based on one of the Five Ways to Wellbeing (Be Active, Connect, Learn, Take Notice and Give) to introduce participants to how drama can support their wellbeing. These workshops have been developed and will be delivered by our Associate Facilitator, Christopher Holt at the Tower Hamlets Carers Centre.

If you are an East London resident and want to attend our third Health Tree Taster Session on 18th November 2021 11am, then please sign up below. If you are an East London Social Prescribing Link Worker please email [email protected] if you would like to refer someone to our ongoing weekly activities.
 The Health Tree is generously supported by:

Spotlight on…South London Drop-in Drama

This month we shine a spotlight on our South London Drop-in Drama group. This group runs every Friday, 6.30-8.30pm. These sessions are two hours of interactive drama and improvisation games that will get you moving, creating and laughing out loud!

The South London Drop-in Drama group takes place at the famous Southwark Playhouse, so you will be immersed in an electric theatre environment and surrounded by artists and creatives. There’s no better place to be on a Friday night!

Meet the Facilitators:
Júlia Couto
Júlia has been working with Outside Edge for 5 years. You might recognise her from some of our other groups including West London Drop-in Drama, Edge Two and the Women’s Drama Group where she also facilitates.She studied Performing Arts (Acting) at UNIRIO in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before going on to the MA Applied Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
Shiv Sharma
Shiv has been involved with Outside Edge for nearly 8 years, first as a service user, then as a performer and now as one of our facilitators. Initially, he was completely new to drama and theatre, and through Outside Edge activities he has discovered a personal passion for the creative arts. You might also recognise him as the facilitator for our East London Drop-in Drama at The Brady Arts Centre on Tuesdays. 

“I love seeing people come along, getting involved and above all having fun! It’s a joy to see participants uncovering their hidden talents.” 

What our South London participants have to say:

“I loved being here and seeing how different minds create different things. Each piece was beautiful. I enjoyed it a lot.”

“Stretching my abilities and creativity in a good way. Being collaborative and being part of this ensemble is a good thing. Thank you again!”
 “That was really fun. I just wanted to stop by to get a bit of extra connection before the weekend. Thank you for being here as usual.”

Why should you join Drop-In Drama:

Want to try something new? Join our South London Drop-In Drama group!
This is an informal group for people who are in recovery or have been affected by addiction, including their family, carers and champions. Come laugh with some new friends and play easy improvisation games that will help you improve your wellbeing.
The workshop is a fun, safe introduction to drama and to Outside Edge, suitable for those who may have little or no experience of drama and or in early stages of their recovery.

Are you a South London Service? 

Help us spread the word about our South London group and reach as many South London residents as we can. 

You can book a FREE 1 hour-long Drama and Creative Writing Taster Session to introduce your service users to our facilitators, the way we work at Outside Edge and encourage them to join our free recovery maintenance activities. These sessions explore the Five Ways to Wellbeing through a series of fun, fast-paced, creative activities. We can now offer these sessions both in person and via Zoom. 

For more information email Tess: [email protected]

Or help us spread the word by displaying some of our leaflets at your building. To request free leaflets please fill out this form.

South London Drop-in Drama is generously supported by:

Quotes of the month:


Thank you to our new supporters…

During these difficult times we would like to thank our recent supporters who have made donations to Outside Edge this month:

Imogen Davies
and:

From Our Friends

Our friends at the Tower Hamlets Recovery College have a great offering for their autumn term. 

Courses cover a range of areas that might support recovery; including tools and strategies to gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your experiences, education about mental and physical health, helpful tips on practical life skills and how to get involved in study and work opportunities.

You can enrol as a student in one of our courses if you have experience of using mental health services in Tower Hamlets, work in health and wellbeing services in Tower Hamlets, know or care for someone with mental health challenges in Tower Hamlets, live or work in Tower Hamlets and want to find out more about mental health, recovery and wellbeing.

Find out what they have to offer here.


SUPPORT US

To continue to offer our creative activities for free we rely on the continued support of grants and donations. If you would like to help Outside Edge through this challenging time, then please consider donating.
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