October Newsletter

Recovery Month (September) was eventful at Outside Edge, our **NEW**South London Drop-In Drama group started with great success, Edge Two hosted a watch party to share their brilliant work on The Seagull and we’ve been all across London (virtually of course!) running Drama Taster Sessions to expand our reach to new communities. To top it off we had some brilliant guest speakers join us at Theatre Club including Paul Bayes Kitcher (Artistic Director of Fallen Angels Dance Theatre), Adjoa Andoh (Director and Performer in Richard II), Lolita Chakrabarti (curator of The Greatest Wealth) and our very own Associate Theatre Facilitator Christopher Holt and Choreographer Louise Bennett (Check-in/Check-Out).

This month we’re continuing to widen our artistic horizons with another new weekly group! With help from our friends at Fallen Angels Dance Theatre we’re very excited to dip our toes into the world of movement and dance. Check out the information below on the launch of our highly anticipated **NEW** Moving Recovery group.

Earlier this summer we shared our Reflect, Reset, Recover plans with you. We are now firmly in the Recover phase and after extensive consultation with service users we plan to trial a blended activity delivery (with some sessions accessible both in-person and online) within the month. Please see below for more details on how we plan to safely start this blended style of work.

To ensure this can happen we need your support and involvement to continue building upon our successful response to the community’s needs throughout Covid-19. Whether that’s joining a NEW group, making a donation to our crowdfunder or telling a friend about us, we need your help to keep us reaching far and wide.

Monthly Schedule of Activities

October 2020

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
6:30pm-8:30pm – Edge Two & The Company (Christopher & Julia)
If you have been to a minimum of 3 Write Now, Drop-in Drama or Women’s Drama Group sessions, you can join this group. This module will focus on building devising skills.

Tuesdays
6:30pm-8:00pm – Theatre Club (Molly)
Join us in a conversation about our weekly Theatre Trip! Watch the play online ahead of the group then join us for a chat about the play and a Q&A with an exciting guest from the show or production team. For October, Theatre Club will have a focus on dance, circus and puppetry in honour of our **NEW** Moving Recovery
group starting at the end of the month (see more information on that below).
6th October – The Depraved Appetite of Tarrare the Freak (Wattle and Daub)
13th October – Show Compilation (Cirque du Soleil)
20th October – Incidental Moments of the Day (Apple Family Productions)
27th October – Dracula (Northern Ballet)
all October guests to be confirmed!

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

Thursdays
12:30pm-2:30pm – Women’s Drama Group (Gemma & Charon)

7:00pm – Watch Theatre Club Show
Watch the show for next week’s Theatre Club or catch up whenever you get the chance. The plays and viewing links are listed above.

Starting 29th October
6:30pm-8:30pm – **NEW** Moving Recovery (a collaboration with Fallen Angels Dance Theatre)

Fridays 1:00pm-3:00pm – Peer-led Check-in (Liam & Sue)
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 (Julia & Shiv)

Please note that all OETC groups are currently delivered on Zoom in addition to the blended sessions outlined below. All current OETC participants should have received an email and/or text message from us with information on how to join in the activities. If you are a participant who did not yet receive this information, please email admin@edgetc.org or call us on
0207 371 8020. To keep up to date with the latest schedules check us out on Twitter (@OutsideTheatre) and Facebook (@Outsidedgetheatre) every Monday! Follow us on social media to see what Outside Edge is up to.

Blended Delivery: Return to spaces…

We are thrilled to announce that in line with current government guidelines, we plan to take our first steps towards safely returning to in-person delivery.

Based on feedback and consultation with service users, we know that many of you are keen to get back together in a space (so are we!), however we’re also aware that for many others this won’t yet be an option. For this reason, we will be offering a blended delivery for any groups that are returning to in-person facilitation. This means that you will be able to access the group either in person or online via Zoom. The choice is yours!For now, we will be offering a blended delivery for our West London drop-in groups as listed below:

When

From 14th October – Write Now and West London Drop-in Drama (Wednesdays)

From 15th October – Women’s Drama Group (Thursdays)

Where

All groups will be held at a *NEW* workshop location a 5 min walk from Barons Court Tube Station. In order to control numbers, participants will be sent the address at the point of booking (please see below).

How

In line with social distancing guidelines we will be limiting the number of people who can be in the workshop space. You will need to book your space in advance of attending. If you have not booked, you will not be able to enter the workshop space, but you will still be able to join the group on Zoom.

Existing OETC members will be sent a link to book on 7th October via email or text. If you are new to OETC, register your interest here and Molly will be in touch.

