Wednesday 14 January 2009

Opening doors at Headway's 'Come On Down' Festival UK

Hello Friends & Happy New Year!

Firstly let me thank 'Team Malta' for our amazing trip there. We will all remember it for the rest of our lives. It was great to see our group experience travelling and soaking up the sunny experiences of Malta and the grand atomosphere of Valetta of an evening. Some had never flown before or been away anywhere for that long, nor stayed anywhere so lovely. The festival itself was wonderful, St James is a beautiful venue echoing with culture and history and we felt priviledged to appear there in the lovley millenium theatre auditorium.

Back here at Headway HQ we are only just recovering from a very busy few weeks hard work with Christmas projects and shows. It was absolutely fabulous to see everyone at our 'Come On Down Festival' in December. We run this festival every year, the groups who perform are all groups who Headway work with regularly and this year it had an exciting extra dimention with our visitors from Malta and Belgium. All were delighted & surprised to meet 'the europeans'. 'The Seven Stars Northumberland's Learning Disabled Theatre Co' supported by Headway, were finally to meet the mysterious guests everyone had been talking about for months!

The festival audience loved the Opening Doors Groups performances. Language was never a barrier (although this is mainly due to the excellent English spoken by our partners - we have been trying to learn a bit of each others languages - I promise!).

I could really see that the Opening Doors Groups had made loads of progress with their performance work. The acting and the devised stories were very good with lots of energy and enjoyment coming from the actors. Congratulations everyone!!

All looked very confident and comfortable on stage - particularly when you remember that people had done little or no drama work before this project - wonderful progress and rewarding to see. When I look back at how far the project has come since the seed of the idea was formed by Fran, Toni, Roger & myself (Allie) at the Grudvig Seminar about 3 years ago in Malta - I think it truely has 'Opened Doors' for everyone involved.

I think we are all learning a great deal from everyone who has jumped on board for this unknown journey and having a fantastic time along the way. We are learning amazing ways to work together whilst learning to understanding each others cultural differences and ways of being. We have also learned how deep down we are really all the same too.

Next Stop Belgium!

I'm really looking forward to the next festival in Belgium and I know that the rest of TEAM UK are really excited too!

Here is yet another language for you all - 'Geordie' (Geordies are the local people of Newcastle) 'Gan Canny' (or 'take it easy' in English). See you in Leopoldsburg!


Allie

AlisonWalton-Robson
Creative Director

Headway
Arts*People*Inclusion
HeadwayT@aol.com


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