Last week at Sherman Theatre we opened our doors and invited groups of people from Adamsdown and Splott to get involved in a Romeo & Juliet Mash Up through our Sherman 5 scheme. Participant, Pawan has written us a post to tell us about his Romeo & Juliet Mash up experience…

The Arts as a Common Language
My Romeo and Juliet Mash Up Experience

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Hi my name is Pawan Sahni.(that’s me in the photo above) I have recently been working on a project at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff. I am part of YOCA and their Black Minority Ethnic facilitator training programme.

http://www.yoca.co.uk/projects/

I was supported by Sherman 5, a new project running at the Sherman Theatre. Sherman 5 is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and seeks to develop the range of audiences at the Sherman Theatre especially those facing disadvantages.

http://www.shermancymru.co.uk/sherman5/

Last Tuesday morning I embarked on a new challenge in the world of theatre. I was introduced to a project which was a Romeo and Juliet Mash Up supported by Sherman 5 and Adamsdown Arts Association. Adamsdown Arts Association (A3) is a community arts group made up of local residents and creative practitioners. It’s main aims are to provide opportunities for engagement with the arts and creative activity for our local community, and to provide local people with a voice through the arts.
http://www.a3arts.co.uk/

The main group involved were from Oasis who support Refugees and Asylum seekers.

http://oasiscardiff.org/about-us/

Myself and the Oasis group were all working on a short play based on their interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s play is based on many themes such as love, hate, tragedy, deception and more. I was expecting a traditional performance rehearsal, however I saw that the rehearsals instead consisted of poetry and songs. I learnt that as many of the group spoke a range of languages, movement, music, poetry and songs in English and from around the world were used as a way to develop a shared response in the rehearsal space.

My week began with an introduction to everyone involved and from there on I already felt comfortable with the group. There were also two members from Community Music Wales. CMW are a community arts organisation and their fundamental aim is to contribute to the empowerment of disadvantaged groups and individuals through enabling them to participate in creativity and learning, initially and primarily through music making.
http://www.communitymusicwales.co.uk/
The first day involved creating music using instruments such as African drums. One of the tutors from CMW, Ron got us all started by tapping onto the drum whilst saying the word “love”. We took this further by chanting love in our own languages which created a nice rhythm to it, whilst we were doing this we all took turns to tap into the drum and then began to tap it all in unison. The musical chant was then recorded and added to the final performance which was something I had not expected, it sounded great, who knew creating music would be that easy!

r& j drumming
All photographs credit Paddy Faulkner

As the project developed the members from Oasis Cardiff recorded their poems and songs which were going to be used for the sharing on Saturday. The idea of having music and art involved was like a game changer, something different and different is always good. I was privileged to assist the main director Angharad in delivering warm ups, exercises and generating ideas for the short play.
Whilst rehearsals and recording were going on in the theatre space, in another room there were a group of young people who were creating the backdrop of the actual set for the Romeo and Juliet play taking place 2nd-18th October this year.

r& j collage workshops
The young people involved were from ACT. ACT are Wales’ leading training provider. They deliver fully funded work-based qualifications for learners aged 14 upwards on a range of subjects and career areas.
http://www.acttraining.org.uk/
The performance in the Sherman Theatre Studio on Saturday made it clear for the audience who was part of what family, all the Montague’s were given red cloaks whereas the Capulet’s were given blue. It was amazing to see all of the members of Oasis group’s confidence rise as soon as they were in costume. It was definitely nice to see.
It was an enjoyable experience overall for me to take back and expand on with other companies, I had the privilege of learning different cultures and languages, but most of all I got to be involved with a drama group that I never thought I would have the chance to work with.

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Doing all this has made my interest in running my own workshops even more exciting; knowing that I have overcome language barriers to help people is something I can proudly add to my list of skills.Myself and the group are all looking forward to seeing the show at the special Sherman 5 night performance of Romeo and Juliet on Friday the 3rd of October.Being involved in this project has given me a real insight into the process of creating a new piece of work and I cant wait to see how the actors from Sherman Cymru respond to Shakespeare’s play.

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Comment by Guy O'Donnell on September 6, 2014 at 9:13

Cheers Abdul, it was a great week at the Sherman with Oasis, Adamsdown Arts and young people from ACT and Ministry Of Life. Its our intention for the project to continue into October with a performance on the Sherman main stage!

Comment by abdul shayek on September 5, 2014 at 22:07
Great blog PAV. Thanks Guy, seems like Pav has had a immensely enjoyable and educational experience!
Comment by Pawan Sahni on September 3, 2014 at 10:09

Thanks Guy, it was a pleasure working with you

Comment by Guy O'Donnell on September 3, 2014 at 7:52
Great blog Pav!

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