We will continue to monitor government guidelines to ensure that we are acting in the best interests of our group members. In the coming weeks we hope to announce Edge Two’s restart plans so watch this space.Thanks to the Addiction and Recovery Covid-19 Response Fund from Collective Voice we have been able to acquire some brilliant wide-angle cameras that are capable of capturing the whole room and streaming the group session live to anyone joining over Zoom. Don’t worry, you will still be able to participate fully in the session and be included in all activities whether you attend online or in person.To keep you as safe as possible our workshops will look and feel a little bit different, find out what to expect here!

NEW Outside Edge Group: Moving Recovery!

Outside Edge is pleased to announce a **NEW** weekly group beginning Thursday 29th October…

You asked for it and we are pleased to announce that now you’ve got it!With help from our friends at Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, we are excited to announce that we will be starting a weekly dance and movement activity for Outside Edge service users on Thursdays from October 29th. Please note that this new group will be held on Zoom until further notice.

This isn’t dance as you know it, you will learn how to unlock your own movements and it’s accessible for everyone regardless of ability. Sessions will be led by acclaimed dancer and choreographer Paul Bayes Kitcher (Artistic Director of Fallen Angels). Paul joined us as a guest at Theatre Club last month when we watched Upon Awakening & War Within. If you missed it and want to get a flavour of the work Paul creates why not give it a watch or check out his theatre company Fallen Angels Dance Theatre.

This group is open to all existing and new OETC participants and we encourage everyone to try it! If you are new to Outside Edge, register your interest here.

Moving Recovery is supported by:

Thanks to the Government for making this possible and Collective Voice.
and
Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund.

We started NEW South London Drop-In Drama

September saw the launch of our **NEW** South London Drop-In Drama group for anyone who has been affected by addiction. It’s been a great start and we’ve had so much fun at our first two sessions! A big thanks to our facilitators, Julia and Shiv, who make the sessions so warm and welcoming.

This free weekly group is a great way to meet like-minded people, improve your wellbeing, learn something new and support your recovery whilst having fun!

We’d love to continue growing the group so please feel welcome to join us this month to play some fun, introductory improvisation games and have lots of laughs. You don’t need to have any experience of drama; you just need to be abstinent on the day of the workshop. And there is no need to have attended any of the sessions so far, participants are welcome to join at any point.

Come and spend your Friday nights with us on Zoom 6:30pm-8:30pm.

All existing OETC participants are welcome and if you’re new to OETC register your interest here and one of our team will get back to you.

We are currently delivering Drama Taster Sessions in South London to promote this activity. If you are a South London drug and alcohol treatment facility and would like to find out more about how you can spread the news, please contact Alessandra (admin@edgetc.org).

South London Drop-In Drama is supported by:
Healthy London Partnership

Crowdfunding Campaign

Write Now presents- No Matter What

Our Write Now playwrights will be sharing their work in a rehearsed reading on Wednesday, October 7th from 4pm-5pm. Join us on Zoom (details below) to hear our writers in recovery present their newest scripts inspired by the title No Matter What. Curated by Gemma Rogers & Sonya Hale.

Topic: Outside Edge’s Zoom Meeting-Write Now Sharing

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 897 7017 9471
Passcode: 235166

Write Now is supported by:
The Mount Trust
and
The National Lottery Community Fund. Thanks to the Government for making this possible.

Congratulations Edge Two!

During their summer module, Edge Two’s dedicated group of performers met every Monday on Zoom to explore text through Chekhov’s The Seagull. They analysed the play and examined the characters before rehearsing and filming scenes that were woven together to share with an audience of supporters over Zoom. On Monday 28th September at 7pm they hosted a watch party and received some brilliant feedback. Thank you to everyone who came and a big congratulations to all involved in the making!

A special thank you to Marina for editing this piece together.

Quotes of the month

OETC’s Five Ways To Wellbeing Drama Taster Sessions are ONLINE!

Outside Edge’s FREE 1 hour Drama Taster Sessions have now been re-designed specifically for online delivery! We missed being able to visit drug & alcohol treatment facilities, so we decided to “Zoom” over instead!The focus of the workshop remains the Five Ways to Wellbeing, using fun, fast paced exercises that allow participants to connect in an engaging, entertaining online environment.We have developed the content of the workshop to translate across any video conferencing platform that services may already be using (e.g. Zoom, Microsoft Teams etc). Our specially trained facilitators can also make work accessible to Service Users who are only able to use audio and not video.We only have a limited number of free sessions available for public drug and alcohol treatment services.

If you would like to book an Online Drama Taster Session, please contact Alessandra for more information (admin@edgetc.org).

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: